Along the way, the science fiction stories I'd been writing since I was 13 began to grow more believable. With my BS in biology and a fascination with genetics, I started to use more science in my fiction.
After reading hard SF for the past 50 years, and writing hard SF successfully for the past 20, I've started to dig deeper into what it takes to create realistic alien life forms. In the following series, I'll be sharing some of what I've learned. I've had some of those stories published, some not...I teach a class to GT young people every summer called ALIEN WORLDS. I've learned a lot preparing for that class for the past 25 years...so...I have the opportunity to share with you what I've learned thus far. Take what you can use, leave the rest. Let me know what YOU'VE learned. Without further ado...
I’ve ended up going on with the idea of creating “alien aliens” by reading some classic short stories in which alien aliens were front and center. So far:
“Can These Bones Live?” by Ted Reynolds (ANALOG, March 1979) – in which a Human has to plead for the resurrection of a race of extinct aliens after dreaming about the greatness of the aliens. She also ends up asking questions about the aliens who have the power and eventually about an alien people who the powerful ones respect. This gives a fascinating view of what different sapients might find important. (Nominated for several awards)
“Slow Life” by Michael Swanwick (ANALOG, December 2002) – in which astronauts are exploring the oceans on Saturn’s moon, Titan. A perfectly rational scientists gets into trouble and starts to have weird dreams, eventually believing that some form of intelligent life who live in black smoker type stacks in the methane oceans of the moon are communicating with her through dreams. (Won Hugo for best novelette of that year)
“Camouflage” by Joe Haldeman (ANALOG, March-May 2004) – Two aliens landed on Earth a long, long time ago and eventually take on Human form and live a small portion of their eternal lives on Earth. (Won James Tiptree, Jr award and 2005 Nebula for best novel)
“Blood Music” by Greg Bear (ANALOG, June 1983) – A scientists injects himself with his own cells, enhanced and transformed into colonial sapient beings, alien in every way but origin. In the magazine story, they might have been stopped; in the novel, they weren’t. (Story: Hugo 1983, Nebula 1984; novel nominated for both plus British Science Fiction Award).
Recently, I have read all of David Brin’s UPLIFT books and stories, which are full of aliens of every variety. Julie Czerneda works with aliens in all but her fantasy novels with various levels of “out-there-ness”. CJ Cherry has spent 20 years exploring the society of the “alien” atevi.
What ALL of these have in common may seem obvious to you, but it was a startling surprise to me…
I finally figured out that aliens are best presented and realized when they are metaphorical representations of the Humans they interact with.
Of course, this raises the question: “Is this what REAL aliens will be like?”
The answer (also “Of course!”) is: “Are you kidding?”
They won’t be like Shram, T’Pol, The Horta, Alien, Jar Jar Binks, Solaris (though this one comes close to being really “alien”), ET, or even Esen-alit-Quar, who, while physically alien, has a personality that’s as Human as mine.
They’ll be alien. Most likely incomprehensible. Alien.
So, once we reach the year that we make Contact, what do we do? Probably spend forever trying to figure it out. It’s unlikely that there will be a Federation we can join; probably not an Evil Empire to fight or even a Rebellion we can join; we’ll probably continue on the same way we are going today. They won’t be our Alien Saviors or our Alien Enslavers. They probably won’t even notice us.
So the function of aliens in science fiction is to explore HUMANS; us. Not figure out what will happen at First Contact. Nothing will happen. It’ll hit the headlines, then vanish from our normal navel gazing life. Even the ones who SWEAR they’re ready and are smirking at the rest of us will move on to the next "interesting thing".
So. How do I create aliens to explore Humans? They have to interact with Humans and be a metaphor of something profound that I’m trying to say. Something related to my themes: Education. First contact. Faith in God. How we interact with very alien. Domestication. Technological solution to problems today. Self-sacrifice.
Humor.
I do NOT have these down yet. In fact, I’m not even certain these are the themes I’m working on. But, I AM working on them. It’s just going to take time to learn to focus!
Resources: http://astronomy.com/bonus/alien-contacthttp://astronomy.com/bonus/alien-contact, https://medium.com/@adammann930/we-need-to-do-a-better-job-of-imagining-aliens-8fc7dff0af44,
Image: https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/s403x403/247578460_2266245050183679_1356113208171309805_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=aee45a&_nc_ohc=hmwh_mfVvp0AX-KWl7F&_nc_ht=scontent.ffcm1-2.fna&oh=beb7049ece8e8f062139100b7453a7d3&oe=6197F473
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Guy Stewart is a husband supporting his wife who is a multi-year breast cancer survivor; a father, father-in-law, grandfather, foster father, friend, writer, and recently retired teacher and school counselor who maintains a writing blog by the name of POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS (https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/) where he showcases his opinion and offers his writing up for comment. He has 72 stories, articles, reviews, and one musical script to his credit, and the list still includes one book! He also maintains GUY'S GOTTA TALK ABOUT BREAST CANCER & ALZHEIMER'S, where he shares his thoughts and translates research papers into everyday language. In his spare time, he herds cats and a rescued dog, helps keep a house, and loves to bike, walk, and camp.
“Can These Bones Live?” by Ted Reynolds (ANALOG, March 1979) – in which a Human has to plead for the resurrection of a race of extinct aliens after dreaming about the greatness of the aliens. She also ends up asking questions about the aliens who have the power and eventually about an alien people who the powerful ones respect. This gives a fascinating view of what different sapients might find important. (Nominated for several awards)
“Slow Life” by Michael Swanwick (ANALOG, December 2002) – in which astronauts are exploring the oceans on Saturn’s moon, Titan. A perfectly rational scientists gets into trouble and starts to have weird dreams, eventually believing that some form of intelligent life who live in black smoker type stacks in the methane oceans of the moon are communicating with her through dreams. (Won Hugo for best novelette of that year)
“Camouflage” by Joe Haldeman (ANALOG, March-May 2004) – Two aliens landed on Earth a long, long time ago and eventually take on Human form and live a small portion of their eternal lives on Earth. (Won James Tiptree, Jr award and 2005 Nebula for best novel)
“Blood Music” by Greg Bear (ANALOG, June 1983) – A scientists injects himself with his own cells, enhanced and transformed into colonial sapient beings, alien in every way but origin. In the magazine story, they might have been stopped; in the novel, they weren’t. (Story: Hugo 1983, Nebula 1984; novel nominated for both plus British Science Fiction Award).
Recently, I have read all of David Brin’s UPLIFT books and stories, which are full of aliens of every variety. Julie Czerneda works with aliens in all but her fantasy novels with various levels of “out-there-ness”. CJ Cherry has spent 20 years exploring the society of the “alien” atevi.
What ALL of these have in common may seem obvious to you, but it was a startling surprise to me…
I finally figured out that aliens are best presented and realized when they are metaphorical representations of the Humans they interact with.
Of course, this raises the question: “Is this what REAL aliens will be like?”
The answer (also “Of course!”) is: “Are you kidding?”
They won’t be like Shram, T’Pol, The Horta, Alien, Jar Jar Binks, Solaris (though this one comes close to being really “alien”), ET, or even Esen-alit-Quar, who, while physically alien, has a personality that’s as Human as mine.
They’ll be alien. Most likely incomprehensible. Alien.
So, once we reach the year that we make Contact, what do we do? Probably spend forever trying to figure it out. It’s unlikely that there will be a Federation we can join; probably not an Evil Empire to fight or even a Rebellion we can join; we’ll probably continue on the same way we are going today. They won’t be our Alien Saviors or our Alien Enslavers. They probably won’t even notice us.
So the function of aliens in science fiction is to explore HUMANS; us. Not figure out what will happen at First Contact. Nothing will happen. It’ll hit the headlines, then vanish from our normal navel gazing life. Even the ones who SWEAR they’re ready and are smirking at the rest of us will move on to the next "interesting thing".
So. How do I create aliens to explore Humans? They have to interact with Humans and be a metaphor of something profound that I’m trying to say. Something related to my themes: Education. First contact. Faith in God. How we interact with very alien. Domestication. Technological solution to problems today. Self-sacrifice.
Humor.
I do NOT have these down yet. In fact, I’m not even certain these are the themes I’m working on. But, I AM working on them. It’s just going to take time to learn to focus!
Resources: http://astronomy.com/bonus/alien-contacthttp://astronomy.com/bonus/alien-contact, https://medium.com/@adammann930/we-need-to-do-a-better-job-of-imagining-aliens-8fc7dff0af44,
Image: https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/s403x403/247578460_2266245050183679_1356113208171309805_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=aee45a&_nc_ohc=hmwh_mfVvp0AX-KWl7F&_nc_ht=scontent.ffcm1-2.fna&oh=beb7049ece8e8f062139100b7453a7d3&oe=6197F473
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2 comments:
Interesting that you in a way have come around to the same conclusion that I did: once you go beyond simplistic escapist entertainment, the real purpose of hard science fiction is to hold a warped funhouse mirror up to contemporary reality. You do it to explore metaphysically interesting aspects humanity. I do it to satirize humanity's foibles.
I've only discovered it recently, so I only have one or two stories that I've consciously did this. If it DID come out before this, it was my subconscious working on the joke and sometimes it surprises me!
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