Message-ID: <162@iwpba.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 22-May-84 09:32:11 EDT
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Posted: Tue May 22 09:32:11 1984
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Greg Skinner says:

>>	After thinking about it awhile (and getting flamed at), I have
>>	reconsidered and now say yes, Spock is a good example of an alien
>>	portrayed as such in SF.  The thing that really makes him an 
>>	alien, though, is the externals (ears, green blood, etc.).
>>	Otherwise, he's not so different than what I'd imagine some Hindu
>>	or Buddhist scholars would be.  Problem is, in SF we have tended
>>	to take human ideas and give them to our aliens -- I guess you
>>	could say we've humanized our aliens a little too much.  I'd
>>	personally like to see some SF that introduced aliens who are not
>>	so human-like.

I suggest Frank Herbert's WHIPPING STAR.  The plot of the novel
revolves around the attempts of a human to communicate with a totally
alien being.  It is literally a matter of life and death for both
of them that they do communicate, but the creature (which is fortunately
semi-telepathic) is so alien that, for example, the only thing the
human is sure about his perception of the alien is that it is
wrong.

E.E. (Doc) Smith, in his clumsy way, did try to create true aliens
in his LENSMAN books.  Nadrek of Palain is a good attempt at a true
alien; and Worsel of Velentia is that great rarity of space opera,
a true bug-eyed-monster who is a good guy.

I'm sure that other people can suggest other aliens in sf.

			John Hobson
			AT&T Bell Labs--Naperville, IL
			ihnp4!iwpba!amigo

Message-ID: <688@ihuxn.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 22-May-84 17:26:01 EDT
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Posted: Tue May 22 17:26:01 1984
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An author who has done a good job in presenting aliens from the aliens'
point of view is C. J. Cherryh.  Her "Faded Sun" trilogy is quite good
in this regard.  "Pride of Chanur" is another such novel that comes to
mind.  I highly recommend her novels for good character development as
well as interesting plots.

					Rich Strebendt
					ihuxn!res

Message-ID: <936@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-May-84 12:29:07 EDT
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Posted: Thu May 24 12:29:07 1984
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A very non-human alien was the title character of "The Black Cloud",
by Fred Hoyle.  (I don't think much of Hoyle's SF generally, but I did
like that one.  He wrote that one with a collaborator.)

Actually, I think aliens that are human-like in some behavior patterns
but not in others are probably more interesting.  And the first one of
those that comes to mind is Larry Niven's "puppeteers".  ["But so what
if the two of us had remained in stasis for 50,000 years?  Don't you see,
we would not have had to leave the safety of the ship!" -- paraphrase from
one of the two Ringworld books]

Mark Brader

Message-ID: <1131@qubix.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-May-84 17:16:25 EDT
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Posted: Wed May 23 17:16:25 1984
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Eric Frank Russell had a number of well-developed non-humans in his work. The
chess-enthusiast martians of the Jay Score stories were characters I enjoyed.
The martian poet who became the beloved elder of a devasted Earth village in
Dear Devil. It might also be fair to include the dogs from Into Your Tent
I'll Creep and the camels from Homo Saps.

"I wish to hell I could get him writing again" -- John Campbell re EFR
-- 
	Dr Memory
	...{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!qubix!jdb

Message-ID: <1923@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-May-84 10:15:49 EDT
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Posted: Thu May 24 10:15:49 1984
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Actually, an episode of Star Trek featured an intelligent alien which
was totally unlike humans.  I forget the name of the episode, but the
creature was a Horta.

"Alien" was also a good example of a non-human alien who displayed a
certain amount of intelligence.  Intelligent enough to make a ship of
human beings panic ...
-- 
                                                  [This space available
                                                   for rent.]

Greg Skinner (White Gold Wielder)
{decvax!genrad, eagle!mit-vax, whuxle, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds

And he who wields white wild magic gold is a paradox ...

Message-ID: <1684@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 25-May-84 08:32:55 EDT
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Posted: Fri May 25 08:32:55 1984
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  What about all of the non-human aliens in 'Doc" Smith's
Lensman series?  They certainly looked nothing like us, but in
many cases were far superior to us.  Smith even had an elaborate
way of describing an alien, from AAAAAAAAA, or completely human
to ZZZZZZZZZ, or not at all like a human.

Ken Varnum
 {dartvax, cornell, astrovax}!decvax!kenv

Message-ID: <11600035@orstcs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-May-84 14:53:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: orstcs.11600035
Posted: Thu May 10 14:53:00 1984
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Nf-ID: #R:iwpba:-16200:orstcs:11600035:000:301
Nf-From: orstcs!hakanson    May 24 10:53:00 1984



And let's not forget David Brin's Sundiver -- the alien called (I think)
Fagan was something a tree-like, broccoli-like creature.  And he was a
good guy, too.  A great book, BTW.

Marion Hakanson			CSnet:  hakanson@oregon-state
				UUCP :  {hp-pcd,tektronix}!orstcs!hakanson