Your Alien Starter Pack
As it turns out, World UFO Day is real, and it’s both June 24th and July 2nd, depending on who’s celebrating. Weirdly on schedule, the United States government even had some hearings about UFOs, with some lawmakers insisting the powers that be know more about UFOs and the existence of aliens than they’re letting on. You can read more about that here. In light of these current events, we’re—Mariah and Emily—publishing our Alien Starter Pack, a list of recent books we loved for those who’d like to dip their toes into alien literature. We’ve got the sweet, the soulful, and even…the steamy.
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
One day, April May stumbles across a giant statue as she walks the streets of New York. Delighted and curious about it, she makes a silly video “interviewing” the statue with her friend Andy and uploads it to YouTube. Turns out, these statues appeared simultaneously all around the world, and April’s video was the first scoop–rocketing her to superstardom. With all eyes on her, she must use her newfound fame to find out what the Carls (what she calls the first statue) are, where they come from, who (or what) made them, and what to do now that her very life is in danger.
I am always awed that more people have not read this book–fans of John Green will love its hopeful ethos and others who would prefer a break from the other brother will love its decidedly sci-fi genre writing and humor. A first contact alien narrative, this book has lots of interesting things to say about community, social media, and technology while being chock full of heart, wit, and profoundly affecting moments. While many books use aliens to hold a mirror to humanity only to critique it, Green uses that mirror to show the best of what we as humans can be, and encourages us to live up to it.
Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis
In this Bush-era alternate history, Cora Sabino is just trying to make it through life when a governmental leak shows we have made first-contact with aliens. And who was the whistle-blower? Her own estranged father who won’t stop popping up in her life. Beyond that, she finds out her own family is more involved in the coverup than she knew, and when she ends up being able to communicate with the aliens decides she must act as an intermediary to ensure her own survival and that of humanity itself.
Coming out around the same time as her friend Hank Green’s book, Axiom’s End is entirely different tonally, even if it is also about first contact. Though I don’t think it works for as broad of an audience as An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Ellis’s debut novel rocketed up to my top-tier book favorites because of the thrilling plot that has you flipping pages without even realizing, its enormous heart, arguing for more empathy and kindness in a world that obviously needs more of both, and it’s sometimes weird, always compelling romance between the protagonist and Ampersand the alien. Its worldbuilding is unique and entirely believable, showing the complex way governments work, both extra and terrestrial, as well as the many different ways a family can look. This book rocked my world, and I want to shout it from the rooftops until everyone reads it.
Hot take: The sequel, Truth of the Divine, is even better. Some people struggle with the shift to a darker tone, and it is definitely a book that hurts. Even so, it grapples with difficult and relevant questions in a way that made me feel seen. It introduced new, meaningful, and fun character dynamics, and now I’m just waiting to see where the third book will go because I can’t even guess.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Welcome aboard Lovelace, the wormhole-burrowing ship where you’ll find its ragtag, multi-species crew—Ashby, its noble pilot; Kizzy and Jenks, chatty engineers who maybe have a screw loose, but can easily fix anything else; the pilot, Sissix, from a reptilian race of creatures who dislikes the cold of empty space as much as she loves her crew; and other interesting space nomads with stories all their own. Joining them is Rosemary Harper, who has never really left her colony on Mars and has no clue what to expect when she joins the crew—and she doesn’t really care, either. Rosemary has her own past she’s trying to outrun, and is only surprised when she’s offered home and friendship and not just a bunk to sleep in. They partake in many oddball adventures while also finding common ground amongst all their pasts and various alien races.
Becky Chambers is kind of the queen of cozy fantasy/sci-fi, and this Hugo-Award-Winning novel series is a major part of the reason why. Filled with kindness and generosity, the characters in this novel show grace and empathy over and over. The universe in this story is vast and peopled with species that are not at all alike one another—and conflict does exist—but its almost everyone, no matter how diverse their background or foreign their very bodies, tries to find peace and common ground.
Walking Practice by Dolki Min
This book is very tonally different from the rest of these offerings–far from being hopeful, it kind of rests in a certain longing despair, and I mean that in the best way possible. Walking Practice starts with an alien crash landing on Earth in the middle of nowhere. Their body is not designed for Earth gravity, and so they must learn not only to use their shape-shifting ability to conform to human shape but to learn to walk, too. They quickly realize humans also make good food, so they go on dates with people, have sex with them, and then eat them. Our alien has this down to a science until one day their plan goes awry and one of their marks escapes.
But what this book is about is what it’s like to exist in a marginalized body–a fat body, a queer body, a disabled body. It encapsulates what it’s like to constantly self-surveil, to make sure your simple existence isn’t disturbing to other people. It is a book that longs for connection with despairing intensity. While many of these other books are about humans coming into contact with the alien and then finding common ground or finding a shared morality, this story instead puts us in the mind of a deeply alien being. It is through this very distance that it is able to successfully burrow all the way through to the core of the human experience, albeit a not entirely positive one.
A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys
In 2083, hydrologist Judy Wallach-Stevens wakes to a warning about chemical disturbances in nearby Chesapeake Bay, but when she goes to check it out, she’s not prepared for what she finds – an alien ship. The beings inside have come to rescue humanity from its dying planet. By force if necessary. Judy, though, believes our planet is worth saving. She and the other members of the watershed networks that reorganized society in the face of climate change aren’t ready to give up on Earth. But can they convince the corporations and nation states they almost never see eye-to-eye with? Thrust into the role of an extraterrestrial diplomat, can Judy create understanding with both her fellow humans and another species?
Above all, this book is a hopeful imagining. Whether it’s reinventing family dynamics or ways to organize our society, Emry’s novel offers a future where humanity puts its best foot forward. It models a thoughtful meeting of cultures and a future Earth where climate change has taken its toll but people collaborate for the good of the planet, make decisions together, and rely on technology in a way that reflects and facilitates their values. In this way, it’s a thought-provoking and inspiring book! And if that’s not enough to reel you in, maybe spider alien sex is…?
Bonus: Some great space books sadly lack aliens, but we can’t help including them in this footnote. Event coordinator Emily once gushed about a dreamy and reflective slow burn epistolary novel called The Moonday Letters in our “Criminally Under-read Books” blog post. There’s also a rundown of the popular space necromancer novel Gideon the Ninth in our “13 Spoopy Reads for Scaredy-Cat Halloween-Lovers” post.
