02-04-2015, 08:42 AM | #1 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,025
Karma: 11196738
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Piper College
Device: Samsung A21
|
Alien invasion theme and I am getting sick of it
I have been reading sci-fi books for a while now and this reliance on alien invasion theme seems to dominate the sci-fi books and I am getting a little sick of it. How come the alien invasion theme seems to control the sci-fi genre?
|
02-04-2015, 09:25 AM | #2 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 71,510
Karma: 306214458
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
|
Really? Not from where I'm sitting. See The Martian for example.
(And the 1632 series, the Honor Harrington series, and the Vorkosigan series.) Last edited by pdurrant; 02-04-2015 at 09:27 AM. |
Advert | |
|
02-04-2015, 09:25 AM | #3 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 27,552
Karma: 193191846
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD
|
I can't remember the last scifi book I read that had an alien-invasion theme.
|
02-04-2015, 11:14 AM | #4 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,821
Karma: 19162882
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Te Riu-a-Māui
Device: Kobo Glo
|
Of the 66 SF books I read last year, only four had anything remotely to do with an alien invasion.
(Edit: There were a few more if you count humans invading other worlds as an alien invasion though :-) Last edited by GeoffR; 02-04-2015 at 11:36 AM. Reason: if you count ... |
02-04-2015, 11:25 AM | #5 |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
Posts: 19,422
Karma: 85397180
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity
Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)
|
Of the I've-lost-track-of-how-many (a lot, though) SF books I have read in the last year, precisely one of them features an alien invasion. A good number don't even have aliens period.
|
Advert | |
|
02-04-2015, 12:25 PM | #6 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,025
Karma: 11196738
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Piper College
Device: Samsung A21
|
Of the last five series that I have read, four of them have fetured an alien invasion. I guess I should go to another genre of novels where aliens do not typically show up, mystery perhaps.
|
02-04-2015, 12:29 PM | #7 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 27,552
Karma: 193191846
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD
|
Or perhaps just try one of the myriad of scifi authors who don't write about aliens?
|
02-04-2015, 01:12 PM | #8 |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
Posts: 19,422
Karma: 85397180
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity
Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)
|
I guess you are just getting the ones that have alien invasions -- maybe you should look at different authors within the same genre.
It is a big step to go from "I happen to have read a bunch of alien-invasion-themed SF recently" to "all SF involves alien invasions". |
02-04-2015, 05:33 PM | #9 |
Readaholic
Posts: 5,140
Karma: 90000000
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: South Georgia
Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"
|
I guess you will not want to read this one then.
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-920-footfall.aspx This is a great alien invasion book and I just started to reread it. Apache |
02-04-2015, 06:13 PM | #10 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,230
Karma: 7145404
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Southern California
Device: Kindle Voyage & iPhone 7+
|
Looking at my Goodreads record I see alien invasions are related to less than 25% of my SF reading recently. Higher than I thought it would be but most of these are not straight forward "alien invasions" but are related plots, e.g. James Corey's Leviathan Wakes (and rest of Expanse series), Jason Hough's The Darwin Elevator (and rest of Dire Earth series), and Leonard Richardson's Constellation Games.
I wouldn't say SF is dominated by this theme. |
02-05-2015, 04:29 AM | #11 |
Fanatic
Posts: 574
Karma: 5264318
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Belfast
Device: Sony T1, Note Pro 12.2, Honor 10
|
If anything I don't think there is enough of these type of books or at least good ones the last one I remember reading that was even anything like that was "Out of the Dark by David Weber".
The only others I remember were World War by Harry Turtledove and Footfall by Larry Niven I actually enjoyed all those books and would read more if I could find them. |
02-05-2015, 08:18 AM | #12 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,100
Karma: 11315768
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: UK
Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch
|
Sometimes you just seem to hit a thread of the same theme by chance, I think. I like to make sure I vary the genre of every book I read, but I still had a run of fantasy books recently which all featured dead or fallen gods.
|
02-05-2015, 07:01 PM | #13 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 63
Karma: 65091
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Sydney, Australia
Device: Kindle Paperwhite WiFi
|
I think it probably also depends how broadly you define sci-fi. A lot of people tend to see sci-fi as the space opera type, with starships and space battles. I'd venture to say that there's a lot more alien invasions in that sub-genre.
But sci-fi can be a really broad category with a heap of stuff that's not related to space travel at all. |
02-06-2015, 03:13 AM | #14 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
SF is one of my main reading genres and the overwhelming majority don't involve alien invasion. Sounds as if you need to choose different authors.
|
02-07-2015, 01:06 AM | #15 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,305
Karma: 43993832
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Monroe Wisconsin
Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)
|
The Exiles Trilogy and the Mars books (all by Ben Bova) have no such theme in them.
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Free (DRM-free multiple formats) Alien Mate [Alien Abduction Erotic Romance] | ATDrake | Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links) | 22 | 04-06-2012 12:59 AM |
theme source for modern and sdk default theme | gshank | PocketBook Developer's Corner | 6 | 07-18-2011 04:06 PM |
Baen's Invasion CD | Dahak | Deals and Resources (No Self-Promotion or Affiliate Links) | 6 | 03-21-2011 07:58 PM |
Android Invasion at CES | kennyc | Android Devices | 0 | 01-07-2011 07:42 AM |