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10 Must-Read "First Contact" Novels

Sometimes I suspect science fiction writers are perhaps the best-suited to envision what contact with aliens will really be like. Here's a list of personal favorite "first contact" novels, some well-known and some relatively obscure. Hope you like it. (Please note that titles are arranged in no particular order.)

1.) "Majestic" by Whitley Strieber. An improbable-seeming choice, "Majestic" nonetheless ranks among the most authentic and spooky of "first contact" tales. Based on the premise that an alien spacecraft indeed crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947, Strieber's novel unfolds with intelligence and a rare sense of verisimilitude. Much of the novel's originality stems from its publication before "Roswell" became a household word; Strieber takes the idea of crashed flying saucers and alien bodies in unexpected directions that remain intriguing twenty years since the book's original appearance.

2.) "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke's vision of enigmatic alien "Overlords" and the metamorphosis of human consciousness transcends the usual trappings of genre science fiction. Many intelligent writers have attempted to depict alien contact in the decades since Clarke's seminal novel hit bookshelves, but few have managed to craft novels that are as good or as philosophically expansive.

3.) "Calculating God" by Robert J. Sawyer. An alien craft lands in Toronto. Its pilot takes immediate interest in all things relating to paleontology. As the main human character soon learns, even ETs are preoccupied by theology; the only difference is that the alien "god" just might be demonstrably real.

4.) "Blood Music" by Greg Bear. Not a "first contact" novel, per se, Bear's lavish tale depicts the utter redefinition of our species through the application of unanticipated future technology. In the case of "Blood Music," the human landscape is reshaped by self-replicating "noocytes" that herald the end of humanity and the stirrings of an intelligence not so much "better" than simply (and deliciously) alien. Bear's novel is both scientifically astute and reassuringly human.

5.) "Blind Lake" by Robert Charles Wilson. One of my favorite science fiction authors, Wilson conjures scenarios that take brave conceptual leaps while remaining true to his characters' humanity. "Blind Lake," one of his best, depicts a near-future quantum breakthrough that allows human observers to eavesdrop on denizens of an alien planet. Refreshingly, Wilson refuses to let matters end there: "Blind Lake" is a deeply affecting novel that leaves readers with a wonderfully precipitous sense of our role in the cosmic drama.

6.) "Blindsight" by Peter Watts. Very simply, Watts is one of the best science fiction novelists of the 21st century. "Blindsight," his first novel to (mostly) take place in deep space, is every bit as challenging as it is exciting, laced with insight and, best of all, serious questions SETI researchers would be well-served to contemplate. In particular, Watts levels his sights on the phenomenon we casually dub "consciousness" and explores its evolutionary ramifications. Is self-awareness something we even need? Could aliens be intelligent yet wholly devoid of a sense of self? "Blindsight's" central triumph is its refusal to cling to threadbare conceits, raising the bar for tales of interstellar conflict. Even better, Watts accomplishes the singularly difficult task of making this look easy.

18 Comments:

	Posted by drake jemeyson April 26, 2008 at 10:33 AM Spin might have a place on this list. i saw it as fairly realistic interpretation of a first contact. It makes sense that our first encounter with an alien intelligence would be with it's technological remnants acting on their own semi-intelligent reasonings rather then the flesh and blood E.T.s themselves.
	Posted by Ferruccio April 26, 2008 at 05:53 AM Joe Haldeman: Mindbridge Piers Anthony: Macroscope H. G. Wells: The War of the Worlds Star Trek: First Contact (just kidding)
	Posted by Ann April 24, 2008 at 09:38 AM You can't possibly leave off The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell -- it's an amazing novel, that has an appeal beyond the sci-fi reader. And who can resist Jesuits in space? It's one of the most memorable novels I've read, in any genre, and deserves its place in the 'First Contact' pantheon. Ann http://www.booksonthenightstand.com
	Posted by Me April 21, 2008 at 05:40 PM The fuck is a first contact novel?
	Posted by Dan April 20, 2008 at 11:18 AM The Listeners by James Gunn
	Posted by Dan April 20, 2008 at 11:15 AM The Listeners by James Gunn
	Posted by Dan April 20, 2008 at 10:02 AM The Listeners by James Gunn
	Posted by Jimmy April 18, 2008 at 09:45 PM Alan Dean Foster's Nor Crystal Tears is a fun read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nor_Crystal_Tears Not a great piece of literature but a fun Sci-Fi read.
	Posted by TDavis April 18, 2008 at 07:37 PM Very, very surprised that "Contact" didn't make the list. The idea of sending a message consisting of serial prime numbers still strikes me as one of the most elegant methods of announcing yourself as a sentient source.
	Posted by Bob Hawkins April 18, 2008 at 02:12 PM "Hard Landing" by Algis Budrys. A UFO crashes on earth and the reasonably humanoid crew melt into the population. Typical Budrys combination of the bizarre (a young Richard Nixon captures one of the aliens and uses his advanced technology to fund a political career) handled realistically (the man the government assigns to study the aliens is not a doctor, but a veterinarian -- of course).
	Posted by Bob Nolin April 18, 2008 at 08:37 AM Blood Music was about the nanotech developed by humans. No aliens were involved. It has no place on this list. I agree that Contact by Sagan should be here. And Footfall, definitely. I thought Blindsight was awful, but that's just me. Everybody else seems to have liked it.
	Posted by tinkoo April 18, 2008 at 02:58 AM Well - tastes differ, & I've not read many of the stories on your list - might look out for some. I maintain a list of first contact stories - novels as well as shorts - here: "http://variety-sf.blogspot.com/2007/08/stories-concerning-first-human-contact.html" There might be a few - particularly short ones - you might not have seen.
	Posted by Rick April 17, 2008 at 09:20 AM Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle should be on the list. First Contact would be fraught with perils regarding how each species views the universe and this book is all about how the beliefs and views can create disasters and warfare.
	Posted by Chenonceaux April 16, 2008 at 10:05 AM I am surprised not to see the late Dr. Carl Sagan's "Contact" in this otherwise interesting list.
	Posted by Ted Semon April 15, 2008 at 04:38 PM A couple of these are new to me - THANK YOU! But, no "Mote in God's Eye"? (Niven and Pournelle). Robert Heinlein called this book "Possibly the finest Science Fiction book I've ever read" and it truly is brilliant. It certainly should be on this list...
	Posted by Dan Asher April 15, 2008 at 04:26 AM Thanks for the tips Mac, a couple here I haven't read that I'll certainly try. Have to get busy on Amazon I guess, seeing as most bookshops have the "science fiction"section filled with fantasy novels.
	Posted by 0uterj0in April 11, 2008 at 06:05 PM Is 2001: ASO about the singularity? When I watch the end now I can't shake the sense that Dr. Bowman is in the Matrix. Or maybe that scene with Morpheus & Neo & the red pill was burgled from 2001: ASO.
	Posted by Steve Sawyer April 10, 2008 at 10:23 PM Robert Sawyer's "Calculating God," huh? Guess I should read what my namesake has to say on the subject. Already read some of the others, but the Watts and Stross books sound pretty interesting.

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