First Contact Sci Fi with interesting aliens

[Helen]

Hi,
I would love tips on hard sci fi that is about first contact with aliens, especially if it has interesting world building and fascinating societies. No monsters or war please if you can avoid it.
Thank you!

[Cheryl]

I don't like monsters, war, or political intrigue, but it's hard to avoid them all, esp. in first contact stories.

First one I think of offhand is Semiosis. Some violence, but definitely fascinating.

Lots of interesting aliens in Becky Chambers' works, starting with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. War stuff is pretty far in the background in the first one. The second is tougher though. I love all three for comforting, hopeful rereads. Contact has already been established for the characters, but it's "first" for the reader!

Far-Seer trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer are definitely fascinating. Maybe too much political skirmishing though. And no humans, so no actual first contact.

I know that I have lots more but I've had a big day so I'm drawing a blank atm.

[Helen]

Cheryl wrote: "I don't like monsters, war, or political intrigue, but it's hard to avoid them all, esp. in first contact stories.

First one I think of offhand is Semiosis. Some violence, but def..."

Yup! Love all those. You know exactly what I'm talking about

[Helen]

Robert J. Sawyer has written a couple of first contact stories too.

[Anna]

Remnant Population :)

[CBRetriever]

Anna wrote: "Remnant Population :)"

^^this ^^

[Helen]

CBRetriever wrote: "Anna wrote: "Remnant Population :)"

^^this ^^"

Read that one too. Love it!!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

best of all possible worlds by karen Lord
the humans by Matt haig
at least one story in Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Binti but Nnedi Okorafor maybe?

[Anna]

Links for Allison's recs:

I love Binti, but it has war, "monsters" and gory violence, so if that's not what you want, be warned.

Very much agree about Stories of Your Life and Others. The first contact story is the titular one.

The Best of All Possible Worlds has aliens, but no first contact.

The Humans is very low scifi, so don't expect tentacles in space :)

[Helen]

Anna wrote: "Links for Allison's recs:

I love Binti, but it has war, "monsters" and gory violence, so if that's not what you want, be warned.

Very much agree about [book:Stories of Your Life a..."

Oh haven't read those! Thank you.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Binti has war but it's also kinda sweet. disagree about Best! there are I think 2 cultures that are basically first contact

[Anna]

Allison wrote: "disagree about Best! there are I think 2 cultures that are basically first contact"

OK fine yeah I see your point, maybe my idea of first contact is too strict. I'm not going to stop anyone from reading Karen Lord! :D

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yes! I think if RemPop is a win, Best probably is too

[Anna]

Agreed. I was going to say both Binti and BestWorlds, but then I thought they didn't fit because they're not 100% what was asked. Then again I don't think RemPop is hard scifi, so I don't know what my problem is :D

Here are the other ones I didn't mention because they're not perfect:

Lagoon - I don't remember how much violence there is in this one? It's Okorafor, so probably at least some.

The Arbai series starting with Grass has super interesting aliens, but also "monsters", and the sequels aren't exactly feelgood. The second one is very interesting, third book is kinda yikes.

[[deleted user]]

Wouldn't 2001: A Space Odyssey qualify as a first contact story? There is no war or monsters in it.

[〰️Beth〰️]

Maybe Skiathos by Boris L. Slocum

[MadProfessah]

Semiosis and it’s sequel Interference by Sue Burke are right up your alley.

I would say Peter Hamilton had a lot of first-contact stories but they also are military space opera so there’s usually a fair amount of death and destruction.

Garth Powell’s EMBERS OF WAR has first contact snd a bunch of monsters and death.

Both CHILDREN OF RUIN and CHILDREN OF TIME by Tchaikovsky are first contact stories. Pretty non violent too. And excellent.

[Bonnie]

The Ragged World by Judith Moffett.


I want the Hefn to come in real life!

[Gabi]

Have you read "Eifelheim" by Michael Flynn? A first contact story from the POV of a medieval monk. (will link later, when I'm on the pc)

[Leticia]

Trying Human This graphic novel/webcomic series has lots of aliens. It is tough not finished yet. And you can read it for free here: https://www.tryinghuman.com/comic/pro...

The Starfarers Quartet has aliens too. Not in the first book but a long time ago I read the 4th book and it had first contact.

[Jeremy]

Decision at Doona by Anne McCaffrey is an excellent first contact novel.
(sorry, using the phone app, so can't insert links)

[Helen]

Thank you so much everyone for all these great suggestions!
Some of them I've read, and the ones I haven't others look awesome and are on my list now.

Yes, I've read Eifelheim. It's one of my favorite books ever! :)

[Bonnie]

Helen wrote: "Thank you so much everyone for all these great suggestions! ... Yes, I've read Eifelheim. It's one of my favorite books ever!"

That means we're pushing the right buttons! How about,

A Woman of the Iron People - Eleanor Arnason

Foreigner - C.J. Cherryh (also
her Chanur books, but I haven't read them yet)

Intervention - Julian May (top five all-time favorite)

OMG,
Speaker for the Dead (another all-time favorite)

[DivaDiane]

Have you read the Left Hand of Darkness? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

It’s not hard SF by my definition, but it is pretty much first contact and the aliens are definitely “interesting”!

[Ritchie]

It's socially and politically dated, and does contain violence, but if you want an exciting hard-sf first contact story - and fascinatingly 'different' aliens - might I suggest the Niven / Pournelle book 'The Mote in God's Eye'?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Richard]

Michel wrote: "Wouldn't 2001: A Space Odyssey qualify as a first contact story? There is no war or monsters in it."

Another Clarke classic that has humanity’s first contact with aliens is Childhood's End. One of my all time favourites but has been a bit divisive when it comes to people’s opinions of it.

[Gabi]

Or perhaps The Expert System's Brother and The Expert System’s Champion by Adrian Tchaikovsky? The first one is more about the flora, but the second is about fauna as well. They are more from the side of the humans who find themselves incompatible with the planet they ended up on.

[MadProfessah]

Oh and the Waking Gods books by Sylvain Neuvel are curious first contact books without monsters but Lots Of deaths (apocalyptic )

[Leticia]

Ritchie wrote: "It's socially and politically dated, and does contain violence, but if you want an exciting hard-sf first contact story - and fascinatingly 'different' aliens - might I suggest the Niven / Pournell..."

The Mote in God's Eye was quite interesting.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

StarBridge by A.C. Crispin.

A Darkling Sea?

Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson

I didn't like it but Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente just about meets your criteria.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri is an interesting take on first contact stories that I loved for how novel it was.

Other stories that involve first contact but aren't explicitly known based off of the blurb include...

(view spoiler)[
The Next Continent. The primary focus is setting up a comfortable base on the moon but... who knows what will be found there?

The second book in the excellent Quantum Evolution series The Quantum Garden has some of the most interesting aliens I've encountered in scifi. That's saying something considering that it's set in a universe where humans have genetically modified themselves to beings that don't resemble us.

Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series is military scifi that eventually has a peaceful first contact story. Though I wouldn't say wading through all the books are worth it if your sole interest is alien contact. (hide spoiler)]

[Helen]

Bonnie wrote: "Helen wrote: "Thank you so much everyone for all these great suggestions! ... Yes, I've read Eifelheim. It's one of my favorite books ever!"

That means we're pushing the right buttons! How about,
..."

YES!
Thank you, have read the woman of the iron people but not the other ones, will go look!

[Mindy]

Ritchie wrote: "It's socially and politically dated, and does contain violence, but if you want an exciting hard-sf first contact story - and fascinatingly 'different' aliens - might I suggest the Niven / Pournell..."

Yep!

[Mindy]

Richard wrote: "Michel wrote: "Wouldn't 2001: A Space Odyssey qualify as a first contact story? There is no war or monsters in it."

Another Clarke classic that has humanity’s first contact with alien..."

Agree!!!!!!

[Margaret]

It's been years since I read Alan Dean Foster's Nor Crystal Tears, the first-contact novel that sets the stage for his Humanx Commonwealth series, so I don't remember much about it, but I do remember that I liked it!

[Hannah]

Oh! How about The Sparrow? The premise is that Jesuits are the first to go to another planet with intelligent life. The world building and society of the planet is incredible, but it isn't necessarily hard si-fi. It has a lot of info on linguistics too, which I enjoyed.

Another one that doesn't 100% match your request is Axiom's End. It's more first contact if they came to us, and also not really hard si-fi.

A really 'hard' si-fi that nearly matches your request is The Three-Body Problem. I don't want to get into the details of this one, because I believe it is easy to spoil.

[Dawn F]

The Sparrow is incredible!

And the Three-Body Problem is astounding hard sci-fi that really isn't hard to follow! :D

[Jeff]

Not One of Us: Stories of Aliens on Earth

This is a great collection of first contact stories. It's 827 pages and has 21 stories (average story is 39 pages). It includes the Ted Chiang one that Arrival was based on. I'm only a third of the way thru, but I am liking it so far...