Sci-Fi - interdimensional aliens enslaving humans

[Rick]

Hi all. Looking for a book (possibly a series) where the main character arrives from another dimension to stop a spider-like species from invading their home dimension. I don't remember much but I do remember that these aliens climb onto headless human bodies (raised to only have minimum required parts to survive like a mouth hole and access to spine to control them).
I read the book(s) in the mid 90's. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

[beichst]

It was written well before the 90s. But, an early version of this trope is The Chessmen of Mars, the 5th book of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series. . In it the kaldanes which are like a cross between a human head and a spider, and keep headless host bodies - which they call 'rykors' - to ride as mounts. In this case Jon Carter from Earth arrives via 'transference' to Mars which could be what you are remembering as inter-dimensional travel.

If it is not Chessmen, then possibly one of the the stories on the site at:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

[Rick]

That's a very very good guess but that's not it. The John Carter of Mars series was one of the first series that I read as a young teen (great books too). I'm not positive the book I'm hunting was a saga but I do know there was only one physical book. The beginning mentions the main character coming from an infinitely small point of light into this (our) universe/dimension and then the end talks about them going back into that point. There was also some part about the MC (as an enormous statue) resting near a small gathering of humans and while they rested, thousands of years passed by. When they came back to life, the gathering had become a city that worshipped the MC.

[Cy]

This reminds me a lot of A. A. Attanasio's "Radix Tetrad" series: there are evil spider aliens and lots of complex time/dimensional travel.

[Rick]

Cy wrote: "This reminds me a lot of A. A. Attanasio's "Radix Tetrad" series: there are evil spider aliens and lots of complex time/dimensional travel."

Sounds like an interesting read Cy and thanks for the reply. I don't think these are the book(s) I'm hunting but still interesting.

Also, I know I have the name wrong but for years I thought the aliens name were something like Zotyl. I DID find the book(s) later but I had the name wrong. I "think" it had a V and maybe a K in it.

[Cy]

Rick wrote: "Cy wrote: "This reminds me a lot of A. A. Attanasio's "Radix Tetrad" series: there are evil spider aliens and lots of complex time/dimensional travel."

Sounds like an interesting read Cy and thank..."

That's interesting, since the spider aliens in the Attanasio's books are called "zōtl." In one of the books, there's also a character who comes from a sub-atomic word that sounds kinda like the "infinitely small point of light" you mentioned.

[Rick]

That's crazy Cy. I'm going to pick this series up on amazon and jump in. Even if it isn't the same stories I'm looking for, it'll be a good read. In all honesty though, a series like these here would explain why I remember so little about them so, could be the ones. I'll let y'all know.