 | |
| Author | Megan Lindholm |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Oscar Chichoni |
| Country | United States |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Bantam Spectra |
Publication date | 1992 |
| ISBN | 0-553-29749-X |
Alien Earth is a science fiction novel by American author Megan Lindholm, published in 1992 by Bantam Spectra. [1] A French translation has been released. [2] In the United States, it went out of print in 1992 and was unavailable until an ebook edition was released in 2011. [1]
In a future where Earth is highly polluted, an alien race evacuates humans to distant planets via sentient spacecraft called Beastships. The book begins long after the evacuation has occurred, when a secret group of humans seek to return to Earth to find if it is now habitable. It follows a Beastship called Evangeline and her passengers: her captain, a crewmember and a stowaway. [2] [3]
In 1992, Booklist said the novel showed Lindholm's "excellence and versatility", [4] and the Chicago Sun-Times called her "a skilled hand" in both fantasy and science fiction. [5] Describing Alien Earth as a "marvelous book" with likable characters, 2AM magazine compared it to the works of Frederick Pohl and Sherri Tepper. The reviewer Irwin Chapman said that he had nominated it for consideration for a Nebula. [3] In 2006 Le Monde , reviewing the French translation, called it "pure science fiction, of a beautiful richness". [2] Locus had a mixed reaction to the book. [6]
Ecological themes are portrayed through the story, where the aliens are deceptive in their claim that Earth is inhospitable to humans. Over the course of the book, humanity discovers the necessity of a balanced ecology. [1] [7] Its science fictional motifs include space travel via suspended animation. According to John Clute, the Beastships of Alien Earth share resemblances to liveships, sentient nautical ships in the author's later work as Robin Hobb. [7]
Gordon Rupert Dickson was a Canadian-American science fiction writer. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2000.
Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, known by her pen names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, is an American writer of speculative fiction. As Hobb, she is best known for her fantasy novels set in the Realm of the Elderlings, which comprise the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies, the Rain Wild chronicles, and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Lindholm's writing includes the urban fantasy novel Wizard of the Pigeons and science fiction short stories, among other works. As of 2018, her fiction has been translated into 22 languages and sold more than 4 million copies.
An extraterrestrial or alien is any extraterrestrial lifeform; a lifeform that did not originate on Earth. The word extraterrestrial means "outside Earth". The first published use of extraterrestrial as a noun occurred in 1956, during the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
The Farseer trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by American author Robin Hobb, published from 1995 to 1997. It is often described as epic fantasy, and as a character-driven and introspective work. Set in and around the fictional realm of the Six Duchies, it tells the story of FitzChivalry Farseer, an illegitimate son of a prince who is trained as an assassin. Political machinations within the royal family threaten his life, and the kingdom is beset by naval raids. Fitz possesses two forms of magic: the telepathic Skill that runs in the royal line, and the socially despised Wit that enables bonding with animals. The series follows his life as he seeks to restore stability to the kingdom.
The Tawny Man trilogy is a series of novels by American author Robin Hobb, and the third trilogy in the Realm of the Elderlings sequence. Narrated in first person by FitzChivalry Farseer, it follows his life in his mid-thirties, and is set after the events of the Farseer Trilogy and the Liveship Traders.
Saturn has made appearances in fiction since the 1752 novel Micromégas by Voltaire. In the earliest depictions, it was portrayed as having a solid surface rather than its actual gaseous composition. In many of these works, the planet is inhabited by aliens that are usually portrayed as being more advanced than humans. In modern science fiction, the Saturnian atmosphere sometimes hosts floating settlements. The planet is occasionally visited by humans and its rings are sometimes mined for resources.
The Alliance–Union universe is a fictional universe created by American writer C. J. Cherryh. It is the setting for a future history series extending from the 21st century into the far future.
Forge of Heaven is a science fiction novel by American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It was first published in June 2004 in the United States by HarperCollins under its Eos Books imprint.
Wizard of the Pigeons is a 1986 fantasy novel set in Seattle by Megan Lindholm, and a forerunner of the urban fantasy genre. It was the first work to draw wider attention to Lindholm. The novel explores themes of homelessness, poverty, and mental illness. It was issued as a paperback original by Ace Books in 1986, and was reprinted in hardcover by Hypatia Press in 1994 and as a 35th Anniversary Edition by Grim Oak Press in 2020. Several UK editions have also been published.
The planetary systems of stars other than the Sun and the Solar System are a staple element in many works of the science fiction genre.
Supernovae have been featured in works of fiction. While a nova is strictly speaking a different type of astronomical event, science fiction writers often use the terms interchangeably and refer to stars "going nova" without further clarification; this can at least partially be explained by the earliest science fiction works featuring these phenomena predating the introduction of the term "supernova" as a separate class of event in 1934. Since these stellar explosions release enormous amounts of energy, some stories propose using them as a power source for extremely energy-intense processes, such as time travel in the Doctor Who serial The Three Doctors from 1972. For the same reason, inducing them is occasionally portrayed as a potential weapon, for instance in the 1966 novel The Solarians by Norman Spinrad.
The Liveship Traders is a trilogy of fantasy novels by American author Robin Hobb. A nautical fantasy series, the Liveship Traders is the second trilogy set in the Realm of the Elderlings and features pirates, sea serpents, a family of traders and their living ships. Several critics regard it as Hobb's best work.
The Rain Wild Chronicles is a quartet of fantasy novels by American author Robin Hobb, published from 2009 to 2013. It chronicles the re-emergence of dragons in the Rain Wilds, a setting in Hobb's fictional Realm of the Elderlings. It is her fourth series set in that world, following after the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies, and features an entirely new cast of characters. The quartet features ecocentric themes, as it examines the reaction of humans to a new predator in the world.
This is a complete list of works by American author Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, who writes under the pen names Megan Lindholm and Robin Hobb.
Semiosis is a 2018 science fiction novel by American writer and translator Sue Burke. It is her debut novel and is the first book of her Semiosis Duology series. It was first published in February 2018 in the United States by Tor Books, and in August 2018 in the United Kingdom by HarperVoyager. The book was translated into French by Florence Bury, and published in France in September 2019 by Albin Michel.
Stars and Bones is a science fiction novel by British writer Gareth L. Powell. It was first published in the United Kingdom in March 2022 by Titan Books, and is the first book of Powell's Continuance series. Stars and Bones is about the Thousand Arks of the Continuance, a fleet of sentient starships that are home to the entire human population who had been evicted from Earth for slowly destroying their planet by an alien intelligence, the Benevolence.
The Fitz and the Fool trilogy is the concluding subseries of the Realm of the Elderlings, a 16-book fantasy series by American author Robin Hobb. Published from 2014 to 2017, it features the protagonist FitzChivalry Farseer in his fifties, and follows his life with his wife Molly and daughter Bee Farseer. It was well-received by critics, with the Los Angeles Review of Books praising Hobb's characterization and portrayal of aging, and The Guardian positively viewing how the final book consolidated plot threads from across the series.
The Windsingers is the debut fantasy series of American author Megan Lindholm, published between 1983 and 1989. It follows a woman named Ki as she recovers from the death of her family and forms a companionship with a man called Vandien. Over the course of four books, the duo face fictional creatures including harpies, who can grant visions of the dead, and Windsingers, beings who can control the weather through music. The characters Ki and Vandien first appeared in a short story in Amazons!, an anthology focused on female heroes in fantasy. The anthology won a World Fantasy Award in 1980, and Lindholm's story drew the interest of an editor at Ace Books, leading to the development of the series.
Cloven Hooves is a 1991 fantasy novel by Megan Lindholm, published in the US by Bantam Spectra. UK and French editions have also been released. The book went out of print in the US, where it was unavailable for nearly thirty years before a Voyager Classics edition was issued in 2019.
The Reindeer People is a prehistoric fiction series by American author Megan Lindholm, published in 1988 by Ace Books.
... un pur roman de science-fiction, d'une belle richesse.