Question for the well read....

Post by **Condign** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 3:42 am

Dear Forum Lurkers,

I am looking for fictional books of any sort told from a non-human perspective. The weirder the better. I am not looking for allegories, or any sort of book where the protagonists can be replaced with human beings and the story or characters still 'work'.

Something genuinely of the 'other'.

Any help would be appreciated.

Apology for the subject - you may well not be 'well-read' and still have a contribution to make - but I find vanity usually appeals to everyone <winks>...

Post by **duchess of malfi** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 5:53 am

I read a book more than twenty years ago by Frank Herbert -- not one of his Dune books. I cannot recall the title, but maybe someone else can if I give a brief description.

One of the main characters, from whom we see some point of view scenes, was an alien. One scene I remember vividly was how he was in the water. The water was filled with his offspring, as he and his mate (or maybe mates? can't remember now) had recently spawned. He was eating the babies, as was the tradition for the fathers of his species. They wanted only the strongest of the young to manage to survive.

Danlo? Fist? Other Herbert fans? This sound familiar to anyone?

Post by **Loredoctor** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 7:54 am

Try Last and First Men, by Olaf Stapledon.

Post by **onewyteduck** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:48 am

You might want to take a look at Richard Adams...Watership Down, Traveler, Shardik, The Plague Dogs......all writen from an animalian POV. (Rabbit, Horse (specifically Robert E. Lee's horse and how he saw the Civil War), a bear, and dogs respectively)

Post by **theDespiser** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:44 am

i liked the movie of Watership Down....i tried to read the book but could never really get into it...i dont even remember much about the movie now

Post by **ChoChiyo** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 3:50 am

The Man Who Fell to Earth was interesting and told from an alien point of view.

And another one told from a "different" point of view is The Mysterious Case of the Dog in the Night-time, which is told from the point of view of a fifteen year old boy with Asperberger's syndrome (a kind of autism). His mind functions in a completely different way from "normal" people.

An EXCELLENT book. Very unique and engaging.

Post by **Condign** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 4:01 am

I have read a lot of the books referenced here... however those that I have not sound rather intriguing. Thanks everyone for your contributions. Keep them coming.

Regards, Me

Post by **Fist and Faith** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 4:48 pm

This quote is from David Zindell's Neverness. On the whole, the book is not what you're after. But this excerpt is, so I figured I'd share it.

How alien, how bizarre, how hopelessly stupid seemed his way of representing single units of meaning by a discrete progression of linear sounds, whatever sounds really were! How limited to put sounds together, like beads on a string! How could human beings think at all when they had to progress from sound to sound and thought to thought one word at a time like a bug crawling along the beads of a necklace! How very slow!

Because I wanted to speak with the pilot Ringess, I raised my trunk and released a cloud of pungent odors that was to a human sentence what I supposed a symphony must be to a child's jingle. But he had no nose and he understood so little. Yes, Ringess, I told him, the scent-symbols are not fixed as, for example, the sounds in the word "purple" are fixed; they do not always mean the same thing. Isn't meaning as mutable as the smells of the sea? Can you sense the configuration of the minute pyramids of mint and vanilla bean and musk in this cloud of odors? And the meanings - do you know that the smells of jasmine and olathe and orange might mean, "I am Jasmine Orange, the lover of Man," or, "The sea is calm tonight," depending on the arrangement and the proximity of the unit pyramids to the other molecules of scent? Can you grasp meaning as a whole? And the logic of structure? Do you understand the complexities of language, my Ringess?

Ideas blossom outward like arctic poppies in the sun growing into other ideas crosslinked and connected by pungent association links, and link to link the smells of roasting meat and wet fur flow outward and sideways and down, and blend into fields redolent with the sweet perfume of strange new logic structures and new truths that you must inhale like cool mint to overwhelm and obliterate your bitter, straightforward ideas of logic and causality and time. Time is not a line; the events of your life are rather like a jungle of smells forever preserved in a bottle. One sniff and you'll sense instantly the entire jungle rather than the fragrances of individual flowers. Do you understand the subtleties? Do you dare open the bottle? No, you have no nose, and you don't understand.

He understands all that the structure of his brain will let him understand.

Post by **Condign** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 7:12 pm

Apparently a great book - one which I'm yet to tackle.

Post by **dANdeLION** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 9:11 pm

Theodore Sturgeon wrote a novel from the perspective of the aliens invading earth; I believe it was titled "The Cosmic Rape". David Brin wrote his Startide Rising series from the perspective of Apes, Dolphins, and several alien races. Asimov's "Bicentennial Man" is from the perspective of a robot, as are several other Asimov stories.

Post by **Condign** » Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:32 am

Haven't seen that Ted Sturgeon one - I will have to look it up. However I read Startide Rising, which was brilliant, and I remember reading Bicentennial Man a long time ago.
Thanks for your help.

Post by **Usivius** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:02 pm

On a slightly different note, an abosultely wonderful read is "The Golden Ass", by Lucius Apulaeus (sp). A gem about a man who gets changed in to an ass (mule) by a witch. Funny, scary and dramatic all in one. One of my favs.

Post by **Kymbierlee** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 1:04 am

"Nor Crystal Tears" Great Book, but......who wrote it? I am at a loss here- I think it was Asimov- must have had a ministroke-can't remember for sure..... I read it when I was just a kid- seem to remember it was written from an alien perspective.

Post by **Alynna Lis Eachann** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 4:55 am

Surprise! You're moving to the General Lit forum.

BTW, onewyteduck mentioned books told from the perspective of animals... but neglected to mention Black Beauty. This may be (I could be wrong) the original animal POV novel, even though Beauty does come off sounding like a human servant more than a horse a lot of the time. If you haven't read this one, I highly recommend it, if for no other reason than to say that you have, indeed, read it. Kinda like LOTR.

Post by **onewyteduck** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:23 pm

Usivius wrote:On a slightly different note, an abosultely wonderful read is "The Golden Ass", by Lucius Apulaeus (sp). A gem about a man who gets changed in to an ass (mule) by a witch. Funny, scary and dramatic all in one. One of my favs.

This sounds really great, will have to check it out!

Post by **onewyteduck** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:25 pm

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:Surprise! You're moving to the General Lit forum.

BTW, onewyteduck mentioned books told from the perspective of animals... but neglected to mention Black Beauty. This may be (I could be wrong) the original animal POV novel, even though Beauty does come off sounding like a human servant more than a horse a lot of the time. If you haven't read this one, I highly recommend it, if for no other reason than to say that you have, indeed, read it. Kinda like LOTR.

I never have read Black Beauty, perhaps I should!

Post by **Iryssa** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:38 am

I loved Black Beauty...I wouldn't say it's weird at all *grin* but I loved it...

I would also like to say that the movie "Watership Down" gave me nightmares as a child. Creepy blue bunnies...fields "covered in blood"...insane inbreds...*shudder*

Post by **onewyteduck** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:45 am

Iryssa wrote:I would also like to say that the movie "Watership Down" gave me nightmares as a child. Creepy blue bunnies...fields "covered in blood"...insane inbreds...*shudder*

It certainly isn't a movie for young children. Sadly, too many parents fail to look past the "cartoon".

Post by **lurch** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:17 pm

...The answer to one of the questions above..about the Frank Herbert book.." The Dosadi Experiment"...the frog aliens,,and yes..eating their young..yeeeow!...and whats that book written maybe two years ago..about dogs who suddenly can talk and all...then slowly revert back to being just dogs..sad...actually about being old......I can't remember the author or the title..hey, its only sometimers at this point......MEL

Post by **Warmark Jay** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:49 pm

"Grendel", by John Gardner (sp?) is wonderful. It's the story of Beowulf told from Grendel's point of view. Very funny and poignant at the same time.

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Question for the well read....

Question for the well read....

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