Not One of Us

Mankind comes face to face with extraterrestrial life in this short fiction reprint anthology from Clarkesworld publisher Neil Clarke. They Are Strangers from Far Lands . . . Science fiction writers have been using aliens as a metaphor for the other for over one hundred years. Superman has otherworldly origins, and his struggles to blend in on our planet are a clear metaphor for immigration. Earth’s adopted son is just one example of this “Alien Among Us” narrative.

There are stories of assimilation, or the failure to do so. Stories of resistance to the forces of naturalization. Stories told from the alien viewpoint. Stories that use aliens as a manifestation of the fears and worries of specific places and eras. Stories that transcend location and time, speaking to universal issues of group identity and its relationship to the Other

Contents:

Introduction

Touring with the Alien / by Carolyn Ives Gilman

Laws of Survival / by Nancy Kress

At Play in the Fields / by Steve Rasnic Tem

Ants of Flanders / by Robert Reed

Taking Care of God / by Liu Cixin

Water Scorpions / by Rich Larson

The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill / by Kelly Robson

Men are Trouble / by James Patrick Kelly

They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass / by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Bits / by Naomi Kritzer

And Never Mind the Watching Ones / by Keffy R. M. Kehrli

Dark Heaven / by Gregory Benford

Nine-Tenths of the Law / by Molly Tanzer

Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion / by Caroline M. Yoachim

Time of the Snake / by A.M. Dellamonica

The Fear Gun / by Judith Berman

Tendeleo’s Story / by Ian McDonald

The Choice / by Paul McAuley

Passage of Earth / by Michael Swanwick

Reborn / by Ken Liu

Story of Your Life / by Ted Chiang

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