Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans/ --
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
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In article <vlh6q0$hp1$1@reader2.panix.com>,
jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans/

Certainly humans have found conquering other humans to be not always
entirely successful.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ‹-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

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Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:

On 1/6/2025 12:18 PM, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans/

"Footfall" by Niven and Pournelle.

"With Friends like These", Foster.

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On Mon, 6 Jan 2025 15:09:36 -0500, William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com>
wrote:

James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans/

Two that have been discussed here earlier are Dickson's "The Way of the >Pilgrim" and Silverberg's "The Alien years".

In the former we convince the Aliens that we are not worthy of their
rule, in the latter the Aliens leave for reasons of their own. Despite a >plethora of plucky J. W. Campbell types and a Heinlein clone, we do not >force them to leave.

Which was why I found /The Alien Years/ to be ... ultimately
pointless.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

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On 1/6/25 10:18, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans/

"To serve man". Seriously with mushrooms on the side...

bliss

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On 1/7/25 11:16, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 1/6/25 10:18, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-
humans/

    "To serve man".  Seriously with mushrooms on the side...

    bliss

And "Out of the Dark" fairly recent Stigoi come to the aid of
their food source, humanity. Very hard on the Aliens.

bliss

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On 1/7/25 12:30, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 1/7/25 11:16, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 1/6/25 10:18, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-
govern- humans/

     "To serve man".  Seriously with mushrooms on the side...

     bliss

    And "Out of the Dark" fairly recent Stigoi come to the aid of
their food source, humanity. Very hard on the Aliens.

    bliss

That should be Strigoi, i.e. vampires.
bliss

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In article <vljuj5$2bge8$1@dont-email.me>,
Bobbie Sellers <blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:

On 1/6/25 10:18, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans/

"To serve man". Seriously with mushrooms on the side...

They call it... MATANGO!
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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In article <vlk2t6$2cb97$1@dont-email.me>,
Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

On 1/7/25 11:16, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 1/6/25 10:18, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-
humans/

    "To serve man".  Seriously with mushrooms on the side...

    bliss

And "Out of the Dark" fairly recent Stigoi come to the aid of
their food source, humanity. Very hard on the Aliens.

bliss

Except they weren't a food source.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. —-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

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On 1/7/25 22:03, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 1/7/2025 11:46 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:

In article <vlk2t6$2cb97$1@dont-email.me>,
  Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

On 1/7/25 11:16, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 1/6/25 10:18, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern- >>>>> humans/

      "To serve man".  Seriously with mushrooms on the side...

      bliss

    And "Out of the Dark" fairly recent Stigoi come to the aid of
their food source, humanity. Very hard on the Aliens.

    bliss

Except they weren't a food source.

My thought exactly.

Lynn

Well then what do vampires from Planet Earth eat besides
the blood of human persons. Don't tell me that they are all
kindly souls all who abstain from such outrages,for the sake
of the story.

bliss

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On Jan 8, 2025, Bobbie Sellers wrote
(in article <vll556$2lkef$1@dont-email.me>):

On 1/7/25 22:03, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 1/7/2025 11:46 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:

In article<vlk2t6$2cb97$1@dont-email.me>,
Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

On 1/7/25 11:16, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 1/6/25 10:18, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-
humans/

"To serve man". Seriously with mushrooms on the side...

bliss

And "Out of the Dark" fairly recent Stigoi come to the aid of
their food source, humanity. Very hard on the Aliens.

bliss

Except they weren't a food source.

My thought exactly.

Lynn

Well then what do vampires from Planet Earth eat besides
the blood of human persons. Don't tell me that they are all
kindly souls all who abstain from such outrages,for the sake
of the story.

Nah. They’re alien-built nanotech powered by radiation. The reason why
young vampires can’t go out in daylight is that they can’t control themselves and overeat when in sunlight. It’s a Major Plot Point. Now, exactly how the alien tech got onto the Earth, when, and why, remains to be seen but has all the earmarks of a Really Major Plot Point, inbound, at Dead Slow Ahead as Weber & sharecropper who does the actual writing string things out. Hint: the Bad Guys in the first book are now Good Guys, compared to the Real Bad Guys, and were set up by the Real Bad Guys, and the actual invasion force commander went against policy and has been repudiated. And the Ex-Bad Guys are joining the Crusade against the Real Bad Guys. I see where Weber & accomplice can get at least a half dozen books out of this. Probably more.
And, in the meantime, no Bazhell, no Merlin, and Honor is still stagnating. Bah, humbug. No, I’m not a fan of Space Nanotech Vampires.

bliss

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On Jan 7, 2025, Lynn McGuire wrote
(in article <vlilm1$23pfs$1@dont-email.me>):

On 1/6/2025 12:18 PM, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans
/

"Footfall" by Niven and Pournelle.

Lynn

The Snouts never really got that whole ‘rule’ thing down. They were
grossly incompetent: too small a force, dispersed into too many areas, with
no real plan. Frankly, they should not have landed, they should just have heaved a few rocks and demanded surrender. And if they had down that their digit ships would not have been dispersed all over, and if the US was stupid enough to build and launch Michael they digit ships would swarm her. There would need to be a _fleet_ of Michaels, and even the Snouts, dim as they
were, would notice _that_ being built and thump the building sites good from orbit.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 1/8/25 04:32, WolfFan wrote:

On Jan 8, 2025, Bobbie Sellers wrote
(in article <vll556$2lkef$1@dont-email.me>):

On 1/7/25 22:03, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 1/7/2025 11:46 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:

In article<vlk2t6$2cb97$1@dont-email.me>,
Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:

On 1/7/25 11:16, Bobbie Sellers wrote:

On 1/6/25 10:18, James Nicoll wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern- >>>>>>> humans/

"To serve man". Seriously with mushrooms on the side...

bliss

And "Out of the Dark" fairly recent Stigoi come to the aid of
their food source, humanity. Very hard on the Aliens.

bliss

Except they weren't a food source.

My thought exactly.

Lynn

Well then what do vampires from Planet Earth eat besides
the blood of human persons. Don't tell me that they are all
kindly souls all who abstain from such outrages,for the sake
of the story.

Nah. They’re alien-built nanotech powered by radiation. The reason why young vampires can’t go out in daylight is that they can’t control themselves and overeat when in sunlight. It’s a Major Plot Point. Now, exactly how the alien tech got onto the Earth, when, and why, remains to be seen but has all the earmarks of a Really Major Plot Point, inbound, at Dead Slow Ahead as Weber & sharecropper who does the actual writing string things out. Hint: the Bad Guys in the first book are now Good Guys, compared to the Real Bad Guys, and were set up by the Real Bad Guys, and the actual invasion force commander went against policy and has been repudiated. And the Ex-Bad Guys are joining the Crusade against the Real Bad Guys. I see where Weber & accomplice can get at least a half dozen books out of this. Probably more. And, in the meantime, no Bazhell, no Merlin, and Honor is still stagnating. Bah, humbug. No, I’m not a fan of Space Nanotech Vampires.

bliss

Since I did not read the followups to the original I was ignorant but it is not Aliend Tect but Atlantis Tech as explained
in the works of Lynsay Sands.

bliss

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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In article <vlh6q0$hp1$1@reader2.panix.com>,
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

Five Stories About Aliens Attempting to Govern Humans

Maybe conquering humans is a bad idea?

https://reactormag.com/five-stories-about-aliens-attempting-to-govern-humans/

I fondly remember "Pandora's Planet". Christopher Anvil was
always a hoot. It's been some 50 years since I read it though;
I'm not sure how well it'd hold up. Interesting concept...
The aliens have been doing their thing for a very long time,
but they're not quite as intelligent, on average, as humans.

I must have read the Asimov story, but I don't remember
anything about it.
--
Mike Van Pelt | "I don't advise it unless you're nuts."
mvp at calweb.com | -- Ray Wilkinson, after riding out Hurricane
KE6BVH | Ike on Surfside Beach in Galveston

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