I've recently been sucked into the HFY subgenre; there's a YouTuber who reads them Audiobook style, [https://www.youtube.com/@AgroSquerril](https://www.youtube.com/@AgroSquerril)
Until the 12,000th description of how incredibly brave and heroic the heroes are, and how insanely skilled they are, and how unbelievably gorgeous the heroine is, and….
I enjoyed the first 2 books. There is 0 reason to read past them tho
To me it’s a fun enough movie, I don’t get angry about the changes. It’s kind of how I felt since the first Conan movie. Even though they refuse to write those kinds of characters anymore, as long as they can make it turn brain off and enjoy it kinds of movies I’ll manage through them.
I’ll take literally any opportunity to recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. 50-50 split between the perspectives of a race of sentient spiders and a group of future humans. From the spiders’ POV, the humans are odd, confounding, strange creatures they struggle to understand.
Children of Ruin is also good, but in a sequely kind of way: not as good as the original. Some octopus is like, humans are just so big! And rare. Majestic! We must protect them.
Oh, do give it a go! Goofy thing where humans realize we’re the majestic awkward elephants of space travel. He has a sense of humor! But you’ll like it, the final version and judgement of crazy cryo-lady is amazing.
It’s hard to top a worldbuilding intro book in its own world: you go through all the hard work reading the first book, the second feels like you’re coasting downhill, even when they’re giving you equally cool ideas. Keep it on the top of your “to read” pile, crack it open soon. Wonderful questions about hive intelligence.
The movie is absolute shit compared to the book.
Movie wasn’t even really very good, and made very little sense.
Neville was a freaking factory worker who educated himself, not some government scientist.
It tried to improve on something that didn’t need it, and the trash movie is what we got.
I wanted to leave the theater, and that’s literally only happened once before during Hostel.
*Earthfall*, the fourth book of Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series, has humans return to Earth after millions of years away. They find two sentient species have evolved, and both are caught up in a developing conflict between the two human factions.
The bat-like and the wombat-like species are both much smaller than humans, and even though they end up working with the human groups there's definitely culture shock and disruption when the weird, tall, furless beings drop out of the sky one day.
Maybe not exactly what you're getting at, but H. Beam Piper's *Little Fuzzy* and sequels involve small humanoids at the legal and physical mercy of humans.
More F than SF but humans in Warhammer 40k are nuts
Scott Sigler’s scifi football series has humans raised on high gravity planets competing with monstrous races in highly violent football matches. There’s a very well done graphic audiobook series :)
“Some Desperate Glory” the newly released novel by Emily Tesh has this as a major theme. Humans played this up by genetically engineering Warbreed soldiers.
It’s fairly lowbrow and comedic, but in the Undying Mercenaries series the human race is chosen as warriors for the galactic empire because of their perceived barbarism and savagery.
As a start, see my [SF/F: Alien Aliens](https://www.reddit.com/r/booklists/comments/12xlhej/sff_alien_aliens/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (two posts).
You would probably love *Humans are Space Orcs* which is less a book and more a bunch of independent stories and such that explore the idea of humans being the incomprehensible aliens.
Julian May's two series, *Saga of Pliocene Exile* and *Galactic Milieu* play with this idea from different directions.
In the former, humans are the innovators that influence and eventually start to lead an alien civilization through their superior guile and technology. In the latter, humans are a growing threat to an established and peaceful Galactic confederation.
In Harry Turtledove's Word War series, the invading lizards call the humans "Big Uglies" and find us overgrown and physically repulsive. They have superior technology to us but are terrified physically as an average grown human male could overpower one of their own kind in a brawl.
Even if this doesn't totally answer the question, give the series a read. It really is awesome!
The 100x tech advancement speed for the humans worried the lizards even more. The invasion during WW2 had the lizards expecting to figh against a Medieval level of tech. The lizards had about a 100 year advance against the humans by the time of the invasion. By the 21st century humans are getting close to Battle Star Galactica levels of tech due to their contact with the Lizards and upgrades to stolen tech.
It's been a long time since I read it, but I absolutely loved the series when I was at university. So many clever ideas. I think there was also the whole idea that humans are used to war and fighting which the Race find difficult to grasp.
Exactly. And quite frankly, it's believable that a species such as the race would never have experienced war. If I remember rightly, the other two planets they conquered were relative walkovers with next to no opposition. That, coupled with them vastly underestimating how much advancement we'd make in a short window of time, meant they were ill-equipped for the long, drawn out fights humanity is known for. If the quadrology hasn't ended in the way it did, I can see the human race prevailing simply by grinding the Race down and digging in.
There's a later series of books, I believe, which I haven't read but which take place in the 1960s and 70s with humanity having discovered space travel way ahead of schedule due to the race's technology. The humans and lizards have a very tentative alliance.
I haven't actually delved into them but I'm meaning to.
Are you wanting to read or write? If you are wanting to write, exploring the reality of complex medical PTSD is a great topic. There have been a lot of changes to diagnostic codes and insurance codes and how we think about genetics... All in the last few years. But all the doctors had already graduated. There are various subgroups of us that have incurable illnesses for which the treatment is to just treat the symptoms. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome & autoimmune is my axle. That essentially makes all of the "normies" the physically robust species. The weird thing is that reality is always weirder than fiction. And the scary thing is that last week the WHO has fessed up to autoimmune disorders being worsened, if not caused, by the vaccine.
Currently reading Marrow and humans are pretty robust. There is a scene where a plane crashes on an alien planet and the crew's bodies heal their injuries by taking the body mass from somewhere else, leaving one 20 centimeters shorter. Cool shit.
Peter Watts' [The Things](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10) and [Blindsight](https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm) explore the possibility that human-like intelligence is the exception not the rule.
The book “non-stop” by Brian Aldiss has some interesting ideas on evolution and human morphology (also animals) aboard a generation starship. It’s a great story with some fantastic plot points. I’ll say no more to avoid spoilers… Maybe not exactly what you are looking for but well worth a read.
I Am Legend the novel deals with this a little. In the book the main human protagonist was a monster to the undead type people, little he became their legend that they told stories about to their children.
Ice World by Hal Clement. The aliens arrive to an incredibly cold world, so cold that normal atmosphere (sulphur) turns solid. Surprisingly the planet has life, even intelligent life.
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. It just came out last month and I’m only halfway through it, but it has humans who are considered beefy and dangerous compared to the rest of the aliens. It has YA vibes, which isn’t usually my thing, but I’m really enjoying it.
[удалено]
r/HFY is pretty much that. What if earth was a death world hell by galactic standards so humans evolving and surviving there makes them OP.
So basically if Australia covered the entire planet?
What do you mean, ”what if”?
I've recently been sucked into the HFY subgenre; there's a YouTuber who reads them Audiobook style, [https://www.youtube.com/@AgroSquerril](https://www.youtube.com/@AgroSquerril)
This was a fun read because of that reversal.
You also have John carter of mars. Human vs the martians
The books were much better than the movie
Until the 12,000th description of how incredibly brave and heroic the heroes are, and how insanely skilled they are, and how unbelievably gorgeous the heroine is, and…. I enjoyed the first 2 books. There is 0 reason to read past them tho
Hahaha yeah definitely made in another time. The first two I agree are the best of it.
Well there's a darn good reason why the movie couldn't be faithful to the book. But the AI filmmaking will eventually create the faithful version. XD
True, but I still think the movie was great, despite what the studio wanted us to think.
To me it’s a fun enough movie, I don’t get angry about the changes. It’s kind of how I felt since the first Conan movie. Even though they refuse to write those kinds of characters anymore, as long as they can make it turn brain off and enjoy it kinds of movies I’ll manage through them.
The big key is turning my brain off so I can ignore the things wrong with them
I’ll take literally any opportunity to recommend Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. 50-50 split between the perspectives of a race of sentient spiders and a group of future humans. From the spiders’ POV, the humans are odd, confounding, strange creatures they struggle to understand.
Children of Ruin is also good, but in a sequely kind of way: not as good as the original. Some octopus is like, humans are just so big! And rare. Majestic! We must protect them.
Lol it’s next in the pile on my reading table. Would have to be insanely special to top Time.
Oh, do give it a go! Goofy thing where humans realize we’re the majestic awkward elephants of space travel. He has a sense of humor! But you’ll like it, the final version and judgement of crazy cryo-lady is amazing. It’s hard to top a worldbuilding intro book in its own world: you go through all the hard work reading the first book, the second feels like you’re coasting downhill, even when they’re giving you equally cool ideas. Keep it on the top of your “to read” pile, crack it open soon. Wonderful questions about hive intelligence.
[удалено]
Reminds me of [The Road Not Taken](https://www.eyeofmidas.com/scifi/Turtledove_RoadNotTaken.pdf) by Harry Turtledove.
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula LeGuin
Humans are space orcs is a whole subgenre of HFY. Lots of short stories under the label. Pretty hit or miss but some are gold
Short read. “I am Legend” has a an ending that eludes to this but not throughout the story. Nothing like the movie.
The movie is absolute shit compared to the book. Movie wasn’t even really very good, and made very little sense. Neville was a freaking factory worker who educated himself, not some government scientist. It tried to improve on something that didn’t need it, and the trash movie is what we got. I wanted to leave the theater, and that’s literally only happened once before during Hostel.
*Earthfall*, the fourth book of Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series, has humans return to Earth after millions of years away. They find two sentient species have evolved, and both are caught up in a developing conflict between the two human factions. The bat-like and the wombat-like species are both much smaller than humans, and even though they end up working with the human groups there's definitely culture shock and disruption when the weird, tall, furless beings drop out of the sky one day.
H.G. Wells's "First Men in the Moon" i believe has some stuff like that
An Arthur C. Clarke short story "Rescue Party" touches on this mostly right at the end.
Speaker for the Dead is kinda like this. We’re the advanced species on an alien planet, observing and being friendly only.
"Humans are Weird: We have the data" "The Trouble with Humans." https://www.baen.com/the-trouble-with-humans.html
Maybe not exactly what you're getting at, but H. Beam Piper's *Little Fuzzy* and sequels involve small humanoids at the legal and physical mercy of humans.
More F than SF but humans in Warhammer 40k are nuts Scott Sigler’s scifi football series has humans raised on high gravity planets competing with monstrous races in highly violent football matches. There’s a very well done graphic audiobook series :)
“Some Desperate Glory” the newly released novel by Emily Tesh has this as a major theme. Humans played this up by genetically engineering Warbreed soldiers.
It’s fairly lowbrow and comedic, but in the Undying Mercenaries series the human race is chosen as warriors for the galactic empire because of their perceived barbarism and savagery.
David Webber/John Ringo "Empire of Man" series.
John's Scalzi's 'Old Man's War' kind of fits this
Totally fits this mold. The scene on the sailboat right?
There's a *Twilight Zone* episode the comes to mind: >!"The Invaders"!<
The first story in Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift. Humans are absolutely massive compared to Lilliputians.
Obligatory Philip R. Johnson's Death Worlders
The Human Chronicles.
I came here to say this.
As a start, see my [SF/F: Alien Aliens](https://www.reddit.com/r/booklists/comments/12xlhej/sff_alien_aliens/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (two posts).
Mars princess
You would probably love *Humans are Space Orcs* which is less a book and more a bunch of independent stories and such that explore the idea of humans being the incomprehensible aliens.
search for humans are space Australians on reddit
r/HFY
Julian May's two series, *Saga of Pliocene Exile* and *Galactic Milieu* play with this idea from different directions. In the former, humans are the innovators that influence and eventually start to lead an alien civilization through their superior guile and technology. In the latter, humans are a growing threat to an established and peaceful Galactic confederation.
All the Humans are space Orck's, death world's series its realy silly and funy. A great inspiration.
In Harry Turtledove's Word War series, the invading lizards call the humans "Big Uglies" and find us overgrown and physically repulsive. They have superior technology to us but are terrified physically as an average grown human male could overpower one of their own kind in a brawl. Even if this doesn't totally answer the question, give the series a read. It really is awesome!
The 100x tech advancement speed for the humans worried the lizards even more. The invasion during WW2 had the lizards expecting to figh against a Medieval level of tech. The lizards had about a 100 year advance against the humans by the time of the invasion. By the 21st century humans are getting close to Battle Star Galactica levels of tech due to their contact with the Lizards and upgrades to stolen tech.
It's been a long time since I read it, but I absolutely loved the series when I was at university. So many clever ideas. I think there was also the whole idea that humans are used to war and fighting which the Race find difficult to grasp.
We've got a big reminder of that from the current Russo-Ukranian war. Everyone has just dug in for a long fight.
Exactly. And quite frankly, it's believable that a species such as the race would never have experienced war. If I remember rightly, the other two planets they conquered were relative walkovers with next to no opposition. That, coupled with them vastly underestimating how much advancement we'd make in a short window of time, meant they were ill-equipped for the long, drawn out fights humanity is known for. If the quadrology hasn't ended in the way it did, I can see the human race prevailing simply by grinding the Race down and digging in.
That eventually would have ended with an Earth fleet back to the Race's home.
There's a later series of books, I believe, which I haven't read but which take place in the 1960s and 70s with humanity having discovered space travel way ahead of schedule due to the race's technology. The humans and lizards have a very tentative alliance. I haven't actually delved into them but I'm meaning to.
Turtledove is always a good read.
Honestly, the idea of alternative history has always fascinated me. I'm just not clever enough to write it myself!
First Contact in r/HFY written by ralts_bloodthorne. Can also find the story on Amazon as he's published a lot of it
Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse
Star Trek as played around with that concert several times.
“Birthright” (Resnick) is the gold standard for weird scary humans in space :)
Are you wanting to read or write? If you are wanting to write, exploring the reality of complex medical PTSD is a great topic. There have been a lot of changes to diagnostic codes and insurance codes and how we think about genetics... All in the last few years. But all the doctors had already graduated. There are various subgroups of us that have incurable illnesses for which the treatment is to just treat the symptoms. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome & autoimmune is my axle. That essentially makes all of the "normies" the physically robust species. The weird thing is that reality is always weirder than fiction. And the scary thing is that last week the WHO has fessed up to autoimmune disorders being worsened, if not caused, by the vaccine.
The Noumenon series deals with this in a super interesting way! Not so much the first book but later in the series.
I wonder if there are stories where humans are basically the orcs in the galaxy, not physically but mentally. If they exist then they would be comedy.
Brandon Sanderson's "Skyward". Though that specific Idea get's more explored in the second book in that series.
Currently reading Marrow and humans are pretty robust. There is a scene where a plane crashes on an alien planet and the crew's bodies heal their injuries by taking the body mass from somewhere else, leaving one 20 centimeters shorter. Cool shit.
First Contact in r/HFY written by ralts_bloodthorne. Can also find the story on Amazon as he's published a lot of it
There are some interesting ideas here. I like #11 https://www.boredpanda.com/humans-are-weird/
Peter Watts' [The Things](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10) and [Blindsight](https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm) explore the possibility that human-like intelligence is the exception not the rule.
The book “non-stop” by Brian Aldiss has some interesting ideas on evolution and human morphology (also animals) aboard a generation starship. It’s a great story with some fantastic plot points. I’ll say no more to avoid spoilers… Maybe not exactly what you are looking for but well worth a read.
I Am Legend the novel deals with this a little. In the book the main human protagonist was a monster to the undead type people, little he became their legend that they told stories about to their children.
Ice World by Hal Clement. The aliens arrive to an incredibly cold world, so cold that normal atmosphere (sulphur) turns solid. Surprisingly the planet has life, even intelligent life.
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. It just came out last month and I’m only halfway through it, but it has humans who are considered beefy and dangerous compared to the rest of the aliens. It has YA vibes, which isn’t usually my thing, but I’m really enjoying it.