Looking for recommendations for sci-fi books with a 'body snatchers' theme of human possession or replacement
After reading The Body Snatchers and The Puppet Masters, I am almost finishing Blood Music and I am not yet done with that theme.
These are all stories about human possession or replacement with copies by other entities, extraterrestrial or otherwise. As I finish Blood Music, I find myself craving for more. It doesn't matter if it is about invasion or something else that takes over our bodies and minds. Stories that question and entice our attachment to our identities, as well as our desire to conform and dissolve into the collective.
I wish for stories that are not about just one person undergoing a transformation, but rather a group or a community (family, town, country, the world).
Ideally, they should be some kind of science fiction (even if science's role is not immediately obvious and overt), but I am open to suggestions if you believe something in other genres deserves my attention.
References:
- The Body Snatchers
- The Puppet Masters
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
- Blood Music
- Body Snatchers - TV Tropes
It isn't the main theme of the book, but Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a really interesting book with a lot of similar ideas.
The "Children of" trilogy is pretty good, but you probably want to start with the first book "Children of Time" which is excellent but doesn't fulfill your recommendation request
We're going on an adventure...
Agreed, the "body snatcher" aspects don't get introduced until the second book and then the third explores them. The first one is very necessary to the series though.
Great books.
So... can I just start with Children of Ruin, or do I really need knowledge to read the first one?
I remember them all starting with a basic synopsis of "the world/story so far", so you could probably jump in anywhere and be fine. I do think they're all worth reading fwiw, just as far as the theme of the post goes the first book has ~1 person that could be argued fits or will later fit, where the 2nd/3rd more directly fit with talking about groups.
If the first doesn't grab you / sound interesting I think it'd be fine to start with "[...] Ruin". There's a definite continuity to the world but very little character overlap between books. An analogy is maybe different Star Trek series instead of episodes/seasons in a single series.
One of my favorite themes! If you’re willing to take a chance on a self published author, my novel The Dark Black is about a solar system wide police force battling just the kind of blood music body-snatchers you find so enthralling.
There is a free Audiobook version without ads on my literary podcast as well.
And if you’re really willing to try some different media, I am an award-winning science-fiction playwright who has put these themes on stage in several productions. That is, if you read scripts…
That's really cool, I'll check it out!
The link to your podcast is the same as the one for your book :P
I have noticed that your book's Amazon page doesn't have a lot of details. Would you be open to sharing a bit more about your book here?
Thanks ;)
Ack, the dangers of replying over mobile. Apologies!
Like a lot of my latest work, The Dark Black is an audiobook first, text novel second. So the Amazon page is really just a placeholder for the hardcopy. Sorry for the lack of description. Here's how I introduce The Dark Black in the notes of the first audio chapter:
A number of years ago, when cyberpunk was on a downswing and Blade Runner 2049 wasn't even being considered, I yearned for a good hard-boiled space noir. So I decided to write one myself. The Dark Black is the story of the first solar-system-wide serial killer and the efforts of Detective Abelard Blum and his partner Saro Ovile to stop them.
Podcast link
Apple podcast link
Quite a long trilogy but I highly recommend the sci-fi space opera “Commonwealth Saga” by Peter F Hamilton.
This is common theme with Hamilton. I was going to recommend The Night's Dawn, which runs to something insane like 6000 pages over the three books. Worth it though.
btw, the Commonwealth Saga is only two books
Whoops. Thanks for the correction. Good point, Night’s Dawn also fits the description, potentially even the Salvation Trilogy, but I found the ending to that series slightly unsatisfying.
Same here, Night's Dawn is what came to mind for me.
Hamilton is an awesome author.
What are the elements in this saga of human possession, replacement, or control?
Without spoiling the story, what triggers an alien invasion also reveals that certain humans are under control of a mysterious entity. So while battling the invading force they have to content with not knowing who to trust. So from your description it seemed to fit due to several humans not acting under their own will.
I'm going to suggest Dawn (Xenogenesis/Liliths brood series) by Octavia Butler for a slightly different take on the trope, but one I think meets your wants.
Humanity has blow itself to hell and faces extinction. Except an alien race, the Ooankali have rescued the survivors and is working to save our planet. But nothing comes without a cost. Lilith is one of the people rescued and we experience her gradual exposure to a new and disturbing species as they groom her to lead the first of the new human populations back on a recovered planet.
minimal plot spoilers but the relevant themes
In short the Ooankali have a biologically driven need to swap and manipulate DNA. They think our cancer is amazing (bad for us, great for them.) However they see our species as fatally hierarchal, doomed to self destruction over and over. Lilith and those others rescued and healed are mostly human with a few modifications. Their children however will not be human, but part Ooankali. To do otherwise is anathema to the Ooankali. The humans have to deal with that revelation, and whether to accept it or not. And do they even have a choice? And if they don't, what's the morally correct path? And whose fault is it?
I read this novel in college and enjoyed it as an interesting science fiction story. I reread the trilogy a few years ago and went "oh this is about colonization and collaboration and so many more things." I highly recommend it.
Animorphs - it's a middle-grade series but it holds up very well to a read-through as an adult. On one level, it's a story about kids turning into animals. On another level - it's a story of child soldiers fighting a guerilla war against an enemy that could have already replaced anyone they know and love.
I deeply love this series and will not shut up about it (and also may be able to get you ebook copies of all the books...)
Ebook copies are freely available! Or like the author(s) is fine with the Dropbox link or whatever.
The Takeshi Kovac novels, starting with Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan gets into this. When people can have their consciousness swapped into different bodies, how much of you is you, and how much of you is the body you are in?
The Netflix adaptation was quite good, but misses some important subversive themes in the books.
Ah, man, I loved that first season (haven't read the books). The second season was a huge letdown in comparison.
It's not a horror work so I don't think it ticks, and much more space opera sci-fi, but Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie has this as a theme/motif.
I don't remember if it is a twist or where exactly it comes up so
Potential Spoiler
Ancillaries are human bodies controlled by AI. The main character was formerly the AI of a warship.Another thought: Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson has this in books 2 and it's a major component of book 3.
Spoiler
Humans modified so that they can be controlled by a malevolent force. They retain awareness but are psychically dominated.Ancillary Justice (and sequels) is one of my favorites. Such a unique perspective for a main character.
I do really love Ancillary Justice.
I'd also recommend Translation State. The Translators are another sort of non-human human...it's complicated
How did I not know there was more Anne Leckie?!?
She is one of those authors that I wish was more prolific.
Yeah she's written two "standalones" which I put in scare quotes because they're in the world of the Radch still. If not through Radchaai eyes.
Hey, thanks, I'll look this up! ;)
I didn't really need suggestions to be horror, it just so happens that a lot of stories with that theme tend to be classified as horror. I wouldn't call The Puppet Masters (the book) horror, for example.
May not be entirely in line (and may be a bit of a spoiler to even mention it) but Night Train to Rigel could be up your alley. It's a neo-noir sci Fi novel by Timothy Zahn who's written a bunch but maybe most recognizable as the author of the Thrawn trilogy if you like Star Wars. Night Train is the first in a series but I haven't read any of the others. I think it works well enough as a standalone.
Kiln People by David Brin
More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
My suggestion is probably not the best fit and it’s been a while since I read it, but A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge may interest you. It’s a space opera involving both a manipulative AI and mind dominating aliens.
Although that book may not completely fulfill the requirements, that is one of the most recommended books in /r/printsh and I get the impression that it is considered a classic. I'm definitely reading it!
Sort Peter H Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy.
I think it's worth mentioning Mira Grant's Parasite. I enjoyed their Newsflesh series, so I started this one. I haven't finished the series, but I feel that it falls into the "Bodysnatchers" category.
I'd agree that it does. Mira/Seanan is excellent.
The theme of body swapping is present in many of Jack L. Chalker's books. But, more on theme of possession, check out Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold and The Identity Matrix.
Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz. Koontz writing can be somewhat formulaic sometimes but it is a fun read.
Monsters walk among us disguised as humans and they revel in our suffering. The protagonist is a young man who has the ability to see the monsters' true form, but no one believes him and he is wanted for killing one of them.
Disclaimer: The suspense about evil things masquerading as people and infiltrating our society is very much present, but technically it does not quite fit your requirement.
Spoiler
The monsters don´t actually replace people, they only take human form.The Thing is a classic movie in the genre and it is based on the novella Who goes there? by John W. Campbell. Highly recommend!
Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16059400-burning-paradise
There are a ton of great books on here suggested by people that read way more than I do clearly, but I didn’t see Old Man’s War by John Scalzi on here.
It’s not horror, but it won some awards and the author is great and a good human. One of my favorites.
Lou, Midworld has an incident that sort of fits. It's definitely a parasite taking over a human. But it's a small piece of the story.
With an ecological bent:
Peter Watts' Rifters series, available free at the link. Creepier than Blood Music, with a more plausible mechanism.
Ian McDonald's Chaga series.
Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, which is like one long, sweaty, series of hallucinations on the themes of transformation and possession that you're seeking.
Harder SF:
Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series, particularly Revelation Space.
Horror:
Practically any of Charles Stross' Laundry Files [spoilers] books will be chock full of possessions, body horror, and transformations in an updated and very darkly humorous updated Lovecraftian mythos.
I see that this is a series. Does the 'blood music/body snatchers' themes occur right from the first book, "Starfish"?
Well, Starfish starts with a bunch of very broken people undergoing extensive modification to live in the deep ocean, and moves on to them discovering...
Spoiler
They're infected with an archaic lifeform that's based on a completely alternative chemistry, and the infection will likely cause them to starve to death slowly. It can affect most living things, and it's incredibly contagious..."I'd say it's slow burn - both psychological and body horror, with gradual reveals that people are not who they say/think they are, even before you get to the "blood music" parts. But everything is there in the first book, and keeps evolving to bigger and bigger scopes through the next ones.
Peter Watts isn't everyone's cup of tea - he does slow reveals, his characters can range from unlikeable to inscrutable to outright sociopathic, and there's so much science in his fiction that the bibliographies look like graduate seminar courses. I think it's fun, but YMMV.
I don't think I'll have any trouble with Peter Watts, and I've been wanting to read him for a while. I am a Greg Egan (and now Greg Bear) fan and deep mind-bending hard sci-fi transhumanism is right up my alley. I'm just asking because I'm kinda researching the possession/replacement themes so I gotta prioritize the ones that are more representative of the subjects I am asking for.
I'm giving a shot to The Mind Thing but the writing is maybe a bit too simplistic for me... maybe it's a good book but I'm kinda in the mood for something a tad more sophisticated to keep me going. I may switch to Peter Watts, but at the same time, I think I need a break after Blood Music. Transhumanism can be wonderful, but I need time to digest it. Feels weird to jump into another mind-bending story so fast. If you listen to Coltrane all day long, at some point you need some punk rock as a palate cleanser. Do I make any sense? :P
Thanks ;)
SPOILERS AHEAD
I started the book and I can get behind every sci-fi concept it throws at me, but why would people that were abused or otherwise traumatized be great for that environment? I'm here thinking that if that was the case, wouldn't NASA be recruiting them? Wouldn't submarines be full of broken people? It seems quite evident to me that these are the worse people to send 3km deep into the ocean!
I get the part about bodily, physical trauma, though.
I know this is fiction but since it's hard sci-fi I feel I can be a little more nitpicky.
Anyway, I'm just 15% into the book, so if there's a better mysterious explanation no spoilers!
I'm really liking the book but it's really rough in regards to trauma and self destructive tendencies. Feels like a book worthy of a few trigger warnings!
I really like the prose, but do I wanna endure those emotions right now? I'm really not sure. It's so good though.
there's a book in the Star Wars expanded universe, The Truce at Bakura, that has similar themes.
it was published relatively quite early by Star Wars standards (1993), prior to the recent cash grab by Disney.
Maybe M.R. Carey's The Girl with All the Gifts. (The book doesn't reveal what's going on at first, so don't dig too much if you don't want spoilers.)