The first contact story, from cosmic satire to full-scale invasion.
What happens when we are not alone? This journey traces the oldest alien-encounter thread in fiction — from an 18th-century giant strolling in from Sirius, to prehistoric humans facing the truly alien, to the Martian tripods that set the template for every invasion since. It ends with Wells, where first contact became first WAR.
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Voltaire, 1752: a colossal being from a planet of Sirius visits Earth and finds us absurdly small. First contact as philosophy — the alien as a mirror.
Rośny's prehistoric tribe meets the Xiṕehuz — beings so alien they can barely be perceived as life. The first truly INHUMAN aliens in fiction.
The pulp answer to Wells: Earth doesn't cower, it strikes back. Edison leads a fleet to Mars. Bombastic, jingoistic, gloriously entertaining.
The one that defined the genre. Wells's Martians land, and the mightiest empire on Earth is helpless. Cool, merciless, unforgettable — read it and feel 1898's dread.
Wells again, but the voyage reversed: WE are the invaders now, landing on the Moon. First contact from the other side of the telescope.