Are Alien Invasion novels dead?

I'm an author (soon to be published) and I'm working on a novel where Aliens invade Earth. Every time I say something about Alien Invasion, I'm told they were done to death in the 50's during the whole Communism scare. I'd love for my book to sell but if this part of the sci-fi genre is truly dead will I sell any copies of my work?

Youve just got to convince the publisher that yours is a new idea.

Approach it from a different angle and avoid stereotypes and cliche's.

hi crusaderone
i would love to read your book
their have been lots of very good invasion ones since the 1950
one of the best from 1985 is footfall by niven and pournelle
but these days pure invasion books are scarce on the ground
the above mentioned book was a success because it was belivable
and had no over the top tech
if you get it published please let us know

best of luck with what ever you decide to do
moonpie

I love the whole Alien invasion genre, and yes there have been plenty of novels that portrayed "invasions" over the years.


A recent one I read and enjoyed was Kethani, by Eric Brown.

As someone mentioned, avoid the cliches - If it reads like "V", well...V is the ultimate alien invasion cliche.

I read two to three novels per week mostly sci fi, if it's been done, I've probably read it.

Originally posted by Merigold

I read two to three novels per week mostly sci fi, if it's been done, I've probably read it.

i am the same
my other half made me buy an e-reader because i wont get rid of them
after i have read them

I dont think their dead, just no new good ones have come up. The worl has changed alot from the 50s and 60s when they were popular. Because Star Wars, 2001, and other movies came up and people didnt want to be the ones conquered, they wanted to be the conquerors. But thats just my opinion. Nice post

It'd be good to see more alien invasion type stories, especially if it's modern day. They've been done to death in the 50's, but they revive everything, so why not alien invasion? Also, with the 1950's, the stories would be sort of out-dated now.

I'm personally sick of seeing fantasy books in the sci-fi section of bookstores. I mean, they've been done to death, most with similar storylines. I want to see more SCI-FI stories, not fantasy.

Tell whomever you've talked to to take at look at John Ringo and Harry Turtledove. Both have put out excellent series about alien invasions in the past ten years that were greeted by rave reviews and excellent sales. If they think that alien invasion stories are something best left in the 1950's then you might want to look for someone a bit more tapped into the current market.

I think it's possible. Larry Niven & Stephen Baxter did awesome work & my favorite invasion novel "The Forge of God" by Greg Bear.