[fluffy bunny]

Is it just me, or do most of the alien races in science-fiction (apart from star wars) have crazy names.

(I have a housemate who makes a habit of having a gander at the blurbs of the books i bring home, and having a very brief flick through and having a chuckle).

[James Barclay]

Aliens probably think the word 'human' is crazy too...

[fluffy bunny]

how do you know until you ask them?

Besides I like the way Babylon 5 handled this- their actual name is unpronouncable, but you call them the shadows.

If the stories involve humans as well, why doesn't the book refer to the aliens by the nickname given to them by humans (instead of the unpronouncable stuff that some novels come out with).

[This message has been edited by fluffy bunny (edited January 10, 2002).]

[Carmichael]

Why doesn't someone just ask Rocketsheep. He is definitely not of this world.

To he who straps a JATO bottle to his hiney... I only mean that in the nicest way possible Rocketsheep. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

Carmichael

[James Barclay]

To give a less flippant answer, I suspect the name craziness is all to do with authors wanting to make sure readers see how different and alien their aliens are. It's a simple device as a start point, I suppose.

I agree with the nickname thing - let's face it, most countries have nicknames for other countries so there's no reason why that wouldn't happen way out in space and time.

I think it doesn't happen enough in books because some authors haven't gone far enough into the human trait of nicknaming and shortening actual names.