Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Can anyone suggest books that are similar to this? Nature-horror themed, like how some animals and insects can be a threat to humanity. I've been trying to look for similar books but I haven't found any, recommendations would be very much appreciated.

"The Green Brain" by Frank Herbet

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld is about parasites that change human behavior. It's an urban fantasy, different take on vampires.

If aliens are allowed, David Gerrold's War against the Chtorr(sp?) starts with A Matter For Men. Aliens are moving in & send their ecology ahead to pave the way. I like E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth take on this better. It starts with Way of the Wolf. More action than Gerrold's, since his last couple are weird philosophy, but the first one is very good.

For true horror, read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. This was the book that really kicked off the ecological movement & details some of the atrocities we've committed. It's not fiction & just the reverse of what you were asking for, though.

I guess you mean an idea like Hitchcock's The Birds, where normal earth creatures suddenly become a threat? I don't read that kind of stuff in general, but I'm sure someone knows of them.

"Deathworld" (first volume) by Harry Harrison. Alien planet, but nature vs humans is definitely the tune.

Murray wrote: ""Deathworld" (first volume) by Harry Harrison. Alien planet, but nature vs humans is definitely the tune."

Love the way the effects of heavy gravity on human settlers is treated in the novel.

Murray wrote: ""Deathworld" (first volume) by Harry Harrison. Alien planet, but nature vs humans is definitely the tune."

They put all 3 together into one volume, too. Mine is tattered from so many reads. Great!

I almost cannot believe I'm doing this but I'm going to recommend a book I haven't read yet. It's on my To Read shelf and was advertized on Goodreads for a while, and it just might be what you're looking for. It is The Troop

I don't know if this really qualifies, but it is one of the creepiest things I've ever read. The trouble may be in locating it.

Years ago I read a short story called "The Screwfly Solution" by Raccoona Sheldon. It was probably in an anthology like "The Year's Best Sci-Fi" as I read a lot of those and short stories get misplaced easily.

The basic premise of the story is that aliens want the earth but need to eliminate the pesky human infestation and they take a page out of our book to get rid of us, applying a method we've used on insects. It was published in 1977, according to the internet.

BTW, Wikipedia says there was a film made based on the story. Huh. I didn't know that!

Sharon wrote: "Years ago I read a short story called 'The Screwfly Solution' by Raccoona Sheldon. It was probably in an anthology like "The Year's Best Sci-Fi" as I read a lot of those and short stories get misplaced easily...."

Today's Trivia...

Raccoona Sheldon is a pseudonym for James Tiptree Jr., which is a male pseudonym for Alice Sheldon.

"The Screwfly Solution" originally appeared in Analog, June 1977.

It won the 1978 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.

It's been reprinted in The 1978 Annual World's Best SF, Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Seventh Annual Collection, Nebula Winners Thirteen. It later appeared in two "James Tiptree" collections: Out of the Everywhere, and Other Extraordinary Visions and Her Smoke Rose Up Forever. That latter is still in print.

G33z3r wrote: "Sharon wrote: "Years ago I read a short story called 'The Screwfly Solution' by Raccoona Sheldon. It was probably in an anthology like "The Year's Best Sci-Fi" as I read a lot of those and short st..."

Cool. It's a great story and one that struck a deep chord with me, since I haven't read it in at least 20 years but still remember it clearly. Scary. Disturbing. Different. Horribly possible.

I need to read more Tiptree. I also could do with getting a collection of her fiction as I only have a handful of her stories from anthologies.