Saturday, 6 February 2021

Human-Alien Interactions

The Game Of Empire.

"Axor smiled. The crocodilian expanse of his mouth drew a shriek from a joygirl."
-CHAPTER ONE, p. 212.
 
But members of some other species learn to do it right:
 
"Targovi imitated a human smile, keeping his lips closed because his carnivore's teeth could give the wrong signal."
-CHAPTER FOURTEEN, p. 340.
 
The Technic History is full of such minor interactions. Don't stare at an Ythrian. Shake hands with a Merseian although you cannot also touch tails. Anderson readers can probably think of other examples.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I have touched on similar ideas, that human gestures and "body language" might come, via cultural influence, to be adopted by members of other races. And I would expect some non human gestures of that kind to at least become familiar to many humans. And being used by human Avalonians.

Ad astra! Sean