Mankind comes face to face with extraterrestrial life in this anthology from Clarkesworld publisher Neil Clarke. Here are stories that aren’t afraid to tackle thorny issues like race, immigration, nationalism, religion, and politics.

Science fiction writers have been using aliens as a metaphor for the other for over one hundred years. Superman has otherworldly origins, and his struggles to blend in on our planet are a clear metaphor for immigration. Earth’s adopted son is just one example of this Alien Among Us narrative.

There are stories of assimilation, or the failure to do so. Stories of resistance to the forces of naturalization. Stories told from the alien viewpoint. Stories that use aliens as a manifestation of the fears and worries of specific places and eras. Stories that transcend location and time, speaking to universal issues of group identity and its relationship to the Other. The table of contents includes:

Touring with the Alien by Carolyn Ives Gilman Laws of Survival by Nancy Kress At Play in the Fields by Steve Rasnic Tem The Ants of Flanders by Robert Reed Taking Care of God by Cixin Liu Water Scorpions by Rich Larson The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill by Kelly Robson Men are Trouble by James Patrick Kelly They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass by Alaya Dawn Johnson Bits by Naomi Kritzer And Never Mind the Watching Ones by Keffy R. M. Kehrli Dark Heaven by Gregory Benford Nine-Tenths of the Law by Molly Tanzer Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion by Caroline M. Yoachim Time of the Snake by A.M. Dellamonica The Fear Gun by Judith Berman Tendeleo’s Story by Ian McDonald The Choice by Paul McAuley Passage of Earth by Michael Swanwick Reborn by Ken Liu Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang

These writers grapple both the best and worst aspects of human nature, and they do so in utterly compelling and entertaining ways.