I grew up during the astronaut age, so the idea of aliens didn't seem very foreign to me. They seemed inevitable.
These days I make up my own. Coming up with something unique can be a tough task. I often use art to come up with ideas. Pinterest has been a huge help with that.
I invented Ims recently, which live in close to absolute zero temps. I did a really bad drawing of one. I think I'd run if I encountered this. lol
What attributes do you like in your alien?
By the way, Worlds on Edge, Book 5 in the Backworlds series is now out, and it has the ice aliens in it.
Here's an excerpt from Captain Talos's encounter with them:
Chapter 18
◙ Talos
As if an engine
hit him in the head, Talos teetered. The pain drove in so instant, building to
his unquestionable annihilation. Today he would die. Speckles danced in his
eyes like sunspots. They flared and dimmed until they consumed him.
He forgot about
cold and death, forgot about Quasser and Pardeep Station. The Ims had brought
him into their world, the air ripe with energy. It popped in his blood vessels,
tingling. He dared to take a breath.
The flares of
light coalesced into colors, coordinating, bellowing in a low hymn. Together
the brilliant confetti and song formed thoughts that hit like bolts against his
temples.
Touch. Touch. Met.
Time went
backwards. Talos and Lepsi ran to the spaceport on Elstwhere, laughing. The
hideous ship was theirs. It resembled two beetles back to back with six worms
squiggling out from the center. Talos had never seen anything more beautiful. Soon
the Backworlds and all the things he dreamed about would be navigated on his whim.
Too far. Come forward.
Quasser loomed
above Talos, roaring, raining fire on Ronu, on Pardeep Station, and worlds
Talos had never seen. A gal very much like Rainly and Prezsha sat on top of the
cloud-like vessel holding a finger to her lips.
Secrets.
What did she
know? Who was she? Talos reached for her hand and tumbled into a lake of ice.
The cold fell heavily into his lungs. He clawed at the depths, unable to gain
hold. He sank farther.
The Ims stood
beside beings resembling sticks. They stood beside proud folks with squid limbs
and fish eyes and some with tentacles for hair. Farther in the icy depths an
alien with three necks wailed to the heavens, clutching onto a being made from
spheres and squares that bunched together and spread apart in a steady rhythm.
Whispers surrounded them and fire. They disappeared into the Ims.
We join.
One Im merged into Talos, blazing his veins into a
brilliant blue. Talos shivered.
Worlds on Edge
War is coming. A horde of merciless aliens poise just beyond the Edge. In a matter of weeks they will devour the worlds.
Racing ahead of the apocalypse, Craze returns to the Backworlds to warn them and plan a defense. Only he can’t go home. Banned from Pardeep Station, he must wage a more urgent battle. His moon is under siege, and his friends are dying.
Bad things come in threes, and the galaxy is no exception. An old enemy returns, attacking moons and defenseless globes, leaving a wake of destruction. Worse than that, they threaten to join forces with the alien horde.
Defeat seems inevitable. Craze may not be able to stop it. Yet home is worth the fight.
