Alien: Earth and Alien: Romulus sequel news

Aliens: Steel Egg (notes of interest)

8200 Views7 Replies
Forum Topic

I.Raptus

MemberPraetorianJanuary 06, 2019

John Shirley's pre-Alien novels offers some interesting new tidbits about the life-cycle of the Xenomorph. The supposed prequel to ALIEN (and the original contact that piqued the interest of WY) follows the events on Saturn's moon Iepetus, with a different source of eggs that pre-date even those found by the Nostromo.

This story has more action then Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 put together.....including a rampaging Queen and a new race of squid-arm sentient interlligent aliens, one named Larry.....

Published in 2007 the novel has pretty much been retconned by Prometheus, Covenant and Alien: Covenant Origins but does offer an interesting insight into the reproductive cycle of the species. 

I will not go into detail about the new 'Giff' species and their interactions with 'other' species that infected their ship with xeno's, as this whole story arc is effective mooted by recent releases.

Shirely's novel depicts the species as a 4-stage organism. 

Egg, Face-hugger, Xenomorph, Queen likes Cameron's ALIENS. However he suggests the juvenile xenomorphs do indeed eat. ALOT....to gain mass to grow to their adult size rapidly. In his preface Shirley suggests that the panicking crews from the Nostromo and Fury-161 were most likely too busy to notice the munched on dead, or the food stores around them.

This contrast's to some of the discussions we have had here about the xenomorph beings it own battery, with the acid being a catalyst for its energy source, and once depleted it dies. Shirley's xeno adults survive to molt into a Queen. 

However, the Queen's sole purpose is to lay a clutch of eggs, protect them from immediate threats then die...oddly much like the Salmon life-cycle.

He also suggests two drones/warrior can bump uglies and reproduce sexual, though this is never explored. Thankfully. gross.

Another interesting tid-bit of information is that Shirley suggests the tubes on the xeno's back store a supply of oxygen to survive in a vacuum.

Not suggesting these are canonical elements, but rather food for thought. The queen's role to spawn and die was a new one. 

Personally I like the idea of the Xeno's NOT feeding, sustaining themselves with their own battery then dying.... It just feels more alien, and perfect.

 

User Avatar
ninXeno426
Group: Member
Rank: Praetorian
View Profile

Interesting.Steel Egg has been on my list for years,the only opinion on it I ever heard was from SM who didn't care much for it.Damned hard to find on eBay too.Thank god for omnibus's lol.

Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for 

User Avatar
Kongzilla
Group: Member
Rank: Chestburster
View Profile

I want read this book and Original Sin too.

User Avatar
Chris
Group: Admin
Rank: Engineer
View Profile

Same here, I actually never got a chance to read this one. Thanks for this topic Raptus!

Predator: Badlands - coming November 7th, 2025

User Avatar
I.Raptus
Group: Member
Rank: Praetorian
View Profile

Titan Books Complete Aliens Omnibus collection are a godsend.

Some of those novels were impossible to get a hold of! finally we can fill the blanks and read the missing ones :-)

 

I enjoyed the premise of this novel, especially the first few chapters. Coming into Saturn's orbit and finding a mysterious anomaly was pretty epic.

 

 

User Avatar
ninXeno426
Group: Member
Rank: Praetorian
View Profile

Wow great price!Thank you dk!I got a birthday in a couple weeks too,that'd be a great gift lol.

Nothing the God of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for 

User Avatar
BigDave
Group: Member
Rank: Deacon
View Profile

Seems interesting... maybe one i should look into Reading.

R.I.P Sox  01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

Join the discussion!



Recently Active Forums
Alien: Covenant
Alien: CovenantDiscuss the Prometheus Sequel, Alien: Covenant
Alien: Earth Series
Alien: Earth SeriesDiscuss the Alien FX TV series here!
Alien 5 Movie
Alien 5 MovieDiscuss Neill Blomkamps’s vision for Alien 5 here
Prometheus Fan Art
Prometheus Fan ArtArtwork & Fiction From the Fans
New Forum Topics
Hot Forum Topics
Highest Forum Ranks Unlocked
Svanya
Svanya » Praetorian
89% To Next Rank
ninXeno426
ninXeno426 » Praetorian
62% To Next Rank
Thoughts_Dreams
Thoughts_Dreams » Neomorph
88% To Next Rank
Neomorph
Neomorph » Chestburster
94% To Next Rank
cuponator3000
cuponator3000 » Chestburster
84% To Next Rank
Unofficial Alien Animated Series
Alien: Analects - the unofficial Alien animated series
Watch Alien: Analects - The unofficial Alien animated series we created! Visit the official page!
Latest Media
Community Stats
This Alien Movie Universe community is part of the Scified network. Scified hosts a network of online fan-site communities containing 406,357 posts by 48,442 members (20 are online now). The Alien: Covenant Forum is the most recently active forum. The latest Forum topic added was: A new episode of The Xenomorphing podcast is out
VIPWhat are VIP?AdminModeratorSpecial TitleMember
Join the discussion!
Please sign in to access your profile features!



Forgot Password?

Log in to view your personalized notifications across Scified!

Scified Website LogoScified is the Hub for Sci-Fi Movie Fandoms
Hosted Fansites
AlienFansite
GodzillaFansite
PredatorFansite
Main Menu
Community
Sci-Fi Movies
Help & Info
+

Sign In to contribute!