1. A.K. Preston says:

    Hmmm…interesting. I rather like the idea. The concept of four different intelligent species (and their offshoots) would make for some stream-lined world-building in a space opera setting. My personal criticism of mainstream works in this genre is that a lot of them have an “overstuffed” feel to them when it comes to alien races.

  2. Autumn Grayson says:

    There’s sort of an alien ‘angels’ thing going on in Heaven Came Down, which is Bryan Davis’ newest book. It was mentioned in the article previous to this one. Some elements remind me of The Host (that 2013 sci fi show). Not with the angel part, but with the aliens possessing human hosts and needing to be extracted and whatnot.

    The angels and demons in my stories can take on many forms, though it isn’t exactly true shapeshifting in a lot of cases. That ability is usually left up to a different set of creatures in my story worlds. I do tend to write angels as taking forms that fit with the beings they live among, though there are usually some key differences. Their forms are usually built in ways that give them extreme survival advantages, as well as give them distinctions that make them recognizable to other angels. So looking more like the mortal species tends to be about adapting, and maybe in the case of the demons, deceiving. Usually they aren’t as worried about blending in unnoticed, though. They usually just want enough in common with the mortal species that they can appeal to them/live among them/gain trust.

    Having the seraphim reflect four different alien races would be interesting. At the very least I like it better than four faces stuck on the same head :p

What do you think?