History Main / Xenofiction

* The ''Guardians of Ga'Hoole'' book series would ONLY make sense since with owl characters.

* NatureOfNaturesArt is a collection of stories concerning sapient but still very animalistic creatures, from the fairly common to this trope (wolves) to the unusual (wolf ''spider''.)

* The manga ''{{Gon}}'' does a pretty good job of making its titular dinosaur hero (who, regardless belongs to no known species and has an unrealistically humanoid body; he resembles a very small baby {{Godzilla}}) act pretty much like a dinosaur. None of the other animal characters ever speak.

* ''{{Simoun}}''. Whatever else the Daikuurikans might be, both psychologically and physiologically, they sure as ''Hell'' aren't human anymore. YourMileageMayVary as to whether this is genuine {{Xenofiction}} or just BizarreAlienBiology, but the story definitely wouldn't work with human characters.

** Oddly enough, [[TheSevenBasicPlots Christopher Booker]] holds that this story is inherently flawed because... it's not about human beings. Way to think outside the box, Booker.

* Diane Duane's ''[[YoungWizards Book Of Night With Moon]]'' is an example; the protagonists are wizard cats, and the viewpoint adjusts to the specific reality of domestic cat social structures, what senses and what details a cat that can walk in air and is more interested in room corners or mice than architecture might take in, and the complexities that arise from a character that can sense energy and has nine lives. The book has a cat-English glossary, even, and a lot of single-word phrases in cat don't really translate easily to English. There's a rather touching moment as one character worries that :
-->''"You mean ... even if you have more lives ... you still might not come back. You mean you just die dead... like a bug or an ehhif [human]?"''

* ''Bunnies & Burrows'', being based on ''WatershipDown'', is a roleplaying game in which the players have to take the rols of rabbits with all their limitations and strengths, in fact, since bunnies are not exactly the strongest animals out there, the game forces the player to confront enemies and obstacles with problem-solving solutions and wit. Humans appear as monsters in the game, completely alien to the players. It was very innovative in its time, since it was the first RPG that let the player play as non-humanoids creatures.

* Not to be confused with the {{Firekeeper}} series, which also has heavy Xenofictional elements. Although the protagonist is human and many chapters focus on normal humans, Firekeeper doesn't ''think'' like a human, as she was raised among {{Intellectual Animal}}s. You do get the distinct impression that if she was raised by any species except [[RaisedByWolves wolves]], the series would be wildly altered, and she and Blind Seer have a very nonhuman view of pretty much everything.

* JeanCraigheadGeorge has written (at least) 2 trilogies, one beginning with JulieOfTheWolves, the other with MySideOfTheMountain, the third books of which, [=~Julie's Wolf Pack~=] and [=~Frightful's Mountain~=] are respectively told entirely from the points of view of a several wolves and a peregrine falcon. It is also worth noting is that the original JulieOfTheWolves, while not told from the prespective of wolves, does feature them as the primary members of the cast.

* JeanCraigheadGeorge has written (at least) 2 trilogies, one beginning with JulieOfTheWolves, the other with MySideOfTheMountain, the third books of which, [=~Julie's Wolf Pack~=] and [=~Frightful's Mountain~=] are respectively told entirely from the points of view of a several wolves and a peregrine falcon. It is also worth noting is that the original JulieOfTheWolves, while not told from the prespective of wolves, does feature them as the primary members of the cast. Furthermore, [[WolfMoonRising this troper]] is not familiar with JeanCraigheadGeorge's other work, but given a breif glance over a list of the titles of her other books, would not be at all suprised if she had writen other xenofiction.

A good rule of thumb for figuring out if something's in this genre or not: if you can replace the non-humans with (maybe superpowered) humans without too much trouble, it's probably not {{Xenofiction}}: {{Beast Fable}}s and works about FunnyAnimals are, in general, not examples. If it's taking place under the nose of humans, we may or may not have a {{Masquerade}}, and [[HumansThroughAlienEyes humans]] will probably either be [[HumansAreBastards bastards]] or [[HumansAreCthulhu eldritch abominations]]. If humans are taking place under the nose of it, you may have HumansAreInteresting. Contrast MostWritersAreHuman. Do not confuse with {{Xenafication}}.

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* {{Wingspan}}
* [[http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/ The Things]], a very strange re-telling of a classic John Carpenter horror movie from the perspective of a distinctly non-human character. Written my the amazing {{Peter Watts}} of {{Blindsight}} fame. Beware: {{Squick}}, {{NightmareFuel}}, {{Body Horror}} and more may await you. {{YMMV}}


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* Gary Larsen managed to encapsulate this trope in a two-panel ''TheFarSide'', each showing the same scene of a human talking to his dog. On one side, we see normal dialogue from the human's point of view; on the other, we see how much of it the dog understands, i.e. its own name and the word "walk", surrounded by gibberish.

* The chapters from Wolf's point of view in Chronicles of Ancient Darkness.

* The manga {{''Gon''}} does a pretty good job of making its titular dinosaur hero (who, regardless belongs to no known species and has an unrealistically humanoid body; he resembles a very small baby {{Godzilla}}) act pretty much like a dinosaur. None of the other animal characters ever speak.

* The manga ''Gon'' does a pretty good job of making its titular dinosaur hero (who, regardless belongs to no known species and has an unrealistically humanoid body; he resembles a very small baby {{Godzilla}}) act pretty much like a dinosaur. None of the other animal characters ever speak.

* RobertAspirin does this with a reptilian race in ''The Bug Wars'', including addressing the problem of racial colourblindness when facing a colour-sighted enemy.

* Gary Larsen managed to encapsulate this trope in a two-panel ''The Far Side'', each showing the same scene of a human talking to his dog. On one side, we see normal dialogue from the human's point of view; on the other, we see how much of it the dog understands, i.e. its own name and the word "walk", surrounded by gibberish.

* ''TheStand'' has a chapter told from the perspective of a dog.

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* The first collection of {{Dragonlance}} short stories includes "Dagger-flight", a retelling of the first third of ''Dragons of Autumn Twilight'' from the perspective of a [[AnimateInanimateObject sentient knife]]. That can fly. [[MotherOfAThousandYoung And reproduce]]. And stalks the setting's protagonists without their realizing it. SoYeah.

* JohnBrunner's SF novel ''The Crucible of Time'' featured a completely non-human race trying to survive on a planet that was going through some pretty catastrophic things. Detailed descriptions of their [[BizarreAlienBiology anatomy and appearance]] are difficult to find, as every character during the millennia-long course of the novel only drops tiny pieces of this info as they describe other characters. After all, the story is being told to their ''own'' race as a kind of HowWeGotHere, so why bother with minor stuff, right? How many historical tales have you read that go out of their way to mention that humans have two hands and ten fingers, for example...

A good rule of thumb for figuring out if something's in this genre or not: if you can replace the non-humans with (maybe superpowered) humans without too much trouble, it's probably not {{Xenofiction}}: {{Beast Fable}}s and works about FunnyAnimals are, in general, not examples. If it's taking place under the nose of humans, we may or may not have a {{Masquerade}}, and humans will probably either be [[HumansAreBastards bastards]] or [[HumansAreCthulhu eldritch abominations]]. If humans are taking place under the nose of it, you may have HumansAreInteresting. Contrast MostWritersAreHuman. Do not confuse with {{Xenafication}}.