Traveling in Space

by Steven Paul Leiva

International Amazon Science Fiction BestsellerA Unique First Contact Novel from the Point-of-View of the Aliens. The last thing the factfinders—who call themselves Life—expected to find while traveling in space in The Curious on a mission from their planet, The Living World, was "other" life. But one day, they stumble upon the third planet out from a backwater sun and find it teeming with a vast diversity of life, including one sentient and cognizant, if primitive, species that they Otherlife.Being not only from The Curious but inherently curious themselves, they begin to study the Otherlife and their alien culture, discovering such strange things as marriage, intoxicating drinks, weapons of minor and mass destruction, the gleeful inhaling of toxic substances, two-parent families, layered language, genocide, non-nude bathing, and—the strangest thing of all—religion.This first contact between Life and Otherlife, disconcerting for both, has moments of humor and moments of horror—and neither escapes the encounter unchanged.PRAISE FOR TRAVELING IN SPACE"Traveling in Space's humor and refreshing perspective is thoroughly enjoyable" — Diane Ackerman, New York Times bestselling author of The Zookeeper's Wife and A Natural History of the Senses.

"Many of the aliens' encounters with human beings are downright funny...much to think about, and I'm sure that Traveling in Space will play on my mind for some time to come" — Russell Blackford, author of Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination.

"A deadpan, laugh-out-loud look at first contact told from the alien POV (with aliens that are as messed up as the rest of us). Recommended!" — Stephen Webb, physicist, author of If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... WHERE IS EVERYBODY?: Seventy-Five Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life."

"Superbly entertaining and unique...thought-provoking." — The Mindquest Review of Books

"A unique spin of science fiction... With much humor and much to think about...not to be overlooked"— Midwest Book Review.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook

378 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 21, 2011

About the author

A refugee from the silly fields of Hollywood where he cavorted with such luminaries as Bugs Bunny and Betty Boop (although the latter was but a brief affair), Steven Paul Leiva has authored nine novels and one novella since 2003. His work has been praised by literary great Ray Bradbury, Oscar-winning film producer Richard Zanuck, NY Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Diane Ackerman, and Star Trek actor John Billingsley, the greatest bookworm in Hollywood. He has received the Scribe Award from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. A traveler among several genres, his books include his witty Hollywood thrillers, BLOOD IS PRETTY and HOLLYWOOD IS AN ALL-VOLUNTEER ARMY, his novelization of the indie family film; the Scribe Award-winning 12 DOGS OF CHRISTMAS; his Sci-Fi satire of first-contact told from the point-of-view of the aliens, TRAVELING IN SPACE; his comic look at happy-ever-afters, BY THE SEA; his surreal political fantasia, IMP; his bizarre, possibly audacious, somewhat Sci-Fi novella, MADE ON THE MOON; JOURNEY TO WHERE, a contemporary "scientific romance" written in the tradition of H.G. Wells and Jules Vern; CREATURE FEATURE: A HORRID COMEDY; and his latest, BULLY 4 LOVE, a rather odd love story

Reviews

[Ed Drury · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the description of this book. Alien visitors to Earth as told from their perspective. Obviously, this would be an extremely difficult assignment to pull off and I thought immediately that it would come off one of two ways : insightful commentary on the state of our culture or extremely riotous satire. My bad. It works exceedingly well as both commentary and satire. My favorite qualities of the book was the way the author created an alien race, quite advanced and yet very flawed. The contrast between human culture and their culture was the source of a lot of the satire, but the qualities the two races share I found quite interesting and revealing. I also liked the efforts the Aliens go to in trying to understand our languages and especially things like metaphor and slang. A wealth of good humor mined there. I did feel the story dragged a bit in the middle, the book could have been a bit shorter. The pace toward an unpredictable and exciting conclusion saves it. A really great read, I know that some people will be offended by some of the observations about life on our little blue marble, or the attitudes of the Aliens toward certain hot button issues that have been over politicized at least in my country over the past decade or more. To those people I would only say that you need to read more than that which props up the political leanings of your current favorite flavor.

[AndTheRest · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a love/hate relationship with this read. Loved the concept, but grew tired of the long middle section where there was much... So. Much. Talking. Appreciated how even-handed the author was in kicking around the Big Issues, didn't really connect with the human characters kicking them around. Two words of advice: skip the character descriptions at the front of the Kindle edition (minor spoilers throughout), and do not attempt to use as an escape from the headlines of the day.

[Matt Levy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge fan of TRS, II listened to the audiobook because of Jeff Cannata's narration and I think that might be the way to do it. Being able to hear all the different characters voices brings the books to life. The book was really interesting and I liked how it looked at everything from the "aliens" perspective. There are a lot of funny moments with them trying to understand human culture. Some of the parts dragged a bit, but the last few chapters were great and I liked how it all wrapped up.

[Jeff Koeppen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traveling in Space is an interesting take on the humans-meet-aliens trope, as it is told from the aliens’ point of view. In the novel, a group of humanoid aliens who are traveling through interstellar space looking for habitable worlds pick up some of our radio and TV transmissions and decide to stop in to learn more about us and our planet.

Things that are part of us humans' every day life which we take for granted are given a fresh look from the aliens' perspective: our politics, wars, relationships, religion, technology, etc. Since they are benevolent and more technically advanced than we are it is decided that they pose no threat and the leaders and scientists of Earth meet with them to compare and contrast the two different civilizations. Some hilarious and some poignant conversations and interactions result. The human representatives also add interesting observations and commentary about the aliens’ planet which they call The Living World.

What I liked most about this book was the humor; it was actually laugh-out-loud hilarious in spots. Especially good were the sections in which the aliens try to grasp our concept of religion. They just could not understand how it became such a force in the world and retains its influence over so many when it is illogical and flies in the face of natural laws. Parts of the book were sad and grim, such as when the humans tried to explain such things as wars, mass murders, and genocide.

What I didn’t like about the book was the pacing. There were long stretches filled with dialogue which didn’t seem to add to the narrative and this resulted in me losing interest at times. I found this to be more towards the middle of the novel. It starts out strong and the ending is satisfying.

I read this on my iPhone Kindle app and I wish I would’ve listened to it in Audible. It was hard to motivate myself to read this because I look at a computer screen all day at work and really the last thing I wanted to do at night was look at an even smaller computer screen. This certainly took away from the experience. Overall, I liked this book although I think it would’ve been better if it had been pared down a bit in its bloated middle section.

[Barbara S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on the old alien encounter trope. Switching up old cliches can be interesting, and peering at humanity through an outsiders' point of view was entertaining. The take on the aliens, the Life, though nothing revolutionary, was well thought through and fairly clever.

The point, of course, is to have an "unbiased" critique of humanity. To look at humanity from an outsiders' point of view, so that it seems fresh and interesting. It's not quite as deadly serious as all that, however. The book has a light tone and is fairly fun throughout. This keeps it from being overly preachy, which might be a pitfall in this kind of story. I did like that some things were seen as amazingly positive, some as horrific, and some as just, well, alien. As would make sense. It did strike me, however, that it was odd that in all of the analysis of humanity that gender disparity is not mentioned once. The Life seem to have an egalitarian society in this regard; didn't they notice that humans have treated half of their population as "tenpercenters" throughout most of human history? It seemed like an odd omission.

Regardless, this was a clever book, a fun read, and a cute twist on alien contact. I'd recommend it.

[Greg Tymn · Rating 4 out of 5]

For whatever reason, I haven't found many science fiction authors who have the capability of blending dry humor into a techno/philosophical/sci-fi drama. Rob Kroese is probably the most successful modern sci-fi author in that vein, and even he is not always on the mark. I think the humor detracted from an otherwise fine novel and will possibly turn some hard-core sci-fi fans away from the book.

On the other hand, I think the ontological, epistemological and ethical questions and observations in the novel were very well done. On the surface, the book is as lightweight as a blonde at the beach. A little deeper reading reveals, Descartes, Kant and Wittgenstein, among others. The age old questions of Who am I?, Why am I here?, and What happens after I die? are presented from the standpoint of aliens who are surprised to find that they are not the only living intelligence in the universe. It's an interesting book.

So, if you're a "Hitchhikers Guide" fan (I am not), you'll probably enjoy this novel on many levels. If you are a more "serious" student of alien cultural dichotomies, there is enough here for some interesting late night conversations among friends.

[Tom Lange · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite sci-fi books of all times. Such a refreshing prospective on the normal genre. Lots of laugh out loud moments too. Seriously laughed out loud! Minor nitpicks are it is a little preachy and biased at times which is normal for sci-fi. It was just odd when it was scenes trying to portray unbiased discussion. Other then that one note, the book is always on my top recommendations lists when people ask for a good fun Sci Fi.

[Jordan B · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had really strong momentum at first. The concept was fresh and funny and the audiobook performance from Jeff Cannata was the best I've ever heard. But the middle third of book had a huge pacing problem. It took me weeks to finish because I would get hopelessly bored. There was an extreme amount of telling not showing, even in the climax, and I think this would have benefitted from some serious edits.

[Hiru · Rating 4 out of 5]

The audio version was highly enjoyable. Jeff Cannata was amazing in his voice acting. The story was amusing and raised good questions if you cared to ponder on them. I would describe this book as 30% Humor, 60% Soft Sci-Fi 10% Research Paper.

[Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique perspective on an often written theme.

[Alyssa Garza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Played with some fun ideas about aliens and humanity itself. Quick to get through and a comical and at times insightful ride.

[Monkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book.. can't wait for the audio version. the point of view of us by aliens is worth the read alone.. plenty of great humor and characters with depth..

[Carey Upton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, very funny and very insightful.
An aliens view of odd world, great.

[Remus · Rating 4 out of 5]

"fucking gorgeous" and funny :)

[Bradly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious, humorous, and often thought provoking first contact story from an Alien point of view.

[Todd Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great first contact book written from the alien's point of view.
The aliens are interesting, but in no way perfect. There's some fun jabs at religion as well.

[Kurtis D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book which, on the surface, is about alien first-contact as told from the perspective of the aliens. In reality, it's a fun, if paper-thin, excuse to poke and prod at the human condition and it's various eccentricities and hypocrisies. I listened to the audiobook, which had a great narration that added emotional depth, drama, and comedy to an otherwise (mockingly) clinically-toned book.

For better or worse, the author took big swings with broad subjects such as love, hate, religion, scientific progress, morality and ethics, marriage, sex, abortion, death, classism, overpopulation, capitalism, genetic engineering and politics. IMO, that was far too many meaty subjects to be dealt with in any meaningful way (other than by injecting surface-level observation followed by obvious humor). That said, the author did a good job - through a human character fighting to stop genocide and atrocities - to boil down most of these subjects to the dual (and often symbiotic) nature of love and hate. For those looking for a humorous book that gives a birds-eye skewering of our human culture, this should scratch that itch.

Random critiques: Could have used a better title. The pacing drug a little bit in the middle. And the raid scene near the end was pretty uninteresting (albeit thematically necessary).

[Ralyn Longs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty funny and engaging, but a bit too laboured at points.

[Roderick Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delight

A story combining every aspect of space fiction with the real-time Earthly condition, written so well that it is almost impossible to put down. Treat yourself.

[Louis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Traveling In Space by Steven Paul Leiva is a book I should have loved, a science fiction novel of first contact from the standpoint of the aliens. What’s not to love?

Unfortunately for me, this book.

There were some nice elements to it. The author played with some interesting cultural differences that the aliens had that I liked. Though they were too human for my taste. I liked that they were affected by our cultural. Though in a way that was very obvious. “The advanced aliens get educated by the lowly humans…”

But that and other areas of the story didn’t jell well for me. The way our government deals with the aliens is so unreal that I wanted to scream. “Welcome, sure look around, go about your business, whatever you want, …” Huh?! We’d let aliens just go anywhere and interact with anyone? Are we even sure of their motivations?

There is nothing wrong with commentary on humanity, which this book has loads of, but it just wasn’t original to me. Mankind separating along religious lines, is a crazy concept to the aliens. Well join the club, it is to me too. I wish the author had been a bit more insightful in this area.

Not too far into the book I detected a feel of a self-published work, and I found it definitely falls within that category. The author had it published through a friend’s publishing label. It’s a great crack at a novel, but I feel a more established publisher would have pushed it back with some needed recommendations to fix the work.

In the middle of the book I really had to push myself to finish it and was close to abandoning it. To give the author credit, the ending is exciting and picks up the pace and ends on a nice note. But again, to get to that point of excitement, the big conflict moment required some major characters to act completely out of character with no sense of logic. I should note, I did pick up that the story would veer in this direction when the clues were first dropped, but I dismissed them as they would require a real explanation to make it work. Well, he went with it but without providing a legitimate reason for the turn of events.

I’m giving the book two stars as there were some nice moments in it, I just wish there had been more.

[Darrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't care for science fiction. I have read, maybe 4 scifi books in my entire life. The only one I liked was Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. When I was asked to "take a look" at Traveling in Space, I did so with great reluctance. I figured I'd read a few pages and then give it to a friend of mine. 200 pages into it, I realized that my friend would have to wait. This is an interesting read. I am no expert on the genre, so take my opinion for what it is, that of a novice. The premise is unlike anything I have seen or heard before. Quite contrary to the "space aliens invade earth" of the War of the Worlds or Plan Nine from Outer Space (My all time favorite Ed Wood movie. Still can't believe it wasn't a parody.) But I digress. Traveling in Space reverses the role most aliens take and creates an fascinating opportunity to look at ourselves through in interesting mirror. This is a story of largely benevolent higher intelligence encountering Earth, with the inevitable miscalculation on the part of both civilizations. The questions it raises had me thinking for days after. I did not read this book all at once, I read it in chunks of 50-100 pages over a week's time - largely because of my limited time this week, but I found myself contemplating the questions that the book raises between readings. I am author of four books and my goal is to get my readers to think, to examine their assumptions, to recognize their blind spots, among other things. I consider my own writing a success if it causes thought and consideration of new viewpoints. Traveling in Space, did that for me. It challenged me to consider many new angles to our existence, relationships, sexuality, and religion. If you are not a science fiction fan, but open to challenge, I think you will like it. If you are a science fiction fan, I am not sure what you will think, you have a lot more data than I have. Yet, I somehow think you will like it as well.

Last night I gave it to my friend. I am curious what he will think of it.

Darrel Ray, author of The God Virus and Sex and God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality

[Kevin Prinoski · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Traveling In Space” (Leiva, 2011) is a commentary on human society, disguised as a science fiction novel (IMO) in which humans are evaluated by space travelers. Some of the dialogue and contemplations were tedious due to extensive detail but this was fundamental to the nature of the characters - thus necessary. This book occasionally made me laugh out loud, as well as feel pity and dread - one chapter was heart-rending to read due an event described. Aspects of hate, religion, government, science, love/sex/marriage, and the entertainment industry are explored. A good book makes the reader feel emotion and think conceptually - this one does both. In fact, I was struck by the similarity between portions of “Traveling In Space” and “The Emperor’s Handbook” by Marcus Aurelius. In the latter, Aurelius composes a moral mirror for individuals to better evaluate their behaviour. Steven Paul Leiva holds his mirror to societies and humans as a species so the reader can consider those broader reflections. I was genuinely entertained by this novel. Most importantly, this book makes the reader think about humans as a species - our positive and negative traits, our accomplishments, and that which we urgently need to learn and develop. Do I recommend this book? Enthusiastically, yes! Will I read this book again? At some point - yes. I almost always read books that I truly enjoy more than once - and that’s a fact. After all, “a fact is a fact, factually speaking” - nod and wink to the author.

[Joanna Chaplin · Rating 4 out of 5]

First attempt, July 15th, 2014: I did not get very far in. I don't care for flippancy in first-contact novels. A little humor is fine, but not complete ridiculousness. I didn't mind it in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but usually I don't care for it.

Second attempt, January 2, 2015: After hearing that the audiobook was quite good and having some of my issues addressed by Steven Paul Leiva himself, I gave it another go. I'm quite glad I did. The tone seems flippant, but actually hides some deep thinking on a large number of subjects. The aliens' culture is more sensible than it first appears. There's quite a bit of clever wordplay. The audiobook is more like a one-man radio show, with each character getting a unique, easy-to-distinguish voice.

[Ronel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me forever to finish, not that it was really a bad book though. The whole concept of how extra terrestrials would see us is very interesting and the author did try to have as objective a view as possible. But I could still see some of his biases did color the narrator's viewpoint. Despite this though it was no surprise to see how we as humans are truly screwing up this planet. Jeff Cannata is quite good as the narrator for this audiobook and his ability to properly differentiate the characters with his voice gave more life to the book.

However, the book felt long and quite boring at times. The pacing felt off as well, particularly in the middle of the book with a lot of really boring dialogue. In summary, much of the book felt sterile rather than making you see the situations and characters evolve and becoming invested in them. Thus the concept was good but the execution could have improved.

[James Rocks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The general idea of this book is intriguing. Aliens searching for new planets to colonise, discover Earth and humans shattering their long-held belief that they are the universe's only life. With a galaxywide scope, the author paints a well-imagined scenario, even if the plot leaves something to be desired. The problem with the plot was simple enough, it was a great idea that ultimately turned out to one long and very repetitive play of the same joke.

In this short review, it’s hard to say how well imagined the action, romance and suspense would be because I gave up just over a third of the way in. I liked the way the author wrote, I thought his characters were well developed but I just couldn’t get past the fact that the story seemed to be a repetitive farce based on a single joke.

I didn’t finish the book but I think Leiva has significant potential so I am giving the book three out of five.

[Geoff Lanotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book extremely interesting, the voice performance on the audio book is what took this from 3 to 4 stars for me. The premise is that a group of aliens who thought they were alone in the universe found earth and wanted to get to know us. The catch is that it is told from the alien point of view, which I think the author handled well. I do think that the book was at times overly-preachy on what the author feels is wrong with the world today - which as far as I can tell is religion. While I do disagree with the author on that and a few other points, I felt that method employed took away from the story as a whole and felt forced. I feel that if the author had left out the various soliloquies, the book would have made his points in a far more subtle way, but that is me - I don't like to be beat over the head.

[Graeme Tindale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well I am sorry. The plot concept was very engaging. What a twist - a great basis for a different approach to First Contact. They find us. Unfortunately, it is all inane from silly character names/titles to their interaction with each other. The ongoing banter is sometimes offensive (not swearing or sexual) and certainly obnoxious. I made it 7% into the book.

While I haven’t given the author a chance. I don’t think it is very well written.

[Kev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful read, a story like no other, a story from the alien's point of view. I loved it. Humourous, exciting & at times I found myself nodding in sad agreement at the antics of the primitive "otherlife" on our planet earth. You begin, very quickly, to feel the exasperation of lief & Sheila! Highly recommend

[Parth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't see the point of this book.

I listened to the audible version narrated by Jeff Cannata, who did a great job, especially with the variety of voices, but even that does not make up for a typical story.

[GRAHAM FERGUS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but not without flaws

This book is interesting but uneven in parts. It can be quite difficult to read. It is a thought provoking story but could have been a lot better. Five stars for the idea but only three for the execution.