Scary-ish grey alien
Octavia Butler, who is quickly becoming my favorite female science-fiction writer, introduces us to a whole new breed of alien in her novel, “Lilith’s Brood”. Most people are used to the idea of aliens being little gray man-like extraterrestrials, but Butler takes this idea and puts a whole new Shyamalan-ian twist on them. Butler’s aliens, like what we think of, are also humanoid in most characteristics; they’re bi-pedal, they have mouths, in most cases they have two arms and two legs. However, it’s after we get past these characteristics that we see the big difference between what we expect and what we get.
“The lights brightened as she had supposed they would, and what had seemed to be a tall, slender man was still humanoid, but it had no nose…It was gray all over-pale gray skin, darker gray hair on its head…And the hair-the whatever-it-was-moved…Medusa…Some of the “hair” writhed independently, a nest of snakes startled, driven in all directions.” This is the frightening realization that Lilith finds when she finally meets one of her captors….or do they prefer to call themselves saviors? Whatever they are and whatever they want to declare themselves, the fact of the matter is that aliens, by themselves, are w0rrisome enough, but to have aliens that writhe with snakes/tendrils/tentacles….EVERYWHERE…is capable of making people lose sleep.
Pooping his pants
I think what makes these aliens so much more intense for the reader than other aliens, besides the creepy snake/tentacles covering the entirety of their body; not that that in itself isn’t freakin’ creepy, is how much like humans they are while at the same time being entirely different. The Oankalis have societies, just like humans. They form couples and have their own type of marriage. They are like humans in so many essential ways and the only real differences are appearances. The old saying goes, “We fear what we do not understand,” and I think it goes doubly when what we don’t understand is so much like what we are.
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Fun with Science Fiction 
I couldn’t agree more with your analysis of Butler’s story. The language that she uses to describe the Oankali is disturbing and realistic. I have never read a story where I felt what the character was feeling so strongly. The Medusa-like worm tentacles that cover their bodies, and how they reach out to Lilith to sense things is disturbing and you cannot help but cringe along with Lilith as she describes the Oankali.
One aspect of your blog that I thought was especially interesting, is how you said that the aliens were even more intense in this story because of how similar to humans they are. They have two arms and two legs (except for the Ooloi), they form societies, and they have marriage and families. Another aspect that I think makes this species a lot more intense is that they have full control over Earth and the human race. Throughout the story, Lilith is kept in the dark and is only given information about the Oankali’s intentions at their discretion. They have studied humans and seem to surpass us in their intelligence of our ways which is a scary thought considering the fact that we usually see ourselves as the supreme beings on our planet.