The Alien/Aliens literary franchise consists of multiple novels and short stories based on the eponymous film franchise, which began in 1979 with the release of Alien.

In the 20th century, all Alien-related novels published were adaptations of pre-existing material. From 1979 up to 1997, Warner Books published novelizations of the first four films in the year of release: 1979, 1986, 1992, and 1997. The first three novelizations were written by Alan Dean Foster. Throughout the 1990s, Bantam Books published nine novelizations of Alien comic books published by Dark Horse Comics.

After going on a hiatus, the franchise returned in book form in 2005. DH Press—Dark Horse Comics' novel publishing imprint—published six original novels from 2005 to 2008. This marked the first time in the franchise where novels were original stories, rather than adaptations. DH Press' series took place after the events of Alien Resurrection (1997). Following the release of Aliens: No Exit in 2008, the novel series once more went into hiatus.

In 2014, after six years, Titan Books started publication of Alien novels once more, starting with Alien: Out of the Shadows, written by Tim Lebbon. Out of the Shadows was the first in a trilogy of books, and is canon to the events of the film series. In 2016, Alien: Invasion was published, which is the second book in Lebbon's The Rage Wars trilogy, a crossover between the Alien, Predator, and Alien vs. Predator franchises. The following year, Foster would write both a novelization and prequel to Alien: Covenant (2017). The success of the novels led to the publication of further stories, including a novelization of the video game Alien: Isolation (2014).

Film and game novelizations Title Author Publisher Date Length Notes Alien

Warner Books

Novelization of the 1979 film Alien Aliens

Novelization of the 1986 film Aliens Alien 3

Novelization of the 1992 film Alien 3 Alien Resurrection

Aspect Books

Novelization of the 1997 film Alien Resurrection Prometheus and Earth Star Entertainment

Novelization of the 2012 film Prometheus Alien: Covenant

Titan Publishing Group 348pp Novelization of the 2017 film Alien: Covenant Alien: IsolationTitan Books336ppNovelization of the 2014 video game Alien: Isolation. As well as retelling the plot of the game, the novel also features a series of non-linear flashbacks detailing Amanda's life before and after the events of Alien.

Dark Horse Comics adaptations Title Author Publisher Date Length Notes Aliens: Earth Hive

Bantam Books

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens vol. 1 (Also known as Aliens: Outbreak) (1988–1989). Wilks was a space marine with a near-fatal flaw: he had a heart. Billie was a child, the only survivor of a far-flung colony outpost. Thrown together in the last hellish night of an Alien invasion, Billie and Wilks helped each other get out alive. Thirteen years later Wilks is in prison, and Billie lives in a mental institution, the nightmare memories of the massacre at Rim seared into her mind. Now the government has tapped Wilks to lead an expedition to the Aliens' home planet to bring back a live Alien. But the competition on Earth to develop the Aliens as a new weapons system is brutal. When Wilks's team departs on their mission, a trained assassin trails them. And what follows is no less than guerrilla warfare on the Aliens' planet — and Alien conquest on Earth! Aliens: Nightmare Asylum

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens vol. 2 (Also known as Aliens: Nightmare Asylum) (1989–1990). Wilks, Billie, and Bueller were the last survivors of a devastating assault on the Aliens' home planet. But once their return to the Solar System made them refugees once more, fleeing Earth and its Alien infestation in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Now, in an otherwise unmanned military transport, they hurtle through space. Destination: unknown.

Little do they know that the cargo they carry with them is a legacy of death that they will ultimately have to face. Nor do they know that they head toward a remote colony and military outpost. This pocket of humanity at the very edges of space is at the mercy of a general named Spears with an agenda all his own. Now Billie, Wilks, and Bueller face a new nightmare, and it is nothing they could ever have imagined: a gift of madness from an Alien world, unbalanced mind, and the experiences of a mysterious pilot named Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. Aliens: The Female War and

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens: Earth War (also known as Aliens: Female War) (1990). Lieutenant Ellen Ripley awoke from her long journey in space with a hole in her memory and an overwhelming drive to survive. When she meets Wilks and Billie, two battered veterans in the war against the Aliens she realizes she's found two comrades in arms — and she's ready to take up the fight. Only then does she discover the devastating secret that lurks behind her long sleep. When she, Wilks, and Billie prepare to meet the Aliens head-on to turn a powerful Alien queen against her spawn in a battle intended to save Earth, that secret becomes her greatest weapon — and her greatest liability. As the fate of Earth hangs in the balance, Ripley and Billie must come to terms with what it means to be Alien… and what it means to be human. Aliens: Genocide

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens: Genocide (1991–1992) Aliens: Alien Harvest

Bantam Spectra

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens: Hive (also known as Aliens: Harvest) (1992). A dying man becomes involved in a plot to steal royal jelly from an Alien hive, believing it to be a cure for his cancer. Aliens: Rogue

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens: Rogue (1993) Welcome to the former penal colony of Charon, where a labyrinth of tunnels offer shelter to an Alien hive. Professor Ernst Kleist rules—a paranoid tyrant whose speciality is making humans disappear. Captain Joyce Palmer is bound for Charon. Only she and a few hand-picked Marines can stop Kleist in his tracks. Only they can stop the professor’s most insane creation—the Rogue. Aliens: Labyrinth

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens: Labyrinth (1993–1994). On the space station Innominata the infamous Dr. Paul Church has built a maze of tunnels. Church is hiding the results of his latest experiments. His aim: to bring human and Alien together as one being. Colonel Dr. Tony Crespi has one ambition — to work with Church. But one by one the men on Innominata have been dying in the attempt to meld Alien and man. When Crespi finds his way to the heart of the labyrinth he discovers a chamber of horrors—will he ever be able to find a way out? Aliens: Music of the Spears

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens: Music of the Spears (1994). Aliens: Berserker

Adapted from the comic book series Aliens: Berserker (1995).

Further novels Title Author Publisher Date Length Notes Aliens: Original Sin

DH Press

Although this book is based on the second film of the franchise, it is the sequel to the 1997 film Alien Resurrection. It brings back characters like Ripley 8, the clone of Lt. Ellen Ripley, and android Call. It also sorts out unanswered questions from the movies and raises entirely new ones. Was it just coincidence that the Nostromo happened to pass by the desolate planet? Why was the Alien on the crashed ship in the first place? Aliens: DNA War

It follows detective Rory Malvaux and the crew of the Vinza as they attempt to extract a group of scientists — including Rory's mother Jocasta — who have unexpectedly encountered Xenomorphs on the planet Rosamond 6. However, upon arriving, the Vinza's crew discover the scientists are not only unwilling to leave, but may be engaging in foul play to preserve the very creatures that stalk them. Aliens: Cauldron

It follows the crews of two cargo starships, the Virginia and the Umiak, as an attempt to illicitly smuggle live Xenomorphs unleashes the deadly creatures upon them. Aliens: Steel Egg

Set several decades before the events of the original Alien, the story concerns the crew of the UNIC Hornblower, who are dispatched on a routine survey mission to Saturn where they discover an ancient extraterrestrial spacecraft in orbit around Iapetus, one of the planet's moons. Upon boarding the mysterious vessel, the unprepared crew soon find themselves trapped in a fight for survival against the Xenomorphs that they accidentally awaken on board. Aliens: Criminal Enterprise

When his brother falls into debt with ruthless drug dealers, Tommy Chase is forced to take a one-time assignment piloting one of the organization's transport ships to wipe the slate clean. The journey takes him to the remote planet called Fantasia, where the dealers operate a secret drug lab kept safe by the horde of frenetic Xenomorphs that swarm Fantasia's surface. However, when the facility comes under attack from rival forces, the creatures intended to keep the operation safe become an unstoppable threat to everyone on the planet. Aliens: No Exit

Alien: Out of the Shadows

Titan Books

Set between the events of Alien and Aliens. The novel tells the story of a group of miners harvesting trimonite, the hardest material known to man, on the planet LV-178. Deep within the mines, they uncover the ruins of an ancient civilization infested with Xenomorphs, which infiltrate the miners' spaceship, the Marion. Ellen Ripley's shuttle, the Narcissus, picks up a distress call from the Marion and docks with it, and she is left to help the miners survive the Xenomorphs as well as uncover why the shuttle seemed to dock on its own accord. Alien: Sea of Sorrows

A follow-up to Out of the Shadows, set many years after Alien Resurrection. LV-178 is now colonized and renamed New Galveston, with Alan Decker, a deputy commissioner for the ICC, charged with making sure the settlements on the planet follow all the rules. While investigating region of the planet with incredibly toxic sands, dubbed the Sea of Sorrows, Decker's previously latent empathic abilities cause him to briefly connect with the Xenomorphs still lying dormant beneath the planet. The Weyland-Yutani Corporation sees this as another opportunity to capture one of the creatures, forcibly recruiting Decker onto a team of mercenaries to accomplish this. Decker is unable to refuse, as centuries ago, his ancestor fought the Xenomorphs, launching a bloody vendetta that was never satisfied. That was when the creatures swore revenge on the Destroyer… Ellen Ripley. Alien: River of Pain

In this novel, the Xenomorph infestation of Hadley's Hope on Acheron (LV-426), which occurred off-screen in Aliens, is depicted. It notably incorporates several sequences previously seen in the comic Aliens: Newt's Tale and also references the events of the Fire and Stone comic. Alien: Invasion

This book is the second chapter in the Rage War trilogy, following up after the events of the novel Predator: Incursion. The trilogy tells the story of a rogue human faction known as the Rage, who launch an invasion against the primary human sphere of influence using an army of Xenomorph shock troopers, with the Yautja caught in the crossfire. It was succeeded by Alien vs. Predator: Armageddon. Alien: Covenant - OriginsAlan Dean Foster346ppPrequel to the 2017 film Alien: Covenant Alien: The Cold Forge