Truly alien aliens or humans

[Mayabird]

It's a little pet peeve of mine, that aliens in stories (books, TV, etc.) are often just humans with funny looking bodies or basically one-dimensional humans (warlike race, intellectual race, etc.). Futuristic humans are often portrayed just like humans of whenever the story was made or some time before. I'm so sick of the neo-medieval humans in space. Sure, you've got tentacles and fur, but your scheming sounds like you got dropped from medieval Venice.

(Yes, I realize that it's difficult to imagine something truly alien, but let's leave out that discussion from this thread.)

So anyway, I'm looking for examples of truly alien creatures in outlook, thought and so forth.

One example I've thought of is the alien species of A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. Imaginative, original, and alien. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin shows a pretty weird human (sorta) society. The aliens in Clarke's Rama series were cool, even though the books got less and less good as the series went on.

Can anyone think of other stories? Think of this as a suggestion thread for stories for me to read.

[frigidmagi]

May I suggest the Praxis series?

Humanity and other specis have been conqeared by alien beings who worship the idea of unchanging order above everything else.

The series begins with the death of the very last of these aliens and shows what happens to an empire when it's GodKings are dead.

[Shark Bait]

Brin's uplift war series has some interesting aliens in it, though i cannot remember them all off the top of my head at the moment one that stands out are a race of inteligent "trees" the trees are made of multiple semi-indipendently thinking parts called "sap rings" when the rings are severely out of agreement stuff goes wrong and the tree explodes...

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

How about the aliens in Star Control computer game series? The Chenjesu is a rock-like, silicon-based lifeform. The Ur-Quan is a ten feet length, sentient cartepilar. The Mrrnhrm is a completely robotic alien race. The Slylandro is a gaseous lifeform that could not physically leave their gas giant home planet due to their physical form. The Suppox is a race of sentient plants. Etc, etc.

[Destructionator XV]

But what about their culture? Is that as alien as their apperance?

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

But what about their culture? Is that as alien as their apperance?

Sadly, SC alien culture is not much different than those of Star Trek: oversimplified stereotype brainbug. For instance, in B&B Star Trek, all Klingons are warmongering space vikings; all Romulans are duplicitious; all Ferengis are greedy and coward. Star Control suffered from the same syndrome: all Ur-Quans are territorial beast; all Yehat are noble and warlike; all Chenjesu are calm and peaceful (because they're silicon-based lifeform, etc).

[Ali Sama]

this is a resulte of human egoism. We typecast aliens as a plot device rather then characters. Most complex aliens usually have a human connection.
Other times they model them after animals. Incects are popular. A truly alien mind would be very diffrent yet very familiar. It all depends on their evolutionary status(cultraly).

[Narsil]

Daleks are pretty damn alien, physically, mentally and morally. Evil, twisted, and generally looking like one-eyed squids inside flying pepperpots of doom. Superintelligent one-eyed squids inside flying pepperpots of doom which have lasers attached, naturally. (No matter how alien you are, it seems, you're never too good to have Ye Olde Lasere Beams of Doome.)

There's also the Doctor himself, on the subject of Doctor Who. He's, well, beyond eccentric and in the realms of the surreal at times, generally seeing pretty much everything on a completely different level to the majority of humankind.