Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)

Published in 1961, *Stranger in a Strange Land* is Heinlein's best-known novel and one of the first works of science fiction to reach the mainstream bestseller lists^[1]. Its protagonist, Valentine Michael Smith, is born on Mars and raised by Martians, returning to Earth as an adult with the second expedition. There are no flying saucers here and no sightings in the sky; the 'alien' it depicts is an ancient Martian civilization whose mind and morality are utterly unlike our own, and Smith brings home Martian mental disciplines — telekinesis, telepathy, the power to make things simply vanish. Less a UFO story than the purest expression of the 'alien among us' theme, it set a template for decades of contact-and-awakening narratives. It won the 1962 Hugo Award for Best Novel^[2].