Project Gutenberg 2016-09-20 Public domain in the USA. 179 Merril, Judith 1923 1997 Grossman, Josephine Juliet Finlay, Virgil 1914 1971 Finlay Lutjens The Lonely Produced from Worlds of Tomorrow October 1963 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Lonely" by Judith Merril is a science fiction novella written in the early 1960s. This narrative unfolds in a futurist setting, exploring themes of communication and connection between disparate species, particularly focusing on the challenges faced when humans encounter an alien civilization. The work intricately delves into the complexities of intercultural relations amidst a backdrop of interstellar travel and anthropological study. The story is framed around a series of transmissions concerning an unsuccessful human expedition to Aldebaran VI, where the Terrans, aboard a spacecraft crewed solely by females, seek to make contact with the Arlemites, an alien species. As the Terran crew grapples with their own reproductive limitations and cultural differences, misunderstandings and tragic consequences unfold. The narrative illustrates the failure of communication across species, particularly due to their starkly dissimilar societies and the implications of a single-sex crew on human interactions. Ultimately, the tale reflects on the themes of loneliness, the nature of intelligence, and the unanticipated connections that emerge through shared experience and tragedy. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 53.4 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. en Science fiction Short stories Epistolary fiction Extraterrestrial beings -- Fiction Interstellar communication -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 52457 2025-07-21T08:05:59.626072 text/html 28509 2024-10-23T01:09:04 text/html 227350 2025-07-21T08:06:01.329103 application/epub+zip 226182 2025-07-21T08:06:00.034110 application/epub+zip 82308 2025-07-21T08:05:59.833104 application/epub+zip 261590 2025-07-21T08:06:02.517130 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 254475 2025-07-21T08:06:01.133110 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 110705 2022-09-24T05:26:54.033012 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 45804 2025-07-21T08:05:59.462089 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26050 2024-10-23T01:09:04 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18644 2025-07-21T08:06:02.736052 application/rdf+xml 29762 2025-07-21T08:05:59.903088 image/jpeg 4843 2025-07-21T08:05:59.867118 image/jpeg 206002 2025-07-21T08:05:59.676100 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia