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This book brings together a collection of Ray's many writings on science fiction, including the script he wrote in the 1960s, based on his own short story, for a science fiction film called The Alien. On being prompted by Arthur C. Clarke, Ray sent the script to an agent in Hollywood, who happened to represent Peter Sellers. Then started the 'Ordeals of the Alien', as years later, Ray watched Steven Spielberg's film Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and realized they bore uncanny resemblances to his script The Alien, including the way the ET was designed!

A slice of hitherto undocumented cinema history, Travails with the Alien includes Ray's detailed essay on the project with the full script of The Alien, as well as the original short story on which the screenplay was based. These, presented alongside correspondence between Ray and Peter Sellers, Arthur C. Clarke, Marlon Brando and Hollywood producers who showed interest, make this book a rare and compelling read on science fiction, cinema and the art of adaptation.