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In Isaac Asimov's Robot and Foundation novels, the planet Aurora and its two asteroidal satellites orbit Tau Ceti.

In Robert A. Heinlein's novel Time For the Stars, the flagship Elsie encounters a few planets, and an Earth type planet, that they name "Constance". It is later colonized.

In the Viagens Interplanetarias stories of L. Sprague de Camp its system contains the inhabited planets of Vishnu, Krishna and Ganesha, the second of these being the setting of his novels The Queen of Zamba, The Hand of Zei, The Hostage of Zir, The Virgin of Zesh, The Tower of Zanid, The Prisoner of Zhamanak, The Bones of Zora, and The Swords of Zinjaban.

In Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series this is the home star of the invading aliens known as the Race.

In Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga series, Tau Ceti is occupied by a race of humanoids known as Tau Cetans

In Larry Niven's Known Space series, the human colony of Plateau orbited Tau Ceti.

In Dan Simmon's Hyperion Cantos, Tau Ceti is orbited by Tau Ceti Center, capital of the Hegemony of Man.

In Brian Antoine's online serial novella Tales of the Family nas Kan, a sci-fi/magic-based society of anthropomorphic animals inhabits a planet in the Tau Ceti system. See also furry fandom.

In Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed, the action takes place in a fictional double planet system orbiting Tau Ceti. The two planets are called Anarres and Urras.

In C.J. Cherryh's Hugo Award-Winning novel Downbelow Station, the space station referenced in the book's title (Pell Station) orbits a planet, Downbelow in the Tau Ceti system inhabited by the alien Hisa race.

In Julian May's Galactic Milieu trilogy, Tau Ceti is orbited by the planet Molakar, inhabited by the alien race Krondaku, and destroyed in the Metapsychic Rebellion.

Samuel R. Delany's Empire Star starts on a habitable moon circling a planet of Tau Ceti.

In Frank Herbert's novel Destination: Void, Tau Ceti is the destination of the ship, precisely because it was known to have no planets. The planet created by the Ship around Tau Ceti may or may not be the setting of the Pandora Series of novels by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom (The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, and The Ascension Factor).

In Péter Zsoldos' novel trilogy (Return of the Viking, Distant Fire, The last temptation - originally Hungarian editions but later published in many countries aroung Europe) Tau Ceti is the destination of the first interstellar expedition of humanity. Gregor Man, a geologist is left behind on one of the planets (called Gama / Lalla) of the star and later becomes the king of the city of Avana.

In the series Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there is a world called "Sirius Tau Ceti," settled (or artificially created) by the Sirius Corporation.

In the Rama trilogy by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee, Rama travels through space towards Tau Ceti on their final voyage to the tetrahedric node.

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In the film version of Barbarella, the decadent city of Sogo is on a planet in the Tau Ceti system.

In The Powers of Matthew Starr, the planet Quadris is identified as being a planet of Tau Ceti.

In Gene Roddenberry's , the warlike Jaridian species is referred to as having its main stronghold at Tau Ceti.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Remember Me", the alien known as The Traveler is said to come from Tau Ceti. This information, however, contradicts the statement made in the episode "Where No One Has Gone Before" that The Traveler came from Tau Alpha C.

In the television series Doctor Who Tau Ceti is mentioned at least twice. In The Stones of Blood and Terror of the Zygons the planets Ogros and Zygor are said to orbit Tau Ceti.

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In Alan Moore's Skizz, Interpreter Zhcchz from Tau Ceti crash-lands outside Birmingham.

In Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon, Master Pharaoh 90, the leader of the enemy group "Death Busters", comes from Tau Ceti.

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In the MMORPG EVE Online, the Gallentean race is said to be descended from people of French origin from the Tau Ceti system.

In the Marathon game trilogy, Tau Ceti IV is the location of a human colony, about which the colony ship U.E.S.C. Marathon orbits.

In the computer game System Shock 2, Tau Ceti V was where the starship Von Braun travelled on its maiden voyage. It was also the source of the invasion on the ship by both the AI SHODAN and the SHODAN-created lifeforms, the Annelids, which evolved into The Many.

Pete Cooke's 1985 ZX Spectrum computer game Tau Ceti, published by CRL, was set on an airless planet orbiting the star. *

In David Braben's computer game Frontier, Tau Ceti is orbited by the habitable, Earth-like world Taylor Colony that is densely populated, the system is a member of the Federation.

In Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire, the vaguely referenced "Tau Ceti flowering" had accidentally destroyed all sentient life in the Tau Ceti system. This destruction is the primary argument used by the alien Progenitor Manifold Caretakers against causing further flowerings in other systems.

In all three of the Escape Velocity games, Tau Ceti is the primary of a major star system.