Alan Dean Foster

## About the Author

* **Other Names**: James Lawson
* **Genres**: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult Fantasy, Horror
* **Writing Style**:
* **Books:**  Alan Dean Foster Books

### Biography

Alan Dean Foster has written in a variety of genres, including hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is also the author of numerous nonfiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as novelizations of several films, including Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work ever to do so.

Foster's love of the far-away and exotic has led him to travel extensively. He's lived in Tahiti and French Polynesia, traveled to Europe, Asia, and throughout the Pacific, and has explored the back roads of Tanzania and Kenya. He has rappelled into New Mexico's fabled Lechugilla Cave, panfried piranha (lots of bones, tastes a lot like trout) in Peru, white-water rafted the length of the Zambezi's Batoka Gorge, and driven solo the length and breadth of Namibia.

Foster and his wife, JoAnn Oxley, reside in Prescott, Arizona, in a house built of brick that was salvaged from a turn-of-the-century miners' brothel. He is presently at work on several new novels and media projects.

### Writings

Foster may be best known for his science fiction novels set in the Humanx Commonwealth, an interstellar ethical/political union of species including humankind and the insectoid Thranx. Many of these novels feature Philip Lynx ("Flinx"), an empathic young man who has found himself involved in something which threatens the survival of the Galaxy. Flinx's constant companion since childhood is a minidrag named Pip, a flying, empathic snake capable of spitting a highly corrosive and violently neurotoxic venom.

One of Foster's better-known fantasy works is the *Spellsinger* series, in which a young musician is summoned into a world populated by talking creatures where his music allows him to do real magic whose effects depends on the lyrics of the popular songs he sings (although with somewhat unpredictable results).

Many of Foster's works have a strong ecological element to them, often with an environmental twist. Often the villains in his stories experience their downfall because of a lack of respect for other alien species or seemingly innocuous bits of their surroundings. This can be seen in such works as *Midworld*, about a semi-sentient planet that is essentially one large rainforest, and *Cachalot*, set on an ocean world populated by sentient cetaceans. Foster usually devotes a large part of his novels to descriptions of the strange environments of alien worlds and the coexistence of their flora and fauna. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is *Sentenced to Prism*, in which the protagonist finds himself trapped on a world where life is based on silicon rather than carbon, as on Earth.

#### Star Wars

Foster was the ghostwriter of the original novelization of *Star Wars*, which was credited solely to George Lucas. When asked if it was difficult for him to see Lucas get all the credit for *Star Wars*, Foster said, "Not at all. It was George's story idea. I was merely expanding upon it. Not having my name on the cover didn't bother me in the least. It would be akin to a contractor demanding to have his name on a Frank Lloyd Wright house."

#### Star Trek

Foster has the story credit for *Star Trek: The Motion Picture*. He also wrote 10 books based on episodes of the animated *Star Trek*, the first six books each consisting of three linked novella-length episode adaptations, and the last four being expanded adaptations of single episodes that segued into original story. In the mid-seventies, he wrote original *Star Trek* stories for the Peter Pan-label *Star Trek* audio story records. He later wrote the novelization of the 2009 film *Star Trek*, his first *Star Trek* novel in over 30 years. He later wrote the novelization for *Star Trek*'s sequel, *Star Trek Into Darkness*.

## Series

### Humanx Commonwealth Universe series

* Genres: Hard Science Fiction, Space Opera
#### Adventures of Pip & Flinx

* 1. For Love of Mother Not (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 1) (1983, reissued 2002)
	2. The Tar-Aiym Krang (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 2) (1972)
	3. Orphan Star (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 3) (1977)
	4. The End of the Matter (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 4) (1977)
	5. Flinx in Flux (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 5) (1988)
	6. Mid-Flinx (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 6) (1995)
	7. Reunion (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 7) (2001)
	8. Flinx's Folly (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 8) (2003)
	9. Sliding Scales (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 9) (2004)
	10. Running From The Deity (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 10) (2005)
	11. Bloodhype (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 11) (1973)
	12. Trouble Magnet (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 12) (2006)
	13. Patrimony (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 13) (2007)
	14. Flinx Transcendent (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 14) (2009)
	15. Strange Music (Adventures of Pip & Flinx Book 15) (2017)

#### Humanx Commonwealth

* 1. Midworld (Humanx Commonwealth Book 1) (1975, reissued 2012)
	2. Cachalot (Humanx Commonwealth Book 2) (1980)
	3. Nor Crystal Tears (Humanx Commonwealth Book 3) (1982)
	4. Voyage to the City of the Dead (Humanx Commonwealth Book 4) (1984)
	5. Sentenced to Prism (Humanx Commonwealth Book 5) (1985)
	6. The Howling Stones (Humanx Commonwealth Book 6) (1997)
	7. Drowning World (Humanx Commonwealth Book 7) (2003)
	8. Quofum (Humanx Commonwealth Book 8) (2008)

#### Icerigger Trilogy

* 1. The Icerigger Trilogy (Humanx Commonwealth) (2012)
		+ Icerigger (1974)
		+ Mission to Moulokin (1979)
		+ The Deluge Drivers (1987)

### The Spellsinger Adventures series

* Genres: Contemporary Fantasy
* Theme: A musician is transported into a land of magic
* Series list:
	1. Spellsinger (The Spellsinger Adventures Book 1) (1983)
	2. The Hour of the Gate (The Spellsinger Adventures Book 2) (1984)
	3. The Day of the Dissonance (The Spellsinger Adventures Book 3) (1984)
	4. The Moment of the Magician (The Spellsinger Adventures Book 4) (1984)
	5. The Paths of the Perambulator (The Spellsinger Adventures Book 5) (1985)
	6. The Time of the Transference (The Spellsinger Adventures Book 6) (1986)
	7. Son of Spellsinger (The Spellsinger Adventures Book 7) (1993)
	8. Chorus Skating (The Spellsinger Adventures Book 8) (1994)

### The Damned trilogy

* Genres: Genetic Engineering, Space Opera
	1. The Damned Trilogy (2017)
		+ A Call to Arms (The Damned Trilogy Book 1) (1991)
		+ The False Mirror (The Damned Trilogy Book 2) (1992)
		+ The Spoils of War (The Damned Trilogy Book 3) (1993)

### Angel Cardenas series

	1. Montezuma Strip (1995)
	2. The Mocking Program (2002)

### Journeys of the Catechist series

* Genres: Fantasy
	1. Carnivores of Light and Darkness (Journeys of the Catechist Book 1) (1998)
	2. Into the Thinking Kingdoms (Journeys of the Catechist Book 2) (1999)
	3. A Triumph of Souls (Journeys of the Catechist Book 3) (2000)

### Founding of the Commonwealth series

* Genres: Alien Adventure, Space Opera
	1. Phylogenesis (The Founding of the Commonwealth Book 1) (1999)
	2. Dirge (The Founding of the Commonwealth Book 2) (2000)
	3. Diuturnity's Dawn (The Founding of the Commonwealth Book 3) (2002)

### The Taken Trilogy

* Genres: Humorous Fiction, Time Travel
	1. Lost and Found (The Taken Trilogy Book 1) (2004)
	2. The Light-years Beneath My Feet (The Taken Trilogy Book 2) (2005)
	3. The Candle of Distant Earth (The Taken Trilogy Book 3) (2006)

### The Tipping Point trilogy

* Genres: Technothrillers, Genetic Engineering
	1. The Human Blend (The Tipping Point Trilogy Book 1) (2010)
	2. Body, Inc. (The Tipping Point Trilogy Book 2) (2012)
	3. The Sum of Her Parts (The Tipping Point Trilogy Book 3) (2012)

### Countless Worlds series

* Genres: Epic Fantasy
* Theme: Bk 1 - Aquatic - Takes place entirely underwater, each book takes place in a different setting
* Series list:
	1. Oshenerth (Countless Worlds Book 1) (2015)
	2. The Taste of Different Dimensions (Countless Worlds Book 2) (2019)
	3. The Flavors of Other Worlds (Countless Worlds Book 3) (2019)

### Madrenga series

* Genres: YA, Fantasy Adventure
	1. Madrenga (Madrenga Book 1) (2020)

## Other Works

### Novels

* Luana (1974)
* Dark Star (1974)
* The Black Hole (1979)
* Outland (1981)
* Clash of the Titans (1981)
* The Thing (1982)
* Krull (1983)
* The Man Who Used the Universe (1983)
* Slipt (1984)
* The Last Starfighter (1984)
* The I Inside (1984)
* Shadowkeep (1984)
* Starman (1984)
* Pale Rider (1985)
* Into the Out Of (1986)
* Glory Lane (1987)
* Maori (1988)
* Outer Heat (1988)
* To the Vanishing Point (1988)
* Codgerspace (1989)
* Quozl (1989)
* Cyber Way (1990)
* Cat-A-Lyst (1991)
* Greenthieves (1994)
* Design for Great-Day (1995) (with Eric Frank Russell)
* The Dig (1995)
* Parallelities (1995)
* Life Form (1995)
* Jed the Dead (1997)
* Kingdoms of Light (2001)
* Interlopers (2001)
* Primal Shadows (2001)
* The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
* Sagramanda (2006)
* The Deavys (2016)
* Relic (2018)

## References

1. ↑ Fantastic Fiction
2. ↑ Alan Dean Foster at wikipedia