HomeGroupsTalkZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.
Author photo. Credit: Ellen Levy Finch, May 26, 2007, San Francisco BayCon

Credit: Ellen Levy Finch, May 26, 2007, San Francisco BayCon

MembersReviewsPopularityRatingFavorited   Events   
59,307 (69,653)861232 (3.48)87
Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race. Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux. Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000. He is the recipient of the Faust, the IAMTW Lifetime achievement award. Alan Dean Foster's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was a 2015 New York Times bestseller. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from Splinter of the Mind's Eye… (more)
The Star Wars Trilogy (Uncredited author) 2,543 copies, 14 reviews
Splinter of the Mind's Eye 2,428 copies, 30 reviews
Spellsinger 1,337 copies, 15 reviews
Alien 1,321 copies, 17 reviews
For Love of Mother-Not 1,267 copies, 11 reviews
The Tar-Aiym Krang 1,224 copies, 20 reviews
Orphan Star (Author) 1,108 copies, 9 reviews
The End of the Matter 1,021 copies, 13 reviews
The Hour of the Gate 978 copies, 4 reviews
Bloodhype 948 copies, 9 reviews
Nor Crystal Tears 943 copies, 10 reviews
Flinx in Flux 941 copies, 8 reviews
The Approaching Storm 881 copies, 10 reviews
The Day of the Dissonance 879 copies, 2 reviews
Icerigger 858 copies, 6 reviews
Mid-Flinx 796 copies, 8 reviews
The Moment of the Magician 774 copies, 1 review
The Paths of the Perambulator 752 copies, 4 reviews
The Black Hole (Author) 752 copies, 4 reviews
Glory Lane 748 copies, 5 reviews
Midworld (Author) 735 copies, 12 reviews
Quozl (Author) 704 copies, 11 reviews
A Call to Arms 698 copies, 11 reviews
Mission to Moulokin 690 copies, 8 reviews
Cachalot 688 copies, 6 reviews
The Time of the Transference 684 copies, 1 review
Reunion 669 copies, 2 reviews
Sentenced to Prism 662 copies, 14 reviews
Cat-A-Lyst 630 copies, 8 reviews
Cyber Way 613 copies, 4 reviews
Star Trek Log One 559 copies, 9 reviews
Flinx's Folly 558 copies, 4 reviews
Aliens 556 copies, 8 reviews
Phylogenesis 530 copies, 2 reviews
The Last Starfighter 527 copies, 3 reviews
Star Trek 515 copies, 20 reviews
The Deluge Drivers 513 copies, 6 reviews
The Dig 512 copies, 6 reviews
With Friends Like These (Author) 511 copies, 5 reviews
Voyage to the City of the Dead (Author) 509 copies, 3 reviews
The Howling Stones 497 copies, 5 reviews
Sliding Scales 490 copies, 8 reviews
The False Mirror 476 copies, 5 reviews
The Man Who Used the Universe (Author) 467 copies, 6 reviews
Codgerspace 467 copies, 6 reviews
Star Trek Log Two 459 copies, 6 reviews
The Spoils of War (Author) 455 copies, 5 reviews
Running from the Deity 449 copies, 6 reviews
...Who Needs Enemies 441 copies, 3 reviews
Dirge 440 copies, 4 reviews
Star Trek Log Three 438 copies, 5 reviews
Son of Spellsinger 433 copies, 1 review
Lost and Found 426 copies, 7 reviews
Star Trek Log Four 425 copies, 3 reviews
Dinotopia Lost 420 copies, 4 reviews
The I Inside 408 copies, 2 reviews
To the Vanishing Point 406 copies, 5 reviews
Trouble Magnet 389 copies, 5 reviews
Star Trek Log Five 384 copies, 2 reviews
Clash Of The Titans (Author) 380 copies
Into the Out of 377 copies, 5 reviews
Flinx Transcendent 351 copies, 7 reviews
Dark Star 347 copies, 3 reviews
Greenthieves 342 copies, 6 reviews
Patrimony 341 copies, 5 reviews
Voyage of the Basset 337 copies, 10 reviews
Outland 337 copies, 2 reviews
Carnivores of Light and Darkness 334 copies, 2 reviews
Slipt 333 copies, 3 reviews
Alien 3 [novelization] 324 copies, 3 reviews
Diuturnity's Dawn 320 copies, 5 reviews
Drowning World 315 copies, 1 review
The Chronicles Of Riddick 312 copies, 2 reviews
Star Trek Log Six 303 copies, 2 reviews
The Light-years Beneath My Feet 291 copies, 5 reviews
Smart Dragons, Foolish Elves (Editor) 286 copies, 4 reviews
Interlopers 277 copies, 3 reviews
Shadowkeep 277 copies, 2 reviews
Star Trek Log Seven 275 copies, 2 reviews
Chorus Skating 275 copies, 1 review
Star Trek Log Eight 265 copies, 3 reviews
Life Form 262 copies, 1 review
Krull 256 copies, 1 review
Into the Thinking Kingdoms 252 copies, 1 review
Starman 239 copies, 4 reviews
Star Trek Log Ten 237 copies, 3 reviews
Star Trek Log Nine 237 copies, 2 reviews
Impossible Places 231 copies, 3 reviews
Design for Great-Day (Author) 229 copies
The Candle of Distant Earth (Author) 229 copies, 5 reviews
Star Trek Into Darkness 221 copies, 6 reviews
The Human Blend 218 copies, 14 reviews
Parallelities 212 copies, 7 reviews
Jed the Dead 209 copies, 1 review
Quofum 209 copies, 5 reviews
The Thing 203 copies, 1 review
Maori 194 copies, 1 review
Mad Amos 188 copies, 1 review
Alien Nation 169 copies, 2 reviews
Relic 150 copies, 10 reviews
The Hand of Dinotopia 148 copies, 1 review
Season of the Spellsong 147 copies, 2 reviews
Ghosts Of Yesterday 136 copies, 2 reviews
Exceptions to Reality 135 copies, 2 reviews
Transformers 135 copies, 3 reviews
Terminator: Salvation 113 copies, 4 reviews
Montezuma Strip 111 copies
Spellsinger's Scherzo 95 copies, 1 review
Sagramanda 90 copies, 4 reviews
Alien: Covenant 87 copies, 7 reviews
Splinter of the Mind's Eye [graphic novel] (Original writer) 71 copies, 1 review
Strange Music 70 copies, 5 reviews
Betcha Can't Read Just One (Editor; Contributor) 69 copies
The Veiled Threat 59 copies, 1 review
Pale Rider 51 copies, 1 review
Taken Trilogy 48 copies
The Unsettling Stars 47 copies, 3 reviews
Luana 40 copies
Predators I Have Known 36 copies, 2 reviews
The Deavys 21 copies
Todeszone Galaxis (Author) 16 copies
Oshenerth 16 copies
Der Überlebende (Author) 14 copies
Im Schatten schwarzer Sterne (Author) 13 copies
Gefahr im Delta-Dreieck (Author) 11 copies
Madrenga 11 copies
Der Venus-Faktor (Author) 11 copies
Himmelfahrtskommando (Author) 10 copies
Mordsache McCoy (Author) 9 copies
Ums nackte Leben (Author) 9 copies
Prodigals 7 copies, 1 review
Starfight 6 copies
Surfeit 5 copies
Trilogia galattica di Flinx (Author) 4 copies
Die letzte Mission (Author) 4 copies
Ein fataler Fehler (Author) 4 copies
Claim Blame 3 copies, 1 review
Prodigals 3 copies
Chilling 2 copies, 1 review
Batrachian 2 copies
Sideshow 2 copies
Serenade 2 copies
Grøn 1 copy
Tuđinac 1 copy
Maori 1 copy
Robur 2. 1 copy
Suzy Q 1 copy
The Kiss 1 copy
Chauna 1 copy
Thrust 1 copy
Running 1 copy
Unamusing 1 copy
The Chair 1 copy
Pipe Dream 1 copy
Outer Heat 1 copy
Seasoning 1 copy
Flinx 1 copy
Consigned 1 copy
Overcast 1 copy
Redundancy 1 copy
Cold Fire 1 copy
Unnatural 1 copy
Ah, Yehz 1 copy
Food Fight 1 copy
Star Trek: The Motion Picture [novelization] (Contributor) 1,169 copies, 16 reviews
The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy (Contributor, some editions) 491 copies, 1 review
Aliens [1986 film] (Adapter) 369 copies, 7 reviews
The Mammoth Book of Seriously Comic Fantasy (Contributor) 327 copies, 2 reviews
Kabu Kabu (Contributor) 264 copies, 12 reviews
The Children of Cthulhu (Contributor) 252 copies, 3 reviews
Grails: Quests of the Dawn (Contributor) 230 copies, 5 reviews
Dragon Fantastic (Contributor) 230 copies, 1 review
Space Opera (Contributor) 219 copies, 3 reviews
The Best of Eric Frank Russell (Introduction, some editions) 209 copies, 4 reviews
The 1972 Annual World's Best SF (Contributor) 206 copies, 1 review
Federations (Contributor) 197 copies, 5 reviews
The New Lovecraft Circle (Contributor) 180 copies, 2 reviews
Robot Uprisings (Contributor) 177 copies, 5 reviews
Fantasy Gone Wrong (Contributor) 171 copies, 9 reviews
Dead Man's Hand (Contributor) 146 copies, 4 reviews
Stellar #4: Science-Fiction Stories (Contributor) 123 copies, 2 reviews
Dragons: The Greatest Stories (Contributor) 120 copies
The Cthulhu Cycle: Thirteen Tentacles of Terror (Contributor) 113 copies, 2 reviews
Perpetual Light (Contributor) 98 copies
Alien Pregnant by Elvis (Contributor) 90 copies, 2 reviews
Heroic Visions (Contributor) 90 copies
The American Fantasy Tradition (Contributor) 89 copies, 2 reviews
Magic Tails (Contributor) 83 copies, 1 review
Forbidden Planets (Contributor) 81 copies, 1 review
Futureshocks (Contributor) 80 copies, 2 reviews
Stellar #1: Science-Fiction Stories (Contributor) 79 copies
Little Red Riding Hood in the Big Bad City (Contributor) 78 copies, 3 reviews
Magic City: Recent Spells (Contributor) 76 copies, 6 reviews
Journeys to the Twilight Zone (Contributor) 72 copies, 2 reviews
Warrior Fantastic (Contributor) 63 copies
A Century of Fantasy, 1980-1989 (Author) 61 copies, 1 review
Better Off Undead (Contributor) 59 copies, 2 reviews
Future Crimes (Contributor) 59 copies, 2 reviews
Children of Magic (Contributor) 59 copies, 2 reviews
Pharaoh Fantastic (Contributor) 59 copies
The Mutant Files (Contributor) 55 copies, 1 review
Moon Shots (Contributor) 54 copies
Christmas Magic (Contributor) 53 copies, 1 review
Fellowship of the Stars (Contributor) 51 copies
Star Colonies (Contributor) 49 copies, 1 review
The Book of Kings (Contributor) 49 copies, 1 review
Speculations (Contributor) 48 copies
Space Stations (Contributor) 47 copies, 2 reviews
Far Frontiers (Contributor) 46 copies, 2 reviews
Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers (Contributor) 46 copies
Shadows 2 (Contributor) 45 copies, 1 review
Horrors (Contributor) 43 copies, 1 review
Amazing Stories: The Anthology (Contributor) 42 copies
The Madness of Cthulhu, Volume Two (Contributor) 41 copies, 2 reviews
Fantasy for Good: A Charitable Anthology (Contributor) 40 copies, 1 review
I Want My Mummy (Contributor) 38 copies, 2 reviews
The Alien Condition (Contributor) 38 copies
Beyond Time (Contributor) 38 copies, 1 review
The Night Fantastic (Contributor) 37 copies
Fellowship Fantastic (Contributor) 37 copies
Slipstreams (Contributor) 36 copies
Fate Fantastic (Contributor) 35 copies
Army of the Fantastic (Contributor) 33 copies, 3 reviews
Absolute Magnitude (Contributor) 31 copies, 1 review
Christmas Forever (Contributor) 24 copies
Walt Disney's Animated Features and Silly Symphonies (Introduction; Introduction; Introduction) 22 copies
Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians (Foreword, some editions) 20 copies, 3 reviews
The UFO Files (Contributor) 20 copies
Starry messenger: The best of Galileo (Contributor) 16 copies, 1 review
Unidentified Funny Objects 6 (Contributor) 15 copies
Alien Abductions (Contributor) 14 copies
Tales in Space (Contributor) 11 copies
Ikarus 2002 (Contributor) 8 copies
Death on Wheels (Contributor) 7 copies
Gunfight on Europa Station (Contributor) 6 copies
More Tales of Zorro (Contributor) 2 copies

Top members (books)

Member favorites

adventure (202) Alan Dean Foster (415) aliens (344) anthology (1,528) collection (122) Commonwealth (208) ebook (702) fantasy (3,254) fiction (4,224) Flinx (755) hardcover (200) horror (453) Humanx (335) Humanx Commonwealth (342) humor (331) Kindle (186) media tie-in (117) mmpb (141) movie (152) movie tie-in (219) novel (444) novelization (385) own (304) paperback (800) PB (157) read (759) science fiction (11,047) Science Fiction/Fantasy (520) series (393) sf (2,153) sff (732) short stories (970) space opera (243) Spellsinger (374) Star Trek (1,569) Star Trek: The Original Series (158) Star Wars (1,242) television (135) to-read (1,679) unread (370)
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical name
Legal name
Other names
Date of birth
Date of death
Burial location
Gender
Nationality
Country (for map)
Birthplace
Place of death
Cause of death
Places of residence
Education
Occupations
Relationships
Agents
Organizations
Awards and honors
Short biography
Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction, a prolific creator of and contributor to book series as well as the author of more than 20 single novels. He is especially prolific in his novelizations of film scripts.
Disambiguation notice

LibraryThing Early Reviewers Alum

Alan Dean Foster's book The Human Blend was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

Member ratings

Average: (3.48)
0.5 31
1 149
1.5 50
2 837
2.5 202
3 2866
3.5 574
4 2640
4.5 185
5 1208

Improve this author

Combine/separate works

Author division

Alan Dean Foster is currently considered a "single author." If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author.

Includes

Alan Dean Foster is composed of 25 names. You can examine and separate out names.

Combine with…

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 188,249,927 books! | Top bar: Always visible