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Alan Dean Foster (November 18, 1946, New York City, New York –) has achieved an extremely successful writing career, beginning with his first short story sale in 1968, to August Derleth for Derleth's bi-annual magazine The Arkham Collector. Foster has developed a long-running series dubbed the Humanx Universe, a future in which humans have formed a partnership with an insectlike alien race known as the Thranx, in mutual opposition to the expansionist reptilian race, the Aaan. Beloved characters in this setting include Pip and Flinx, a human and his pet alien mini-dragon. They made their bow in Foster's first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang (1971), a fast-paced space opera considerably less sophisticated than Foster's later work. By the third volume in the series, Orphan Star (1977), Pip was hard at work trying to discover the secret of his own background and the mysterious mental powers he was developing. As of his eleventh outing, Running from the Deity (2005), he still doesn't appear to be any closer to succeeding.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, much of Foster's output was media related, including ten volumes of Star Trek material, and movie novelizations that include Alien (1979), The Thing (1981), Clash of the Titans (1981), and many others. Although less active in this area in recent years, he continues to do novelizations intermittently.
As Foster's abilities and experience grew, he launched another popular series of planetary adventures, which featured unusual or extreme ecological systems. These books include Icerigger (1974) and its two sequels; Midworld (1975); Cachalot (1980); Voyage to the City of the Dead (1984); and Sentenced to Prism (1985).
Foster tried traditional fantasy with Spellsinger (1983), a series that ran for eight volumes. Although he has returned to fantasy from time to time, the Journey to the Catechist trilogy is perhaps the only one to rise above the ordinary. Carnivores of Light and Darkness (1998) is the first volume in that series.
He also experimented with other forms, as in Into the Out Of (1986), which pits a supernatural horror from African legend against Earth in the 1980s—more specifically, against two special New Yorkers. Glory Lane (1987) is a consistently funny spoof of traditional SF space adventures, and Quozl (1989) does the same for first contact stories. Later attempts at humor, such Cyber Way (1990) and Codgerspace (1982) were not as consistently successful. To the Vanishing Point (1989) considered the interface between technology and magic ,while The Mocking Program (2002) veered toward cyberpunk. Foster's ventures away from his main series have often been interesting, but it is clear that his greatest strength lies in otherworldly adventures.
The more recent of these have included the retroactive story describing how the two disparate races of the Humanx civilization overcame their significant differences to forge their alliance. Others, like The Howling Stones (1997) and Drowning World (2003), have dealt with the ongoing efforts of the Aaan to garner influence with other races in order to diminish the power of the Humanx. Foster has also produced a respectable body of short fiction but with few titles that are of exceptional merit.
Foster's work can be categorized as fun and easy to read without being vapid or tactless. There is no gratuitous sex and no need of any. A prolific and busy author, Foster has flown under the radar of the major awards of the genre, but his legions of fans appreciate his talented storytelling.
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