The great sci-fi directors all have one famous franchise to their name. Ridley Scott has Alien. Michael Bay has Transformers. JJ Abrams has Star Trek. George Lucas has Star Wars.
But writer Alan Dean Foster? He has them all, and a whole lot more.
Foster’s love for the genre started at a young age. His Los Angeles family home was filled with sci-fi and fantasy novels, and as soon as his father had finished one, Foster was quick to pick it up and read it himself.
“Growing up, I never gave a thought to being a writer. All I ever wanted to be was a traveller and explorer. Science-fiction allowed me to go places that were otherwise inaccessible, which is why I started reading it.”
It also helped that his uncle, Howie Horwitz, was a producer on television shows such as Batman and The Immortal, allowing Foster first-hand insight into the world behind the lens.
He went on to study a BA in political science and a MFA in cinema at UCLA, hoping to become a filmmaker, safe with the knowledge he could always fall back into law. Fortunately, as Foster puts it, he was “saved”. His first short story, inspired by Lovecraftian law, was published in The Arkham Collector while he was still studying.
After graduation, he spent several years as a copywriter while continuing to sell other short fiction to genre magazines.
Foster’s first big break came in 1972, when his first novel The Tar-Aiym Krang, was published by Ballantine Books. The book established Foster’s Humanx Commonwealth Universe – the interstellar region where the majority of his original stories take place – and Pip and Flinx, the roughish adventures who quickly became his most popular characters.
The novel’s success allowed Foster to continue his career in writing, and soon developed a system of work that would carry throughout his entire career. The concept was simple:
“Keep writing. Try to do a little bit every day, even if the result looks like crap. Getting from page four to page five is more important than spending three weeks getting page four perfect.”
In 1974, Foster was hired to adapt stories from Star Trek: The Animated Series. He completed eight over the next two years, as well as the novelization of John Carpenter’s cult-classic Dark Star.
It wasn’t long before Foster was approached by George Lucas, who was looking for a ghostwriter to produce the novelization of Star Wars. Two novelists had already turned Lucas down because of his demand that he be the only credited writer, and due to the flat $5000 fee he was offering for the work.
Foster, in contrast, was willing. Handed the original screenplay, he worked on expanding the universe; its backstory, structure, flora, fauna, and technology. The level of detail he committed to the novel became cemented in Star Wars canon, and paired with the film, revolutionised science fiction in the mainstream.
When asked if he was disappointed that he did not receive credit, Foster explained “”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.”
The contract required Foster to write a second novel, designed to be the basis of a low-budget sequel to Star Wars if the film was a failure. Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, released in 1978, was one of the first ‘expanded universe’ products linked with the franchise, and saw Foster credited under his own name.
This was followed by the adaptation of Ridley Scott’s Alien (he would novels based on the first three films over the next 15 years), The Thing, Clash of the Titans, and space-Western Outland, before releasing six back-to-back novels in his Spellsinger franchise, a series featuring a young musician who is summoned to a world in which his performance of modern songs (such as Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze) allows him to cast magical spells based on the lyrics.
When not writing, Foster is often found exploring the real world. “Living gives you a better understanding of life. I would hope that my characters have become deeper and more rounded personalities. Wider travels have given me considerably greater insight into how cultural differences affect not only people, but politics and art.”
Today, Alan Dean Foster has more than 100 novels to his name, along with numerous awards (for both his writing and powerlifting!). He remains the pre-eminent author of movie adaptations, having recently completed the novelization of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and is in the process of developing a screenplay based on the first of his Spellsinger novels.