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 lives in Arizona with his wife, but he 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.
This is a short story that is part of a series. Each one is a stand alone. In this one we follow a hunter who is hunting his prey. While on the hunt he comes upon an obstacle in the form of another being. We see how he handles this obstacle.
I have read several of these stories in this series and by now I know what to expect. They are not going to add anything to the overall lore. They are side pieces that do not need to be read and this one follows the pattern. There isn't much to this one story wise. I do have to give the author credit for the way he told the story and how it doesn't follow the way I thought it would go. The way it was set up thru the eyes of our protagonist I really thought it was going to go one way. It did not and I thought that this was interesting. The problem with this turn of events is that since this is a short story we do not see the results of this swerve. Maybe the point is that there is nothing there afterwards. It seems like the story was building some interesting perspective and nothing came from it.
I liked what this story tried to accomplish. Too bad it could not follow thru with it. That is the problem I am seeing with this series. That the various authors have some interesting ideas but they have no room to run with it. I wish the two characters and their intersecting story had a run. I would be interested in that. That is the reason I gave this two stars. It did peak my interest but I am a little bit unsatisified.
Will I torture myself with more Alan Dean Foster Star Wars novels in the future?
Answer - Yes. If I want to complete the galaxy.
This is my third Star Wars novel by Alan Dean Foster - the author should be a veteran in the universe, but . . . I just want him to stop writing Star Wars . . . it adds nothing.
Only six pages . . . nothing major but so small in the galaxy and it is boring as hell.
Bait is absolutely, totally, completely, unremarkable. It's not poorly written or confusing or riddled with mistakes, it's just not interesting whatsoever.
A short story originally published in Star Wars Insider magazine and collected in the paperback edition of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Bait fails at the one thing that good Insider short stories do -- provide a small snapshot of life that gives more depth to the Star Wars universe.
The main character, Grummgar, is boring. It's just "big creature with gun" and motivations that we don't know. The planet is not notable for any reason. He fights a couple creatures and meets a woman who either doesn't appear in any other media or is Bazine Netal from the novella The Perfect Weapon, depending on who you ask (like other reviewers note, it's never stated to be her but I got that same sense that it could be).
Bait is just...nothing. You won't be better off for reading it, and there's no reason to unless you absolutely must obsessively read everything Star Wars.
A fairly serviceable short story (10 pages though compared to the 6 pages listed on GoodReads). Alan Dean Foster (ADF) does a better job here than he does in the actual The Force Awakens novelization (where this is included - in the paperback - as a bonus short story). Still nothing amazing to it, and the premise that two distinct people could sneak into the forest of Ithor is a bit ridiculous, but at least it provides a small snapshot of how Bazine Netal (despite her using a different name in this story) hooks up with the Dowutin (Grummgar) that we see her with in Maz's castle in TFA.
Short story about a big guy hunting for dangerous beasts on a forest in order to get an exotic pelt to a client, who runs into another hunter hunting for the same, but this girl is petite and fragile, although fierce and determined. They find each other and start a little conversation on their interests and appearances, first not trusting each other and eventually getting to a momentary friendship.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Nothing really substantial happened in the story, but then again it’s only 10 pages, so can’t really expect there to be a full plot with lots of characters and action. All the same, it was pretty good but didn’t really contribute to The Force Awakens or anything else except for Grummgar’s characterization in this one specific instance.
Another great short story appearing in Star Wars Magazine, this time by Alan Dean Foster. This story features two side characters from The Force Awakens and tells the story of their team-up. Since this came out, there have been more stories featuring these two so I thought that it was cool to read about their first encounter.
This story wasn't bad, but it's only 6 pages, so there isn't much to say about it? This story tells Grummgar who's out hunting when the creature he's hunting is killed by a human. I think it's hinted at this human is Bazine under another name? When Bazine is at Maz's castle, it's Grummgar who's there with her.
Not a bad story, but not much else to say about it.
I get that this was a short story to flesh out a random character but I don't feel like it added as much to the universe as the first short story did. This was a cute little story but it could have been set in any fictional universe.
Star Wars Short Stories are the best, providing background material to characters you glimpse in the films. This one is another great, giving substance to two characters from The Force Awakens, that meet during a hunt.
This is a cute story that gets straight to characterization and not much else. There's a wafer-thin plot, but since the story is only six pages, it couldn't be much more than that.
Two opposing characters bond over a potentially deadly confrontation. Yet another pleasant, but inconsequential read. Worth reading, not worth pursuing. Does not give any insight into the shaping of the interconnected universe of the new canon.
Conto curtinho demais (minha reclamação recorrente sobre os contos publicados na revista Star Wars Insider) que acompanha dois personagens que deveriam ser inimigos (talvez), e como a vida não é, ou não deveria ser feita de maniqueísmos.