Design for Great-Day

by Alan Dean Foster, Eric Frank Russell

When a strange starship appears mysteriously on a distant alien world, bearing only a single human and his bee-like extraterrestrial companion, the powerful warlord of that world laughs at the stranger's preposterous demand: End an all-out war with an interstellar rival, or face devastating consequences. But James Lawson, emissary from an intergalactic federation of advanced race, means every word he says, and has the power to back them up—whatever the cost.

Cover Art by Gary Ruddell

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy

255 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd collaborative novel, wherein Foster has expanded a novelette by Russell from 1953 to novel length. I did enjoy the story, but didn't think Foster did much to enhance Russell's original, or that Russell added much to what Foster would have done as a simple homage. It's an amusing story about a clever Earth man and implacable aliens... perhaps I was expecting too much. Foster has stated repeatedly that Russell was one of his major influences, so it's nice to see him remembered in this way.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I judged this book by it's cover and the cover was better.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have nothing nice to say about this book. It's kinda nothing for a few hundred pages. There aren't any characters to latch on to, there aren't any struggles to root for. It just sorta happens.

After reading the book I went and skimmed the original novella, and the best part of the novel (the proxy war between the hairless cats and the vampire apes) wasn't even in it. So, I guess this version's is better? But it's also significantly longer, so points off for that.

I don't know why this book needed to open up with a 5 page description of a spaceship shaped like an egg, but I was ready to pull my hair out before the first chapter ended. And I barely have any hair left. James Lawson has an unearned arrogance. The Solarians are weird space bullies that will genocide you if you don't follow their laws. But don't worry, they're the good guys, I guess?


Idk. I've never had a huge love of Alan Dean Foster, but I just don't think he's suited to Star Wars and that was all I had read before. Maybe his fantasy is decent. Eric Frank Russell is CERTAINLY not to my tastes.

Also, worth noting. I'm not 100% certain there are any female characters in the original, and the first one doesn't show up until over 50% through the novel.

[Gregg Eshelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is a bit like a parody of "The Day the Earth Stood Still". But instead of Klaatu telling humans to stop fighting, or else, he's imposing on aliens. Instead of the menacing robot Gort, his companion is a harmless appearing alien that resembles a large bee. Utopianists can be such pushy a-holes. They just can't leave others to their own devices.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this one up because of Eric Frank Russell's name on it. Foster did a good job capturing the feel of Russell's writing, but while I enjoyed this one, it just wasn't quite up to Russell's sharpness. So only three stars.

[Estevam (Impish Reviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just wow i loved the writing style the characters, the philosophy of it, a pretty good read i would highly recommend.

[Alexander Theofanidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

When E.F. Russels begins something, nobody should be allowed to finish it...

[Kenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original is better.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely fun read. I loved how confident the aliens were in dealing with this puzzle of a human with his buzzy colleagues.

[Michael Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Humans are at the heart of a collective of benign aliens who try to keep an eye on the universe so that other lesser intelligences have a chance at growth and survival. Despite the light humor and a bit of pointed metaphor concerning despots and military conflict, overall the story just isn't very compelling. The Solarian Combine is too all-powerful -- and perfect -- to make things interesting.

[Kevin Connery · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 1949 short story was far more effective.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those books I enjoyed although it didn't quite gel

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

-A fun science fiction read that follows a similar pattern to The Day the Earth Stood Still. In this case the humans are the aliens trying to help other civilizations gain peaceful co-existence.

[Bruno Silva · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't read this book.