The Director Should’ve Shot You: Memoirs of the Film Trade

by Alan Dean Foster

Few people have aggravated as many major film studios as author Alan Dean Foster.
A Grand Master of Media Tie-In Fiction (for both original tie-ins and novelizations), Foster comes to any project with experience, professionalism, and a certain…directness that makes him a reader’s favorite and, occasionally, a director’s chagrin. Like the time Alan tried to fix Alien 3 only to be told “No, Thank you!” Or the time that a vice-president at Universal studios banned Foster from any dealings with The Chronicles of Riddick when the film’s star invoked the author’s name in a debate with the director over re-shoots. Oh, and then there was this one time Alan saw the first ever screening of Star Wars with Alice Cooper.
Yes, that Alice Cooper!
Foster traces his beginnings from UCLA…including almost writing for Adam West’s Batman…to his first fiction sales. Along the way, Foster brings his indomitable wit and humor to each disappointment and success as he builds a best-selling career. Now a veteran author with over 130 books — many with such recognizable names as Star Trek, Terminator, and The Thing — the stories behind those stories are collected here for the first time.
This memoir provides an insider’s glimpse into how studio marketeers hire, and often discard, the writers they’ve brought in to help sell their movies, television series, or video games. Not one to mince words, Foster presents an unabashed narrative of almost fifty years translating script to prose, prose to script, and lumps he’s taken along the way.
The Director Should’ve Shot You shines a spotlight on the film industry like never before, and once you read Alan’s first-hand accounts, you’ll never see your favorite films the same way again!

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Writing, Media Tie In, Memoir, Ebooks, Books About Books

272 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2021

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

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading ADF for a long time - uncredited, he wrote the novelisation for “Star Wars”, which I read in 1978 and loved almost as much as I loved the film (in those days we didn’t have video, so a book was one good way to keep revisiting the movie). As it turned out, Foster became the grand master of media tie-ins (“Star Wars” wasn’t his first) and this book catalogues his adventures with all of them (each book gets a chapter). Some are filled with personal incidents, some where he butted heads with the studio, others where he tried to make sense of the science being more than a little bit wonky, some a mixture of all. The behind-the-scenes stories make it, obviously, but Foster’s voice is warm and chummy, as if you sitting having a chat with him over a drink and the book is all the better for it. I thoroughly enjoyed this, I found the creative insights fascinating (even as I found the deadlines he worked to terrifying) and now I want to see some of the films again and read those novelisations! Highly recommended.

[Abdul Alhazred · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caveat: I don't really like autobiographies or memoirs. I got this as part of a set on sale trying to gauge the quality of the publisher; and the book is gorgeous, well made and richly illustrated with posters and stills and various ephemera from ADFs career. 5/5 as far as the production values go.

Foster is primarily a novelization writer which is what this book details, and the movies he worked on novelizing reads like a list of sci fi fan favourite films of all time. Big hits like Alien and Star Wars, cult classics like The Thing, even minor niche hits like Alien Nation. In part the book is just a film fan raving about some great movies, and that's entertaining enough (but more suitable for a blog style format?). Unfortunately many of the entries don't go much deeper than this; ADF gets an assignment for a movie, raves about the movie and plays coy with the specifics of working on it. The memorable moments are exceptions to this, like an inside perspective into how screwed up the Alien 3 production was, or the repeated absurdity of having a job to write a novelization for a story without getting access to a script or having seen the film. The first hand experiences meeting George Lucas and walking the Star Wars set prior to it being a hit were also great. Toward the end he gets into meaty detail about specific choices he makes to adapt or try to save weak points in a movie while adapting it, and that's what I'd hoped the entire book would be. Instead you get entries like that on The Thing which just makes reference to the original movie ending having been scripted differently and that this is what made it into the novelization, of course he doesn't make explicit what that change was or how it was handled or otherwise get into detail. It's more a wink and "buy the book to find out".
I get that there's an element of self promotion involved in writing something like this but it's a niche publisher's very expensive book. Why am I being sold an advertisement for another book?

On the whole though, it was enjoyable. Novelizations is such a weird bastard child of movie promotions, with rare unicorns that get famous in their own right. The Omen is one such unicorn. Some of ADFs own adaptations are runaway hits. I wish there'd been more in the book like the detailed latter parts, and maybe a bit less Talkin' Movies Blog.

[Squire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful, loving memoir of the struggles of a science fiction/fantasy novelist to translate movie screenplays to prose. Flippant, sarcastic with moving portraits of Betty Ballantine and the great Judy-Lynn del Rey.

A tour of Foster's nearly half-century as a movie tie-in novelist, starting with Luana: a 1974 Italian jungle girl film without subtitles (I actually want to read this one) to 2017's Alien: Covenant.

Twenty-seven novelizations (26 published--who knew he novelized the two-part Maude abortion story arc?), twenty-seven chapters detailing his struggles with bad dialog, poor characterization, and questionable science in sf films (though ADF has novelized more than sf films); I was surprised to find out that I've read 11 of them.

Not the usual reading fare I go for, but a detour I'm glad I took. Highly recommened to fans of both sf/fantasy novels and movies, especially if they've indulged in an Alan Dean Foster movie novelization or two.

[John Bleasdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me back to so many books I read in my youth.

[Lee Goldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful book by IAMTW Grandmaster Alan Dean Foster is, IMHO, mistitled. It isn’t really about the film trade, it’s about the movie and TV tie-in business and the rocky, land-mine filled world of novelizations. And nobody knows more about
tie-ins and novelizations, perhaps, than Alan Dean Foster. His anecdotes about novelizing movies and TV shows can be enjoyed on so many levels –. as a primer on the business and creative life of a working writer, as a history of tie-in,as an inside look at movie marketing, as history of film-making over several turbulent decades, and as a collection of amusing anecdotes/vignettes about Hollywood and writing. And on every level, it’s a resounding success.

[J. Griff · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book. To get a writer’s thoughts about the novelisations of the movies he does is fascinating. I’ve only read a few of Foster’s books, but was a huge fan of many of the movies he did the novelisations for. His blunt & quirky writing style is fun with tons of fellow writers, actors, directors & other Hollywood types Foster has interacted with throughout his career was truly fascinating.

[Jonathan Ammon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the first half of this book, especially the introduction and wish this was a broader memoir of Foster's writing life. The second half tends to rehash the plots of his novelizations without as many insights. I was surprised how negative he was about ALIEN3, granted the story had some horrible flaws, but I loved his novelization and it has some fascinating elements if you can get over how disrespectful it is to the stories that went before.

[Joe Noir · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's almost as if Alan Dean Foster wrote this book just for me.

Science Fiction and Fantasy readers in my age group read a lot of Foster, because he wrote the novelizations of the original screenplays of the great (and some not so great) SF/Fantasy/Horror films.

Part autobiography of Foster, who has had a very interesting life, this book provides a lot of insight into the film and television novelization process. Including more insight into Judy-Lynn del Rey, the extraordinary (and sorely missed) editor who shaped late 20th century fantasy and science fiction beginning in the 1970's, than I've read anywhere else.

We learn much about how Hollywood works. For example, the quickest way to appear suspicious in Hollywood is to offer to do something for free. Or, many scientifically impossible things are depicted in movies simply because the director wanted that shot. Also, the reason a novelization of a major episode in a hit television series, written by Foster, was never published.

Foster also answered several questions I've had for years. From the original cover designs on the Star Trek Log series, to the truth about Splinter Of The Minds Eye.

Plus tales of meeting Julie Newmar, George Lucas, Alice Cooper, John Carpenter, H. R. Giger, and Vin Diesel, to name a few.

A lot of fun. I loved this book, and will definitely reread it from time to time.

[Michael Sova · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

Foster has been a highly successful and prolific writer for decades. A cursory Google search of his bibliography will unearth a seemingly endless list of movie tie-ins along with his own original stories. He’s been a one-man wrecking crew, eating up terse scripts and single viewing dailies to generate comprehensible narratives all under deadline. It’s a skill that earned him a following in Hollywood. But the more projects he worked on, the more he learned his opinion could mean trouble. What would have remained of the novelist if the director had in fact shot him?

Well, that was never really going to happen anyway but… there is precedent in that title. The book’s namesake originates from one of Foster’s friends. It was his response to Foster’s account of a recent phone call from a studio executive, who wasn’t very enthusiastic about Foster’s “interference” on the set of a film production. Foster’s friend may have sided with the director (only cheekily) but according to Foster he was just answering a certain movie star’s questions. Why should he filter his opinion even if that bolstered the star’s argument against the director? Perhaps it was a lesson in on-set etiquette, something that even years in the industry couldn’t prepare him for. And that should tell you all you need to know about Hollywood.

As for his other tales, you’ll receive more than your fair share in the way of irreverent stories mostly related to his work on movie tie-ins. I admit that many of the films he wrote tie-ins for I’ve never seen and in some instances I’ve never even heard of them up until reading the chapter headers. But there’s no reason for you to have any knowledge about these whatsoever. This book is more about his experience in and around both the film and publishing worlds rather than a fan gush on the films. Those moments can still be found but they don’t distract from the main course.

This is a rare and candid glimpse into the sometimes elusive realm of the film industry. And since Foster isn’t one to mince words you can be sure that what you read is the purest truth one could ever hope to find coming out of Hollywood.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many of Foster's novelizations, this book is solid, informative, knowledgeable, and entertaining.

I learned a few things I didn’t know about the business of novel adaptations and overall enjoyed the peek behind the curtain.

This is NOT a book to teach neophytes how to write books based on screenplays nor is it a book about the craft of writing—it's a book talking about the author's experiences in the trade of writing (and getting work in writing).

[Paxton Holley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent look back at Foster’s writing career by the man himself. And he’s focusing on just the movie novelizations that he’s written.

Each chapter is a different novelization with Foster’s remembrances of writing the book and any possible set visits or funny anecdotes about the movie.

Really well done. Interesting read.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gossipy and fun. A great account of a lifetime's work adapting movies (and a couple games) into novelizations. This is a small press release, so it's a shame so few people are likely to get to see it.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly entertaining book.

[Carrie]

Great, short book about the “novels from the movies’ that ADF has written.

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Director Should’ve Shot You: Memoirs of the Film Trade by Alan Dean Foster is a light read about the writer’s experience in Hollywood writing novelizations of mostly science fiction films.

I know him from his original work which I discovered as a young teen. His works were easy reads but very colorful, it was like discovering Star Wars before there was Star Wars. He created interesting worlds, populated them with fun characters that went on grand adventures. While I’ll enjoy a deep or “hard” science fiction tale, there is something so satisfying about a well told adventure.

In this book he covers his entry into this corner of the writing field and provides an overview of each book he’s written based on a movie and a few games. He gives a few pages to each and if you’ve seen most of the works or read many of these novelizations it’s fascinating on a few levels. One of his first was Star Wars (A New Hope) that was credited to George Lucas (who wrote the script) but was novelized by Mr Foster.

When I was reading his novelizations, I did not realize the limitations he was under, but here he gives the overview of the parameters set for the individual works. Usually, there was a tight deadline. In other cases, the scripts were tightly guarded secrets, e.g. Alien. For that film he lets us know he was not given any screen shots nor production stills of the Alien themselves. From the book, …when you read Alien, there is no description of the alien. Throughout the book the creature remains a looming, threatening presence, not necessarily amorphous but without any detailed depiction.

He does recount all the times he attempted to fix the bad science of the stories or attempt to fill out characters to create full fledge people that the reader will care about. On this point, he had to balance out knowing that if there were follow-on films he could be boxing in future screenwriters. Thus, he would step lightly here and many times production companies would nix his efforts too as they were aware of the same issue.

I read this in Kindle form and it’s a perfect book for digesting a few pages as I stood in various lines. Also very cheap at a couple of dollars. A value read that taught me a side of an industry I never knew about. Plus, I see that my questioning of stories is not just something I wrestle with. Mr Foster himself complained about the same and at least he tried to fix them. I really wish screenwriters and directors would sit with a published novelist and have a go through on a script before filming would begin. Many of the issues can be solved (as Mr Foster shows) with a few changes in dialogue or honing motivations.

Nice little read.

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A guy on the career path of 'lawyer' finds some free time in the last year of college, so takes some classes. Career path changed due to the classes taken, goes to get a MFA in filmmaking. Somewhat randomly, in between (or was that during?) college and getting that MFA, the guy sells two short stories and a novel. So career turns, again, to being an author of original work. A successful one at that.

Career turns again when he is asked if he'd be willing to write the novelization of a few films (not at the same time, wrote one, it got accepted, published, asked if he'd like to write another, etc.). Of the first three works, none moved him from being an original author that dabbled in media-tie in works. Novelizations. First one was for Luana, an Italian film which didn't really have much of a story (the actress the film was about didn't even have any lines; story was a Sheena of the Jungle type story), nor did seeing a screening help much (it was in Italian, the author didn't know Italian). Second one, Dark Star, was for a student film about four dudes in a spaceship talking to each other but was by a few people who did some nice stuff later in their careers (John Carpenter & Dan O'Bannon, among others). Third novelization was for a tv episode (a two parter) that was neither a fantasy (Luana), nor a science fiction (Dark Star), but a situation comedy. Specifically that Maude 2 parter wherein Bea Arthur becomes pregnant (well the character she was playing, Maude) at the age of 47. And must have a deep think about abortion. Don't go out rushing for a copy of that book, it didn't make it to print.

So, a Fantasy film novelization for a film that went nowhere in USA, a novelization for a student film that also didn't exactly light up the box office, and a novelization that never saw the light of day. If that had been the total of this authors work in novelizations, this book here would have been a nice little memoir about his long successful career of publishing original works. Note: almost none of his original work is mentioned in this book. But then the next novelization project was for a ten book deal. For a little show called "Star Trek".

Star Trek Logs novelized 20 minute saturday morning cartoons, ~3 per book. That cartoon being Star Trek The Animated Series, that three season (or was it 2? I forget now) series that continued the adventures of that 1960s show 'Star Trek', and used most of the same actors from that tv series. This is the first of Foster's novelizations I read (going by publication date, not me reading a book date, I'd read a few other works first, possibly even having read an original work of his first). Why'd I read it? Simple enough: It was Star Trek, novelizing something I, at the time, didn't otherwise have access to (as in, I couldn't watch the cartoon).

Right, that got away from me. I just meant to open up about how I'd read a few of this authors novelizations, a few of their original work, and this specific book here was a memoir of their years of writing media-tie in books from the early 1970s to 2017 (not that he stopped at that point, that's the date of the last work in the memoir). Most of Foster's media-tie in work was, on purpose, novelizations of things - films, tv, games. As opposed to spin-offs, original works in someone else's universe, though he did do a few of those also. Including writing both Star Wars, and the first spinoff - Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

This book was a quite quick read, readable, interesting, giving insight into those things I might not otherwise ever known about. Oh, and I mentioned he got an MFA in filmmaking. If you go to IMDB, you will find no scripts by him listed. Though he did write the story for the first Star Trek film, he wasn't given the oportunity to write the screenplay for it.

Rating: 4.0
June 23 2023

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a number of the author's film novelizations, the Alien series, Star Wars and more. I did not expect this to be the wonderful book that it is. The author has a great sense of humor and it was fascinating to learn behind the scenes info about the process and the books. I am happy he did not become a lawyer. It is also a story about many well know people he met when they were starting out, perfect person at the perfect time. I love how he fights for story and character integrity even if they don't always listen. The many films he wrote for were interesting. The show episode of Maude that had a novelization was the only book never released.
The two most interesting were Alien 3. The author is a fan as well as a novelist and many of us agree with being upset at the deaths of Newt and Hicks. His attempt at an open ended ambiguous fate was soundly rejected. The process was his most distressing and nearly put him off doing more. I don't blame him. He wasn't asked back for Alien Resurrection and A.C. Crispin had a similar experience. No novel was done for Prometheus. He was asked back for Alien Covenant and he wasn't happy about a story where nearly everyone dies. He did do a fantastic prequel book, one of my favorites and highly recommended. The second book was for the Force Awakens. He explained why the book was devoid of any extra character insights or extra tidbits that most novels feature. He was told specifically Not to put those in. No wonder that book was the rather straightforward adaptation of the film. He got a lot of criticism from fans about that and I had felt the same way. Now we know why. At least LucasFilm learned from that, the next film adaptation included additional insight.

This is a touching, heartwarming, very funny bio of a man who can write faster than most. I'm sorry there was no audiobook. I was sad to see this end and had so much fun reading it.

[Samuel Guglielmo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non-fiction this time, about author Alan Dean Foster and how he got into the really weird art of tie-in media.

The book's chapters are each devoted to a different tie-in media project he wrote, and what went into that specific project. Sometimes that means "yeah the studio basically told me to go fuck myself and do exactly what they say" and sometimes that means "no one was watching me and I just wrote whatever I wanted." It's always kind of funny.

There are a lot of great little stories in here, like when he turned a shitty 1960s Italian sexploitation "jungle woman" film into a novel that Disney asked about adapting. Or how he got blacklisted from the industry for a bit because he tried too hard to fix the plot of Alien 3, didn't get brought back on to another tie-in novel until 2004's Chronicles of Riddick (ignoring a single 1994 tie-in that was done as a favor from George Lucas himself), and then almost immediately got blacklisted again because he gave Vin Diesel too many ideas and the star promptly went and argued with the director.

I almost wish he went into more detail on some of his stories, because I feel like there's a ton of really weird stories floating around in the world of tie-in media. It seems genuinely fascinating.

That said, there is one problem here: Foster himself is kind of insufferable. He is very much a "the point of sci-fi is the science" kind of guy, and he constantly looks down on movies that don't explain their science to the detail, or does things that doesn't make complete scientific sense. He starts talking about how he sends notes to directors and producers on how to make their plots more scientifically accurate, but he never breaks away from just sort of seeming like a dick whenever he does this.

Still, a fun read overall.

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you grew up in the 80;s and loved movies and books you knew the name Alan Dean Foster. One of the first writers I actually started following due to not only his Star Wars novelization, but the incredible sequel that was retconned away when Empire Strikes Back came out (with little to no outrage, EU fanboys could learn from an older generation.) called Splinter of the Mind's Eye.
This somewhat autobiographical book details Fosters ventures with Hollywood and the novelizations that he wrote. It is an amazing and fun look into a world that I really knew nothing about and Foster brings a lot of himself to the table with this book adding in a lot of nostalgic references without overbearing it and humor as well. We learn how much of a science nerd he truly is and that is not a bad thing and he does get brutally honest with his view on some of the works his writing is based on.
It is rare for me to rip through a book in such a short time, but when it is an enjoyable read, it is an enjoyable read. Short chapters each detailing one of his novelizations and his talent to engage the reader without insulting the reader made this a pleasant reading experience.

[James Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Legendary sci-fi author Alan Dean Foster had written dozens of classics during his lengthy career. But he also had quite the successful side hustle - penning novelizations for a wide variety of films, some classic, and others … not so classic. Does Star Wars ring a bell?

In this book, Foster gives us a fun, and sometimes frustrating, rundown of his dealings with studio heads, actors, and publishing companies as he worked on these novelizations. Imagine having to write about Alien without being given any idea as to what the alien looks like? Or having to constantly revise your finished product because the film’s director keeps reshooting certain scenes?

Besides encounters with luminaries like John Carpenter and H.R. Giger, Foster also provides plenty of great anecdotes about how the film industry works. Written in a breezy, self-deprecating style, this is a definite must-read for fans of Foster, films, or both!

[Jaime K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only know Alan Dean Foster from his Star Wars books. I did not realize before this how many novelizations he has been asked to do. Sometimes he talks about his original novels and his personal life, but it's primarily on his book adaptations of movies and TV shows

He is completely honest in this book regarding what he liked or didn't like with movies and/or screenplays he adapted.
He is also honest with aspects of the film industry that aren't the greatest.
We learn what he may have changed in the books (and why), or why certain parts differ from the final movie (or TV show) versions.
He also explains why there are so many Science Fiction and fantasy novelization and not ones for other genres.
I love how much of a fan of SF/F he is, and how much of the real science he tries to focus on in his adaptations. He is such an interesting man.

He weaves a lot of humor in and makes a lot of parts relatable.

[Roy Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had misunderstood the book to be an autobiography about Alan whose original writing I usually enjoy. Instead it is interesting but at times a little repetitive yarns about Alan's work doing novelizations for blockbuster movies.

Overall an enjoyable read and it was neat getting some insights into how Alan got into writing novelizations, why he enjoys it and plans to keep doing it.

The main negative for me were the handful of times Alan felt it necessary to provide "Yep, we get it she was/is a gorgeous bombshell of a woman, you could have simply said that and moved on." descriptions that went a little long to me. Nothing lurid or distasteful, just didn't add anything to me.

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read many (especially in my younger years) an Alan Dean Foster book, and quite enjoyed them. I've seen his name in many a movie adaptation, but read few. This book convinced me of two things. I'm not likely to change that, as his description of these enterprises do not give me faith (although he demures, he does try) that these add much understanding to the filmed product. And, secondly, I'll stick with his, less rambling and less self-indulgent, fiction, mostly SF & fantasy.
On the other hand, if you wonder how an author works through this type of product and enjoy a good bit of side story, dive in.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each movie that Foster has done a novelization for has it's own chapter with little snippets of insider info. Even if you have not seen the movie, there is something in each chapter to make it interesting for the reader.

This book is a little like listening to your favorite relative (who just happens to be a Hollywood semi-insider) talk about all the cool things they have done in their life and who they have met.

The informal conversational style really makes this a fun read.

I really enjoyed it.

[Daniel G Keohane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun work from an author I've enjoyed since first reading his novelization of Alien back in my teenaged years. Many of the various novelizations he's written have fascinating and fun stories behind them, giving us a cool look into the backstage workings of Hollywood. At the same time Foster touches on his own life, making this of a memoir of sorts as well. He mentions, but only in passing, that he wrote the original story for Star Trek the Motion Picture. I would have liked to have read the story around that as well!

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Once I met a man who had no shoes and I was sad until I met the man who sold them" -Married with Children

Oft times great literature is turned into a film... and frequently fans of that literature are disappointed. But when a film has no literary heritage a tie in book must be created and marketed for it.

This is where Alan Dean Foster comes in. He takes screenplays and scripts and turns them into marketable books

I own some of these book in Print and on Kindle.
None of these books have won awards because lets face facts the source material for most of them is kind of shite.

This is an interesting behind the scenes look at Hollywood productions.

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm old enough to remember the time before we were able to own or stream any movie and so I grew up as one of those kids who picked up any and every novelization he could find. I'll always say that I never want the story to really end, and the Alan Dean Foster was the name in movie novelizations starting with Star Wars, Aliens and the Star Trek animated adaptations. Obviously he is a gifted writer and it was incredible to hear the stories of all the great books he's written over the years.

[C.S. Daley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first encountered Mr. Foster when I read the novelization of Star Wars and then the pseudo-sequel Splinter of the Mind's Eye. They were probably the first "adult" novels I read when I was a kid. I loved them and knew that I had to read this book to see what the absolute master of novelizations had to say about it.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foster relates some amazing anecdotes and shares a great positive outlook on making the most of a writing assignment. However, the writing is awful - it sounds like a grandson ghostwrote it, sprinkling in liberal pop culture references so the “kids” would understand. Did he really need to spend a long paragraph explaining what liquid paper was, to the demographic who would be reading this?

[Yegor Voronin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I'm not the right audience for this book as I've never read any of Alan Dean Foster's books and I've seen only about half of the movies that he talks about. I found most of the recollections just mildly interesting and not very informative. Most of them center around the difficulties of writing novelizations (that was rather educational) or complaints about science not being accurately represented (although the only example he actually provides in details bored me more than the hints provided throughout the rest of the book).
The book itself is amazingly produced, with tons of illustrations, excellent paper and cover and a nice dustjacket. But it's just eye-candy for the shelf and I will likely never read it again.