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, Pop Culture, Ebooks

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 novella 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

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember Alan Dean Foster’s name on the old Star Wars books and the original Alien film novel (which is still in print). I read all the Star Wars books. I read Foster’s Splinter in the Mind’s Eye (an early Star Wars story ). This memoir is an entertaining look at the movie industry from a writer who wrote novelizations (among other things) and is funny and intelligent.

[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.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d never read anything by Alan Dean Foster prior to reading this book, but was aware of him by reputation as a movie tie in novelization guy and the author of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, the Star Wars sequel that never was. Despite being unfamiliar with his work I was still pretty intrigued by the idea of this book. Foster didn’t exactly work in show business, but it seemed like he worked closely enough to it to probably have some good stories, and movie tie in novels are a unique enough corner of the publishing world that I thought it might be interesting just to hear him talk about his job in general. I also just enjoy hearing creative people talk about their process in a very grounded, nuts and bolts “this is how I do what I do” sort of way and it seemed like this book would have some of that baked in to it. In its best moments The Director Should’ve Shot You does deliver on all that promise. Unfortunately the book is far more often hampered by Foster’s frequently insufferable personality and the fact that he just doesn’t have much to say about most of these tie ins.

The book is arranged in to chapters, with each chapter ostensibly focusing on one specific movie tie in. This format works well, at least early on. Foster seems to be most interested in talking about the early stages of his career, and this just happens to coincide with his two biggest projects (novelizing the original Star Wars, and doing the same for several episodes of the 70s Star Trek cartoon), so the book is pretty front loaded.

The Star Wars chapter especially is interesting reading. His stories of spending time at ILM in its earliest days before it would go on to be the titan of special effects that it would become are so fascinating, as are his interactions with George Lucas and Gary Kurtz, as brief as they are. If you’re the kind of Star Wars nerd who’s interested in the actual making of the original movies (as opposed to just the content of the movies themselves) then this is good stuff. This is a small part of the book, but in it Foster shows us a few snapshots of the moments just before Lucas and the original ILM crew would go out and conquer the world.

As the book goes on Foster seems to have less and less to say about the actual projects themselves and instead starts veering off in to thoughts about writing, rants about bad science in sci-fi movies, and attempts at film criticism. This stuff is terrible. All of it. No other way to say it. The film criticism is the most basic opinions you’ll ever read (oh shit, you think alien 3 is bad because it had a famously troubled development cycle and killed off beloved characters from the previous movie? Damn, definitely haven’t heard the entire internet saying that for the last thirty years, so glad I paid money for this incredibly original and fresh take). The stuff about writing is similarly basic, like literally an entire chapter is just “it’s good to write good characters, and if you’re writing sci-fi then robots and aliens can also be considered characters so they should be written good too.” Respect to Foster, he’s been writing professionally longer than I’ve been alive, I don’t think for one single minute that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I do think though that if you’re going to give out a few chapters worth of writing advice you should show up with material that’s a little more thoughtful.

I said up above that Foster is frequently insufferable and that side of him really shows when he talks about bad science in sci-fi movies. This stuff starts out as kind of pedantic and eye rolling, but so much time is spent on it that by the end I was in full on “fucking give it a rest already” mode. Foster is annoyingly inconsistent with this stuff, fully ready to complain about the presence of a simple flashlight in a movie taking place in the future while glossing over FTL travel, lightsabers, and universal translators. He states over and over again that he understands that a sci-fi filmmaker’s priority isn’t portraying accurate science, but is instead getting cool shots (and is even told as much by no less a filmmaker than James Cameron), but every time he says this he then immediately follows it up with a rant about why can’t these sci-fi movies accurately portray science and place less of an emphasis on cool shots and I know he says he understands this but does he really?

I reached my breaking point with this stuff in the chapter on Star Trek Into Darkness where Foster just straight up quotes his own novel at length repeatedly while patting himself on the back for figuring out how cellphones and transporter beams work in Star Trek. Exhausting.

Foster wraps things up with a chapter on Alien Covenant, where instead of talking about his work on that tie in novel he instead includes an extended plug for a completely different Alien novel he wrote that takes place between the events of Prometheus and Covenant. I respect the hustle Mr Foster, even if my initial reaction was to just tell you to fuck off.

Really waffled between a two and three star rating here. I’m sure this reads more like a negative review than a positive one, and there is clearly a lot here that I found pretty annoying. But like I said the book is front loaded with its best bits and I plowed through those earlier sections. When this book is living up to what it promises it’s light, breezy fun. Three stars because I’d rather round up than down, I guess.

[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.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Review of the Audiobook

Published in 2024 by Tantor Media.
Read by Stephen R. Thorne.
Duration: 7 hours, 1 minute.
Unabridged.

Alan Dean Foster is a prolific sci-fi author. He has written over 50 sc-fi novels, but he is probably most famous for his numerous novelizations of sci-fi movies and TV shows, such as the original Star Wars movie (ghost written for George Lucas), Alien, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Krull, and The Last Starfighter.

The Director Should've Shot You is the story of Foster's experiences as the man who Hollywood turns to to write novelizations of sci-fi movies. He talks about how that system (usually) works, the odd experiences, his interactions with directors, producers, and faceless stuidio executives, and his various thoughts of the strengths and weaknesses of the various projects.

My experiences with Foster as a young reader start with his two Star Wars books that he wrote when George Lucas and his team were finishing the original movie.

As I noted, he ghost wrote the novelization of the first movie for George Lucas. He also wrote the original sequel to the original Star Wars movie - a book called Splinter of the Mind's Eye. George Lucas asked Foster to make Splinter of the Mind's Eye a smaller story when compared to sweeping epic of the original story just in case the first movie turned out to be a bust. Lucas hoped to make a cheaper movie and recycle some of the original props and costumes in order to eke out a little profit. The runaway success of Star Wars made that plan unnecessary.

We were so starved of Star Wars material back then. I must have read the novelization of the original Star Wars movie more than 10 times. This was back in the days when you could only see Star Wars in the movie theaters. It hadn't been played on TV yet and there were no VHS, DVD, or streaming releases. But, we had the books, the collectable cards, the toys to remind us of the story and it was an endless source of conversation.

I remember reading and discussing...

Read more here: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2026...

[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.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be easy to assume that someone writing novelizations would be a less than adequate writer, the proof is surely out there; but Alan Dean Foster is not one of them.

Having read him for the first time with the original Star Wars novelization and the follow-up Splinter of the Mind's Eye he has been in my world since.

I enjoyed his candor throught the book, working in all his actions with the film world -good and bad. And his love for real science. An easy read and well worth anyone's time who might be interested in understanding the politics behind writing movie novelizations. Stay ready for a fun time hearing about the swear words in Aliens being removed without his knowledge or his pin point breakdown why Aliens 3 doesnt work (as a movie and a novel- although he does his best to fix it).

Highly recommended.

[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.