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The Taste of Different Dimensions
Fifteen tasty tales from a master of fantasy!
The dead. The undead. Those who wish they were dead. They’re all here, along with a legend from a Pacific island, a legend from beneath a Pacific island, and much, much more. Frogs and dogs, knaves and slaves, and maybe a smidgen of real but impertinent food. Extend your imagination and have a nibble. You’ll come back for more.
Includes the never before published story “Fetched.”
The dead. The undead. Those who wish they were dead. They’re all here, along with a legend from a Pacific island, a legend from beneath a Pacific island, and much, much more. Frogs and dogs, knaves and slaves, and maybe a smidgen of real but impertinent food. Extend your imagination and have a nibble. You’ll come back for more.
Includes the never before published story “Fetched.”
231 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 18, 2019
13 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Alan Dean Foster
497 books2,024 followersBestselling 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 10, 2019
Sometimes you are lucky enough to stumble on an author you've never read before and find a really high quality of writing. His collection is terrific. Each story is so well-crafted that you know you are in the hands of a master storyteller. These are fifteen brief flights of fantasy, strangeness, and haunting horror from ghosts to dreams to frogs to living castles to outsmarting a genie in a bottle to wandering around endless hotel corridors. But, it really doesn't matter what the subject is, these are just good stories. Highly recommended.
April 14, 2019
The first story is an utterly forgettable piece about genies and the classic three wishes gone slightly wrong.
The second story is about dreams, what is real, how do our dreams affect our reality, how do I tell the difference... also nothing exciting.
Halfway through the third story I decided that this isn‘t doing much for me. So, DNF at 22%.
I am also not happy how women are portrayed. It feels a bit dated. Actually, the entirety of what I read felt dated, which is par for the course for a 70-year old author, I guess... And a bit like the author spooled off something by rote. Not sure why he bothered.
I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
The second story is about dreams, what is real, how do our dreams affect our reality, how do I tell the difference... also nothing exciting.
Halfway through the third story I decided that this isn‘t doing much for me. So, DNF at 22%.
I am also not happy how women are portrayed. It feels a bit dated. Actually, the entirety of what I read felt dated, which is par for the course for a 70-year old author, I guess... And a bit like the author spooled off something by rote. Not sure why he bothered.
I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
December 26, 2020
Most of the anthologies I've been reading in recent years have been multiple author collections on a theme, but this one is a compilation of short stories all written by a well-established Fantasy writer, Alan Dean Foster. Needless to say, the quality is consistent and of the highest caliber.
I don't know what else I can say about this one. I loved every story. The excellence easily earns the designation of Master Storyteller on the description. If you like traditional Fantasy, read this. You won't regret it. Full of brilliant ideas, great characterization and unexpected plot twists well done.
I don't know what else I can say about this one. I loved every story. The excellence easily earns the designation of Master Storyteller on the description. If you like traditional Fantasy, read this. You won't regret it. Full of brilliant ideas, great characterization and unexpected plot twists well done.
February 13, 2023
“This contravenes every known law of nature!” “Did I not say it represents a new way of looking at the world?”
Anthology of short fantasy fiction. Most are expanded one-liners: starting with a slight deviance from normal and ending with an ironic, even horrible twist. Foster writes better than most of his contemporaries.
“You could say that Morty’s very good at foreign languages.” “For instance?” “He can speak chocolate.”
The farther you read, the more terrible the twists. I am not a fan of horror. I skimmed the last two stories. Creeped me out.
“Alas, there seems to be a problem.” A catch. There was always a catch. “What problem?” “You are not a cat.”
Anthology of short fantasy fiction. Most are expanded one-liners: starting with a slight deviance from normal and ending with an ironic, even horrible twist. Foster writes better than most of his contemporaries.
“You could say that Morty’s very good at foreign languages.” “For instance?” “He can speak chocolate.”
The farther you read, the more terrible the twists. I am not a fan of horror. I skimmed the last two stories. Creeped me out.
“Alas, there seems to be a problem.” A catch. There was always a catch. “What problem?” “You are not a cat.”
October 5, 2022
Wow. I had no idea Foster could write such chilling horror. This collection isn't all horror, but the horror stories are particularly skin-creeping. And the other stories are all good, too.
I do have one quibble: Other than that little oversight, I enjoyed the story just as much as the others.
Recommended to any Alan Dean Foster fan.
I do have one quibble: Other than that little oversight, I enjoyed the story just as much as the others.
Recommended to any Alan Dean Foster fan.
July 3, 2025
I didn't know that ADF wrote short fiction. This was a diverse collection and a fun read.
October 22, 2022
I download collections by Kevin Anderson and Alan Dean Foster at the same time from NetGalley and I am going to write a single review because I have the same reaction to each. These are both big-name science fiction authors with dozens of novels and hundreds of stories to their names. Both are bestselling, and I've checked out a couple novels by each without being hooked on either. When these collections came up I wanted to see if they were better at short stories but I can tell you now, they aren't. Clearly I am outside their usual demographic but that's OK. At least I tried them.
If you like Anderson or Foster now, you will no doubt like these collections. If you like Neal Stephenson, Iain Banks, M. John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Philip K. Dick, or R.A. Lafferty like I do, you probably won't.
If you like Anderson or Foster now, you will no doubt like these collections. If you like Neal Stephenson, Iain Banks, M. John Harrison, Gene Wolfe, Philip K. Dick, or R.A. Lafferty like I do, you probably won't.
August 7, 2023
For those who don't know him, Alan has a dark streak to his sometimes overabundant imagination.... You'll find some examples of that here
October 1, 2020
I truly enjoyed all of the stories in The Taste of Different Dimensions. Alan Dean Foster is a brilliant storyteller. This book was provided to me in exchange for my honest opinion, and I can tell you it was wonderful!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews