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Alien Nation #Movie adaptation
Alien Nation
In the not-too-distant future, a spaceship crashlands in Los Angeles, and aliens infiltrate the city's crime fighting force where only one tough detective sees the evil of these "harmless" creatures, one of whom becomes his partner
217 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Alan Dean Foster
507 books1,872 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 - 12 of 13 reviews
December 19, 2021
An interesting read that's a good scifi buddy cop story both on its own and as a complement to the movie. A lot of the story and script is very similar, though it's clear that the movie tightened the story up some (particularly by shortening the chases, fights, and some of the detective work), which was probably a good choice. Francisco in the book is also a bit stiffer and less eager to please than movie!Francisco. Still, though, I like the extra bits of characterization and background that's in this book, and it's always interesting to catch bits that obviously got cut at the last minute from the movie (for instance, one scene in the movie makes more sense if it was meant to be in an ultraviolet-lit bar where the Newcomers could see but the humans couldn't.)
June 1, 2018
This is one of the better sci-fi movies of the 1980s, and it starred James Caan as LAPD detective Matthew Sykes and Mandy Patinkin as Francisco, a Newcomer (the nicknames of all the aliens) who team up to stop a new drug from hitting the streets. It's a buddy cop, neo-noir SF action film.
Alan Dean Foster is a great writer, and he's done quite a few novelizations of sci-fi scripts. Sykes is angry at all Newcomers, primarily because the book (and film) begin with the murder of his partner by a gang of Newcomers. Sykes is the renegade cop trope and Francisco is the by-the-book cop trope, and somehow it works. Book and movie are both highly recommended.
Alan Dean Foster is a great writer, and he's done quite a few novelizations of sci-fi scripts. Sykes is angry at all Newcomers, primarily because the book (and film) begin with the murder of his partner by a gang of Newcomers. Sykes is the renegade cop trope and Francisco is the by-the-book cop trope, and somehow it works. Book and movie are both highly recommended.
January 22, 2018
A SyFy novel, which was excellent, that became a movie with James Caan.
November 24, 2020
Will aliens be true to their country's laws? Two cops become friends when they follow the illegal drugs.
December 15, 2021
This is a solid book, but a bit of a slow read. It’s largely sustained by its setting rather than its characters.
February 18, 2023
As you might expect Foster does a competent job with a so-so, rather predictable screenplay adaptation.
January 25, 2016
Alan Dean Foster is one of my top 5 favorite writers. He does an excellent job of adapting the screen play into a great SiFi story. The tons of little details he adds really make you feel like you are getting the backstory on things. Very recommended
March 10, 2008
I liked the TV series too :)
May 17, 2009
My favorite of the series.
January 2, 2010
Liked this as a kid, but haven't read it since. I wonder if it still holds up? I enjoyed the partnership between the human and alien cop.
October 5, 2014
Excellent.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 13 reviews