His love of travel - especially to exotic locations - often comes through in his novels. He is probably best known for his science fiction (the Humanx Commonwealth set of books) and his novelization s of many motion pictures ( Star Wars trilogy, Alien, et al). With a job as a copywriter for a PR firm under his belt, his career as an author could begin - his first publication was in The Arkham Collector in 1968.
Born just after the end of World War II ( New York City, 1946), he moved to California, where he received degrees from UCLA ( BS, Political Science, MFA, Cinema).
Alan Dean Foster is one of the more prolific authors of the last quarter of the 20 th Century.