Alan Dean Foster is best known for his best novel, Icerigger, and his Star Wars novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye; as it turns out, he's also a competent short story writer. With Friends Like These... is an entertaining short story collection containing stories written from 1971 to 1977, supplemented with brief comments on the start of his career and his professional opinions. Typically, the A. D. Foster short story is easy, nontechnical science fiction which focuses on character development, mood, and plot twists. Perhaps the most interesting story was "Why Johnny Can't Speed" from 1971, the story which probably inspired the Car Wars game. His second anthology, ...Who Needs Enemies? (which I haven't read yet), covers 1976 to 1983.

Click here to return to the SIGMA mainpage.

This page maintained by Greg Armstrong