Alien

Book Details

71.4% complete

Author(s):

Alan Dean Foster

First Pub:

1979

Genre(s):

Horror; Novelization; Science Fiction

First Read:

1979

Times Read:

1 time

Rating:

Chapters:

13 chapters

Internal ID:

204

Series:

Aliens

Alien Novelizations*

#1 of 5

Alien Novelizations*

The Alien movie adaptations.

View this series in the book list

1) Alien
2) Aliens
3) Alien 3
5) Alien: Covenant
5) Alien: Covenant - Origins

Copyright:

Dedication:

For Jim McQuade...
A good friend and fellow
explorer of extreme possibilities...

First Sentence:

Seven dreamers.

Last Sentence:

May contain spoilers

Let's go to sleep...."

Comments:

Comments may contain spoilers

According to Alan Dean Foster, in an interview, he was never given a description of the alien monster before writing this book.

Extract not on file

Added: 29-Dec-2002

Last Updated: 11-Apr-2023

01-Jun-1979

Warner Books

Mass Market Paperback

Date Issued:

Cir 01-Jun-1979

Format:

Mass Market Paperback

Cover Price:

$2.25

Pages*:

270

Read:

Once

Cover Link(s):

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

amazon.com

Internal ID:

538

Publisher:

Warner Books

ISBN:

0-446-82977-3

ISBN-13:

978-0-446-82977-9

Printing:

Country:

United States

Language:

English

Credits:

H Roberts - Book Design

Where was Earth?

This was not their galaxy. A strange sun lit the sky with orange rays. In their long cold sleep, the seven space travelers had left their own universe behind, and now their monitor told them that on the planet revolving below them, someone was signalling for help. By space law, they must descend, explore and render assistance. But they would carry weapons. For who could tell what being called to them - or why. All they knew was that it was Alien.

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX PRESENTS
ALIEN
TOM SKERRITT • SIGOURNEY WEAVER
VERONICA CARTWRIGHT • HARRY DEAN STANTON
JOHN HURT • IAN HOLM & YAPHET KOTTO AS PARKER
Executive Producer RONALD SHUSETT
Produced by GORDON CARROLL, DAVID GILER and WALTER HILL
Directed by RIDLEY SCOTT
Story by DAN O'BANNON & RONALD SHUSETT
Screenplay by DAN O'BANNON Music by JERRY GOLDSMITH
PANAVISION® EASTMAN KODAK COLOR® PRINTS BY DELUXE®
© 1979 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

Cover:

Notes and Comments:

First Printing: June, 1979
First printing based on the number line

Movie tie-in cover

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Alien

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01-Jun-1979
Warner Books
Mass Market Paperback

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Author(s) Links

Alan Dean Foster Interview By Media Death Cult

Alan Dean Foster on Good Reads

Alan Dean Foster on IMDB

Alan Dean Foster on The ISFDB

Alan Dean Foster on Library Thing

Author(s)

Alan Dean Foster
Birth: 18 Nov 1946 New York, New York, USA

Notes:

Alan Dean Foster (1946 - ) was born in New York City but was raised in Los Angeles, California. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and a Masters of Fine Arts in Cinema from UCLA. He worked for a while as a copywriter for a small advertising firm. His writing career began in 1968 and when a letter of his was published as a short story in the bi-annual magazine The Arkham Collector. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, was published by Ballantine Books in 1972.

Foster's work includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery and western fiction. He has also written novelizations of many films including Star Wars and Alien.

His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first time for a science fiction writing work.

Awards

No awards found

I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.

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Alien

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