Alan Dean Foster rarely delivers a bad read and he typically adds a lot of depth to slim scripts in his adaptations of movies and other shows. His Flinx universe is a favorite of mine even though the publishers have been marketing the series the last few years as Young Adult and not mature science fiction.
Glory Lane is a fun time though it is the cover I find interesting. Not so much for the unique aliens crowding the interstellar bazaar but the fact that on the back cover the bar-codes in the background above the actual fourth wall-breaking UPC code were scribbled out. It's amusing to think that the publisher was concerned that 1978 scanning technology would have been interfered with by the faux codes in the background. It's also possible that the UPC labels on the mech-dino would have been the place holder for the actual UPC code given different art direction and layout if a close-up of the tourist transporting walker were discarded in favor of the UPC-toting aliens. If so, good thinking by artist Jim Gurney, planning greater flexibility in his art to decrease chances of rejection or having to repaint the scene.
Glory Lane (1978).
Friday, August 19, 2011
From the Collection: Glory Lane
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"Alan Dean Foster rarely delivers a bad read"
ReplyDeleteI read bad book after bad book by Foster, mostly because they were adaptations of a movie I like.
The only good one I found was "To the Vanishing Point", which was kind of like a "National Lampoon's Twilight Zone Vacation". Pretty good. But then there's the other 8 or so I have read of his. On those alone, not counting "Vanishing Point", I would rank him as the worst science-fiction writer I have ever read.
Really? I always look forwards to a Flinx book.
ReplyDeleteWell, I never read Flinxes. I read a lot of his movie adaptations.
ReplyDeleteHe added a lot to the Alien adaptation.
ReplyDeleteI remember buying this back in the day JUST because of the cover (this and "Quozl"). It is on my shelf....perhaps it is time to re-read it. I remember enjoying it...
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, Quozl. Giant humanoid sex-obsessed space rabbits. Good first contact story. Hilarious how uncomfortable everyone was with the alien's sexual requirements.
ReplyDeleteI agree, both Quozl and Glory Lane have been in my library for decades. Not to mention he ghost wrote the novelization of Star Wars IV, giving author credit to Lucas.
ReplyDelete