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.