Books: Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster (1974)

“Following a criminal kidnapping gone wrong, Ethan Frome Fortune, a simple salesman and sophisticated interstellar traveler, finds himself stranded on the alien, deadly frozen world of Tran-Ky-Ky. With him are professional adventurer/soldier of fortune Skua September, the interstellar tycoon and his daughter who were the targets of the kidnapping, a vacationing schoolteacher, and the sole surviving kidnapper. They survive the frigid conditions and indigenous flora and fauna in their wrecked lifeboat long enough to be rescued by representatives of the local feudal government – who are facing a crisis of their own. Their arrival, and the fantastic wealth represented by the worked metal of their lifeboat, has coincided with an upcoming visit of The Horde. This nomadic swarm descends on various city-states every one-to-two years, exacting tribute as the price for not destroying their community... while rampaging through it. This time, the locals have decided to put up a fight.”

ICERIGGER, after 50 years, is solid novel, from accident to discovery to getting to know the locals and get into fisticuffs with them to fighting barbarian hoards. However, despite the traditional sci-fi cover, this first book in a trilogy plays out like high fantasy. 

I must note that at one time, the now 77 year-old Foster used to be a competitive weight-lifter, and like most of them, they take on contempt for those who don’t fit their own standards. This is notable because Foster created an intelligent female protagonist who is significantly overweight. This seemed to break the mold of these male-centric written novels where the smart women are also very beautiful. But like what Donald E. Westlake did in a recent novel I read, Foster seems mainly interested in telling fat joke. While in 1974 this probably played well with the readers, in 2024, it’s a bit off-putting.

It’s definitely cheesy, pulp, and one of Foster’s earliest works – I think his second novel after 1972’s The Tar-Aiym Krang. While he remains well-know writer, for most people it’s his long association with movie and TV tie-in novels, that started with DARK STAR (1974), THE BLACK HOLE (1979), and adapting all the episodes of STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES (1974-1978). His association with that franchise continued with a story credit for 1979’s STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, as well as adapting the first two films in the rebooted film series, STAR TREK (2009) and STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013). He also penned an original novel set within this new timeline, THE UNSETTLING STARS (2020). That book, however, was delayed over a decade due to issues with BAD ROBOT and their vision for the rebooted franchise. After 2016’s lackluster STAR TREK BEYOND, and with no new film set within the Kelvin timeline coming anytime soon, this book finally saw the light of day. 

Foster was also the ghostwriter of the original novelization of STAR WARS (1977), which was credited solely to George Lucas. He also wrote the follow-up novel SPLINTER OF THE MIND’S EYE (1978), written with the intention of being adapted as a low-budget sequel to STAR WARS if the film was unsuccessful. That obviously changed when the film took off and they went in a different story direction, because Foster's novel relied heavily on abandoned concepts that appeared in Lucas's early treatments for the first film. His association with STAR WARS continued in later years, penning THE APPROACHING STORM (2002) and adapting the first film of the sequel trilogy in 2015.

Beyond the STAR TREK and STAR WARS universe, he’s adapted TERMINATOR: SALVATION film, four TRANSFORMER novels, ALIEN, ALIENS, ALIEN 3, and ALIEN: COVENANT; multiple standalone film novelizations that include CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981), OUTLAND (1981), THE THING (1981), KRULL (1983), THE LAST STARFIGHTER (1984), STARMAN (1984), PALE RIDER (1985), ALIEN NATION (1988), and THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (2004).

He also has well over 70 original novels, which ICERIGGER is the first in a trilogy (set early within his Humanx Commonwealth universe that most of those books take place in) of tales.