Mr Foster is also well known for his work in movie and television novelizations and spin-offs.

This book focuses on the attempted sabotage of the Covenant before launch; Sgt.

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How does it feel to be back in theAlienuniverse after so many years away?

Originsis your fifthAliennovel; is it a particularly fun series to play around in?

The more Im left alone, the more enjoyable the project.

All need to be utilized.

Was the story set at this stage, or were other ideas discussed, e.g.

Shaw and Davids journey to the Engineer planet?

No story was in place and several alternate plots were discussed.

The final story chosen was the one that I was asked to write.

Originsis your first original novel in the universe.

How did you go about crafting the storyline?

The more elaborate a movie franchise becomes, the greater the restrictions that come to the fore.

Within what I was requested to write, I was given a great deal of freedom.

Do you have any favourite characters or sequences from the book?

The Lope chapters seemed like a lot of fun to work on.

Its easy to write heroes and villains; ordinary folk are more difficult.

I always saw Sgt.

InOriginsI also enjoyed linking him up with Rosenthal.

One notable omission fromOriginsis a physical appearance by the titular beast himself.

Was there ever any talk of trying to fit the alien into the story somehow?

Was there ever consideration of including details fromOriginsin theCovenantnovelization, e.g.

a reference to the attempted sabotage of the ship before launch?

Oh yeah…but then, Ive had them for decades.

A personal favourite novelization Ive read of yours wasThe Thing, which is quite different from the final film.

So often, important changes to a film are decided on the set or in post-production.

Do you have any favourite novelizations of your own out of those youve worked on?

Im afraid I like them all, and I dont really play favorites.

If you read the book, there are no descriptions of the alien itself.

Dont get me started.

And finally, can you tell us about any projects youre currently working on?

Ive turned inSecretions, a novel based entirely on slime.

And a few other things….

Alan Dean Foster, thank you very much.

Alien: Covenant Originsfrom Titan Books is in shops now, and is available to buy fromAmazon.