An enjoyable read. Think Twilight Zone or Outer Limits with a little more humor and cheekiness. Each story is unique, and if you're interested before each one it talks about where it was published first, the idea behind it, etc. Having not read any of them previously I mostly skimmed that part. Each story is unique and are a great way to grab a quick escape in between the craziness life throws at us.

Amazing and entertaining read. Great for genre fans and Foster fans. Highly suggest purchasing for libraries and classrooms.

I've read number of Mr Foster's books, and really enjoyed these stories. He's been around a while and the sophistication and polish of his talent shows. A nice variety of good quality stories. Recommended.

I really appreciate the copy for review!!

It was an honor to read Alan Dean Foster. He is the genius behind stars wars, star trek and alien. He will never stop to amaze with his creative writing which makes us travel to other dimensions.

#TheFlavorsOfOtherWorlds #NetGalley

Another great collection of stories from Alan Dean Foster! This one is 13 stories all well into the science fiction genre. We have aliens taking over the planet through corporate buy outs, bootleg knowledge, alien assistants, and we even get to learn how to communicate with a cuttlefish.

Foster's writing is always good and his inventive plots are way above par. This collection has a nice variety of stories that are well up to his usual standard, exploring other worlds whether they are in space or under sea.

Highly recommended for any science fiction fan.

The Flavors of Other Worlds 🌍 provides a bountiful buffet of imaginative fiction from Foster. The thirteen shorts have been previously published but not collected together like this. All are easily accessible and enjoyable.

Certain themes emerge over and over again, particularly the difficulties in communicating with other species and failing to understand what they are up to. This theme is expressed in Unavision, which offers us an intergalactic space battle fought in corporate boardrooms. Other stories like Perception show us alien 👽 lab assistants who might as well be furniture for all we understand them. In Chilling, a fantastic adventure on a frozen world, Tran-Ky-Ky, the perception difficulties in dealing with aliens 👾 make it very difficult to tell friend from foe.

Another popular theme here is the superpowered adolescent who has amazing powers that must be kept secret from a world that may not understand.

A terrific collection with a glorious menagerie of many-tentacled interstellar beings.

This new collection of short stories is classic science fiction. Updated for modern times in terms of access to social media, etc, it nevertheless focusses primarily on old themes: how would human beings react and adapt to new situations. Stories range from alien takeovers so subtle that nobody notices … to a dangerous addiction to knowledge… to a way of channeling the aurora borealis for unlimited power… to the reaction of a colonized world that was none too happy about receiving the “benefits” of a conquering race (us).

Each story is prefaced with a note from the author about the origins of the story — these are almost as interesting as the stories themselves. The writing is concise and clear — reminiscent of, well, Foster himself — the guy has been around since the beginning! Like a lot of good science fiction, the stories allow us to think about many of today’s issues in the guise of “other” worlds, people, and cultures. A nice addition!

Foster always comes through with well written and thoughtful stories. Authors tend to make their universes complicated and impossible to understand. 'Flavors' is not like that. All of these stories are simple but dynamically complete. All could stand alone as novels with further development.

This is a collection of thirteen science fiction short stories by well-established Sci-Fi author – Alan Dean Foster. I like to sprinkle SF short stories in between reads of full-length novels. You don’t get the full effect of a novel in terms of plot and character development, but I’m addicted to the delightful little ideas, twists, and moments of wonder that SF short stories delivery. And speaking of that, author Foster does deliver! Many of the stories made me chuckle, for the most part these stories are not heavy or dark. They are, however, clever, entertaining, and occasionally surprising. I did find a few of the endings flat, but I still enjoyed every story. I blew through the collection in a few days. My favorites were “Cold Fire”, “Rural Singularity”, “Ten and Ten”, and “Valentin Sharffen and the Code of Doom”. Thanks to Netgalley and WordFire Press for providing an ARC.

An impressive collection of science fiction short stories that take place both here on Earth and in the far flung reaches of the universe. I haven’t read anything by this author before, but he has been on my radar for awhile and I think this was a great introduction to his writing. If these stories are any indication, he’s not only hilarious but an extremely talented science fiction writer.

Each story has a short introduction from the author explaining the thought processes or inspirations behind it. This sounds like it could ruin the stride of the book but actually it’s really endearing and made me appreciate the stories all the more.

Inevitably with these types of collections, some stories are better than others. Within Flavors, the first and last were my favorites but to be honest I enjoyed all of them. The first, “Unvasion,” had me laughing so much I ended up reading it aloud to my family. Aliens take over Earth not through lasers or bombs, but by acquiring all our businesses- starting with a McDonald’s franchise in Arizona. The theme is brought up again later through the humorously titled, “Pardon Our Conquest,” where we’re the alien invaders, albeit seemingly polite ones.

The final story, “Valentin Sharffen and The Code of Doom” was the longest but also one of the best. We talk a lot about robots gaining sentience, but what would happen if video game characters did as well?

Quite a few were more what I would call speculative fiction, really shining a spotlight on humanity. “Seasonings” was a great example of this: the robot apocalypse taking a more subtle form through the automation of the food industry. Humans are basically dulled into submission through the luxury of automation as well as through additives the robots have added to the food to make us more complacent. No one much cares though because life is just so easy now, why shake things up? As someone who has an (irrational?) fear of robots, this was far more terrifying than the more violent uprisings we see in the movies.

Despite their length, the stories were all very detailed and immersive which was aided by the brief introductions the author had for each one. Even if you aren’t that big of a science fiction enthusiast, the stories are clever enough that I think they would appeal to a wider audience. I’m really glad that I finally read something by Alan Dean Foster and if these stories are anything to go by, I’ve really been missing out.

I’ve read Foster’s latest book not too long ago and really enjoyed his world building, so when this collection of his short fiction appeared on Netgalley, it was an obvious choice. I’m glad to report that in short form Foster is still as good as in long form, although the style is different, Less serious, more lively somehow, more like playtime sort of reading experience. Or maybe this just pertains to the two specific books I’ve read, but it’s all I’ve got to go off, so go with it. This is a lovely and well curated collection with a general introduction by the author and a short preface for every story. The genre is definitely science fiction, whether terrestrial or otherworldly based. Each story has a twist and a moral, which I found very enjoyable. Maybe not as wow as Black Mirror, but certainly along the lines of Outer Limits. The general mood and tone was fairly light, irrespective of the subject matter, and all the stories were great fun and terrifically imaginative and original. In other words, I liked them, I liked them very much. I actually liked the Earth based ones more, possibly, although Foster can do a great intergalactic spin too. Lovely collection, recommended for all science fiction fans. Thanks Netgalley.

The Flavors of Other Worlds by Alan Dean Foster, another great set of short stories from the master. These short stories from fosters collection of works show off his talent and genius and I loved them.

I read Icerigger many many years ago and all the sequels that followed, I have never read any short stories by the author before and I was pleasantly surprised that my find memories of Icerigger weren’t simply the passage of time addling my brain, these are great stories that need to be read so please go ahead and do so