History Creator / AlanDeanFoster

** The new ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' films.

* NormalFishInATinyPond: In "Gift of a Worthless Man", written for the ''...Who Needs Enemies'' anthology, a low criminal crashlands on a planet inhabited by sentient roach-like creatures stuck in Ancient Ages. He teaches them agriculture and basic craftsmanship and essentially uplifts their society, so that 100 years later, they already have industry.

** ''VideoGame/TheDig''

* TheRez: ''Cyber Way'' largely takes place on the Navajo (Dineh) reservation. The novel is set in the near future and the reservation has built a duty-free international airport, so is not particularly poor, but also has some hidden phlebotinum.

* MagnificentBastard: Kees van Loo-Macklin in ''The Man Who Used the Universe''. Starting as a homely and abused orphan and using nothing but determination and brainpower, he becomes one of the most powerful criminal figures in human space. Then he sells out almost all his old cronies, convincing everyone that he was really an undercover law enforcement agent. From there, he manipulates the human dominated empire and its chief rival by becoming a double agent for both sides against the other in order to trick them into forming an alliance in order to attack a race that knows nothing about either side. He uses this con in order to become the president of the combined alliance. Along the way are littered the bodies of many rivals and innocent victims who were simply more useful to him dead than alive. And why does he do all of this? To fulfill a lifelong desire never to feel vulnerable again.

* FearsomeCrittersOfAmericanFolklore: One of Mad Amos Malone's adventures involved taking a British Great White Hunter to bag a jackalope, only for him to lose it when they discover the jackalope's natural predator.

* BalefulPolymorph: In ''Kingdoms of Light'', the Six-Man Band consists of a mage's pets (three cats, a dog, a canary, and a snake), turned into humans by the mage's dying spell. In the end, they are captured by the evil Munderucu and turned back into animals--[[spoiler:except that due to character growth, they not only remained [[TalkingAnimal sentient]], but they became great cats, a huge wolf, a firebird, and a 40-foot python. Oops.]]

* ''The Damned'' trilogy. Aliens on an exploratory mission come to Earth seeking allies in a war against an opposing empire, having no skills of their own at war. They find them - [[HumansAreWarriors no other species in the universe is as perfectly suited to war, both physically]] [[HumansAreBastards and emotionally, as humanity]]. The three books span multiple centuries and deal with the changes that the sudden influx of human mercenaries brings on interstellar society -- now that intergalactic society has groomed humanity into a race of perfect mercenaries, what are they going to ''do'' with them once the war is over?

* ''Literature/TheDamned''

** ''Literature/TheDamned'' trilogy is a classic example, with a coalition of pacifistic aliens who have been fighting a centuries-long losing battle against a race of fanatical, mindwashing conquerors moved by a mysterious spiritual/religious principle. The problem is that every race is so civilized, few can even conceive of hurting another sentient, and even those who aren't quite that civilized and try to do whatever fighting is necessary aren't really any good at it. Then the coalition finds humans, a race ripe with contradictions but whose fighting abilities are beyond anything anyone, friend or enemy, has ever seen. And immune to the Amplitur mindwashing. In fact, humans can be so unpredictably and barbarically violent that the coalition would prefer to not use humanity at all, and only relents because if the enemy gets to them first the war is essentially over. A lot of curb-stomping ensues.

* PlanetOfHats: In ''Design for Great-Day'', a spiderlike species is mentioned whose hat is... hats. [[NiceHat Nice ones]].