Man-Kzin Wars

Series · 17

books · 1988-2019

By Larry Niven, Hal Colebatch, Hal G.P. Colebatch, and more

Books in series

The Man-Kzin Wars

1988

Once upon a time, in the earliest days of interplanetary exploration, an unarmed human vessel was set upon by a warship from the planet Kzin. But the Kzinti learned the hard way that the reason humanity had given up war was that they were so very, very good at it. Thus began the Man\-Kzin Wars. Contents: 1 · Introduction · Larry Niven · in \* 5 · The Warriors · Larry Niven · ss If Feb ’66 27 · Iron \[Part 1 of 2] · Poul Anderson · n. Far Frontiers Vol. VII, ed. Jerry Pournelle \& Jim Baen, Baen, 1986 116 · Iron \[Part 2 of 2] · Poul Anderson · n. New Destinies, Vol. 1, ed. Jim Baen, Baen, 1987 179 · Cathouse · Dean Ing · na New Destinies, Vol. III, ed. Jim Baen, Baen, 1988

The Man-Kzin Wars II

1989

Born and bred to hunting, they had never encountered a species they couldn't treat as prey \- until they met the canny pseudo\-pacifists from Planet Earth. They nearly overwhelmed humanity on first contact, but fast as you can say "Ghengis Khan" or "Alexander the Great" the seemingly harmless monkey boys were all over the pussycats like ugly on an ape, with space fleets and strategic thinking that left the Warrior Race quite dazzled. But that was then and this is now. The pain of lost battles has faded and the Kzinti are back, spoiling for a fight, Larry Niven's Known Space is again aflame with war. Contents: vii · Introduction · Larry Niven · in 1 · Briar Patch \[Part 1 of 2] · Dean Ing · n. New Destinies, Vol. VII, ed. Jim Baen, Baen, 1989 67 · Briar Patch \[Part 2 of 2] · Dean Ing · n. New Destinies, Vol. VIII, ed. Jim Baen, Baen, 1989 133 · The Children’s Hour · Jerry E. Pournelle \& S. M. Stirling · na

Man-Kzin Wars 3

1990

IT'S HOWLING TIME IN KNOWN SPACE Those war\-crazed fur\-balls from the planet Kzin just won't give up, even though the canny pseudo\-pacifists from Planet Earth cut through the Kzinti like a laser through catmeat (once the humans rediscovered old technologies and old instincts that never quite bred out). The ferocious Kzinti never seemed to be able to come up with a more complicated strategy than "Scream and Leap." But after three hard\-fought wars, a few of the powerful pussycats have learned from their foes. Now, they are ready, and all that stands between freedom and a feline\-filled universe is the human race. Good luck, monkey\-boys. Cover illustration: Steven Hickman

Man-Kzin Wars IV

1991

A WINNING TRADITION... Welcome to the hottest pocket in Larry Niven's Known Space: the time of the assault on pacifist humanity by berserker felinoids from the planet Kzin. This time humanity's representatives to the Warrior Race are Donald Kingsbury, Greg Bear, and Steve Stirling. As in traditional in this war for species survival, in all cases "monkey cleverness" (i.e. human cunning) is more than a match for felinoid ferocity. But as is also traditional, victory never comes cheap to those out on the sharp edge of The Man\-Kzin Wars. Cover Illustration: Stephen Hickman

Man-Kzin Wars V

1992

After losing three significant battles to the humans, the Kzin begin to wonder if their combative diplomatic style is working, and they decide to reevaluate their strategy

Man-Kzin Wars VI

1994

JUMP QUICK, MONKEY BOY After two unpleasant defeats at the hands of the humans from Earth \- those rotten no good, sneaky monkeys with tools \- the Kzin Third Fleet has decided a change of strategy is in order. Not scream and leap, but the more subtle and ultimately more satisfying (because it might work!) feint and pounce. The man\-killing cats from Kzin are baaack. Only luck or the Outsiders can save us now... Cover illustration: Stephen Hickman

Man-Kzin Wars 7

1995

The man\-killing cats from Kzin are back in short novels by Gregory Benford, Mark O. Martin, Hal Colebatch \& Paul Chafe. The Kzin Third Fleet has decided a change of strategy is in order after two unpleasant defeats at the hands of the humans (or "monkeys") from Earth. Only luck or the Outsiders can save us now... A DARKER GEOMETRY Bruno was the most stable linker that Col. Buford Early's "wild talents" project could find, but linkers always went catatonic after a certain amount of time connected to high level computers. Bruno knew intellectually that he had to minimize cumulative link time; he had to stay sane for as long as possible. But with the link, he was so much more than human. He could see the All. And, more than that, he could extract every last bit of effectiveness from the ship he was piloting, and so \- maybe, just maybe \- save himself and his lady love, who is also his Captain, from that most terrible of fates: capture by Kzin. In this volume of the Man\-Kzin Wars: The Colonel's Tiger by Hal Colebatch A Darker Geometry by Mark O. Martin \& Gregory Benford Prisoner of War by Paul Chafe Cover illustration: Stephen Hickman

Choosing Names

1998

ROUND EIGHT, MONKEY BOYS! In a new story, Larry Niven tells of the earliest days of the first Man\-Kzin War. The Kzin had learned of the existance of human\-occupied space, a find that promised new technolgies for the race, and new wealth for the fierce Kzin Warriors in the form of land, slaves...and food. Kzin had sent ships to probe the Solar System, expecting no danger from mere weed\-eating apes. But the Warrior Race had underestimated monkey ingenuity, and the ships were destroyed by "peaceful" technology that the humans had hurriedly changed into weaponry. The surviving Kzin have been caged and are being studied. "For you, the war is over," the monkey\-boys have told the Kzin. Incomprehensible to the Kzin, for whom no war is ever over. The humans are sure that the huge warcats cannot escape their prison. But there is something the humans do not realize. One of the Kzin is a Telepath... Cover Illustration: Stephen Hickman

Man-Kzin Wars 9

2001

THOSE KZIN DON'T KNOW WHEN THEY'RE LICKED (AND MAYBE THEY AREN'T...) It was so unfair! Here the Kzin were, warcats supreme, carving out empires like the idefatigable lords of creation that they were \- and then they ran into those pesky humans. Mere apes! Contemptible weed\-eaters! Hardly worth the screaming and leaping upon... But when the feline Kzin moved in to take over the monkey\-occupied worlds, they got clobbered. The humans, with their underhanded monkey cunning, turned communications equiptment and space drives into weapons that cut the dauntless Kzin heroes into ribbons. When the humans gained faster\-than\-light drive, it was all over but the, uh, howling. The Kzin had lost their first war in centuries of successful conquest. Still, you can't keep a good warcat down, and the Kzin have by no means given up. New weapons, new strategies, and new leaders \- the Kzin are on the march and the humans had better keep their powder dry. Once again, it's howling time in Known Space! For action and military SF fans, these four tales intelligently develop the Kzin... will add to the audience for these well\-wrought aliens and their human friends and foes. \- Publishers Weekly One of the longest\-running and most successful shared\-world anthology series continues to explore different aspects of the wars and other relations of humanity and the felinoid, ferocious, surprisingly complex Kzin \- Booklist Cover illustration: Stephen Hickman

#10

Man-Kzin Wars X

The Wunder War

2003

The first colonists from Earth named the planet Wunderland. Generations later, the felinoid alien invaders called Kzin came and turned it into a hell for humans. Touched on in other accounts of the Man\-Kzin wars, here for the first time is the decades\-long saga of Wunderland: how the Wunderlanders first learned of the Kzin attacks on Earth by slower\-than\-light communications, barely in time to prepare to fight back. How the valiant human defenders turned to guerilla warfare in the Wunderland jungles and caves after the feline warrior race had destroyed or seized the cities. How, after the war ended in an ignominous defeat for the Kzin, some humans and Kzin worked for good will between the two species\-their work complicated by humans wanting revenge and Kzin who still saw humans as a somewhat annoying food source. And how a human\-Kzin team was sent to investigate a mysterious asteroid and found a threat not only to both species, but to the entire galaxy. The humans wanted to destroy it, but the Kzin wanted to exploit it, and the only hope was a Kzin telepath raised by humans from a cub. Which side would he choose, monkey or warcat?

#11

Man-Kzin Wars 11

2005

In the latest installment in the series created by Larry Niven, the catlike kzin come up with an ingenious new scheme\-\-enhanced by all new weapons, leaders, and strategies\-\-to regain control of the galaxy from the human usurpers. Reprint.

#11.5

Destiny's Forge

2006

For fifty thousand years the Kzinti Patriarchy thrived on battle fought for conquest. Against all odds the humans stopped them, and for five wars kept on stopping them. With its violent expansion checked internal strains have built up within the Patriarchy, and now they threaten to tear it apart. When the ambitious Kchula-Tzaatz makes a bid for ultimate power the established order comes tumbling down, and the flames of war burn hot in Destiny's Forge. Hammered on that Forge are; Major Quacy Tskombe, battle hardened warrior turned diplomat. His life is duty, his mission takes him to the Citadel of the Patriarch in a last ditch effort to avert war. When it all falls apart he's forced to choose between love and loyalty, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance. Captain Ayla Cherenkova, starship commander. As talented as she is beautiful, her hatred of the Kzinti has driven her to the top. Her space combat genius is unmatched, but when she's trapped alone in the jungles of Kzinhome her survival will depend on a whole new skillset. Pouncer, First-Son-of-Meerz-Rritt, heir apparent to the galaxy's most powerful empire. He's reduced to a nameless fugitive with the collapse of his father's dynasty. Survival demands escape, but honor demands vengeance, and the price of his Name will be paid in the blood of worlds. Paul Chafe presents a masterpiece in the grand tradition of epic science fiction. No fan of Larry Niven's best-selling Known Space series can miss Destiny's Forge.

#12

Man-Kzin Wars 12

2009

The kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, had a hard time dealing with their ignominious defeat by the leaf\-eating humans. Some secretly hatched schemes for a rematch, others concentrated on gathering power within the kzin hierarchy, and some shamefully cooperated with the contemptible humans, though often for hidden motives. In war and in uneasy peace, kzin and humans continue their adventures, as told by Paul Chafe, Hal Colebatch, and Michael Joseph Harrington, expanding on the concepts created by New York Times best\-selling writer Larry Niven. A human secret agent and her hired kzin companion infiltrate a planet newly occupied by the kzin, and discover that humans were on the planet before the dawn of space travel, and claim to be part of the Roman Empire. Where did they come from \- and can they survive the inevitable kzin attack? A man wakes up with over a month's gap in his memory. He remembers being hired by a mysterious woman for a job with the condition that his memory would be scrubbed afterward. Obviously, the scrub worked, but now the police suspect him of murdering the missing woman. And a kzin is threatening him with much worse than anything the police would do. The Protectors \- powerful ancestors of the human race who live only to guard it and destroy all its enemies \- have learned that the kzin have discovered a rich cache of anti\-matter in deep space. One Protector brings a human out of stasis\-sleep and enlists his involuntary help in her desperate mission to stop the kzin from gaining this source of unimaginable power.

#13

Man-Kzin Wars XIII

2012

Larry Niven’s bestselling Man\-Kzin series continues! The kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, had a hard time dealing with their ignominious defeat by the leaf\-eating humans. Some secretly hatched schemes for a rematch, others concentrated on gathering power within the kzin hierarchy, and some shamefully cooperated with the contemptible humans, though often for hidden motives. In war and in uneasy peace, kzin and humans continue their adventures with a masterful addition to the Man\-Kzin Wars shared universe created by Larry Niven. Stories by Jane Lindskold, Charles E. Gannon, Bud Sparhawk, and more.

#14

Man-Kzin Wars XIV

2013

The perennially best\-selling series set in Larry Niven’s Man\-Kzin universe continues with entry \#14 including hard\-hitting and thought\-inducing tales from a host of talented contributors Hal Colebatch, Matthew Joseph Harrington, Alex Hernandez, Jessica Q. Fox, and more. The catlike alien Kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, must learn to compromise with humans if they wish to survive and prosper once again as a species. Larry Niven’s bestselling Man\-Kzin series continues! The kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, had a hard time dealing with their ignominious defeat by the leaf\-eating humans. Some secretly hatched schemes for a rematch, others concentrated on gathering power within the kzin hierarchy, and some shamefully cooperated with the contemptible humans, though often for hidden motives. In war and in uneasy peace, kzin and humans continue their adventures with a masterful addition to the Man\-Kzin Wars shared universe created by multiple New York Times best\-seller, incomparable tale\-spinner, and Nebula\- and five\-time Hugo\-Award\-winner, Larry Niven. About the Man\-Kzin War Series: “\[The Man\-Kzin Wars series is] excellent …gripping …and expands well on Larry Niven’s universe… .” –Locus About series creator Larry Niven: “Niven’s masterly use of SF strategies hits every note…“–Los Angeles Time

#14.5

Treasure Planet (16)

2014

A thrilling stand-alone novel addition to the long-running, popular Man-Kzin Wars series created by New York Times multiple best seller, Larry Niven. “Ah, the wealth o’ the treasure planet be beyond the dreams of Man or the hopes o’ Kzin!” On Wunderland, a generation after Liberation, memories of the bloody kzin conquest and Occupation have faded, and men and kzin live largely in peace. But the fabulous treasure of the kzin pirates, hidden on a distant world, remains a magnet for freebooters. Young Peter Cartwright and his kzinrett friend Marthar receive information and map from a most unlikely source and soon themselves fighting the most ruthless pirates in Known Space for an unimaginable prize. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About the Man-Kzin War Series: “[The Man-Kzin Wars series is] excellent . . .gripping . . .and expands well on Larry Niven’s universe...” –Locus Hal Colebatch is an Australian writer, journalist, editor and lawyer with a wide range of publications. He’s best known in science fiction as a long-time series author in the Man-Kzin War universe, with many appearances in the popular anthologies helmed by Larry Niven. He has created several original characters including Dimity Carmody, Nils Rykerman and Vaemar-Riit. Jessica Q. Fox is an engineer with a major in stochastic control. She has had four other books published. What the Q stands for is a closely guarded secret.

#15

Man-Kzin Wars XV

2019

Authors

Larry Niven

Author · 89 books

Laurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths. Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource. Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner. He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969. Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. In 1972, for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Borderland of Sol. Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996. He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books. http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...