On an L.A. talk show Arthur C. Clarke was once asked to name his favorite writer. His answer was "Larry Niven". Countless others agree. The Baltimore Sun and Kirkus Reviews have both dubbed Niven "the premier writer of hard SF", and Gregory Benford has hailed him as "the paradigm of SF personality of the last several decade". Now Larry Niven presents us with his undisputed masterwork. N-Space contains, very simply, the best SF of his career, marvelous fiction, a wealth of anecdotes and gossip, plus Niven's own special brand of wit and excitement. This retrospective collection features such classic tales of science fiction as "Inconstant Moon" and "The Hole Man", previously uncollected works including the novellas "Brenda" and "The Kiteman", and essays, anecdotes, and observations. Contents: *Introduction: The Maker of Worlds (1990) • essay by Tom Clancy *On Niven (1992) • essay by Frederik Pohl, Steven Barnes, David Brin, John Hertz, Wendy All, Gregory Benford *Dramatis Personae (1990) • essay by Larry Niven *Foreword: Playgrounds for the Mind (1990) • essay by Larry Niven *From World of Ptavvs (excerpt) (1990) / shortfiction by Larry Niven *Bordered in Black (1966) / shortstory by Larry Niven *Convergent Series (1967) / shortstory by Larry Niven (variant of The Long Night) *All the Myriad Ways [Time Travel - Parallel Universe] (1968) / shortstory by Larry Niven *From A Gift From Earth (Excerpt) (1990) / shortfiction by Larry Niven *The Meddler (1968) / novelette by Larry Niven *Passerby [State] (1969) / shortstory by Larry Niven *Down in Flames (1969) • essay by Larry Niven *From Ringworld (Excerpt) (1990) / shortfiction by Larry Niven *The Fourth Profession (1971) / novelette by Larry Niven *"Shall We Indulge in Rishathra?" (1978) / shortfiction by Larry Niven; • interior artwork by William Rotsler *Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex (1969) • essay by Larry Niven *Inconstant Moon (1971) / novelette by Larry Niven *What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers? (1971) / shortstory by Larry Niven *Cloak of Anarchy [Known Space] (1972) / shortstory by Larry Niven *From Protector (excerpt) (1990) / shortfiction by Larry Niven *The Hole Man (1974) / shortstory by Larry Niven *Night on Mispec Moor [State] (1974) / shortstory by Larry Niven *Flare Time (1978) / novella by Larry Niven *The Locusts (1979) / novelette by Larry Niven, Steven Barnes *From The Mote in God's Eye (excerpt) (1990) / shortfiction by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle *Building the Mote in God's Eye [A Step Farther Out] (1976) • essay by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle *Brenda (1988) / novella by Larry Niven *The Return of William Proxmire (1989) / shortstory by Larry Niven *The Tale of the Jinni and the Sisters (1988) / shortstory by Larry Niven *Madness Has Its Place [Man-Kzin Wars] (1990) / novelette by Larry Niven *Niven's Laws (1990 version) (1990) • essay by Larry Niven *The Kiteman [Integral Trees] (1990) / novelette by Larry Niven *The Alien in Our Minds (1987) • essay by Larry Niven *Space (1990) • essay by Larry Niven *Bibliography of Larry Niven (1990) • essay by uncredited .
Author
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...
