by Larry Niven with Steven Barnes.
This excellent book takes us into a future where bio-engineered athletes face a choice of glory or longevity. Fascinating characters, including one that might be Bill Gates. Like most work Niven is involved with, it was hard to put down.
19 Tales by the Masters of Science Fiction and Dark Fantasy (Roc Science Fiction) Edited by Ellen Datlow. Includes a piece by Harlan Ellison. "Slip into something a little more comfortable with this unusual and fascinating collection of 19 hormonally-charged tales involving sex and the alien -- married or otherwise." Not reviewed here.
$5.59 I haven't read this particular book, but found the Man-Kzin series to be generally good reading. You'll find a number of good stories by various authors. This issue has a Niven story which provides some new early background. Not reviewed here.
Crashlander includes all the Beowulf Shaeffer stories, including one new one. Most of these stories also appear in other Known Space anthologies. Really excellent writing, great characters, and some unique plot concepts.
Hardcover. See review below.
New! Destiny's Road in Paperback! $5.59
See review below.
Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Michael Flynn
An outstanding novel set in a future where science fiction has been outlawed, so fans are now outlaws. Their network rescues the crew of a space vehicle shot down by the eco-thugs running things on Earth whose extreme anti-industry laws have started a new ice age.
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's hilarious & serious novel of alien invasion by small elephants. Footfall refers to the dropping of asteroids on Earth to get our attention, & the manner both aliens and humans use to take surrender.
Trade paperback. Excellent depictions of warfare; the high ground matters. To get there, humans build an Orion launch vehicle. Bellingham will never be the same. Footfall is one of the top 20 SF books of all time.
Unique depiction of a caste society where the lower caste is preyed upon for organs for the upper caste. An impressive psi ability allows one man to thwart the designs of the upper class, speeding widespread access of a bioengineered gift from Earth. Re-readable.
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle's sequel to Mote in God's Eye takes us back to the Mote system, just as a new star creates a second path out. The Moties are loose, and the Empire of Man will never be the same. Worth re-reading a few dozen times.
Set in a cloud of gas surrounding a neutron star, it gives new perspective on the size and scope of a technological civilization. This one has lost much of its history, due to the machinations of "The State." Many excellent liberty themes.
Niven, Pournelle & Barnes have written a gripping tale of humanity facing adverse environment. In this case, grendels are very powerful, blindingly fast, and amazingly vicious. Non-stop action and heroic characters.
Trade paperback. Niven and Pournelle's classic depiction of a comet striking Earth. Sets the high water mark for this story concept. Outstanding characters point the way for survival under the worst conditions.
Everything "Deep Impact" aspires to be and so much more than "Armageddon" it is to laugh. Gives a whole new meaning to putting the hammer down. These guys wrote the best surfing sequence ever.
I picked up Man-Kzin Wars because it had Larry Niven on the cover and a species from Ringworld in the title. It is a good read, as are most of the stories in the Known Space universe. This book is the progenitor of quite a series. But where is IV? <smile>
There are a great many stories in the Man-Kzin Wars series. The Known Space universe proved to be as popular among authors as it was among readers. I haven't read this one.
Man-Kzin Wars III came out in paperback shortly before a plane trip I took. As usual, the pickings in the airport newsstand were sparse, but here was Larry Niven's name. Having read the first in the series, I was concerned about starting in with the third, but found it a good read nonetheless. You really can't go wrong in Known Space.
There are a great many stories in the Man-Kzin Wars series. The Known Space universe proved to be as popular among authors as it was among readers. I haven't read this one.
There are a great many stories in the Man-Kzin Wars series. The Known Space universe proved to be as popular among authors as it was among readers. I haven't read this one.
There are a great many stories in the Man-Kzin Wars series. The Known Space universe proved to be as popular among authors as it was among readers. I haven't read this one.
Here's Niven & Pournelle's masterpiece of science fiction. The Empire of Man voyages beyond the Coal Sack. There we find a star system cut off from the galaxy by the vicissitudes of Alderson point formation. Within this system is Mote Prime, homeworld to as strange a set of intelligent races as you'll ever meet. "This one goes to 11."
"Think of it as evolution in action," say Niven & Pournelle in this excellent book about the evolution of the city. A single building a mile on a side fills a burnt-out part of Los Angeles. Access is controlled; inside are shops, homes, & factories, carefully protected from the city, state, & nation without. Computer-generated telepathy & other fascinating ideas for our near future.
An epic vision spanning the galaxy. Humans mature from children. What if something matured from adults? With the right food, adults become protectors, and thereby hangs a tale.
Take a trip with Louis Wu aboard a Puppeteer spaceship with a Kzinti companion to an amazing artifact of an interstellar civilization: Ringworld. A staggering story about an amazing concept.
Expand your perspective by standing on a space habitat which is 90 million miles in diameter, a ring of transmuted matter a million miles across. What limits to growth? Problem: It is dynamically unstable. Return with Louis Wu in search of the builders, the engineers, to keep Ringworld from grazing its Sun.
Once more onto the Ringworld. Even after three novels it is hard to encompass the scale of this place. It is vast in a way no other science fiction setting has ever been. Large enough to hold more thrilling adventures for Louis Wu.
Return to the vast cloud of gas of The Integral Trees for more adventures. In some ways, the scale of the Smoke Ring makes Ringworld tiny in comparison. People in the Smoke Ring live in widely separated communities, so there is a more human scale.
How does the world end? A ram ship pilot returns to Earth millions of years in the future. Humanity is triumphant, has discovered several secrets to longevity, and has settled throughout the galaxy. Strange adventures await our returning astronaut.
