Tales of Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven by Larry Niven

[james_davis_nicoll]

Tales of Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven by Larry Niven

Comments

[davidgoldfarb]

Science has Marched On at the Sternbach illustration also: we now think that the Milky Way is a barred spiral.

The Ringworld is just below 70 OPH in the lower right, isn't it?

Speaking of "How the Heroes Die"

[(Anonymous)]

I think this is the story that Joanna Russ was talking about in her essay "Alien Monsters" (found in the "Turning Points" a collection of essays about SF) (she doesn't name the story or the author in the essay):

"The story itself was a very clear, simple little story - very delicately and carefully told. It was about homosexuality on Mars. Why Mars I don't know, except that wherever you are as a reader, you're not there ... Anyway, the story was perfectly unsensational and even decent to the point of reticence. There wasn't even any sex in it. Instead ... one man killed another. It was really an all-right story, ... not in the least shocking... Then I came to the picture. It was a picture of the murderer - this guy who had killed the man who had made advances to him. Out of horror and disgust, you see. And the story make the point that such exaggerated horror was a product of unconscious, latent homosexuality. Well apparently the artist had taken alarm even at latent unconscious homosexuality and had decided that by God, he was going to show you that this character was no effeminate sissy - he was a _man_ - so what he did was put layer on layer of muscles on this character, and give him beetling eyebrows ... He would have made an adult male gorilla look fragile. ... I was reading my magazine ... and as I reached this picture, I think I made some sort of extraordinary noise .... which attracted the attention of a student ... 'Can I see?' 'Oh that's an _alien_' "

[ironyoxide]

1.) [cover not to scale.]

2.) Is it just that Niven had a particular run of bad luck re "Time Marches On" in his early career, or was he more open about it than most writers working in hard SF at the time?

3.) The solution to "Setting that has run too long, and is now unworkable" is usually either "make a new setting" or "use time travel/AU shenanigans to reboot the setting". Niven seems to be either unwilling or unable to do this.

[nelc]

I don't know why you wouldn't ask Sternback if he could do a sufficiently hi-res scan to show his easter eggs, pretty please. Enough time has passed for nearly everyone to have given up searching by now, and there wasn't a prize or anything (not even a stuffed Kzin doll, let alone a working Quantum I hyperdrive).

Cover puzzles, Yay!

[(Anonymous)]

I loved this as a teen, not least because it had my favorite cover of any SF collection, and probably any SF book, period.

I think Niven was at his best in 'cool science puzzle' short stories, with the characters just vehicles. Even after the science became outdated, they were still enjoyable as puzzles.

Unfortunately, there was more money in novels, and he started (trying) to add characterization, which was not a strength, to be charitable.

Riderius

[julian]

I enjoyed reading this the first time, really. Think it's in my re-read queue soon, because I'd love to see what I think of it now.

[oh6]

I completely missed the character motives in "How the Heroes Die" when I first read my already-disintegrating copy of the collection in high school. This is up there with "The Ethics of Madness" in my ranking of Niven's most depressing stories.

[ironymaiden]

Niven was my first real SF author, a childhood idol. it was crushing to meet him and find out that he didn't consider the omnipresent surveillance state a thought experiment, but an ideal we should be striving for. OH.