Author

Larry Niven

Larry Niven
  • Loosely based on Larry Niven’s 1973 novella Flash Crowd, Red Tide continues to examine the social consequences of the impact of having instantaneous teleportation, where humans can instantly travel long distances in milliseconds. 

    This is a theme that has fascinated the author throughout his career and even appears in his seminal work Ringworld, where the central character celebrates his birthday by instantly teleporting himself to different time zones, extending his “birthday.” 

    The author also discusses the impact of such instantaneous transportation in his essay, “Exercise in Speculation: The Theory and Practice of Teleportation.” 

    Larry Niven is joined by two younger writers, Brad R. Torgersen and Mathew J. Harrington, as they take on this challenging idea and further develop the theories and concepts that Niven originally presented in Flash Crowd.

  • The long-awaited conclusion of the Heorot series from genre legends Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes

    Avalon was thriving. The cold sleep colonists from Earth had settled on a verdant, livable world. The fast and cunning predators humans named “grendels” were under control, and the mainland outposts well established. Avalon’s new mainland hydroelectric power station was nearly complete, and when online would compensate for the nuclear power systems lost in the Grendel Wars. Humans would have power, and with power came the ability to make all the necessities for life. They would survive.

    They would not survive as a spacefaring people.

    What they were losing faster than they knew was the ability to get to space. But unbeknownst to the planet-bound humans, something was moving out there in the stars, decelerating at a rate impossible for a natural object. And its destination was Avalon. The most probable origin was Earth’s Solar System.

    This is a novel of first contact—between the human Starborn and the self-named Godsons who followed on, between the first generation of Avalon-born humans and their descendants, and between humans and the almost ineffably alien species native to their new world …

  • The world named Mount Lookitthat was never meant for humans—it was shrouded in lethal mists. Life existed only on one plateau, unreachable except from space. But the disastrous decision to colonize the planet could not be reversed. So the settlers survived somehow—under a ruthless dictatorship. Mount Lookitthat was rebellion proof. Then fate dealt the colonists a wild card named Matthew Keller, who had a talent that neither he nor anybody else knew about. At last the colonists had a glimmer of hope!

  • Nothing quite prepared telepath Larry Greenberg for mind-to-mind contact with an alien. In the interest of science, Larry tapped the mind of Kzanol—and that was his first mistake.

    Kzanol was a thrint from a distant galaxy. He had been trapped on Earth in a time-stasis field for two billion years. Now he was on the loose, and Larry knew everything he was thinking. Thrints lived to plunder and enslave lesser planets—and the planet Kzanol had in mind was Earth!

  • The year is 2085, and humanity has spread throughout the solar system, a stable lunar colony is agitating for independence, and lunar tourism is on the rise…

    Against this background, professional “Close Protection” specialist Scotty Griffin, fresh off a disastrous assignment, is offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to shepherd the teenaged heir to the Republic of Kikaya on a fabulous vacation. Ali Kikaya will participate in the first live action role-playing game conducted on the Moon itself. Having left Luna—and a treasured marriage—years ago due to a near-tragic accident, Scotty leaps at the opportunity.

    Live action role-playing attracts a very special sort of individual: brilliant, unpredictable, resourceful, and addicted to problem solving. By kidnapping a dozen gamers in the middle of the ultimate game, watched by more people than any other sporting event in history, they have thrown down an irresistible gauntlet: to “win” the first game that ever became “real.” Pursued by armed and murderous terrorists, forced to solve gaming puzzles to stay a jump ahead, forced to juggle multiple psychological realities as they do … this is the game for which they’ve prepared their entire lives, and they are going to play it for all it’s worth.

  • Dream Park, the ultimate in amusement parks, was about to embark on the greatest game ever: the California Voodoo Game. Across the world bets were being placed; fortunes and reputations hung in the balance. Gaming careers would be made—or destroyed. And the most advanced software package ever invented was going to be tested.

    But one of the players was a murderer—and worse. Only Alex Griffin, head of Dream Park Security, and Game Master Tony McWhirter guessed the extent of the treachery tainting the Game. Somehow, they had to catch the killer—but above all, the Game must go on …

  • A visionary science fiction classic from Larry Niven and Steven Barnes

    The Barsoom Project is the direct sequel to 1981’s Dream Park. Eviane’s first visit to the state-of-art amusement arena Dream Park ended in disaster: the special effects had seemed more real than life … until the holograms she was shooting with live ammunition turned out to be solid flesh and blood … and very, very dead.

    Haunted by the past, rebounding from a lengthy spell in a mental hospital, she has returned to Dream Park to exorcise a nightmare that has become reality. But in Dream Park, nothing is what it seems. The Inuit mythology controlling the images is part of a “Fat Ripper Special” designed to implant new behavioral memes. The players are struggling against the game master, one another, and their own demons. And there is a killer who wants to ensure Eviane never regains her memory … no matter what it costs.

    Blending together hard science fiction with virtual reality and RPG-like fantasy games, The Barsoom Project is science fiction at the cutting edge and a classic creation from two of the genre’s most beloved writers.

  • A group of pretend adventurers suit up for a campaign called “the South Seas Treasure Game.” As in the early role-playing games, there are dungeon masters, warriors, magicians, and thieves. The difference? At Dream Park, a futuristic fantasy theme park full of holographic attractions and the latest in VR technology, they play in an artificial enclosure that has been enhanced with special effects, holograms, actors, and a clever story line. The players get as close as possible to truly living their adventure.

    All’s fun and games until a park security guard is murdered, a valuable research property is stolen, and all evidence points to someone inside the game. The park’s head of security, Alex Griffin, joins the game to find the killer, but finds new meaning in the games he helps keep alive.

  • Madness from the Inconstant Moon is a collection of early short science fiction works by Larry Niven, the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of the Ringworld series.

    “All the Myriad Ways” (1968)
    “Passerby” (1969)
    “For a Foggy Night” (1968)
    “Wait It Out” (1968)
    “The Jigsaw Man” (1967)
    “Not Long before the End” (1969)
    “Unfinished Story No. 1” (1970)
    “Unfinished Story No. 2” (1971)
    “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” (essay, 1969)
    “Exercise in Speculation: The Theory and Practice of Teleportation” (essay, 1969)
    “The Theory and Practice of Time Travel” (essay, 1971)
    “Inconstant Moon” (1971)
    “What Can You Say about Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers?” (1971)
    “Becalmed in Hell” (1965)

  • The latest spellbinding adventure in Larry Niven’s acclaimed collaborations with Steven Barnes

    Aros of Azteca and Neoloth-Pteor are the deadliest of enemies: swordsman and sorcerer, locked in mortal combat, who have tried to kill each other more times than either can count. But when the princess Neoloth loves is kidnapped, there is only one plan that offers any hope of rescue … and that requires passing off the barbarian Aros as a lost princeling and infiltrating the deadliest cabal of necromancers the world has ever seen. They cannot trust each other. They will betray or kill each other the first chance they get. But they’re all each other has.

  • In the free-fall environment of the Smoke Ring, descendants of the crew of the Discipline no longer remember their Earth roots or the existence of Sharls Davis Kendy, the computer-program despot of the ship—until Kendy initiates contact once more.

    Fourteen years later, only Jeffer, the Citizens Tree Scientist, knows that Kendy is still watching and waiting. Then, when the Citizens Tree people rescue a family of loggers, they learn for the first time of the Admiralty, a large society living in free fall amid the floating debris called the Clump. It is likely that the Admiralty has maintained, intact, Discipline’s original computer library. Exploration is a temptation neither Jeffer nor Kendy can resist, and neither Citizens Tree nor Sharls Davis Kendy will ever be the same again.

  • Leaving Earth, the crew of the spaceship Discipline were prepared for a routine assignment. Dispatched by the all-powerful State on a mission of interstellar exploration and colonization, Discipline was aided—and secretly spied upon—by Sharls Davis Kendy, an emotionless computer intelligence programmed to monitor the loyalty and obedience of the crew. What they weren't prepared for, however, was the Smoke Ring—an immense, gaseous envelope that had formed around a neutron star directly in their path. The Smoke Ring was home to a variety of plant and animal life-forms evolved to thrive in conditions of continual free fall. When Discipline encountered it, something went wrong. The crew abandoned ship and fled to the unlikely space oasis.

    Five hundred years later, the descendants of the Discipline crew living on the Smoke Ring no longer remember their origins. Earth is more myth than memory, and no recollection of the State remains. But Kendy remembers. And just outside the Smoke Ring, Discipline waits patiently to make contact with its wayward children.

  • The explosive finale to the Ringworld and the Fleet of Worlds series

    For decades, the spacefaring species of known space have battled over the largest artifact—and grandest prize—in the galaxy: the all-but-limitless resources and technology of the Ringworld. Now, without warning, the Ringworld has vanished, leaving behind three rival war fleets.

    Somethingmust justify the blood and treasure that have been spent.If the fallen civilization of the Ringworld can no longer be despoiled of its secrets, the puppeteers will be forced to surrender theirs—everyone knows that they are cowards. But the crises converging upon the trillion puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds go far beyond even the onrushing armadas.

    Adventurer Louis Wu and the exiled puppeteer known only as Hindmost, marooned together for more than a decade, escaped from the Ringworld before it disappeared. And throughout those years, as he studied Ringworld technology, Hindmost has plotted to reclaim his power.

    One way or another, the fabled puppeteer race may have come to the end of its days.

  • A prelude to the seminal science fiction classic, Ringworld

    Since fleeing the supernova chain reaction at the galactic core, the cowardly Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds have—just barely—survived one crisis after another: the rebellion of their human slaves, the relentless questing of the species of Known Space, the spectacular rise of the starfish-like Gw’oth, and the onslaught of the genocidal Pak.

    Now fresh disaster looms, as though past crises have returned and converged. Who can possibly save the Fleet this time?

    Louis Wu? Trapped in the Wunderland civil war, all he wants is to go home—but the only possible escape will plunge him into unknowable danger.

    Ol’t’ro? The Gw’oth ensemble mind fled across the stars to establish a colony world free from tyranny. But some problems cannot be left behind, and other problems—like the Fleet of Worlds itself—are racing straight at them. 

    Achilles? Despite past disgrace, the charismatic Puppeteer politician knows he is destined for greatness. He will do anything to seize power—and take his revenge on everyone who ever stood in his way.

    Nessus? The insane Puppeteer scout is out of ideas—and resources—with only desperation left to guide him.  

    Their hopes and fears, dreams and ambitions are about to collide. And the winner takes … worlds.

  • This book is a prequel to the Ringworld series, which is considered a classic of the science fiction genre.

    Two hundred years before the discovery of Ringworld

    The newly liberated humans of the Fleet of Worlds now face a new threat besides the sly Puppeteers: the Pak, a very smart and utterly ruthless species who are fleeing the exploding galactic core in an armada of ships at near light speed. The Pak are headed toward the Fleet of Worlds, having destroyed entire planets in their wake. Sigmund Ausfaller, who had been transported by the Puppeteers from Earth to the Fleet, is now sent with his human allies to reconnoiter and divert the Pak. A Pak is captured, but even a well-guarded Pak prisoner can be lethal. Sigmund and the human colonists must cope with many unpleasant surprises between the manipulative Puppeteers, the brilliant, violent Pak, and a new species called the Gw’oth, who seem to be allies but have their own agenda.

  • Two hundred years before the discovery of Ringworld…

    For too long, the Puppeteers have controlled the fate of worlds. Now Sigmund is pulling the strings.

    Covert agent Sigmund Ausfaller is Earth's secret weapon, humanity's best defense against all conspiracies, both real and imaginary, and all foes, both human and alien.Who better than a brilliant paranoid to expose the devious plots of others?

    But Sigmund may finally have met his match in Nessus, representative of the secretive Puppeteers, the elder race who wield vastly superior technologies.Even after the Puppeteers abruptly vanish from Known Space, Nessus schemes in the shadows with Earth's traitors and adversaries.

    As a paranoid, Sigmund has always known things would end horribly for him; only the when, where, how, why, and by whom of it all eluded him.But even Sigmund never imagined that his destiny would be entwined with the fates of worlds.

  • Larry Niven teams up with fellow science fiction writer Edward M. Lerner to take a closer look at the events leading up to Niven’s first Ringworld novel.

    Kirsten Quinn-Kovacs is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten’s people came from!

    A chain reaction of supernovae at the galaxy’s core has unleashed a wave of lethal radiation that will sterilize the galaxy. The Citizens flee, taking with them their planets, the Fleet of Worlds. Someone must scout ahead, and Kirsten and her crew eagerly volunteer. Under the guiding eye of Nessus, their Citizen mentor, they set out to explore for any possible dangers in the Fleet's path—and uncover long-hidden truths that will shake the foundations of worlds.

  • When a tremendous spacecraft took orbit around Earth's moon and began sending smaller landers down toward the North Pole, the newly arrived visitors quickly set up a permanent spaceport in Siberia. Their presence attracted many, and a few grew conspicuously rich from secrets they learned from talking to the aliens. One of these men, Rick Schumann, established a tavern catering to all the various species of visiting aliens, a place he named the Draco Tavern.

    From the mind of bestselling author Larry Niven come twenty-seven tales and vignettes from this interplanetary gathering place, collected for the first time in one volume. Join Rick and his staff as they chronicle the seemingly infinite alien species that spend a few moments pondering life and all its questions within the Draco Tavern.

    The stories include"The Subject Is Closed," in which a priest visits the tavern and goes one-on-one with a chirpsithra alien on the subject of God and life after death; "Table Mannners: A Folk Tale," in which Rick Schumann is invited to hunt with five folk aliens, but he's not quite sure what their hunt entails—or if he will be the hunted; "Losing Mars," a previously unpublished tale in which a group of aliens who call Mars and its moon home arrive at the tavern only to find that humans have mostly forgotten about their neighboring planet; and many more.

  • Welcome to a world like no other.

    The Ringworld is a landmark engineering achievement, a flat band three million times the surface of the Earth, encircling a distant star. Home to trillions of inhabitants, not all of whom are human, and host to amazing technological wonders, the Ringworld is unique in all of the universe.

    Explorer Louis Wu, an Earth-born human who was part of the first expedition to Ringworld, becomes enmeshed in interplanetary and interspecies intrigue as war and a powerful new weapon threaten to tear the Ringworld apart forever. Now the future of Ringworld lies in the actions of its children:Tunesmith, the Ghould protector; Acolyte, the exiled son of Speaker-to-Animals, and Wembleth, a strange Ringworld native with a mysterious past. All must play a dangerous game in order to save Ringworld's population—and the stability of Ringworld itself.

    Blending awe-inspiring science with non-stop action and fun, Ringworld's Children is the perfect introduction for readers new to this New York Times bestselling series, and long-time fans won't want to miss it.

  • Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, Ringworld remains a favorite among science fiction readers.

    The artifact is a vast circular ribbon of matter, some 180 million miles across, with a sun at its center. Pierson’s puppeteers—strange, three-legged, two-headed aliens—discovered this “Ringworld” in a hitherto unexplored part of the galaxy. Curious about the immense structure, but frightened by the prospect of meeting the builders, they set about assembling a team to explore it:

    Louis Wu, human—old and bored with having lived too fully for too many years, seeking an adventure, and all too capable of handling it.

    Nessus, puppeteer—a trembling coward from a species with an inbuilt survival pattern of nonviolence. This particular puppeteer, however, is insane.

    Speaker-to-Animals, kzin—large, orange-furred, and carnivorous. The kzin are one of the most savage life-forms known.

    The party’s expedition, however, goes disastrously wrong when their ship crash-lands and its motley crew faces a daunting trek across thousands of miles of Ringworld territory.