Category Archives: Larry Niven

Happy Birthday, Larry Niven

Larry Niven was born on this date, April 30, in 1938.  I’m doing it again, breaking my pattern of focusing on dead writers to do a birthday post on one who is still alive.

Niven has written some of the milestones of the field, particularly Ringworld. Today I want to take a quick look at a short story that takes place early in the Known Space series, a future history of which Ringworld is a part.

One of the things Niven focused on in his early writings was organlegging, the illegal harvesting and transplanting of human organs. In Niven’s future, the death penalty is expanded to encompass all manner of trivial crimes, in the interest of saving a life. Continue reading

When the Nanos Come Home

The Goliath StoneThe Goliath Stone
Larry Niven and Matthew Joseph Harrington
Tor, mmpb, 367 p., $8.99
ebook Kindle $7.25 (as of this writing) Nook $8.99

Larry Niven has long been one of my favorite writers, since like about 7th grade. Matthew Joseph Harrington is new to me. Together they’ve crafted an entertaining story about nanites sent to an asteroid 25 years prior to the story’s events coming home. While not the best thing I’ve read with Niven’s name on it, The Goliath Stone was fun and enjoyable.

The basic set up is that 25 years ago a company headed by two scientists sent the Briareus mission, which contained a package of nanites, to intercept an Earth Crossing asteroid. Shortly after launch, they lost contact with the mission. Now a larger asteroid is headed back towards Earth. Many believe that the Briareus mission is responsible.

The two men responsible for the Briareus mission, Dr. Toby Glyer and William Conners, are now being hunted by the government. But they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. After all, Conners was given the death sentence for murder and survived the execution. He’s not without his resources. Continue reading

Benford and Niven’s Bowl of Heaven

bowlofheaven_NS_20pBowl of Heaven
Gregory Benford and Larry Niven
Tor mass market paperback, $8.99
ebook $7.69 Kindle $8.99 Nook

You know you’re getting behind on your reading when a book you bought as soon as it appeared in hardcover is out in paperback before you get around to reading it.

I’ve been a fan of large scale, big idea science fiction almost as long as I’ve been reading science fiction.  That means I’m a fan of both of the authors of this novel, although I’ve read more Niven than I have Benford.  But I enjoy them both.

So when a collaboration between them came out, I grabbed it pretty quickly.  Not surprisingly, they’ve come up with a large scale artifact I’ve not encountered before. Continue reading