Tales Of Known Space: The Universe Of Larry Niven (1981) - Plot & Excerpts
Yep, more Niven, just because. It's alright, there's only one more I own that isn't in storage, so I'll stop soon. This is a collection of short stories, all set in Niven's Known Space future history and, as is almost always the case with short stories, the quality is variable. There are some nice SF ideas done in a few pages, and the science appears to be fairly accurate (if a little dated in places). A couple of the stories are more concerned with the impact of technological advances on society than of the science, and these tend to be the more interesting for me (although very dated, often a bit sexist and somewhat right-wing). Seen as a collection, though, you can see Niven's skill as a writer grow and the best stories here - especially the last one, There is a Tide which is just fun.I sort of miss the times when I would read all of the books in a series - I just don't have time nowadays - and although I don't much like some of Niven's flaws (characterisation and sexism), I love the effort he puts in. The Known Space books and stories may be variable, but by god they're fun.I read an old paperback in early September 2010, and the book seems to be out of print in the UK.
Fair warning: one really nasty tale of homophobia.Classic stories from the 60s and 70s, one out-of-date (as science) practically before it was published. What works: the tech and the mystery format that many of the stories fall into. What doesn't work: well, despite being able to imagine that each off-world culture would distinguish itself from home-earth culture, the nevertheless manage to be pretty white and patriarchal. For once the large-scale erasure of female characters is a relief, because when women are included they aren't as human as the space ships.The stories themselves are zippy, mostly plot, and entertaining. It's funny to see what the future was supposed to look like (kudos for managing to hang on to the cigarette smoking habit in increasingly challenging ways, and also, wow, fears about overpopulation ran rampant, didn't they?).Not a future I can imagine appealing to women or any minority, filled as it is with manly white dudes being mavericks. It's also kind of astounding that Niven didn't include results of any of the social justice movements publicly underway while he was writing these. I get that sociology isn't his thing, but, wow.Personal copy
What do You think about Tales Of Known Space: The Universe Of Larry Niven (1981)?
A representative collection of Mr. Niven's early short fiction all set in that part of space he calls "Known Space," which includes interplanetary.space around our Sun as well as near interstellar areas. Those who appreciate "hard" science fiction will appreciate Mr. Niven's work which reflects the knowledge as we have had it regarding interplanetary space inour Solar System. The end pages of the book includes a "history" of the Known Space short and longer (novel length) works inclusive of those in this anthology and others with the locations where they were first published.
—Richard Buro
