Scatterbrain, Tor, August 2003

Overall, pretty much a round up of Larry's short stories and articles which have been published in recent years. Great for the Niven fans who managed to miss an issue of Analog, or Asimov and missed a new Niven short story. Several of the stories were new to me too!! [Nesssus]

When compiling this anthology, Tor discovered that they had way too much material, so expect a second volume - provisionally entitled Scatterbrain II - to be published next year.

This collection is now available in Hardback from most bookstores or as an Ebook from Fictionwise.com:

 

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Below follows a summary of the short stories and articles appearing in the latest Niven collection.

Introduction - Where do I get my Crazy Ideas?

Introduction to the new anthology.

Destiny's Road (excerpted from the Novel)

Review of Full Novel

The Ringworld Throne

(excerpted from Novel)
Review of Full Novel

The Woman in Del Rey Crater

Woman in Del Rey Crater is a Gil Hamilton story set on the moon. Radioactive waste? what do you do with it? The moon is a good dumping ground, specifically the Del Rey Crater. But when a woman's corpse is found at the exact center of the radioactive hell, Gil the ARM is sent to investigate.

Loki

A space probe's lander civilises an underwater intelligence through many generations, eventually encouraging them to leave their watery home to be able to achieve the ultimate: fire.

Procrustes

Spaceship pilot Beowulf Shaeffer groggily awakens on a deserted island and considers the events leading up to the moment his head was blown off. The small ship with its six passengers had just landed on Fafnir to catch an outbound spaceliner when his crewmate had inexplicably turned and fired her weapon directly at his head. The Intensive Care Cavity that saved him shows that more than four months have passed, and his friends are nowhere to be found...

Mars: Who Needs it?

Short speculative article about the future use of Mars. Owes a lot to Kim Stanley Robinson, and Niven's own Rainbow Mars.

How to Save Civilisation and Save a Little Money

Short article on rebuilding the space programme, mentioning the X-plane and Reagan's SDI.

The Burning City (excerpt - collaboration with Jerry Pournelle)

Review of Full Novel

Saturn's Race (excerpt - collaboration with Steven Barnes)

We learn that Saturn's Race is a prequel to Achille's Choice and before the excerpt begins there are pages of interesting notes about developing the plot between Larry, Steven Barnes and their editor, Bob Gleason. Review of full Novel.

Ice and Mirrors (with Brenda Cooper)

Two recent graduate students are employed by an alien species known as the Thray to sign off that the iceworld of Trine, which is an intended target for terraforming is free from sentient life. Kimber Walker and her assistant Eric Keenen find not only recent evidence of a stone-age civilisation but that the Thray may have had something to do with their demise.

Discussions with Brenda Cooper - Re: Ice and Mirrors

Interesting to start with - but I feel that the inclusion of this email correspondence needed to be cut back significantly.

Smut Talk

A discussion about sex practices starting with the black-widow reflex of the Grey Mourners, and some of the perversions of human sexual acts with his flu-addled brain Rick Schuuman can think of better places to be.

Teleprescence

Marvin Minsky and Larry Niven's presentation to a CACNSP meeting in Tarzana in August 1997. A strategy how remotely operated "Moonbugs" could be used to explore, mine and build on the Moon, paid for by lease of their own use via the internet to Space fans around the world.

Learning to Love the Space Station

"It's been many more than 9 billion dollars and more like 20 than 9 years but the damn thing is up there and doing it's job!"

Autograph Ettiquette

600 words of tips for writers and seekers.

Tabletop Fusion

Article on cold fusion.

Collaboration

How to write a successful collaboration.

Intercon Trip Report

Larry's journeys and experiences in Oslo in 1991.

Handicap

Article discussing what it is to be handicapped and disabled. Written before Larry's yoga accident.

Did the Moon Move for You Too?

Sex in Microgravity.

Hugo Award Anecdotes

(This was very funny) How Larry broke a Hugo.

Introduction to Pete Hamilton's Story "Watching Trees Grow"

As introduction and not to spoil the plot, Larry writes about his own detective stories.
Introductory Material for Man Kzin Wars II

Used in Man Kzin Wars 2

Canon for the Man-Kzin Wars

How Larry prepared the information pack which was given to the Man Kzin War writers.

Epilogue: What I Tell Librarians

Larry writes about his injured knee, being a writer and how Librarians should let children read adult sf if they so chose.