Larry Niven

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Larry Niven

Laurence van Cott Niven (* thirtieth April 1938 in Los Angeles ) is an American science fiction - writers , especially the novel cycles of Kzin wars and Ringworld .

Life

His parents were lawyer Waldemar Van Cott Niven and Lucy Estelle, née Doheny, daughter of the California oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny , who was also involved in the Teapot Dome scandal . Niven briefly attended the California Institute of Technology , and received a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and another in psychology from Washburn University in Topeka in 1962 and then worked for a year at the University of California in Los Angeles . He has been a full-time writer since 1964 and lives in various suburbs of Los Angeles, including Chatsworth and Tarzana . He has been married to Marilyn Jouce Wisowaty since September 6, 1969.

plant

Larry Niven at Stanford in 2006

Science fiction works are at the center of Niven's work. His most popular novel cycle is the Ringwelt trilogy. Since these, like most of his other works, take place in a universe that is extremely coherent (the description ranges in the novels from millions of years before Christ to a few thousand after Christ), this universe was called the "Ringworld Universe" without further ado although the ringworld doesn't really play a central role in it. The term "Known Space" is a little older, meaning the worlds known to mankind in this future design.

His stories are always adventure stories in which Larry Niven tries to amuse his readers by surprise. In the most extreme case, this goes so far that the main character in Ringwelt does not want to tell the others an idea to save his group, although they all have to help implement it, just so that this idea can appear as a punch line at the end of the novel. In other novels and short stories this is solved more elegantly.

The main characters do not take a moral position, but they act ethically. For example, Beowulf Shaeffer runs away from the stranger because the situation can be dangerous for him, but stands by it; Luis Wu kills without remorse, but only in self-defense; and Gil the poor fights the black market for organs, but in the name of a society that sometimes punishes traffic offenses with death in order to get to the organs of the convicted person.

Some anthropocentrism can be found in his aliens. Although they are described in a relatively multi-faceted manner, they mostly have the character of extreme people. The Kzin are particularly aggressive, the puppeteers particularly cowardly, etc.

Women hardly play a role in most of Niven's novels.

Recurring themes are immortality (or at least life extended into thousands of years), the Milky Way as a Seyfert galaxy and strangeness.

In his early work, typical SF elements from the time the books were written come to the fore. Martians are primitive beings, telepathy and similar psychic powers often play a role. Later, his actions, beings and places become increasingly differentiated and fantastic.

Niven was involved in many co-productions, some of which also take place in the Ringwelt universe.

Together with Jerry Pournelle , he wrote the novels The Splinter in the Eye of God , Lucifer's Hammer and Fußfall, among others . Technically interesting about Fußfall is the concept of the Orion engine.

Awards

  • 1967: Hugo Award for the short story Neutron Star
  • 1969: Forry Award for Lifetime Achievement
  • 1971: Hugo Award, Nebula Award and Locus Award for the novel Ringworld (Eng .: Ringwelt )
  • 1972: Hugo Award for the short story Inconstant Moon
  • 1972: Ditmar Award for the novel Ringworld
  • 1973: Skylark Award for life's work
  • 1975: Hugo Award for the short story The Hole Man
  • 1975: Ditmar Award for the Roman Protector
  • 1976: Hugo Award for the story The Borderland of Sol
  • 1979: Seiun Award for the short story Inconstant Moon
  • 1979: Seiun Award for the novel Ringworld
  • 1980: Locus Award for the Convergent Series short story collection
  • 1981: Seiun Award for the short story A Relic of Empire
  • 1985: Locus Award for the novel The Integral Trees (German: The floating forest)
  • 1989: Seiun Award for the novel Footfall (with Jerry Pournelle)
  • 1992: Prometheus Award for the novel Fallen Angels (together with Jerry Pournelle and Michael Flynn)
  • 1998: Seiun Award for the novel Fallen Angels (together with Jerry Pournelle and Michael Flynn)
  • 2001: Locus Award for the short story The Missing Mass
  • 2005: Robert A. Heinlein Award (with Jerry Pournelle )
  • 2006: Writers of the Future for Lifetime Achievement
  • 2015: SFWA Grand Master Award for life's work

bibliography

Series and cycles

The series are arranged according to the year of publication of the first part.

Ringworld cycle
  • The World of Ptavvs (1968)
    • German: Die Welt der Ptavv , also: Kinder der Ringwelt , also: Das Doppelhirn. 1977, ISBN 3-404-24279-3 .
  • A gift from Earth (1968)
    • German: A gift from the earth , also: Children of the Ringworld , also: Planet of the Lost. 1977, ISBN 3-404-24284-X .
  • Ringworld (1970)
  • Protector (1973)
  • Planetary dreams. 1994, ISBN 3-404-21209-6 (anthology).
  • A world out of time (1977)
  • The Patchwork Girl (1980)
  • The Ringworld Engineers (1980)
  • The Ringworld Throne (1987)
  • Ringworld's Children (2004)
The splitter cycle

(with Jerry Pournelle )

inferno

(with Jerry Pournelle)

  • Inferno (1976)
  • Escape from Hell (2009)
Magic Goes Away
  • The Magic Goes Away (1978)
  • The Magic May Return (1981)
  • More Magic (1984)
Dream Park (with Steven Barnes )
Known space
Heorot
Kzin war cycle
Golden Road

(with Jerry Pournelle)

  • The Burning City (2000)
  • The Burning Tower (2005)

Single novels

Short story collections

  • Neutron Star (1968)
  • The Shape of Space (1969)
  • All the Myriad Way (1971)
  • Inconstant Moon (1973)
  • The Flight of the Horse (1973)
  • A Hole in Space (1974)
  • Tales of Known Space (1975)
    • German: Stories from the Ringwelt universe also: The coldest place. 1985, ISBN 3-404-24281-5 .
  • The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton (1976)
  • Convergent Series (1979)
  • Niven's Laws (1984)
  • Limits (1985)
  • Three Books of Known Space (1989)
  • N-Space (1990)
  • Playgrounds of the Mind (1991)
  • Crashlander (1994)
  • Flatlander (1995)
  • Scatterbrain (2003)
  • Larry Niven Short Stories Volume 1 (2003)
  • Larry Niven Short Stories Volume 2 (2003)
  • Larry Niven Short Stories Volume 3 (2003)
  • The Draco Tavern (2006)
  • Stars and Gods (2010)

literature

Web links

Commons : Larry Niven  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mr. Larry Niven and Dr. Jerry Pournelle Named Recipients of 2005 Heinlein Award . Published by Daid M. Silver on November 4, 2005
personal data
SURNAME Niven, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Niven, Laurence van Cott (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American science fiction writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles