Laurence van Cott Niven (1938 – ) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are Ringworld (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, The Mote in God’s Eye (1974) and Lucifer’s Hammer (1977). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named him the 2015 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. It also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes the series The Magic Goes Away, rational fantasy dealing with magic as a non-renewable resource.
In Niven’s novel Ringworld, he envisions a Ringworld: a band of material, roughly a million miles wide, of approximately the same diameter as Earth’s orbit, rotating around a star. The idea originated in Niven’s attempts to imagine a more efficient version of a Dyson sphere, which could produce the effect of surface gravity through rotation. Given that spinning a Dyson sphere would result in the atmosphere pooling around the equator, the Ringworld removes all the extraneous parts of the structure, leaving a spinning band landscaped on the sun-facing side, with the atmosphere and inhabitants kept in place through centrifugal force and 1,000 mi (1,600 km) high perimeter walls (rim walls).
After publication of Ringworld, Dan Alderson and Ctein, two friends told Larry Niven that the Ringworld was dynamically unstable such that if the center of rotation drifts away from the central sun, gravitational forces will not “re-center” it, thus allowing the ring to eventually contact the sun and be destroyed. Niven used this as a core plot element in the sequel novel, The Ringworld Engineers.
In the Magic: The Gathering trading card game, the card Nevinyrral’s Disk uses his name, spelled backwards. This tribute was paid because the game’s system where mana from lands is used to power spells was inspired by his book The Magic Goes Away. The card Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant was added in Commander Legends, adding the Niven’s namesake character fully to the game.
Larry Niven – First Edition Identification Guide
Note: This list only includes works published prior to 1977.
| Year | Title | Publisher | First edition/printing identification points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | ALL THE MYRIAD WAYS | New York: Ballantine Books, [1971] | Wrappers. First Printing: June, 1971 on © page. Ballantine Books 02280-7-095 (95¢). |
| 1973 | THE FLIGHT OF THE HORSE | New York: Ballantine Books, [1973] | Wrappers. First Printing: September, 1973 on © page. Ballantine Books 23487 ($1.25). |
| 1971 | THE FLYING SORCERERS | New York: Ballantine Books, [1971] | Wrappers. First Printing: August, 1971 on © page. Ballantine Books Science Fiction 02331-5-095 (95¢). With DAVIDGERROLD. |
| 1968 | A GIFT FROM EARTH | New York: Ballantine Books, [1968] | Wrappers. First Printing: September, 1968 on © page. Ballantine Science Fiction Original 72113 (75¢). ALSO: [London]: Macdonald Science Fiction, [1969]. Boards. First published in Great Britain in 1969 on © page. First hardcover edition. |
| 1974 | A HOLE IN SPACE | New York: Ballantine Books, [1974] | Wrappers. First Printing: June, 1974 on © page. Ballantine 24011 ($1.25). |
| 1973 | INCONSTANT MOON | London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1973 | Boards. No statement of printing on © page. |
| 1976 | INFERNO | New York: Published by Pocket Books, [1976] | Wrappers. May, 1976 on © page. Pocket Books S/F 80490 ($1.75). With JERRY POURNELLE. ALSO: London: Allan Wingate, 1977. Boards. First British edition, 1977 on © page. First hardcover edition. |
| 1976 | THE LONG ARM OF GIL HAMILTON | New York: Ballantine Books, [1976] | Wrappers. First Printing: February, 1976 on © page. Ballantine Books 24868 ($1.50). |
| 1977 | LUCIFER'S HAMMER | [Chicago]: A Playboy Press Book, [1977] | Boards with cloth shelf back. First edition so stated on © page. With JERRY POUR- NELLE. |
| 1974 | THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE | New York: Simon and Schuster, [1974] | Boards with cloth shelf back. Code 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 on © page. With JERRY POURNELLE. |
| 1968 | NEUTRON STAR | New York: Ballantine Books, [1968] | Wrappers. First Printing: April, 1968 on © page. A Ballantine Original Science Fiction U6120 (75¢). ALSO: [London]: Macdonald Science Fiction, [1969]. Boards. First published in Great Britain in 1969 on © page. First hardcover edition. |
| 1973 | PROTECTOR | New York: Ballantine Books, [1973] | Wrappers. First Printing: September, 1973 on © page. Ballantine Books 23486 ($1.25). ALSO: [Tisbury, Wiltshire]: Compton Russell, [1976]. Boards. This hardcover edition first published in Great Britain in 1976 ... on © page. First hardcover edition. |
| 1970 | RING WORLD | New York: Ballantine Books, [1970] | Wrappers. First Printing: October, 1970 on © page. Ballantine Books Science Fiction 020461-095 (95¢). ALSO: London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1972. Boards. No statement of printing on © page. First hardcover edition. ALSO: New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, [1977]. Boards with cloth shelf back. First published in hardcover in 1977 ...10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on © page. Adds "Author's Note." |
| 1969 | THE SHAPE OF SPACE | New York: Ballantine Books, [1969] | Wrappers. First Printing: September, 1969 on © page. Ballantine Books Science Fiction 01712 075 (75¢). |
| 1975 | TALES OF KNOWN SPACE | New York: Ballantine Books, [1975] | Wrappers. First Printing: August, 1975 on © page. Ballantine Books SF 24563 ($1.50). |
| 1966 | WORLD OF PTAVVS | New York: Ballantine Books, [1966] | Wrappers. First Edition: August, 1966 on © page. A Ballantine Science Fiction Original U2328 (50¢). ALSO: London: Macdonald Science Fiction, [196S], Boards. First published in Great Britain in 1968 on © page. First hardcover edition. |
| 1976 | A WORLD OUT OF TIME | New York: Holl, Rinehart and Winston, [1976] | Boards with cloth shelf back. First edition so stated on © page. |
Larry Niven – First Printing Dust Jacket Identification Points
Gallery of First state Dust Jackets of Niven’s works. Only includes the first appearance in book form. Either the UK or US edition and does not include later printings.
Reference:
- Wikipedia
- L. W. Currey, Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors: A Bibliography of First Printings of Their Fiction and Selected Nonfiction.
