Scatterbrain by Larry Niven
A Review of the New Sci-Fi Collection.by the author of Ringworld
This new collection is a useful sampler for those unfamiliar with his work, with collaborations and extracts from several of his major novels and universes.
Like Arthur C. Clarke and Greg Bear, Larry Niven is one of the front rank of Hard SF authors who seem to produce bigger and bigger novels (at the time of writing he has no less than seven novels in progress), and fewer and fewer stories. In this, his most recent non-themed collection, there are four solo pieces of short fiction including a new Draco Tavern story, extracts from two of Niven's most recent novels, and extracts from two novel collaboration and a co-written novelette. There are also two nonfiction pieces made up of correspondence between the authors of those pieces, and the other third of the book is made up of articles, anecdotes, and introductory material for other works.
This collection shows all Niven's considerable talents, as well as his comparative weaknesses. By the time I’d spent an entire evening reading the correspondence between Niven and Brenda Cooper, my brain felt stuffed to bursting point, although this may also have been due to the tendency to reproduce the e-mails complete with formatting, and asides. At times, it was hard to tell who was writing to whom.
His introduction is a revealing insight into a character, who, if he had not become a science-fiction writer might well have struggled to hold down any kind of normal job, or who if he had found the right niche, might have been acclaimed as a genius. Niven fires out such a plethora of ideas that it's a bit like being hit by a shotgun of ideas.
The first two pieces of fiction are both extracts from novels: first, from what may be my favourite Niven novel, Destiny's Road. As is best with extracts, it's the opening pages of the novel, and so sets the action neatly. The downside is, as with all extracts, there is no feeling of emotional completion, as one finds with a short story. The second is from The Ringworld Throne; this reads more like a short story, but unless one is familiar in some detail with the Ringworld series, it's difficult to get into the narrative.
“The Woman in Del Rey Crater” is a story featuring Gil Hamilton. It reads like a typical Analog story; a taut, lean piece, so focused on science and solving the mystery, that the characterisation, such as it is, feels as if it's almost had too be squeezed in, like damp course injected into a cavity wall.
“Procrustes” is a new Beowulf Schaeffer story. Again, there is a plethora of detail, including such gems as lamplighter nests, but Schaeffer's character is sufficiently engaging that this becomes a much more enjoyable read than anything in the book so far. Again, it is a techno-puzzle masquerading to an extent as a story, but there is genuine characterisation, and the background scenery is intriguing. Highly recommended.
There then follow two short-short articles written for space.com; both of these are aimed at the We Are Americans: Ergo, We Should Be in Space lobby. As such, they are moderately interesting, but I'm not really sure what their point is. They won't convert those who doubt the wisdom of conquering space, and preaching to the converted seems a hollow pursuit.
There is an eponymous extract from “The Burning City," a collaboration with Jerry Pournelle; set in the world of The Magic Goes Away, California of 14,000 years ago. An interesting idea, that a geographical location can be actively hostile to humanity, but again there is that sense of entering a conversation halfway finished, and trying to catch up with the subject of discussion.
“Tabletop Fusion" is a fascinating look at what seemed to be a viable new form of energy a few years ago. That the discovery proved either to be a hoax or if genuine couldn't be replicated, shouldn't distract from what an interesting set of possibilities he outlines. This is Niven at his absolute best.
Overall, Scatterbrain isn’t Niven on absoluetly top form – he hits that all too rarely nowadays – but it's good enough to delight many of his tens of thousands of fans out there, and as an introduction to his work for the uninitiated, it’s a very good place to start.
