Editing Larry Niven (section)

== Work ==
Niven is the author of numerous science fiction short stories and novels, beginning with his 1964 story "The Coldest Place". In this story, the coldest place concerned is the dark side of [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], which at the time the story was written was thought to be [[tidal locking|tidally locked]] with the [[Sun]] (it was found to rotate in a 2:3 resonance after Niven received payment for the story, but before it was published).<ref>{{cite web|title=the Planet Mercury. Tidally locked? |url=http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/space/html/universe/solar_system/planets/mercury/surface/tidally_locked.html |publisher=www.kidsnewsroom.org |access-date=2012-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208122314/http://kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infocentral/space/html/universe/solar_system/planets/mercury/surface/tidally_locked.html |archive-date=February 8, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Algis Budrys]] said in 1968 that Niven becoming a top writer despite the [[New Wave (science fiction)|New Wave]] was evidence that "trends are for second-raters".<ref name="budrys196812">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Budrys
 |first=Algis
 |date=December 1968
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v27n05_1968-12_modified#page/n115/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=149–155
}}</ref> In addition to the Nebula Award in 1970<ref name=autogenerated2>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1970 |title=1970 Award Winners & Nominees &#124; Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award &#124; WWEnd |publisher=Worldswithoutend.com |access-date=September 27, 2011 |archive-date=March 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090316125915/http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1970 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Hugo and Locus awards in 1971<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1971 |title=1971 Award Winners & Nominees &#124; Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award &#124; WWEnd |publisher=Worldswithoutend.com |access-date=September 27, 2011 |archive-date=March 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328170555/https://worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1971 |url-status=live }}</ref> for ''[[Ringworld]]'', Niven won the [[Hugo Award for Best Short Story]] for "[[Neutron Star (short story)|Neutron Star]]" in 1967.<ref name="kirkusreviews.com"/> He won the same award in 1972, for "[[Inconstant Moon]]", and in 1975 for "[[The Hole Man]]". In 1976, he won the [[Hugo Award for Best Novelette]] for "[[The Borderland of Sol]]".

Niven frequently collaborated with [[Jerry Pournelle]]; they wrote nine novels together, including ''[[The Mote in God's Eye]]'', ''[[Lucifer's Hammer]]'' and ''[[Footfall]]''.

[[File:Larry Niven 4840.jpg|left|thumb| Niven at Stanford University in 2006]]

Niven has written scripts for two science fiction television series: the original ''[[Land of the Lost (1974 TV series)|Land of the Lost]]'' series and ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]'', for which he adapted his early story "[[The Soft Weapon]]."  For ''[[The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'', his story "[[Inconstant Moon]]" was adapted into an [[Inconstant Moon (The Outer Limits)|episode of the same name]] by [[Brad Wright]].

Niven has also written for the [[DC Comics]] character [[Green Lantern]], including in his stories [[hard science fiction]] concepts such as universal [[entropy]] and the [[redshift]] effect.

Several of his stories predicted the black market in transplant organs ("[[organlegging]]").

Many of Niven's stories—sometimes called the Tales of Known Space<ref name=isfdb-series/>—take place in his [[Known Space]] universe, in which humanity shares the several habitable [[List of nearest stars|star systems]] nearest to the [[Sun]] with over a dozen [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] species, including the aggressive feline [[Kzin]]ti and the very intelligent but cowardly [[Pierson's Puppeteer]]s, which are frequently central characters. The ''[[Ringworld]]'' series is part of the Tales of Known Space, and Niven has shared the setting with other writers since a 1988 anthology, ''The Man-[[Kzin]] Wars'' (Baen Books, jointly edited with [[Jerry Pournelle]] and [[Dean Ing]]).<ref name=isfdb-series/>  There have been several volumes of short stories and novellas.

Niven has also written a logical fantasy series ''[[The Magic Goes Away]]'', which utilizes an exhaustible resource called ''mana'' to power a rule-based "technological" magic. ''[[The Draco Tavern]]'' series of short stories take place in a more light-hearted science fiction universe, and are told from the point of view of the proprietor of an omni-species bar. The whimsical ''Svetz'' series consists of a collection of short stories, ''The Flight of the Horse'', and a novel, ''[[Rainbow Mars]]'', which involve a nominal time machine sent back to retrieve long-extinct animals, but which travels, in fact, into alternative realities and brings back mythical creatures such as a [[Roc (mythology)|roc]] and a [[unicorn]]. Much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Jerry Pournelle and [[Steven Barnes]], but also [[Brenda Cooper]] and [[Edward M. Lerner]].

One of Niven's best known humorous works is "[[Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex]]", in which he uses real-world physics to underline the difficulties of [[Superman]] and a human woman ([[Lois Lane]] or [[Lana Lang]]) mating.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.larryniven.net/stories/Man_of_Steel_Woman_of_Kleenex.shtml|title=Larryniven dot net|website=www.larryniven.net|access-date=January 28, 2018|archive-date=October 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019040107/http://www.larryniven.net/stories/Man_of_Steel_Woman_of_Kleenex.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>