Fans of book fiction at one time could not miss the sensational book "The World Ring", a visiting card of Larry Niven. His books about fictional worlds and a surprisingly twisted plot immerses the reader with his head to the very last page.
Winner of many prizes and awards, Niven continues to create his science fiction novels to this day.
Biography
April 30, 1938 in the city of angels - Los Angeles was born Laurence van Cott Niven. His childhood passed in Beverly Hills. And only for 2 years he left his sunny California to serve in the army, by distribution, having arrived in Washington. In 1956, Niven enrolled at the California Institute of Technology, which was a complete failure, after Larry discovered a bookstore with science fiction magazines. As a result, Niven went to the University of Washburn in Kansas and graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematical sciences in 1962. After a year of unsuccessful work at a similar faculty of the University of California, Niven began writing. And his first book, The Coolest Place, was sold for $ 25 in 1964.
His love of science led him to write novels; all of Larry Niven's books were literally on the cutting edge of scientific discoveries throughout his career. Once authoritative publications reported the discovery of neutron stars, Niven immediately takes this topic into circulation. A description by scientists of dark matter inspired him to create the work "The Missing Mass" in 2000. He wrote stories about quantum black holes (after talking with Stephen Hawking), solar flares and told why, in reality, Saturn’s rings appear twisted before us.
Creating a "fantasy"
Larry's first published story, The Coolest Place, appeared in December 1964. It was based on a description of the dark side of Mercury, which was indicated as the coldest place in the solar system. Accordingly, the other side should have been illuminated by the sun at this moment. And simultaneously with the publication of a book on the cold side, scientists have discovered that Mercury does indeed rotate relative to the sun. Larry Niven was unshakable in his letter and continued to talk about the wonders of our universe.
Some of his contemporaries (for example, David Brin) jokingly accused Larry of forcibly depleting science fiction, arguing that he did not leave it to other authors for research.
early years
Initially, Larry never intended to describe the era of the future in a historical context. Of his first 11 published stories, there are only two recurring characters (Eric Cyborg's solar system research team and his human partner, Howie). Two other other stories supported the themes and concepts of fantasy worlds, later they will be added to the "Famous Cosmos" (including the hypercosmic Dead Center and several planets with strange names - Canyon, Curse, We Created This and Wonderland).
In his 1990 essay “Playgrounds for the Mind,” Larry Niven writes: “I dreamed of telling my whole life stories, not from magazines or scientific anthologies. Once my dreams began to form in stories. Astrophysical discoveries meant supernatural worlds. I tried to touch the minds of strangers. . and to show them the wonders I wanted to be authors published science fiction I really wanted to get. Prize Hugo (of Hugo Award - literary prize in the field of science fiction, named after Hugo Gernsback, who created the first scientific and fantasy of sul magazines). "
The works of Larry Niven is a richly populated universe with past and future, as well as an infinite history potential.
In the 60s, his friend, journalist Fred Paul, suggested writing scientific stories about the "unusual corners of the universe." Larry immediately grabbed onto the idea and soon one of the most interesting and long-term characters was created: a lost spaceship pilot and a newly-minted tourist Beowulf, who visits neutron stars, antimatter planets and even the galactic nucleus during all his travels. Pearson's puppeteers, a quirky, cowardly race of two-headed three-legged adventurers, who will have a profound influence on the future stories of the "Famous Cosmos", were also represented in these stories.
Birth of the "Famous Cosmos" and "Rings"
While writing works about the Beowulf Schaeffer era, Larry Niven invented trees with solid fuel cores grown for rocket boosters in the book "The World of Ptavvs." “It seems to me that in a previous life I was a pyrotechnician,” Larry jokes. The “Relic of the Empire”, the world of Kzanol and other characters of “Ptavv” were connected with the world of puppeteers Beowulf, and soon a whole collection was created, which bears the name “Famous Cosmos”. In the "Famous Cosmos" there were settlements of well-realized aliens, for example, Kzinti, Trinoki, Kdatlino. Vivid descriptions of distant worlds enlivened the universe, and fans were afraid to lose such a breathtaking space of time and fantasy.
However, in 1968, Niven's close friend, Norman Spinrad, suggested writing a story that would blow up the "Famous Cosmos" in order to draw the author onto a new route. And after a while, Niven came across an idea called the Dyson sphere. "It completely captured my imagination, and I developed a compromise structure: the Niven ring." Thus was created the basis for the story called "The World Ring".
Larry Niven - The World Ring
The popular series of books about the world in the form of a ring is the end of the cycle of "Famous Cosmos". An amazing world, conveniently located on the hoop.
It revolves around the distant sun, shows us how trillions of inhabitants can inhabit a strange outer space, whose width is a million kilometers, its diameter is a billion, and its thickness is only a few tens of meters. The story of peace among the ruins, war and love of the humanoid race is told in four books: The World Ring, The Engineers of the World Ring, The Throne of the World Ring, The Children of the World Ring. This world escapes from the terrible explosion of the core of the Galaxy, with amazing ease, it invites readers to immerse themselves in exotic places and draws on its plot so that it is impossible to remain indifferent.