From the mind of #1 New York Times bestselling author Larry Niven, come twenty-six tales and vignettes from this interplanetary gathering place, collected for the first time in one volume. When a tremendous spacecraft took orbit around the Earth's moon and began sending smaller landers down toward the North Pole, the newly arrived visitors quickly set up a permanent spaceport at Mount Forel in Siberia. Their presence attracted many, and a few people grew conspicuously rich from secrets they learned from talking to the aliens. One of these men, Rick Schumann established a tavern catering to all of various species of visiting aliens, a place he named the Draco Tavern. This collection includes: "The Subject Is Closed": A priest visits the tavern and goes one-on-one with a chirpsithra alien on the subject of God and life after death. "Table Mannners: A Folk Tale": Rick Schumann is invited to hunt with five folk aliens, but he's not quite sure what their hunt entails, or if he will be the hunted. "Wisdom of Demons": The age-old question of wisdom vs. knowledge is asked when Rick is confronted by a human who has been granted the wisdom of an individual gligstith(click)optok alien. "Losing Mars" in this unpublished tale, a group of aliens who call Mars and its moon home, arrive at the Tavern only to find that humans have mostly forgotten about their neighboring planet. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Another dazzling collection of fact, fiction, and wit from the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning master of hard science fiction! Larry Niven is the New York Times bestselling author of such classic science fiction novels as Ringworld and Destiny's Road. His previous collection, N-Space, was lauded by the Houston Post as "outstanding . . . hours of entertainment," while Publishers Weekly called it "a must for science fiction fans." A follow-up volume, Playgrounds of the Mind, was similarly praised by Kirkus Reviews: "An abundance of Niven's curious yet disciplined inventiveness and his fun-filled knack for turning seemingly absurd notions into credible, absorbing fiction. Grand entertainment." Now, ten years later, Scatterbrain collects an equally engaging assortment of Niven's latest work, all in one captivating volume. Here are choice excerpts from several of his most recent novels, including his upcoming Ringworld's Child and Rainbow Mars, as well as numerous short stories, nonfiction articles, interviews, editorials, collaborations, and correspondence. True to its title, Scatterbrain roams all over a wide variety of fascinating topics, featuring Niven's singular insights into everything from space stations to convention etiquette. So give yourself a treat, and feel free to pick the brain-or Scatterbrain-of one of modern science fiction's most fascinating thinkers. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Scientists must stop nanites from driving an asteroid into Earth in this “brilliantly crafted . . . edge-of-the-seat thriller” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Twenty-five years ago, Doctor Toby Glyer and William Connors made a revolutionary breakthrough in nanotechnology. Their controversial nanites were capable of everything from miracle cures for the terminally ill to AI for asteroid-mining missions. But when the nanite-run Briareus mission to divert an Earth-crossing asteroid dropped out of contact soon after reaching its target, the entire program was shut down and the use of nanotechnology forcibly suppressed. Now a much, much larger asteroid is on a collision course with Earth—and the Briareus nanites may be responsible. While governments scramble to find a solution, Doctor Glyer knows that their only hope to avoid Armageddon lies in the nanites themselves. On the run, Glyer must track down Connors and find a way to make contact with their wayward children before a two-hundred-gigaton asteroid smashes into Earth. Will Glyer’s be Earth’s salvation, or destruction? Praise for The Goliath Stone “A fast read, filled with fascinating characters and mind-binding concepts. I should have worn a crash helmet.” —Larry Bond, New York Times–bestselling author of Shattered Trident “A future so brilliantly rendered that it feels shockingly real. This stunning book is Niven at the absolute top of his game, a surefire award winner and fan pleaser.” —Whitley Strieber, New York Times–bestselling author of The Grays “A rollicking good time.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “With witty dialogue and laugh-inducing prose, this is an incredible fun read, sure to entertain SF fans.” —Booklist

Originally published: New York: Ballantine, c1985.

SF masters Gregory Benford and Larry Niven spin a tale of alien encounters and strange technologies on an epic scale In Bowl of Heaven, the first collaboration by science fiction authors Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape), the limits of wonder are redrawn once again as a human expedition to another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure half-englobing a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths...and it's on a direct path heading for the same system as the human ship. A landing party is sent to investigate the Bowl, but when the explorers are separated—one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape—the mystery of the Bowl's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that will transform their understanding of their place in the universe. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Rick Schumann builds a tavern catering to visiting aliens, an interplanetary gathering place situated in Siberia that is known as Draco Tavern.