Inconstant Moon

by Larry Niven, Eddie Jones (Illustrator)

Seven brilliant short stories by the award-winning author of Ringworld.
INCONSTANT MOON: a moon so bright could mean only one thing. The sun had gone nova.

DEATH BY ECSTASY: Belters didn't get addicted to current stimulation, so why did the spacer die with electrodes in his brain?

BORDERED IN BLACK: the continent had a thin black border all the way around. The things that made it drove a space explorer raving mad.

These are three of the superb stories in this new collection by Larry Niven. The others are just as good.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Speculative Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

200 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1971

About the author

Laurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths.

Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.

Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.

He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.

Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. 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 has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.

He 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, which are unusual in comic books.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niven really knows how to emphasize the “science” in “science fiction.” Whether it’s the impact of our sun going nova [Inconstant Moon] or the realities of landing an astronaut on Venus [Becalmed in Hell] or the perils of a manned expedition to Pluto [Wait it Out] or the mind numbing complexities of the multiverse [All the Myriad Ways], this collection of sci-fi shorts has enough chutzpah to be completely plausible.

[Pawarut Jongsirirag · Rating 3 out of 5]

เป็นเล่มที่เเนะนำให้ได้รู้จักเเนว Hard Scifi (Scifi เเนวสมจริงที่นำทฤษฎีทางวิทยาศาสตร์ที่จับต้องได้มาเป็นเเกนในการเล่าเรื่อง) ได้เป็นอย่างดีเลย ตัวเนื้อเรื่องอาจจะไม่ได้ชวนตื่นเต้นเร้าใจในเเบบที่เราเคยอ่านกัน เเต่มันทดเเทนด้วยความสมจริงที่เราสามารถจินตนาการถึงความเป็นไปได้ที่มันอาจเกิดขึ้นกับตัวเราเอง เเละความเป็นไปได้ที่อาจเกิดขึ้นจริงนี่เเหละที่เป็นความสนุกในอีกรสชาติที่อยากให้ได้ลิ้มลองกันครับ

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 to 3.5 stars. Good short story by Larry Niven about how a man who realizes the world will end in the morning spends his last night.

Winner Hugo Award Best Short Story (1971)

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's your fun Larry Niven science quiz again! Are you ready for the first question?

Okay: you go out on your balcony late one evening and discover that the Moon is twenty times as bright as usual. You immediately call your girlfriend and say you're coming round to see her. This isn't a night when she should go to bed early and sleep, even if she does have an important meeting tomorrow.

Why not?

[Nantiny · Rating 3 out of 5]

ไม่หวือหวาอย่างที่คิดไว้ แต่ก็สมจริงในแง่การดำเนินไปของตัวละคร ผู้คน ที่ถ้าเจอปรากฏการณ์แบบนี้จริงๆ โลกจะเป็นยังไง
กับรู้สึกขาดตอนไปบ้าง ช่วงอธิบายการเกิดอากาศโนวา การสะท้อนและตกกระทบของดวงอาทิตย์มาโดนดวงจันทร์ ฯลฯ
งงๆ รู้สึกไม่สุด (ความรู้ดาราศาสตร์มีน้อยนิด)
ให้อารมณ์เหมือนอ่านหนังสือแบบเรียนดาราศาสตร์อยู่ แต่เป็นนิยายครอบเนื้อหาไว้อีกที ถ้าใส่ทฤษฎียาวๆยากๆเพิ่มมาอีกนี่ใช่เลย บันเทิงเลย..

ปล. อ่านมาถึงช่วงใกล้จบ จู่ๆฝนก็ตก ฟ้าก็ร้อง มีลูกเห็บอีก ไฟดับตามมา แหม บรรยากาศเป็นใจจริงๆ อ่านไปอินไป

[Pawit Mahattanasing · Rating 5 out of 5]

ฮาร์ดไซไฟ โรแมนติก ระทึกขวัญ - คืนนี้ดวงจันทร์สุกสว่างอย่างประหลาด ชายหนุ่มรู้ว่ามีปรากฎการณ์สำคัญที่อีกซีกโลก เขาจึงใช้โอกาสนี้โทรหาสาวนางหนึ่ง เพื่อชวนเธอร่วมเฉลิมฉลองในช่วงเวลาที่เหลือของค่ำคืน คงเศร้าพิลึกหากผู้อ่านท่านใดฉุกคิดขึ้นได้ว่า ถ้าเหตุการณ์เกิดขึ้นจริงอาจไม่มีใครให้โทรหา เพราะฉะนั้นจงรีบรวบรวมรายชื่อไว้เสียแต่ตอนนี้ อย่างไรเสียคงมีโอกาสอื่นให้ได้ใช้ ไม่เสียเปล่า แผล่บๆ :P

[Robbie Sheerin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and fun.

[York · Rating 4 out of 5]

really 3.5...4.0....but a cool collection of Niven's stories...

[Jerry Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is most unusual to read an end of world story and be extremely smug.

There is an overused, often irritating Industrial quality standard term- ‘Customer delight’; and strangely I find it an apt adjective for Niven’s short stories. He is like your tricky old grandma, diverting your mind off 'flue' by story telling, while serving chocolates with pills skillfully hidden in.

[Lis Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stan, a science writer, and his girlfriend Leslie, a computer programmer, each independently realize that the sun has apparently gone nova. They're in California, on the night side of Earth when it happens, and they have only a few hours until the planet turns enough that they experience it first hand. They decide that they are going to enjoy their last night on Earth.

Most of the people they encounter in the first couple of hours are just enjoying the unusual brightness and beauty of the Moon, but gradually the truth starts to sink in.

Or what might be the truth. Gradually, Stan starts to realize that he and Leslie might be alive tomorrow, and have to deal with the worst disaster in the history of the world.

Along the way, Stan and Leslie have to make choices, and they are each surprised by some of each other's choices. There's conflict as well as mutual support, as they each learn things they never knew about each other. They're both strong characters, individuals with their own viewpoints, skills, and willingness to defend their viewpoints. It's mostly bits of missing tech that reminded me that this story was written in 1971.

A really excellent story, from one of the major figures of science fiction, especially hard science fiction. The narrator also does a very good job, making this an enjoyable listen.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

[Jose Moa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coleection of short stories where stand out Inconstant moon where a man lives in full his last hours as he realices by the extraordinary bright of the moon tha some is happanig to the sun probably becoming a nova

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

what would you do if you realized that the world would shortly end due to a cosmic catastrophe? The scenario is possible, so stock up on wine and duck liver, however that's spelled...when the world ends, all spelling errors cease to matter!

[Cassandra Hasselsteen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fucks ngl

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Inconstant Moon short story was phenomenal (and what I came here to read), and some of the other stories were great as well (considering this is sci-fi from the early 70s).

[Ira Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first attempt at reading Niven and I was not disappointed. This short novella is beautifully written, just like the bright, beautiful moon of the story.

What starts off as a romantic story, as the two main characters, suddenly starts to change as they use their knowledge of science on what they are witnessing is an enormous solar flare reflecting off the moon.

You can’t help but feel the drastic tone of hopelessness as they realize that as the Earth rotates to the sunrise, all life will be destroyed as we know it.

[Caitlin Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember watching an episode of the Outer Limits crafted after this story, it was one of my favorites and after reading the book it's easy to see why. A genius basis for a well crafted story. Makes me want to come up with a plan for what I might do on my last day, in case I should have the chance.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were better than others. Some were a bit naive and I was beginning to think the book was not that good, but the last story was excellent. The third story was about homophobia rather than being homophobic IMHO.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story, appeals to my apocalyptic thought patterns. Also what the movie 'Melancholia' should have been.

[Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, some science, great sense of being there, noir story. A great read.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short story of approximately 20 minutes of sheer terror followed by the full weight of both apocalypse and hope.

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

HOW COULD THEY NOT TELL ME IF THE WORLD ACTUALLY ENDED 😡😡😡😡😡

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in All the Myriad Ways, June 1971. 1972 Hugo Award winner - Best Short Story. (By length, this is a novelette, but the Best Novelette category wasn't introduced until 1973.)

This is more of a thought experiment than a story. What would happen to Earth if our sun suddenly went nova? The moon and then other planets in our solar system would dramatically gain in brightness. The side of Earth facing the Sun would be almost instantly vaporized. Cataclysmic weather would wend its way around the globe. But our two protagonists eventually realize that what they observe doesn't quite match that scenario, so what's really going on? A classic puzzle story.

I read this story in the anthology Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century edited by Orson Scott Card. 24 pages

[Steve LaForest · Rating 5 out of 5]

***NOTE*** - this review refers to the SHORT STORY *** NOT the collection. This is a chronic problem on Goodreads - distinguishing a short story from a collection, where they both have the same title. We need a solution!

Review of short story "Inconstant Moon" . . .

A top favourite! This great story comes back to me every time I am gazing at a full moon. Does it seem a little brighter than usual??

If you have a romantic bone in your body, you owe it to yourself to give this one a read.

My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.

[Daryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Niven's short-form prose is fantastic! Within the space of a handful of pages, he is able to wrap you up in a world and a life you've almost no prior understanding off. While some stories are more entertaining than others, and the titular Inconstant Moon is one of the weaker one, each is a pleasure to read, moving you swiftly from one story to another and giving you a fascinating glance at each world.

I especially like that many of the stories are set in the same universe, but at another point in time or location. Events and characters are referenced across stories, so each is essentially snapshot filling an album that can be looked over time and again.

Highly recommended if you'd like to read something that takes little commitment. The finale, Death by Ecstasy, is one of the highlights of this book.

[Aazain Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

To spend my last days on earth. To see the burning moon and know that this world will be finished. I would come to you. I know it. The few hours remaining, where storms and sorrow rush toward us both, I would be still with you by my side. To not think of the final destination but to remain. I would take you with me and set our own graves and simply vanish looking into your eyes.

[Mortimer Roxbrough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inconstant Moon A
Bordered in Black A
How the Heroes Die A
AT the Bottom of a Hole B
One Face B+
Becalmed in Hell B
Death By Ecstacy A
Easily the best collection of Science Fiction short stories that I have read in a very long time.
If you like hard science fiction, this is a tremendous place to start.
Fully recommended

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up the book because I had enjoyed the Ringworld series. I love the big scale, "what-if" stories Larry Niven writes, overlayed with a great plot and interesting characters. Plenty of such stories in this collection. Loved it..

[Andy]

Sometimes I like collections of Sci fi short stories, sometimes it is a mixture and just occasionally none of the stories really grab me. This was one of the latter. Looking at ratings, others liked it. We are all different

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son-in-law recently suggested this author. This is a short story but was an enjoyable read. It eventually was produced as an episode on The Outer Limits. Plan to explore further writings by Mr. Niven.

[Bernard Dy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short apocalypse story, written well before the modern popularity of the sub-genre came to be. Quick read, starts a little odd, but picks up quickly. A good quick intro to Niven if you haven't read the author before.