Limits

by Larry Niven

A masterful mix of fantasy and science fiction.
LIMITS. Two aliens fascinated by man's fondness for defining boundaries decide to make sure he doesn't get out of the habit.
THE LION IN HIS ATTIC. Seventy-six years after Atlantis drowned, a sorceress and a prince learn to their dismay that not all lions eat red meat.
TABLE MANNERS. When the proprietor of the Draco Tavern is invited to dine with some carnivorous etees, he brings along a xenobiologist to coach him in alien etiquette. But he forgets that he is already outfitted with the oldest guide of all.
A TEARDROP FALLS. In his youth, Hilary Gage had fought men and studied the ravages of Berserkers. As a machine, he terraformed planets and lay in wait . . . .
YET ANOTHER MODEST PROPOSAL. At last, a solution to the problem of radioactive wastes that costs nothing and yields an immodest profit.
Plus lots more!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Collections, Science Fiction Fantasy

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1985

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

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine collection of (mostly) science fiction stories from one of the masters of the genre.

I’ve been reading Larry Niven for years, so some of these--most notably “Flare Time” and “The Locusts” (written with Steve Barnes)--were already familiar to me. Niven is nearly always worth rereading though, so this really isn't a problem. Longtime fans will be delighted to return to familiar worlds such as the fantasy tales of the Warlock, and of course the Draco Tavern.

Although known for hard SF, Niven puts as much effort into the human side of his stories as he does the science. The technical details are there, sure, but integrated into the story a darn sight more smoothly than many. And he writes some of the best aliens around, exotic yet believable, and with loving attention paid to their thought processes.

Larry Niven has had a long and distinguished career, and this book is but one example of just why that is so. Recommended!

[Darth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great collection of short stories.
I like short stories in general though, because if you get a stinker, you are only in it for a bit, not a whole novels worth.
That wasnt a concern with this collection - they were great from start to finish.
Some were more general sci-fi goodness, but some really make you think, and I dont know if there is anything better you can say about literature of any sort. When a story makes your own imagination shoot off into related ideas and varied ways of interpreting things you think you have always known, or thought you did.
Mission accomplished with this collection.

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really cool story collection! There's was only one story that was a miss for me, and it wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories culminating in several extremely short Draco Tavern stories. There’s an end-of-fantasy story, “The Lion in His Attic”, about a restaurateur in an abandoned, flooded castle after magic in the world ended. An old-school twist about an abandoned research engineering team making the most out of funding troubles, “Spirals”, and then “Flare Time”, another old-school story about a world that changes completely every time there’s a solar flare. Instead of night and day, its creatures live either fearing or thriving under solar flares.

Serendipitously, he’s also got a satire about what to do with nuclear waste, something that just occurred to me recently: if nuclear waste is so radioactive, why aren’t we recycling it? (Turns out it’s been illegal to re-use radioactive waste in the United States since the Carter administration.) His solution, of course, is funnier: turn it into money. Guarantees high circulation.

[Cheryl]

August 2021. Skipped some after being disappointed by the first two. Niven and I just don't agree on what makes a good story... I am now thoroughly convinced.

Anyway, I did like the reference to Mother Goose's "Jack and Jill" and wonder how many readers picked up on it. And the most readable story was the one he wrote with Steve Barnes, but since the science is fundamentally flawed I won't recommend it.

[Samuel Lubell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short collection of Larry Niven's late 70s, early 80s stories. I especially liked "The Lion in His Attic" about a were-animal (the exact animal is a secret for most of the story) who runs a restaurant in a city that had drowned; "Spirals" about an orbital space platform that ventures out to the asteroids; "Talisman" about a thief who is caught after stealing a pointer to a great treasure; "The Locusts" which seems to forget that evolution doesn't have a mind of its own"; and "The Green Marauder" about an ancient civilization on Earth before the development of photosynthesis. It shows the virtues - innovative ideas and interesting plots - and flaws - inadequate characterization and a plain writing style - of Niven's work.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Del Rey used to gather up all of Larry Niven's new short fiction every few years throw a new volume out to dazzle, challenge, and entertain his fans. Those were good times... This one contains Niven's contribution to Harlan Ellison's Medea project, a good manna-universe tale, a couple of good space adventures, and a handful of Draco Tavern shorts. As always, what he lacks in character development he makes up for with thought-provoking ideas. This edition comes with a nifty wrap-around Ron Walotsky painting on the dust jacket.

[Dru · Rating 3 out of 5]

A so-so collection of short stories by the man who wrote the so-so “Ringworld”

‘Nuff said

[Franz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of SF and fantasy, with some stories better than others.
I did like all the "Tales from the Draco Tavern", "Yet Another Modest Proposal" (wickedly funny), and "Flare Time". Flare Time was my favorite: a simple story about human colonization of a planet with extreme physical conditions and a corresponding biology. The story provides only a glimpse into the colonization efforts, and a large part of the focus is on the alien biologies/ecosystems (plural intended!), and the almost disaster a visitor could have caused by not understanding ...
The story reminded me a bit of the movie "Pitchblack" though the physical setting causing is one of solar flares rather than complete darkness.
"Talisman", a fantasy story co-written with Dian Girard was good too with interesting characters, while the opening story and the one the cover page is based on, "The Lion in the Attic" didn't do much for me.
Three-and-a-half

[Jonathan Palfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a random assortment of 12 stories of varying lengths by Larry Niven (occasionally in collaboration with other writers). Five of them belong to his series of Draco Tavern stories; the others are unrelated to each other.

The first story, “The Lion in his Attic”, is a fantasy story involving magic, and not an exceptionally good one in terms of plot, but I’m fond of the incidental details, and I’d give it 4 stars.

I’d give 3 stars to another fantasy story, “Talisman”.

The other 10 stories are all science fiction, but not among his best. I’d give them all 2 or 2.5 stars, except for two of the Draco Tavern stories, “The Green Marauder” and “War Movie”, which are interesting/amusing enough for 3 stars.

Nothing here is really bad, the stories are all readable enough, but I don’t feel a need to own most of them.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Limits is another great Larry Niven anthology-as far as i am concerned everything Niven touches turns to gold. This collection is especially delightful because it demonstrates that the author can craft both good science fiction and good fantasy stories. The standout tale here has to be The Locusts which Niven co-wrote with frequent collaborator Steven Barnes. It is both heartbreaking and heartbreakingly superb.

[Vorik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Die ersten vier Kurzgeschichten und damit die Hälfte dieses Erzählbandes hatte ich gelesen, und danach die Lektüre abgebrochen. Die Geschichten sind zwar annehmbar, aber kaum interessant und noch weniger spannend. Die Mischung aus Science-Fiction und Fantasy konnte mich nicht überzeugen. Die recht häufigen Schreibfehler der Übersetzung passen da zur Erzählqualität des Autors. Ein Buch, dass man nicht wirklich braucht.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of these stories seemed rather ordinary to me, but there were a few very good ones. I think my favorites were the short-short pieces, the "tales from the Draco tavern." I also liked "Spirals," "Talisman," and "The Locusts." I kept thinking about the last one for a long time after I finished reading it.

[Bri (the short story guy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

• The Lion in His Attic -
• Spirals -
• A Teardrop Falls -
• Talisman -
• Flare Time -
• The Locusts -
• Yet Another Modest Proposal: Roentgen Standard -
• Folk Tale -
• The Green Marauder -
• War Movie -
• The Real Thing -
• Limits -

[Amanda Ure]

I can't remember when I read this but it was after the whole of the 'Known Space' series so it would've been in the late 1980s. It makes a refreshing change to see Niven writing stories which are still SF but not "boxed-in" by the very rigid world of his previous universe.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some excellent stories; some wide of the mark. All all are interesting.

[Michael Cagle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Larry Niven short stories .

[John]

Late to the party, as usual with my hard cover books. Larry Niven has a very interesting touch with different planets and aliens. He has a great touch with 30 page short stories. Many times, reading short stories, I am left wishing that the story would continue, that it wasn't finished yet. With Niven, I felt that the stories were completely told, made for the short story mode. The book, itself, was way too short, but I know that I have a bunch of Larry Niven's stories ahead of me. Great to look forward to them.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Larry Niven, but I'm not so hot on short stories. A few of these were entertaining, but I didn't actually read all of them. The best story was "A Teardrop Falls", about a space program building a large habitable space station that would pay for itself by beaming back solar energy to Earth. It reminded me a bit of one of my favorite books of all time: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Sci-Fi writers usually do a pretty good job of covering there tracks and avoiding references to things that will make them seem outdated, but this was written in the 70's I think and there was one funny reference to technological innovation on Earth where TI produced a "calculator" with 1 megabit of memory.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing about Niven is when he is on -- he is on. But when he's off, he's off. I felt like the whole book was just a whirlwind of great visuals but no point. Like he was trying so hard not to give anything away that he essentially sent the reader down a completely different path than the one he was travelling on. That's not to say there weren't good stories in the collection. There absolutely were and if I had the book with me right now I'd list them. It's just that there seemed to be more hits than misses. His visual imagery is just amazing though. Probably worth the effort all by itself.

[Robu-sensei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Limits is a mix of Niven's fantasy and science-fiction short stories, heavy on his Draco Tavern series. The two gems of this collection, amongst a raft of so-so stories, are "The Lion in His Attic," my favorite story from the "Mana Goes Away" universe that doesn't involve the Warlock himself, and "The Real Thing," a very short and very sweet Draco Tavern tale in which Rick Schumann visits someone else's interstellar bar. Remember, when you sit down at your custom-environment table, be sure to type tee tee hatch nex ool very carefully, if you don't want to wind up breathing liquid methane or hydrocyanic acid!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story collection I remembered from college and found used on Amazon. "The Locusts" is an old favorite, exploring a fairly unique hypothesis and how society implodes when hope is lost. The characters are thin, of course. It's all about the physics and the ideas. I thought maybe I'd understand "Spirals" this time, but the ending still throws me. Other stories, like "Talisman" and "The Lion in His Attic" -- I have no idea what he thought he was doing; they're messes.

Mixed bag. Good nostalgia and a few gems.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another mess of Niven short stories, some of which I hadn't read before. I enjoyed them but nothing really stood out as over-the-top fantastic. Had a lot of fun/interesting ideas, some of which were fleshed out well, while others left me wishing someone else had tried their hand with the story. Overall, this book is worth checking out for Niven fans, but you're really not missing anything if you decide not to track down a somewhat hard-to-find copy.

[Hassan Chaudhri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories, it's hard to rate this because they vary in quality and tone so much. Niven is a solid writer though, so the few that trail behind are still readable. The best of them are very good though, and honestly I wish that one or two had been expanded into full-on novels! Overall this is a great collection, and I've kept it on hand for a quick read.

[Michael Hanscom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niven is one of my favorite SF writers, and the short-story length is often perfect for a quick exploration of ideas. Even the less-than-excellent stories were worth reading, and the final four, all set in the same tavern catering to a multitude of alien species, were a great way to wind this one up.

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Niven’s best collection, but it still contains quite a few entertaining stories. This is a mix of free-standing short stories, some written in collaboration with other authors, and some shorts in Niven’s Draco Tavern setting.

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1054

[Pete Bartel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories. Includes 1 on Medea (interesting planet), several from the Draco Tavern (fun multi-species bar on Earth) and 1 or 2 fantasies. Requires concentration, especially at the start of a story, but worth the effort.

[Kidz · Rating 4 out of 5]

the mix of short storys has a few boring books but is mainly very good

[Lorelei · Rating 4 out of 5]

I *really* liked this one, not quite five stars, but I'd like to give it 4 and a half.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh....