Convergent Series

by Larry Niven

This collection of stories includes the title story, which looks at what happens when a nice guy messing around in witchcraft succeeds. The Nonesuch follows Doris as she discovers that a mind-reading, flesh-eating alien is stalking her. Also includes stories from the Draco's Tavern series.

Table of contents
Reprinted from The Shape of Space
"Bordered in Black" (Nebula Award nominee)
"One Face"
"Like Banquo's Ghost"
"The Meddler"
"Dry Run"
"Convergent Series" (fantasy)
"The Deadlier Weapon" (mainstream work of short fiction, not sf or fantasy)

Newer stories
"The Nonesuch" (sf based loosely on Little Red Riding Hood)
"Singularities Make Me Nervous" (whose protagonist has an art collection of "Eddie Jones originals")
"The Schumann Computer" (Draco's Tavern)
"Assimilating Our Culture, That's What They're Doing!" (Draco)
"Grammar Lesson" (Draco)
"The Subject is Closed" (Draco)
"Cruel and Unusual" (Draco)
"Transfer of Power" (fantasy inspired by Lord Dunsany's stories set at the "edge of the world")
"Cautionary Tales"
"Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility of Global Causality Violation"
"Plaything"
"Mistake"
"Night on Mispec Moor"
"Wrong Way Street"
[source: wiki]

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Short Story Collection, Anthologies, Speculative Fiction

227 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

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

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partial reread 8/26/22. The older stories range from weak to unreadable. The Draco Tavern stories and the other ones from the 1970s are the reason I've held on to this old pb. Those range from 3 to 4 stars, so I'm giving the collection a weak 3-star rating. Basically, if you don't already own this pb, it's for Niven completeists only.

Here's the ToC & story notes:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?...

And here's my review of the Draco Tavern stories collection. Plus a couple of bonus stories!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Michael Pryor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, average, excellent.

[Einar Nielsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, like many short story collections, has its good parts and not so good parts. There are some great stories in here that grabbed me from page one like Bordered in Black and The Schumann Computer and then there are a few that I just didn't enjoy. Although you could always argue if its the story or if my mind is just too cluttered when I started reading (this is sometimes a problem when I read science fiction). Kij Johnson put it very nicely when she said: "The reader … once they have invested in the world and the characters, have gotten over the first hurdle in the story. That means reading volume two is actually going to require less energy than reading volume one. But every short story is a new volume, so if you write a collection of 12 stories every story is a hurdle." - I have never felt this as much as when I read this collection. Maybe it's just a busy time. But if you find this in the bargain bin check it out, it is worth it.
http://thebooksmugglers.com/2017/03/s...

[Mike Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of science fiction short stories by Larry Niven. Niven is one of my favorite science fiction authors because he takes the science seriously and is very creative with his aliens. This collection has a number of stories of chirpsithtras at Draco Tavern. The chirps are a race who has ruled much of the galaxy for tens of thousands of years. I like them because they are alien, but they have a lot character. They like to tell tall tales, and you are never quite sure what is real. They have a sense of humor. They understand a lot about humans, but misunderstand enough to make it interesting. Niven tells clear and inventive stories, but respects the reader enough to not fill in every blank.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable collection of short stories; my favorites are the ones based on Niven's "Draco Tavern," particularly "Grammar Lesson" and "The Subject Is Closed."

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a catch all collection of Niven’s early short story work. Sometimes creative but disjointed, it reads like a stream of random sci fi ideas.

[Gert De Bie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Convergent Series won in 1980 de Locus Award voor beste verhalenbundel, dus waren we best nieuwsgierig naar wat de auteur van het smakelijke Ringwereld ons te bieden had als het op kortverhalen aankomt.

Niet zo heel erg veel, bleek na lezing. De kortverhalen zijn amusant en degelijk geschreven, maar nergens wisten ze ons echt te verrassen of kwamen ze met uitzonderlijk goeie ideeën. Het doet ons vermoeden dat 1979 een erg pover jaar was voor kwalitatieve scifi-verhalenbundels.

Uitzondering maken we voor vier van de vijf verhalen die zich afspelen in en rond Draco's tavern, waar auteur Larry Niven een fijne setting creëert om verschillende (buitenaardse) rassen met elkaar in contact te brengen, elk met hun karakteristieken en visies en uit de ontmoetingen leuke en frisse verhalen en pointes put.

En we danken Niven om ons op "Two Bottles of Relish" van Lord Dunsany te wijzen, waarnaar hij ons erg nieuwsgierig maakte.

Niet voor niets dus, die 227 bladzijden.

[Ben Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

nothing really wowed me about this. not a fan of what niven does in a lot of stories where he alludes to something for the entire story and then does a big reveal in the last paragraph. annoying device. but overall still decent. easy read with some good SF concepts

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re reread again today.
Started as just wanting to cruise through a fave story again, and got sucked into re rereading the whole thing(they're that good)!!
This collection showcases Niven's independent work for the most part, though there are a few from his Known Space universe.
Humor, twisted endings, shocking ideas equal, no, exceeding the pulp era fiction, because Niven didn't dumb down his writing like many 50s writers did.

[Jeff Bleyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend loaned me a paperback copy to read over spring break during college freshmen year that sparked a desire to reread to see if these fondly remembered stories held up some 30 years later. For the most part they did, especially the story for which this collection takes its name. Never got around to Niven's novels though did try a chapter or two from the first Ringworld novel which failed to interest. Perhaps down the road though more of his short stories have more immediate appeal.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another good collection of Niven's short fiction that holds many of his early Draco's Tavern stories and some of the previously uncollected works from earlier in his career, including a few Known Space pieces. It's interesting to note how his style evolved from traditional story-telling to a more minimalist approach as strict emphasis on ideas. Niven is one of the best.

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mindwebs audiobook 27 this book contains this story "Singularities make me nervous" larry niven. mindswebs sourced from "Stellar 1" by Judy-Lynn Del Ray. Really quite enjoyed this one, a classic time travel paradox tale.

Suspect strongly that I've read and may even still own this collection of short stories.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the finest sci fi ever written?

Larry Niven has won numerous awards. Almost all of these are sci fi and written without collaboration. Some of the plots have been copied so often that they don't seem special anymore. I see Niven as a sort of big idea guy, A little lacking in details.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed - bordered in black, the meddler, dry run, the deadlier weapon, singularities make me nervous, assimilating our culture, that's what they're doing, cautionary tales, rotating cylinders and the possibility of global causality violation,

[Mary Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niven's stories are very idea-based, looking at consequences (esp. unexpected consequences) in this anthology.

[Robu-sensei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several excellent Draco Tavern stories mixed with a bunch of second-string Niven. One gem stands out: "The Meddler," a private-eye drama interrupted from a seemingly beneficent yet unwelcome visitor from outer space.

[Pep · Rating 5 out of 5]

A right mishmash of Known Space, Draco's Tavern and unconnected stories.

I just like the way he tells them

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good, some meh. All are cracking Nivenesque ideas.

[Tell Tale Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

-Gregory Kerkman

[Marva · Rating 4 out of 5]

As partner to an avid sci-fi fan, there were quite a few stories in here I really enjoyed. A very character based writing style.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larry Niven is a great writer. This is a collection of short sci-fi stories covering time travel, aliens and quirky stories. Well-worth reading. Loved it.

[Cheryl]

Esp. for the TT "Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility of Global Causality Violation.”

[Noah Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of fun and interesting sci-fi stories

[Phil Giunta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Convergent Series is the second Larry Niven anthology I've read over the past month and I enjoyed it far more than Tales of Known Space.

In terms of quantity, there were more stories in Convergent Series (twenty-one to be exact) with several only two or three pages long. Five of the stories are from his popular Draco's Tavern series.

Some of my favorites from this anthology include:

"Bordered in Black" - Two astronauts scouting an alien world detect a strange black border along the shoreline of the largest ocean. Theorizing that it's dead algae washed ashore, they land to investigate--only to discover just how horribly wrong they were!


"The Meddler" - Targeted by a wealthy crime boss named Sinc, private eye Bruce Cheseborough decides to confront the kingpin on his own turf. Accompanied by a shapeshifting alien anthropologist, whose function is merely to observe, Cheseborough confronts Sinc in his mansion, only to discover a surprising connection to the metamorph.


"Dry Run" - As practice for murdering his ex-wife and dumping her body in the ocean, a man kills her dog--then ends up in a car accident on his way to dispose of the carcass lying in his trunk.


"Convergent Series" - An anthropology student takes an interest in dark magic and accidentally conjures a demon inside a pentagram drawn on the basement floor. Now, how to outwit the beast and send him back from whence he came...


"Singularities Make Me Nervous" - After exploring the space near a blackhole, astronaut George Cox returns to his apartment to confront...himself! This is no surprise to him, as Cox has traveled back in time in before in the same repeating loop. His younger self, however, is unsure how to handle the situation--until the pair conspire a scam that could make them millions.


"Mistake" - After dosing on sedatives to help him survive a lenthy spaceflight, Commander Elroy Barnes is confronted by a telepathic alien named Kthitslmup, who attempts to probe the commander's mind with little success thanks to the drugs. The alien then resorts to verbal questioning. In order to answer, Barnes must take another pill to clear his mind, which holds an interesting consequence for Kthitslmup.


"Night on Mispec Moor" - A contract warrior in a corporate-sponsored battle abandons the fight and takes refuge atop a large rock formation--until nightfall when the dead soldiers rise from the mists of the battlefield to stalk the living...


"Wrong Way Street" - A team of scientsts is sent to the moon to study an ancient, deserted alien base and spaceship. Aboard the ship, one particular machine perplexes Mike Capoferr. He has his theories, which are proven correct when he finally learns how to activate it...regrettably.

[Ratiocination · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another recent reread. Although N-Space, Playgrounds of the Mind and Scatterbrain have improved matters, some of Niven's early non-series work is still fairly hard to track down. As such, I was happy to find a used copy of this.

Originally, this anthology was intended to reprint the stories from The Shape of Space (already hard to come by in 1979) that hadn't also appeared in Tales of Known Space. Added to that was enough new material to fill out a paperback-- namely, the first few Draco Tavern stories, which at the time hadn't yet been collected. Those plus a few more were reprinted in Limits in 1985... and even more in The Draco Tavern in 2006.

What all of this boils down to is that this is a book for either Niven completists or neophytes. If you've read his more recent anthologies, you've already read most of the stories in this one.

That said, several of the stories that don't appear elsewhere are also pretty good. The title one is a good example-- Niven has a flair for vignettes that he hasn't often exercised in Known Space or his other recurring histories. There's also some dabbling in more mainstream fiction-- something you could still find a home for in the 1960s.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Larry Niven, Convergent Series (Del Rey, 1979)

Convergent Series is half previously published material and half new material written for this book, including five new Draco's Tavern tales and some new Known Universe stuff. (Some of the previously published stuff is proto-Known Universe material, as well.) If you're a Larry Niven fan, you know what that means. If you aren't, what it means is that this is a pretty good place to get to know Larry Niven.

There is (as there is in most science fiction; about 90% of this collection is solidly in the sci-fi vein, while a story or two is more in the straight mystery genre) a little of the annoying "this was put in just to make this sound like a science fiction story" claptrap here, but it's kept to a bare minimum, and Niven allows the stories to be carried by the characters and the plots within, rather than relying on gadgetry and technology to do the work for him. As such, Niven's science fiction is more accessible than a good deal of the hard stuff, and he's easily as readable as, say, Greg Bear. If you've not managed to glom onto Niven yet, thirty-five years into his career, this collection is a fine way to start. ***

[Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is a mix of Known Space stories, Draco Tavern stories and unrelated stories. There’s some great stuff in here, including the outstanding Dry Run, in which a man is doing a dry run with his dead dog in preparation for disposing of his wife’s body. Vintage Niven.

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1072

[Matus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth it for the following clever stories: "Like Banquo's Ghost", "Dry Run", "Convegent Series", "The Nonesuch", "Mistake".

Note on personal taste: I seem to (a) like niven's "pure sf" style less than the more psychological focus of, say, pkd & delany, and (2) like sf that leaves more to the imagination, spelling less out.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty fun set of short stories. Some are inter-related and some are not. Mostly, just a few of them share a main character and a couple of alien races. A number of them deal with time travel, and at least a few deal with the role that imagination plays in the existence or non-existence of an alien being. Fun, and still relevant, even though published just a few years after I was born!

[Chloe Glynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niven does an excellent job using only a few pages to set a tiny stage in a large world. His characters encounter the unexpected with great humor and just enough literary zest to concisely wrap up each arc. The first half seems to have a bit more spark than the second half, but the whole book is playful adventure and very, very fun.