Inconstant Moon
Encyclopedia
Inconstant Moon is a science fiction
short story
collection by American
author Larry Niven
that was published in 1973. "Inconstant Moon" is also a 1971 short story that is included in the collection. The title is a quote from the balcony scene in William Shakespeare
's Romeo and Juliet
. The collection was assembled from the US collections The Shape of Space and All the Myriad Ways
. The short story won the 1972 Hugo Award
for best short story
.
paperback version of the collection was cut from 12 to 7 stories.
.
Stan, the narrator, notices that the moon
is glowing much brighter than ever before. The people he meets as the story begins all praise the moon's increased beauty but lack the scientific background to understand its cause. However the narrator surmises that the Sun
has gone nova
, the day side of the Earth is already destroyed, and this is the last night of his life. He then calls and visits his girlfriend Leslie, presuming her ignorant of the situation, but she realizes it independently when Jupiter
brightens with appropriate delay; they then enjoy their last night on the town, before rain and winds start.
Later, he realizes one other possibility. In case he is right, they find appropriate supplies and seek refuge from the coming natural disasters in Leslie's high-rise apartment. The second possibility turns out to be correct: the Earth has merely been struck by an enormous solar flare
. The vaporized seawater
leads to torrential rains, hurricanes and floods. Most (if not all) people on the Eastern Hemisphere
are presumed dead. The story ends at the break of an overcast, gray morning, with the narrator "wonder[ing] if our children would colonize Europe, or Asia, or Africa."
In 1996, the story was made into an episode of The Outer Limits
television series with Niven himself writing the script - see Inconstant Moon (The Outer Limits)
.
Jo Walton
in 1997 wrote a short poem, "The End of the World in Duxford" as "an unauthorised version of Inconstant Moon, a British equivalent." http://web.archive.org/web/20030328210327/www.bluejo.demon.co.uk/poetry/interstichia/notedux.htm.
, April 1966.
A prototype faster-than-light
spacecraft crewed by two men is sent to the Sirius
system, known from robotic exploration to include an earthlike world. In orbit around the world, they notice that one of the continents has a thin, strange border all the way round its coastline, which radiates a low heat. After exploring the edges of the smaller continents, discovering that the ocean hosts only one lifeform, a single species of algae
they think might have been genetically engineered
, they decide to explore the large continent with the border.
When they discover just what the black border is, a seething mass of trapped humanity feeding off the algae and each other, the result is the death, by suicide, of one of the crew, and the self-destruction of the ship by the traumatized survivor just before he is rescued when he makes it back to Earth - and a chilling reminder that there may be great danger waiting for further human explorers. The story, however, ends on a hopeful note, with the project leader believing that Earth can help the humans at Sirius, and a fearful one, with the crewman then speculating that the humans were seeded by carnivorous aliens as food animals.
In the notes to his collection Convergent Series
, Niven wrote that Bordered in Black
, October 1966. A Known Space
story.
The 15-man team setting up the first base on Mars
experience tragedy when a murder is committed. Carter, the murderer, in the process of escaping on one of the transportation buggies crashes through the plastic bubble which holds in the base's atmosphere in an attempt to kill everyone else; however, it fails, and he is soon chased by Alf, the brother of the victim on another buggy.
The lethal chase, with the two combatants in constant radio communication, slowly reveals the community stresses which resulted in the murder. Alf wants to kill Carter in revenge for his brother, while Carter wishes the same and to try once more to destroy the base .... but with limited oxygen in their tanks, the two men must ensure that they have enough left to return to base.
, December 1966. A Known Space
story.
A sequel to "How the Heroes Die". Muller, a smuggler with a cargo of precious magnetic monopole
s, attempts to use Mars (the 'hole' of the title; to spacers, planets are merely gravity well
s to be avoided if possible) as a means to whip his ship to a new orbit that will enable him to escape the customs authorities who are chasing him. His plan fails, and he crashlands, close to the now-abandoned base. Over the next few days, he explores the ruins and finds out the terrible story of what happened. Unfortunately, he himself suffers the same fate as the original colonists - all of which he commits to his log, which is later recovered.
Niven's use of the term "gravity well
" in the story is the third use of the phrase in science fiction recorded by Oxford English Dictionary
researchers http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/139.
The two Mars stories do belong to "Known Space
" and they are specifically referred to and to some degree influence the plot of "Protector
", which takes place a long time later.
, June 1965.
During a routine hyperspace jump an accident involving a small meteor striking into the machinery causes the ship to jump billions of years into the Solar System
's future, at which time the sun has become a greenish-white dwarf
and the earth has lost its atmosphere and become a one-face
world; i.e., it presents one side to the sun. The ship's main computer has also been damaged, so its decision to have the captain replaced by one of the passengers to maximize survival causes disagreement.
Reluctantly, the decision is made to land on Earth, despite the lack of an atmosphere; they have no means to go elsewhere. Once landed, the new captain, convinced that there is a remnant atmosphere frozen on the dark side, uses the ship's drive to begin to re-spin the earth, which will, hopefully, convert this frozen atmosphere back to gas.
, July 1965. A Known Space
story.
A ship with a two-man crew, a normal human Howie and Eric – a disembodied brain of a previously injured man taking the part of ship's computer, is exploring the upper atmosphere of Venus
, using the empty fuel-tank as a dirigible
device.
About to return to Earth, Eric reveals that something is wrong with the ramjet
that propels the craft, necessitating a landing in order to fix the problem. When Howie can find nothing physically wrong with the system, he can only conclude that, disturbingly, the problem is with Eric. He believes Eric has a psychosomatic disorder preventing him from operating the ramjets, using the analogy of a traumatized soldier that can no longer feel his hand and pull the trigger of a gun.
After revealing his theory to Eric, Eric admits it is a possibility but insists that Howie keep inspecting the ship, reasoning that Howie is the only one that can check for mechanical problems. Howie agrees, but secretly has convinced himself that the problem is truly with Eric.
In an effort to cure Eric using a placebo
, Howie creates buckets of ice-water using the ship's freezer, and dumps it into the wiring panels on the wings, telling Eric that the heat and pressure of Venus might be affecting the ships function. Eric regains the use of the ramjets and the pair manage to escape from Venus and back to Earth.
On the trip back, Howie reveals his ruse to Eric. Eric insists that the cause was mechanical, and challenges Howie to a $5,000 bet that the problem will be found back on Earth. Howie accepts the bet. Back on Earth, the mechanics determine that, indeed, it was a mechanical problem due to the pressure of Venus's atmosphere.
Becalmed in Hell was nominated for the 1965 Nebula Award
for best short story
.
Death by Ecstasy
First appearance: Galaxy Science Fiction
, January 1969 (as "The Organleggers"). A Known Space
story, first of "Gil the Arm" line.
Asteroid miner
Owen Jennison is found dead in an apartment on Earth, apparently of suicide: He was a Wirehead, directly stimulating the pleasure center
of the brain, and starved.
Gil Hamilton
, an operative of the United Nations Police (and friend of Owen's) must solve what appears to be a classic locked room mystery
: he does not believe that Owen was the type to turn wirehead or commit suicide, so the death must have been planned by somebody else.
His investigations lead him to names associated with organlegging - the illicit handling and sale of spare body-parts. Eventually, he comes into contact with a West-Coast organlegging gang where his psychokinesis
- in the form of a phantom "third arm" - becomes very useful.
Death by Ecstasy has been adapted as a graphic novel
by Bill Spangler, Terry Tidwell, and Steve Stiles in 1991. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/larry-niven/death-by-ecstasy.htm
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
collection by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
that was published in 1973. "Inconstant Moon" is also a 1971 short story that is included in the collection. The title is a quote from the balcony scene in William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
. The collection was assembled from the US collections The Shape of Space and All the Myriad Ways
All the Myriad Ways
All the Myriad Ways is a collection of 14 short stories and essays by science fiction author Larry Niven, originally published in 1971.-Contents:* "All the Myriad Ways"* "Passerby"* "For a Foggy Night"* "Wait it Out"* "The Jigsaw Man"...
. The short story won the 1972 Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for best short story
Hugo Award for Best Short Story
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
.
Story synopses (Sphere edition)
The 1974 SphereSphere Books
-History:Founded in 1961, Sphere Books began work on its first publication, the 1962 paperback edition of Gottfried Benn's The Trainee Man. Originally part of The Thomson Corporation, Sphere was sold to Pearson PLC in 1985 and became part of Penguin...
paperback version of the collection was cut from 12 to 7 stories.
Inconstant Moon
First appearance: 1971 short story collection All the Myriad WaysAll the Myriad Ways
All the Myriad Ways is a collection of 14 short stories and essays by science fiction author Larry Niven, originally published in 1971.-Contents:* "All the Myriad Ways"* "Passerby"* "For a Foggy Night"* "Wait it Out"* "The Jigsaw Man"...
.
Stan, the narrator, notices that the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
is glowing much brighter than ever before. The people he meets as the story begins all praise the moon's increased beauty but lack the scientific background to understand its cause. However the narrator surmises that the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
has gone nova
Nova
A nova is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a star caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of a white dwarf star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion in a runaway manner...
, the day side of the Earth is already destroyed, and this is the last night of his life. He then calls and visits his girlfriend Leslie, presuming her ignorant of the situation, but she realizes it independently when Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
brightens with appropriate delay; they then enjoy their last night on the town, before rain and winds start.
Later, he realizes one other possibility. In case he is right, they find appropriate supplies and seek refuge from the coming natural disasters in Leslie's high-rise apartment. The second possibility turns out to be correct: the Earth has merely been struck by an enormous solar flare
Solar flare
A solar flare is a sudden brightening observed over the Sun surface or the solar limb, which is interpreted as a large energy release of up to 6 × 1025 joules of energy . The flare ejects clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms through the corona into space. These clouds typically reach Earth a day...
. The vaporized seawater
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
leads to torrential rains, hurricanes and floods. Most (if not all) people on the Eastern Hemisphere
Eastern Hemisphere
The Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere or eastern hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that is east of the Prime Meridian and west of 180° longitude. It is also used to refer to Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia, vis-à-vis the Western Hemisphere, which includes...
are presumed dead. The story ends at the break of an overcast, gray morning, with the narrator "wonder[ing] if our children would colonize Europe, or Asia, or Africa."
In 1996, the story was made into an episode of The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that originally aired on Showtime,the Sci Fi Channel and in syndication between 1995 and 2002...
television series with Niven himself writing the script - see Inconstant Moon (The Outer Limits)
Inconstant Moon (The Outer Limits)
"Inconstant Moon" is an episode of the US television series The Outer Limits. It first aired on 12 April 1996, during the second season. Science fiction author Larry Niven adapted his own short story of the same name for television.-Opening narration:...
.
Jo Walton
Jo Walton
Jo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002 and the World Fantasy award for her novel Tooth and Claw in 2004. Her novel Ha'penny was a co-winner of the 2008 Prometheus Award...
in 1997 wrote a short poem, "The End of the World in Duxford" as "an unauthorised version of Inconstant Moon, a British equivalent." http://web.archive.org/web/20030328210327/www.bluejo.demon.co.uk/poetry/interstichia/notedux.htm.
Bordered in Black
First appearance: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science FictionThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
, April 1966.
A prototype faster-than-light
Faster-than-light
Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
spacecraft crewed by two men is sent to the Sirius
Sirius
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek: Seirios . The star has the Bayer designation Alpha Canis Majoris...
system, known from robotic exploration to include an earthlike world. In orbit around the world, they notice that one of the continents has a thin, strange border all the way round its coastline, which radiates a low heat. After exploring the edges of the smaller continents, discovering that the ocean hosts only one lifeform, a single species of algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
they think might have been genetically engineered
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
, they decide to explore the large continent with the border.
When they discover just what the black border is, a seething mass of trapped humanity feeding off the algae and each other, the result is the death, by suicide, of one of the crew, and the self-destruction of the ship by the traumatized survivor just before he is rescued when he makes it back to Earth - and a chilling reminder that there may be great danger waiting for further human explorers. The story, however, ends on a hopeful note, with the project leader believing that Earth can help the humans at Sirius, and a fearful one, with the crewman then speculating that the humans were seeded by carnivorous aliens as food animals.
In the notes to his collection Convergent Series
Convergent Series (short story collection)
Convergent Series is a collection of science fiction short stories by Larry Niven, published in 1979. It is also the name of one of the short stories in the collection. The collection reprints the Known Space stories originally appearing in The Shape of Space, and includes newer stories. Some of...
, Niven wrote that Bordered in Black
How the Heroes Die
First appearance: Galaxy Science FictionGalaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
, October 1966. A Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
story.
The 15-man team setting up the first base on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
experience tragedy when a murder is committed. Carter, the murderer, in the process of escaping on one of the transportation buggies crashes through the plastic bubble which holds in the base's atmosphere in an attempt to kill everyone else; however, it fails, and he is soon chased by Alf, the brother of the victim on another buggy.
The lethal chase, with the two combatants in constant radio communication, slowly reveals the community stresses which resulted in the murder. Alf wants to kill Carter in revenge for his brother, while Carter wishes the same and to try once more to destroy the base .... but with limited oxygen in their tanks, the two men must ensure that they have enough left to return to base.
At the Bottom of a Hole
First appearance: Galaxy Science FictionGalaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
, December 1966. A Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
story.
A sequel to "How the Heroes Die". Muller, a smuggler with a cargo of precious magnetic monopole
Magnetic monopole
A magnetic monopole is a hypothetical particle in particle physics that is a magnet with only one magnetic pole . In more technical terms, a magnetic monopole would have a net "magnetic charge". Modern interest in the concept stems from particle theories, notably the grand unified and superstring...
s, attempts to use Mars (the 'hole' of the title; to spacers, planets are merely gravity well
Gravity well
A gravity well or gravitational well is a conceptual model of the gravitational field surrounding a body in space. The more massive the body the deeper and more extensive the gravity well associated with it. The Sun has a far-reaching and deep gravity well. Asteroids and small moons have much...
s to be avoided if possible) as a means to whip his ship to a new orbit that will enable him to escape the customs authorities who are chasing him. His plan fails, and he crashlands, close to the now-abandoned base. Over the next few days, he explores the ruins and finds out the terrible story of what happened. Unfortunately, he himself suffers the same fate as the original colonists - all of which he commits to his log, which is later recovered.
Niven's use of the term "gravity well
Gravity well
A gravity well or gravitational well is a conceptual model of the gravitational field surrounding a body in space. The more massive the body the deeper and more extensive the gravity well associated with it. The Sun has a far-reaching and deep gravity well. Asteroids and small moons have much...
" in the story is the third use of the phrase in science fiction recorded by Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
researchers http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/139.
The two Mars stories do belong to "Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
" and they are specifically referred to and to some degree influence the plot of "Protector
Protector (novel)
Protector is a 1973 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. It was nominated for the Hugo in 1974, and placed fourth in the annual Locus poll for that year....
", which takes place a long time later.
One Face
First appearance: Galaxy Science FictionGalaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
, June 1965.
During a routine hyperspace jump an accident involving a small meteor striking into the machinery causes the ship to jump billions of years into the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
's future, at which time the sun has become a greenish-white dwarf
White dwarf
A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. They are very dense; a white dwarf's mass is comparable to that of the Sun and its volume is comparable to that of the Earth. Its faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored...
and the earth has lost its atmosphere and become a one-face
Tidal locking
Tidal locking occurs when the gravitational gradient makes one side of an astronomical body always face another; for example, the same side of the Earth's Moon always faces the Earth. A tidally locked body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner...
world; i.e., it presents one side to the sun. The ship's main computer has also been damaged, so its decision to have the captain replaced by one of the passengers to maximize survival causes disagreement.
Reluctantly, the decision is made to land on Earth, despite the lack of an atmosphere; they have no means to go elsewhere. Once landed, the new captain, convinced that there is a remnant atmosphere frozen on the dark side, uses the ship's drive to begin to re-spin the earth, which will, hopefully, convert this frozen atmosphere back to gas.
Becalmed in Hell
First appearance: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science FictionThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...
, July 1965. A Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
story.
A ship with a two-man crew, a normal human Howie and Eric – a disembodied brain of a previously injured man taking the part of ship's computer, is exploring the upper atmosphere of Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
, using the empty fuel-tank as a dirigible
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
device.
About to return to Earth, Eric reveals that something is wrong with the ramjet
Ramjet
A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill...
that propels the craft, necessitating a landing in order to fix the problem. When Howie can find nothing physically wrong with the system, he can only conclude that, disturbingly, the problem is with Eric. He believes Eric has a psychosomatic disorder preventing him from operating the ramjets, using the analogy of a traumatized soldier that can no longer feel his hand and pull the trigger of a gun.
After revealing his theory to Eric, Eric admits it is a possibility but insists that Howie keep inspecting the ship, reasoning that Howie is the only one that can check for mechanical problems. Howie agrees, but secretly has convinced himself that the problem is truly with Eric.
In an effort to cure Eric using a placebo
Placebo
A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
, Howie creates buckets of ice-water using the ship's freezer, and dumps it into the wiring panels on the wings, telling Eric that the heat and pressure of Venus might be affecting the ships function. Eric regains the use of the ramjets and the pair manage to escape from Venus and back to Earth.
On the trip back, Howie reveals his ruse to Eric. Eric insists that the cause was mechanical, and challenges Howie to a $5,000 bet that the problem will be found back on Earth. Howie accepts the bet. Back on Earth, the mechanics determine that, indeed, it was a mechanical problem due to the pressure of Venus's atmosphere.
Becalmed in Hell was nominated for the 1965 Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
for best short story
Nebula Award for Best Short Story
Winners of the '“Nebula Award for Best Short Story”'. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year. Winning titles are listed first, with other nominees listed below.-Winners and nominees:-External links:* *...
.
Death by EcstasyDeath by EcstasyDeath by Ecstasy is a novella in the Known Space universe by Larry Niven. It is the first of five Gil Hamilton detective stories, and provides most of the backstory for the character....
First appearance: Galaxy Science FictionGalaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
, January 1969 (as "The Organleggers"). A Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
story, first of "Gil the Arm" line.
Asteroid miner
Asteroid mining
Asteroid mining refers to the possibility of exploiting raw materials from asteroids and planetoids in space, including near-Earth objects. Minerals and volatiles could be mined from an asteroid or spent comet to provide space construction material , to extract water and oxygen to sustain the lives...
Owen Jennison is found dead in an apartment on Earth, apparently of suicide: He was a Wirehead, directly stimulating the pleasure center
Pleasure center
Pleasure center is the general term used for the brain regions involved in pleasure. Discoveries made in the 1950s initially suggested that rodents could not stop electrically stimulating parts of their brain, mainly the nucleus accumbens, which was theorized to produce great pleasure...
of the brain, and starved.
Gil Hamilton
Gil Hamilton
Gilbert Gilgamesh Hamilton is a fictional character in the Known Space universe created by Larry Niven. He is one of the few science fiction detectives to appear in the genre...
, an operative of the United Nations Police (and friend of Owen's) must solve what appears to be a classic locked room mystery
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
: he does not believe that Owen was the type to turn wirehead or commit suicide, so the death must have been planned by somebody else.
His investigations lead him to names associated with organlegging - the illicit handling and sale of spare body-parts. Eventually, he comes into contact with a West-Coast organlegging gang where his psychokinesis
Psychokinesis
The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...
- in the form of a phantom "third arm" - becomes very useful.
Death by Ecstasy has been adapted as a graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
by Bill Spangler, Terry Tidwell, and Steve Stiles in 1991. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/larry-niven/death-by-ecstasy.htm
Publication history
- 1973, ISBN 0-575-01586-1 Gollancz, hardback, First Edition: In addition to the stories in the Sphere paperback edition, above, the Gollancz hardback also contained five following stories:
- Wait It Out
- Not Long Before the End (The Magic Goes AwayThe Magic Goes AwayThe Magic Goes Away is a fantasy short story written by Larry Niven in 1976, and later expanded to a novella of the same name which was published in 1978...
"mana" series) - Passerby
- The Deadlier Weapon
- Convergent Series ("The Long Night")
- Oct 1974, PB, ISBN 0-7221-6383-5 (UK edition), Sphere
- 1977, PB, ISBN 0-7221-6381-9 (UK edition), Sphere
- Nov 1988, PB, ISBN 0-7221-6408-4 (UK edition), Sphere
- Aug 1991, PB, ISBN 0-7088-8375-3 (UK edition), Orbit
External links
- Release details at Fantastic Fiction
- Bordered In Black free full text