The Descent of Anansi is a 1982 science fiction novel by Steven Barnes

Steven Barnes

Steven Barnes is an African American science fiction writer, lecturer, creative consultant, and human performance technician....

 and 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...

. (ISBN 0-8125-1292-8)

Plot setup

A space station-manufactury attempts to become commercially independent from its Government backers by exporting super-strong nanowire that can only be manufactured in free-fall.

Plot conflict

Following an attempt to sabotage their first delivery and high-jack the cargo, the intrepid crew realise they can escape the hijackers. Their shuttle Anansi can become a modern day version of its namesake

Anansi

Anansi the trickster is a spider, and is one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore.He is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the Southern United States he has evolved into Aunt Nancy. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man...

, an African Spider-god... by descending to Earth on a thread.

Plot resolution

The physics of tidal forces are explained, and the possibilities of orbital tethers to accelerate payloads into higher orbits (or indeed de-orbit shuttles without retro-rockets) are woven into a hard science fiction

Hard science fiction

Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Islands of Space in Astounding Science...

thriller. The Anansi incident, Falling Angel, and other elements of the story are used as background in the Dream Park series, also written by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes - particularly The Barsoom Project, the second of the series.