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Kzinti
The Kzinti (singular Kzin) are a fictional, warlike and bloodthirsty race of cat-like aliens in Larry Niven's ''Known Space'' series. The Kzinti were initially introduced in Niven's story "The Warriors" (originally in ''Worlds of If'' (1966), collected in ''Tales of Known Space'' (1975)) and "The Soft Weapon" (1967), collected in ''Neutron Star'' (1968). A Kzin character, Speaker-to-Animals (later known as Chmeee), subsequently played a significant role in Niven's Hugo and Nebula award-winning ''Ringworld'' (1970) and '' Ringworld Engineers'' (1980), giving considerably more background of the Kzinti and their interactions with human civilizations. Following ''Ringworld'', Niven permitted several friends to write stories taking place in the time following "The Warriors" but before "The Soft Weapon"; these stories (including a handful by Niven) were collected in some volumes of ''The Man-Kzin Wars'', which eventually reached fourteen volumes, the first published in June 1988. K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kzinti Patriarch
The Kzinti (singular Kzin) are a fictional, warlike and bloodthirsty race of cat-like aliens in Larry Niven's ''Known Space'' series. The Kzinti were initially introduced in Niven's story "The Warriors" (originally in ''Worlds of If'' (1966), collected in ''Tales of Known Space'' (1975)) and "The Soft Weapon" (1967), collected in ''Neutron Star'' (1968). A Kzin character, Speaker-to-Animals (later known as Chmeee), subsequently played a significant role in Niven's Hugo and Nebula award-winning ''Ringworld'' (1970) and '' Ringworld Engineers'' (1980), giving considerably more background of the Kzinti and their interactions with human civilizations. Following ''Ringworld'', Niven permitted several friends to write stories taking place in the time following "The Warriors" but before "The Soft Weapon"; these stories (including a handful by Niven) were collected in some volumes of ''The Man-Kzin Wars'', which eventually reached fourteen volumes, the first published in June 1988. Kzinti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Man-Kzin Wars
''The Man-Kzin Wars'' is a series of military science fiction anthologies and is the name of the first. The short stories detail the eponymous conflicts between mankind and the Kzinti, set in Larry Niven's ''Known Space'' universe. However, Niven himself has written only a small number of the stories; most were written by other science fiction writers, as Niven opened this part of the ''Known Space'' to collaboration in the form of a shared universe. The cover art for the books in the series is created by Stephen Hickman. Origins The first story set in the Man-Kzin Wars, "The Warriors" (1966), was one of Niven's earliest published stories and one of the first of what would become his ''Known Space'' series. Niven did not consider himself qualified to write war stories; therefore, although a number of his later stories referenced the Man-Kzin Wars, he never actually showed them. However, there was a large fan demand for stories covering the conflict, and a number of his author fri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jotoki
This is a list of fictional characters featured in the ''Known Space'' novels by Larry Niven. Individual characters Sigmund Ausfaller Sigmund Ausfaller, a native of Earth, is a member of the Amalgamated Regional Militia ("ARM"), working in the Bureau of Alien Affairs on Earth. To protect puppeteer (and Earth) interests, in "Neutron Star" Ausfaller plants a bomb in the lifesystem of Shaeffer's ship, the ''Skydiver'', so that Shaeffer will not attempt to steal it. Years later, in ''The Borderlands of Sol'', when Shaeffer encounters him on Jinx, he offers Shaeffer and Carlos Wu a ride home to Earth on his ship, ''Hobo Kelly'', in hopes of attracting the attention of whoever or whatever was causing ships to disappear when entering or leaving Sol system. Some years later, Ausfaller, having almost caught up with Shaeffer on Fafnir, is killed by Ander Smittarasheed in order to protect Smittarasheed's interest in the special nanotechnology autodoc developed by Carlos Wu, left on Fafnir wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of about a dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by Larry Niven. It has also become a shared universe in the spin-off ''Man-Kzin Wars'' anthologies. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) catalogs all works set in the fictional universe that includes Known Space under the series name Tales of Known Space, which was the title of a 1975 collection of Niven's short stories. The first-published work in the series, which was Niven's first published piece was "The Coldest Place", in the December 1964 issue of '' If'' magazine, edited by Frederik Pohl. This was the first-published work in the 1975 collection. The stories span approximately one thousand years of future history, from the first human explorations of the Solar System to the colonization of dozens of nearby systems. Late in the series, Known Space is an irregularly shaped "bubble" about 60 light-years across. The epithet "Known Space" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Soft Weapon
"The Soft Weapon" is a science fiction short story by the American writer Larry Niven, set in his ''Known Space'' universe. It was first published in the February 1967 issue of '' If''.- - - The story introduces the character of Nessus, a Puppeteer who later became one of the main characters of the novel ''Ringworld''. The story is retold, from the point of view of Nessus, in ''Juggler of Worlds''. "The Soft Weapon" was first published in ''If'' in 1967 and has since been included in the short story collections ''Neutron Star'' (1968) and ''Playgrounds of the Mind'' (1991). Plot Nessus is returning from a diplomatic mission to the Outsiders, having purchased what is apparently a Thrint stasis box, on a passenger ship run by a human couple, Jason and Anne Marie Papandreou. They stop at Beta Lyrae to sight-see where they unexpectedly discover, by deep-radar, another stasis box. However, the box had been placed there as a trap by Kzinti pirates. The rogue Kzinti are using a dum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Fleet Universe
''Star Fleet Battles'' (SFB) is a tactical board wargame set in an offshoot of the '' Star Trek'' setting called the Star Fleet Universe. Originally created in 1979 by Stephen V. Cole, it has had four major editions. The current edition is published by Amarillo Design Bureau as ''Star Fleet Battles, Captain's Edition''. ''Star Fleet Battles'' is a ship-to-ship warfare simulation game, which uses cardboard counters to represent the ships, shuttles, seeking weapons, terrain, and information on a hexagonal map. It is a game system for two or more players (there are some solitaire scenarios). Typically, a player will have one ship in a game, though they can control an entire fleet, if they can keep track of the paperwork and options involved; multiple players can play as teams, with each team splitting up the work of running a squadron or fleet, or a 'free-for-all' fight can be run. Ships represented in the game are typically starships from such classic ''Star Trek'' powers as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ringworld
''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, a rotating wheel artificial world, an alien construct in space in diameter. Niven later added three sequel novels and then cowrote, with Edward M. Lerner, four prequels and a final sequel; the five latter novels constitute the Fleet of Worlds series. All the novels in the Ringworld series tie into numerous other books set in Known Space. ''Ringworld'' won the Nebula Award in 1970, as well as both the Hugo Award and Locus Award in 1971. Plot summary On planet Earth in 2850 AD, Louis Gridley Wu is celebrating his 200th birthday. Despite his age, Louis is in perfect physical condition due to the longevity drug boosterspice. He meets Nessus, a Pierson's puppeteer, who offers him a mysterious job. Intrigued, Louis eventually accepts. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felid
Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the domestic cat ('' Felis catus''). Felidae species exhibit the most diverse fur pattern of all terrestrial carnivores. Cats have retractile claws, slender muscular bodies and strong flexible forelimbs. Their teeth and facial muscles allow for a powerful bite. They are all obligate carnivores, and most are solitary predators ambushing or stalking their prey. Wild cats occur in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some wild cat species are adapted to forest habitats, some to arid environments, and a few also to wetlands and mountainous terrain. Their activity patterns range from nocturnal and crepuscular to diurnal, depending on their preferred prey species. Reginald Innes Pocock divided the extant Felidae into three subfamilies: the Panth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface is made up of the ocean, dwarfing Earth's polar ice, lakes, and rivers. The remaining 29% of Earth's surface is land, consisting of continents and islands. Earth's surface layer is formed of several slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth's liquid outer core generates the magnetic field that shapes the magnetosphere of the Earth, deflecting destructive solar winds. The atmosphere of the Earth consists mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere like carbon dioxide (CO2) trap a part of the energy from the Sun close to the surface. Water vapor is widely present in the atmosphere and forms clouds that cover most of the planet. More solar e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
61 Ursae Majoris
61 Ursae Majoris, abbreviated 61 UMa, is a single star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major. It has a yellow-orange hue and is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.35. The distance to this star is 31.2 light years based on parallax, and it is drifting closer with a radial velocity of −5.2 km/s. The star has a relatively high proper motion traversing the sky at the rate of yr−1. The stellar classification of 61 UMa is G8V, matching a late G-type main-sequence star. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. It is considered a solar-type star, having physical properties that make it similar to the Sun. The star has 93% of the mass of the Sun and 86% of the Sun's radius. It is roughly two billion years old and is spinning with a projected rotational velocity of 3.3 km/s, for a period of 17.1 day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Contact (science Fiction)
First contact is a common science fiction Science fiction themes, theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life, or of any Sentience, sentient species' first encounter with another one, given they are from different planets or natural satellites. The theme allows writers to explore such topics such as xenophobia, transcendentalism, and basic natural language, linguistics by adapting the anthropology, anthropological topic of first contact (anthropology), first contact to extraterrestrial cultures. Overview Murray Leinster's 1945 Novella, novelette "First Contact (novelette), First Contact" established the term "first contact" in science fiction, although the theme had appeared earlier. Its roots lie in colonial narratives from the Age of Discovery onward. Of many variations of the trope, one may recognize the subclasses of the actual interstellar meeting of two civilizations and the "message from space (science fiction), message from space" one.Sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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