Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
Four stories describe a world of warlocks, wizards, werewolves, dervishes, unicorns, and the magical power of mana

197 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1984

144 people want to read

About the author

Larry Niven

688 books3,315 followers
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...

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
23 (24%)
4 stars
33 (35%)
3 stars
34 (36%)
2 stars
2 (2%)
1 star
1 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
369 reviews2 followers
December 24, 2018
A collection of short stories selected by Niven, using the setting of his Warlock stories. Niven contributes one story and is a coauthor on a second. This anthology is slightly better than The Magic May Return. I especially liked Zelazny's "Manna from Heaven"--Zelazny displays his typical style, but he also uses Niven's central idea of magic as a natural resource. Niven's solo story and Bob Shaw's contributions are both slight but entertaining stories. Niven's collaboration with Diane Girard is a very engaging fantasy story, although it does not really use the central conceit or the series well.
Profile Image for Martin.
1,195 reviews24 followers
August 6, 2023
Four more stories set in the world of The Warlock, where mana is a finite resource and powerful magic users live very long lives. Here the best story is by Roger Zelazny, who tells a tale of The Warlock's doppelgänger, "Phoenix."

The illustrations are decent.
Profile Image for Robyn Blaber.
485 reviews15 followers
June 3, 2021
Well, I can't say I'm the greatest fan of fantasy literature, nor am I a great fan of short story collections so... I will satisfy myself to mark this as read and move on.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.