Becalmed in Hell

Known Space (Publication Order) #tboks.2

by Larry Niven

Written three years before "2001: A Space Odyssey," this story similarly explores the psychological confrontation of a man and his spaceship's controlling intelligence system. Instead of an intelligent computer, Howie's ship is controlled by a man's brain and nervous system--a fellow spaceman named Eric who was critically injured in an accident. They are in orbit above Venus on a fact-finding mission when Eric reports the alarming news that he is unable to 'feel' the ramjets they need to get home. Upon investigation, Howie finds nothing wrong with the jets and begins to suspect that Eric is suffering from a paralyzing psychosis. Nebula Award(R) Nominee

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Ebooks, Classics, Fantasy

Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1965

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

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this very short (30 Min) audiobook found on Audible. Not a bad little story and fairly typical of sci-fi from that era.
Basically a quick little foray onto the surface of Venus. Obviously with the short nature of this story there is not much in the way of detail. it is mostly about the friction between its two crew members, one of which is a human brain embedded in and controlling their vehicle.
Good story and fun to listen to, but not very deep.

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. I liked the friendship between Eric and Howie, that it was built on mutual trust. Another great thing was that the story wasn't swamped with unnecessary technical detail; the only thing I as a reader need to know is, that it - whatever "it" is - works in the science of the story which is something some authors tend to forget lately. Also, the ending was a hoot! I literally laughed out loud.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niven manages to combine space exploration and psychology in a short story in a way which gives both equal prominence. Essentially there is one normal man and one brain-in-a-jar man who has his nervous system connected to a spaceship as a replacement (so the engines are his legs, chemistry lab is his liver, etc); the plot revolves around the challenges this entails.

[JoeK · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. Any quibbles I have with the science are assuaged by the fact that the science was brand new when the story was written and is now fifty-six years older. I still have quibbles.
If the ship’s “blimp” balloons could drop it so deep in the atmosphere, they could at least raise it back up to the original starting point of the descent. Going down to the planet’s surface seemed foolish to me. Why not use a tether in the upper atmosphere? It seemed needlessly melodramatic. Then after the planetary shenanigans, we do the thing that they were trying to avoid, AND we learn that the main character has had magnet boots all along! Going to the surfaces was stupid, dangerous and did nothing to help the story along (but did give a lot of ‘then” readers new info about the planet). Just plain silliness.

I enjoyed the zing at the end and needed to lookup up "Donovan's Brain". I’ve never seen the movie, but I’ve heard both different versions of the radio dramatization. Apparently it was the favourite movie of Steve Martin’s character in “The Man with Two Brains”.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something goes wrong with the disembodied brain, Eric, that runs the Venus probe. To fix the problem, Howie , the human crew member, must convince Eric that the problem is "all in his head".

The story was more or less tongue-in-cheek. It reminded me of the Neal Asher Transformation series beginning with "Dark Intelligence" which was not tongue-in-cheek at all.

I doubt I will read this story again.

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story works very well in audiobook form, as a Venus-visiting astronaut and his cyborg computer try to figure out what malfunction is preventing their escape. There isn't a lot of action, but the description of the Venusian atmosphere and the thought processes move the story forward. I thought I had it figured out, but Niven plays it perfectly to the end. Definitely worth the short listening time, and the story works as well now as when it was written.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

An astronaut and an AI have to find a way to pull together if they are to get their crashed ship off the planet Venus in a delightful psychological tale from Larry Niven. The ending was a great surprise.

[Missi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly entertaining. Listened while cleaning/packing. I'm not sure I get it. May listen again. Perhaps I wasn't paying attention to the ending
Ok I listened again. I even looked up Donovan's Brain. I havent read it or seen it. But I guess I get it. Sort of. Maybe

[Ayn Bland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got more of a kick out of the author's note at the end than the actual story.

[Fil Garrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm wondering if audible isn't the right way to listen to short stories. This one was fine.

[Eddie D. Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've only got a short drive, this 30 minute story is what you're looking for.

[Jeff J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exploration of man-machine interfaces.

[Jon Norimann · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK short story about complications in a space ship.

[A.N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overheated brain.