Ringworld
The clearest entry point to Niven's best-known Known Space sequence and a self-contained novel.
Author guide
Larry Niven Books in Order
Larry Niven (born 1938) is an American science-fiction and fantasy writer whose work emphasizes scientific speculation, engineering, future history, and inventive worldbuilding. His bibliography includes novels, novellas, short-story collections, essays, nonfiction, plays, and graphic works, with major collaborations involving Jerry Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Edward M. Lerner, Gregory Benford, and others.
science fictionfantasynonfiction
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
Neutron Star
A strong introduction to the core Known Space setting through representative short fiction.
Dream Park
A self-contained collaborative novel and the first entry in the Dream Park sequence.
Read in order
Books by series
series · ongoing
Known Space
Larry Niven's future-history universe, including the Ringworld, Fleet of Worlds, and Gil Hamilton works.
- 1 World of Ptavvs
Book 1 · novel · 1966
- 3 A Gift from Earth
Book 3 · novel · 1968
**No Place for Bleeding Hearts** The world named Mount Lookitthat was never meant for humans—it was shrouded in lethal mists. Life only existed on the one plateau, unreachable except from space. But the disastrous decision to colonize the…
- 2 Neutron Star
Book 2 · collection · 1968
Come to Larry Niven's Universe and meet all the natives: Thrints, Bandersnatchi, Puppeteers -- and a host of other wonderfully created characters. Visit Lookitthat, Down, and Jinx -- indeed, an entire galaxy of planets found only in these…
- 5 Protector
Book 5 · novel · 1973
From the back cover: The Mission of Phssthpok Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his 32,000 years -- his mission, to save, develop and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some 2 1/2 million years before.…
- 6 Tales of Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven
Book 6 · collection · 1975
- 7 The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton
Book 7 · collection · 1976
ARMED FOR DEATH Gil Hamilton was more than an operative for ARM - the elite global police force. He was an essential. His intuition was peerless; his psychic powers were devastating. And his raw courage took him into the depths of inner…
- 4 Ringworld
Book 4 · novel · 1970
The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense…
- 8 The Ringworld Engineers
Book 8 · novel · 1979
Conversion of hardcopy paperback originally owned bu Boston Public Library. ePub version lacks material that was originally on the first page of many chapters, resulting in numerous discontinuities in the story.
- 11 The Ringworld Throne
Book 13 · novel · 1996
In the twenty-ninth century, Louis Wu, a 200-years-young adventurer, became one of the first humans from Known Space to set foot on the Ringworld, and his exploits there became legends among many of the native races. During Louis Wu's…
- 12 Ringworld's Children
Book 14 · novel · 2004
"The Ringworld: a landmark engineering achievement, a flat band three million times the surface of the Earth, encircling a distant star. Home to trillions of inhabitants, not all of whom are human, and host to amazing technological…
- 13 Fleet of Worlds
Book 15 · novel · 2007
Humanity has been faithfully serving the Citizens for years, and Kirsten is among the best and the brightest of the humans. she gratefully serves the race that rescued her ancestors from a dying Starship, gave them a home world, and…
- 14 Juggler of Worlds
Book 16 · novel · 2008
Two hundred years before the discovery of the Ringworld, covert agent Sigmund Ausfaller represents Earth's secret weapon, humanity's best defense against all conspiracies--real and imagined. Who better than a brilliant paranoid to expose…
- 15 Destroyer of Worlds
Book 17 · novel · 2009
A tale set ten years after the events in "Juggler of Worlds" traces the reluctant efforts of the Puppeteers to counter onrushing alien refugees who are ransacking the planets they pass on their way toward the Fleet of Worlds.
- 16 Betrayer of Worlds
Book 18 · novel · 2010
Fleeing the supernova chain reaction at the galactic core, the cowardly Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds have---just barely---survived. They've stumbled from one crisis to the next: The rebellion of their human slaves. The relentless…
- 17 Fate of Worlds
Book 19 · novel · 2012
A cross-over conclusion to the Ringworld and Fleet of Worlds series finds the Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds targeted by rival war fleets after the disappearance of the Ringworld, prompting exiled Puppeteer Hindmost to draw on his…
- 9 The Patchwork Girl
Book 9 · novel · 1980
The Patchwork Girl is a science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven. Part of his Known Space series, it is the fourth of five Gil Hamilton detective stories and the first to be published as a stand-alone novel in 1980. It was…
- 10 Crashlander: The Collected Tales of Beowulf Shaeffer
Book 12 · novel · 1994
At last, all the Beowulf Shaeffer stories in one volume—plus a brand-new story and never-before-seen material linking them all together. Crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer has long been one of the most popular characters in Known Space. Now,…
- 1 Ringworld
Book 1 · novel · 1970
The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense…
- 2 The Ringworld Engineers
Book 2 · novel · 1979
Conversion of hardcopy paperback originally owned bu Boston Public Library. ePub version lacks material that was originally on the first page of many chapters, resulting in numerous discontinuities in the story.
- 3 The Ringworld Throne
Book 3 · novel · 1996
In the twenty-ninth century, Louis Wu, a 200-years-young adventurer, became one of the first humans from Known Space to set foot on the Ringworld, and his exploits there became legends among many of the native races. During Louis Wu's…
- 4 Ringworld's Children
Book 4 · novel · 2004
"The Ringworld: a landmark engineering achievement, a flat band three million times the surface of the Earth, encircling a distant star. Home to trillions of inhabitants, not all of whom are human, and host to amazing technological…
- 5 Fate of Worlds
Book 5 · novel · 2012
A cross-over conclusion to the Ringworld and Fleet of Worlds series finds the Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds targeted by rival war fleets after the disappearance of the Ringworld, prompting exiled Puppeteer Hindmost to draw on his…
- 1 Fleet of Worlds
Book 1 · novel · 2007
Humanity has been faithfully serving the Citizens for years, and Kirsten is among the best and the brightest of the humans. she gratefully serves the race that rescued her ancestors from a dying Starship, gave them a home world, and…
- 2 Juggler of Worlds
Book 2 · novel · 2008
Two hundred years before the discovery of the Ringworld, covert agent Sigmund Ausfaller represents Earth's secret weapon, humanity's best defense against all conspiracies--real and imagined. Who better than a brilliant paranoid to expose…
- 3 Destroyer of Worlds
Book 3 · novel · 2009
A tale set ten years after the events in "Juggler of Worlds" traces the reluctant efforts of the Puppeteers to counter onrushing alien refugees who are ransacking the planets they pass on their way toward the Fleet of Worlds.
- 4 Betrayer of Worlds
Book 4 · novel · 2010
Fleeing the supernova chain reaction at the galactic core, the cowardly Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds have---just barely---survived. They've stumbled from one crisis to the next: The rebellion of their human slaves. The relentless…
- 5 Fate of Worlds
Book 5 · novel · 2012
A cross-over conclusion to the Ringworld and Fleet of Worlds series finds the Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds targeted by rival war fleets after the disappearance of the Ringworld, prompting exiled Puppeteer Hindmost to draw on his…
- 1 The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton
Book 1 · collection · 1976
ARMED FOR DEATH Gil Hamilton was more than an operative for ARM - the elite global police force. He was an essential. His intuition was peerless; his psychic powers were devastating. And his raw courage took him into the depths of inner…
- 2 The Patchwork Girl
Book 2 · novel · 1980
The Patchwork Girl is a science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven. Part of his Known Space series, it is the fourth of five Gil Hamilton detective stories and the first to be published as a stand-alone novel in 1980. It was…
- 3 Crashlander: The Collected Tales of Beowulf Shaeffer
Book 3 · novel · 1994
At last, all the Beowulf Shaeffer stories in one volume—plus a brand-new story and never-before-seen material linking them all together. Crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer has long been one of the most popular characters in Known Space. Now,…
- 1 A World Out of Time
Book 1 · novel · 1976
Jaybee Corbell awoke after more than 200 years as a corpsicle -- in someone else's body, and under sentence of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars. But Corbell…
- 2 The Integral Trees
Book 2 · novel · 1984
A culture of evolved humans inhabits a doughnut-shaped gas tube that rotates around a neutron star
- 3 The Smoke Ring
Book 3 · novel · 1987
The Citizens Tree people rescue a family of loggers and learn for the first time of a society known as the Admiralty, which may have maintained intact the original computer library of the ship Discipline.
series · ongoing
The Magic Goes Away
The Magic Universe, including the Warlock stories and the Golden Road sequence.
- 1 The Magic Goes Away
Book 1 · novella · 1978
Once there was magic in the world... But hordes of selfish, short-sighted magicians have used up the mana that moved the world, and the magic goes away. Even the most powerful spells are fast becoming futile, and so Orolandes, sad Achaean…
- 2 The Magic May Return
Book 2 · collection · 1981
- 3 More Magic
Book 3 · collection · 1984
- 4 The Burning City
Book 4 · novel · 2000
"Set in the world of Niven's The Magic Goes Away, The Burning City transports readers to an enchanted ancient city that often bears a provocative resemblance to our own modern society. Here Yagen-Atep, the volatile and voracious god of…
- 5 Burning Tower
Book 5 · novel · 2005
Return to the "vivid and unusual" (Kirkus Reviews) world of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Burning City, where the fire god has retreated into myth, leaving the residents of Tep's Town unprotected for the first time in their…
- 6 The Seascape Tattoo
Book 6 · novel · 2016
The Seascape Tattoo: the latest spellbinding adventure in Larry Niven's acclaimed collaborations with Steven Barnes. Aros of Azteca and Neoloth-Pteor are the deadliest of enemies: Swordsman and Sorcerer, locked in mortal combat, who have…
series · ongoing
Golden Road
A later sequence set in the Magic Universe, co-written with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes.
- 1 The Burning City
Book 1 · novel · 2000
"Set in the world of Niven's The Magic Goes Away, The Burning City transports readers to an enchanted ancient city that often bears a provocative resemblance to our own modern society. Here Yagen-Atep, the volatile and voracious god of…
- 2 Burning Tower
Book 2 · novel · 2005
Return to the "vivid and unusual" (Kirkus Reviews) world of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Burning City, where the fire god has retreated into myth, leaving the residents of Tep's Town unprotected for the first time in their…
- 3 The Seascape Tattoo
Book 3 · novel · 2016
The Seascape Tattoo: the latest spellbinding adventure in Larry Niven's acclaimed collaborations with Steven Barnes. Aros of Azteca and Neoloth-Pteor are the deadliest of enemies: Swordsman and Sorcerer, locked in mortal combat, who have…
series · closed
Heorot
The Avalon/Heorot sequence, co-written with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes where indicated.
- 1 The Legacy of Heorot
Book 1 · novel · 1987
BOOK ONE IN THE CLASSIC HEOROT SERIES FROM GENRE LEGENDS LARRY NIVEN, JERRY POURNELLE, AND STEVEN BARNES The two hundred colonists on board the Geographic have spent a century in cold sleep to arrive here: Avalon, a lush, verdant planet…
- 4 The Secret of Black Ship Island
Book 2 · novella · 2012 Optional
- 2 Beowulf's Children
Book 3 · novel · 1995
A group of young rebels from the island paradise of Camelot, head toward the mainland unaware of the monsters which await them.
- 3 Destiny's Road
Book 4 · novel · 1997 Optional
The book follows the life of Jemmy Bloocher, (who changes his name several times) as he travels the planet called Destiny, a colony founded over 200 years earlier. The "Road" is a long trail laid down by the founders. Only the Caravans…
- 5 Starborn & Godsons
Book 5 · novel · 2020
When Gabriel Winter's daughter mysteriously disappears and is presumed dead, the wealthy whiskey baron seeks revenge. Having lived in Colnora during the infamous Year of Fear, he hires the one man he knows can deliver a bloody retribution…
- 1 Dream Park
Book 1 · novel · 1981
For fifteen virtual reality gamers undertaking a four-and-half day quest, the fantasy slaying of monsters is suddenly interrupted-by murder.
- 2 The Barsoom Project
Book 2 · novel · 1989
Nothing is what it seems at Dream Park, the state-of-the-art amusement park of the future, where customers live out the adventures of a lifetime. What nobody counts on are double agents and live ammunition in the place where dreams and…
- 3 The California Voodoo Game
Book 3 · novel · 1992
- 4 The Moon Maze Game
Book 4 · novel · 2011
The Year: 2085. Humanity has spread throughout the solar system. A stable lunar colony is agitating for independence. Lunar tourism is on the rise... Against this background, professional “Close Protection” specialist Scotty Griffin,…
- 1 The Mote in God's Eye
Book 1 · novel · 1974
Aliens - Moties - were first contacted in AD3017 in the region of space known as the Coalsack. The eponymous mote in his eye, which has winked out, much to the distress of pious Himmists, just might have been Motie laser light. It might…
- 2
- 1 Inferno
Book 1 · novel · 1976
This is a story about a man (Allen Carpenter) who really doesn't have much of a life. He is a writer. He is at a party, gets pretty drunk, he gets to goofing off by an open window and takes a tumble right out the window! The next thing he…
- 2 Escape from Hell
Book 2 · novel · 2009
Having recently escaped from hell, Allan Carpenter is haunted by the imprisonment of unfairly tortured souls and partners with suicide-victim poet Sylvia Plath for a mission to return to hell and rescue the damned.
- 1 Achilles' Choice
Book 1 · novel · 1991
Getting the "Boost" to win Olympic gold and a voice in ruling the twenty-first-century world may not be worth the risk, but Jillian must try when humanity's future is at stake
- 2 Saturn's Race
Book 2 · novel · 2000
The future is a strange and dangerous place. Chaz Kato can testify to that. He is a citizen of Xanudu, a city-sized artificial island populated by some of the wealthiest men and women on future Earth. A place filled with hidden wonders…
- 1 Bowl of Heaven
Book 1 · novel · 2012
A human expedition to another star system is jeopardized by the discovery of an immense bowl-shaped structure in space that leads to hostile alien encounters and profound revelations about humanity's place in the universe.
- 2 Shipstar
Book 2 · novel · 2014
A human expedition to another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense bowl-shaped structure cupping a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths. Investigating the Bowl, or Shipstar,…
- 3 Glorious
Book 3 · novel · 2020
- 1 Ringworld: The Graphic Novel
Book 1 · graphic-novel · 2014
- 2 Ringworld: The Graphic Novel, Part Two
Book 2 · graphic-novel · 2015
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (13)
- The Flying Sorcerers
novel · 1971
This funny and insightful science fiction classic introduces Shoogar, the greatest wizard ever known in his village. His spells can strike terror in the hearts of even his most powerful enemies. But the enemy he faces now is like none he…
- Lucifer's Hammer
novel · 1977
Lucifer's Hammer is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, first published in 1977. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978. The story details a cometary impact on Earth, an end to…
- Oath of Fealty
novel · 1981
(Back cover) A few years after tomorrow, above a ruined Los Angeles where crime, violence, pollution and poverty still rule the streets, a Utopia rises. Todos Santos. A thousand-foot-high single-structured city. The perfect blend of…
- Berserker Base: A Collaborative Novel
novel · 1984
This collaborative novel, by seven noted science fiction and fantasy authors, pits Lars Kanakuru and a handful of other Berserker prisoners against the entire Berserker fleet, whose mission is to destroy all life
- Niven's Laws
nonfiction · 1984
- Footfall
novel · 1985
The book depicts the arrival of members of an alien species called the Fithp that have traveled to the Solar System from Alpha Centauri in a large spacecraft driven by a Bussard ramjet. Their intent is conquest of the planet Earth.
- A.R.M.: A Tale of Known Space
graphic-novel · 1990
- Fallen Angels
novel · 1991
- Death by Ecstasy: Illustrated Adaptation of the Larry Niven Novella
graphic-novel · 1991
- Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale
graphic-novel · 1992
- A Guide to Larry Niven's Ringworld
nonfiction · 1994
- Building Harlequin's Moon
novel · 2005
The first interstellar starship, John Glenn, fled a Solar System populated by rogue AIs and machine/human hybrids, threatened by too much nanotechnology and rife with political dangers. The John Glenn's crew intended to terraform the…
- The Goliath Stone
novel · 2013
Plays (1)
- One Night at the Draco Tavern
play · 1991
Other (12)
- The Shape of Space
collection · 1969
- All the Myriad Ways
collection · 1971
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" "Not Long…
- The Flight of the Horse
collection · 1973
The 5 Svetz stories are time travel (TT) stories. While time travel stories are often very entertaining and ingenious, many inconsistencies and paradoxes arise with even the simplest considerations. Niven wrote these stories to…
- Inconstant Moon
collection · 1973
- A Hole in Space
collection · 1974
A collection of science fiction short stories by Larry Niven, published in 1974. It contains: "Rammer (story)" (this story was later expanded into the novel A World Out of Time) "The Alibi Machine" "The Last Days of the Permanent Floating…
- Limits
collection · 1985
From the back cover: LIMITS Two aliens fascinated by Man's fondness for defining boundaries decide to make sure he doesn't get out of the habit. THE LION IN HIS ATTIC Seventy-six years after Atlantis drowned, a sorceress and a prince…
- N-Space
collection · 1990
N-Space is a collection of short stories by American science fiction author Larry Niven released in 1990. Some of the stories are set in Niven's Known Space universe. Also included are various essays, articles and anecdotes by Niven and…
- Bridging the Galaxies
collection · 1993
- Rainbow Mars
collection · 1999
Larry Niven weaves together time travel and fantasy to create an utterly unique novel on the origin of the Martian "canals.". Hanville Svetz was born into a future to match the sorriest predictions of Greenpeace. Most of Earth's original…
- Scatterbrain
collection · 2003
Another dazzling collection of fact, fiction, and wit from the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning master of hard science fiction! Larry Niven is the New York Times bestselling author of such classic science fiction novels as Ringworld and…
- The Draco Tavern
collection · 2006
From back cover Tor paperback December 2006: When a tremendous spacecraft took orbit around the Earth's moon and began sending smaller landers down toward the North Pole, the newly arrived visitors quickly set up a permanent spaceport in…
Frequently asked questions about Larry Niven
Who is Larry Niven, and when was he born?
Larry Niven is the pen name of Laurence van Cott Niven, an American science-fiction and fantasy writer and essayist born on April 30, 1938, in Los Angeles, California.
What is Larry Niven best known for?
He is best known for the Known Space universe and the hard-science-fiction novel Ringworld, whose success established his reputation as a major genre writer.
How did Larry Niven begin his writing career?
His first published story, “The Coldest Place,” appeared in the December 1964 issue of Worlds of If. The story marked the beginning of a career focused on scientific speculation and imaginative extrapolation.
Sources: larryniven.net (opens in a new tab)larryniven.net (opens in a new tab)
What influenced Larry Niven’s approach to science fiction?
Niven described science fiction as a literature of scientific ideas built around “what if?” premises and their logical consequences. He also credited frequent collaborator Jerry Pournelle with helping him develop richer political and social backgrounds for his future histories.
What major awards and honors has Larry Niven received?
Ringworld won the 1971 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Niven was also named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, that organization’s highest honor.
Sources: thehugoawards.org (opens in a new tab)nebulas.sfwa.org (opens in a new tab)