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 Destiny's Road. His previous collection, N-Space , was lauded by the Houston Post as "outstanding . . . hours of entertainment," while Publishers Weekly called it "a must for science fiction fans." A follow-up volume, Playgrounds of the Mind , was similarly praised by Kirkus Reviews : "An abundance of Niven's curious yet disciplined inventiveness and his fun-filled knack for turning seemingly absurd notions into credible, absorbing fiction. Grand entertainment." Now, ten years later, Scatterbrain collects an equally engaging assortment of Niven's latest work, all in one captivating volume. Here are choice excerpts from several of his most recent novels, including his upcoming Ringworld's Child and Rainbow Mars , as well as numerous short stories, nonfiction articles, interviews, editorials, collaborations, and correspondence. True to its title, Scatterbrain roams all over a wide variety of fascinating topics, featuring Niven's singular insights into everything from space stations to convention etiquette. So give yourself a treat, and feel free to pick the brain-or Scatterbrain -of one of modern science fiction's most fascinating thinkers. **

Here is an extraordinary mix of fantasy and science fiction from one of the masters of science fiction, Larry Niven. The stories in this collection include some collaborations with authors such as Jerry Pournelle (Spirals) and Steven Barnes (The Locusts), as well as stories written by Niven himself. Larry Niven’s credits include the award-winning Ringworld series, his “Known Space” novels and the Man-Kzin anthologies. His collaborations with Jerry Pournelle include such titles as Lucifer’s Hammer, Inferno and The Mote in God’s Eye.

ROUND EIGHT, MONKEY BOYS! In a new story, Larry Niven tells of the earliest days of the first Man-Kzin War. The Kzin had learned of the existance of human-occupied space, a find that promised new technolgies for the race, and new wealth for the fierce Kzin Warriors in the form of land, slaves...and food. Kzin had sent ships to probe the Solar System, expecting no danger from mere weed-eating apes. But the Warrior Race had underestimated monkey ingenuity, and the ships were destroyed by "peaceful" technology that the humans had hurriedly changed into weaponry. The surviving Kzin have been caged and are being studied. "For you, the war is over," the monkey-boys have told the Kzin. Incomprehensible to the Kzin, for whom no war is ever over. The humans are sure that the huge warcats cannot escape their prison. But there is something the humans do not realize. One of the Kzin is a Telepath... Cover Illustration: Stephen Hickman

*Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE] * ACE #1 The sequel to *N-Space* Playgrounds of the Mind captures the startling range and variety of Larry Niven's spectacular career, from bestselling novels such as Lucifer's Hammer and The Ringworld Engineers, from his classic short stories of science fiction and fantasy, from his thought-provoking essays and non-fiction, from his innovative and seldom-seen work in comics (on such projects as The Green Lantern Bible), to an advance look at Larry Niven's upcoming projects. Like N-Space, Playgrounds of the Mind is a feast for Niven's millions of fans-and an impressive tribute to the man Arthur C. Clarke called his "favorite writer."

The first colonists from Earth named the planet Wunderland. Generations later, the felinoid alien invaders called Kzin came and turned it into a hell for humans. Touched on in other accounts of the Man-Kzin wars, here for the first time is the decades-long saga of Wunderland: how the Wunderlanders first learned of the Kzin attacks on Earth by slower-than-light communications, barely in time to prepare to fight back. How the valiant human defenders turned to guerilla warfare in the Wunderland jungles and caves after the feline warrior race had destroyed or seized the cities. How, after the war ended in an ignominous defeat for the Kzin, some humans and Kzin worked for good will between the two species-their work complicated by humans wanting revenge and Kzin who still saw humans as a somewhat annoying food source. And how a human-Kzin team was sent to investigate a mysterious asteroid and found a threat not only to both species, but to the entire galaxy. The humans wanted to destroy it, but the Kzin wanted to exploit it, and the only hope was a Kzin telepath raised by humans from a cub. Which side would he choose, monkey or warcat?

Let three complete books in one take you on a dazzling journey into science fiction's most famous future history: Known Space! WORLD OF PTAVVS Kzanol was a thrint from a distant galaxy. He had been trapped on Earth in a time-stasis field for two billion years. Now he was on the loose, and telepath Larry Greenberg knew everything he was thinking. Thrints lived to plunder and enslave lesser planets . . . and the planet Kzanol had in mind was Earth! A GIFT FROM EARTH Shrouded in lethal mists, the world named Mount Lookitthat was never meant for humans. Life existed only on one plateau, unreachable except from space. But still the planet had been colonized, and the settlers struggled to survive under a ruthless dictatorship on a rebellion-proof world . . . until fate dealt them a wild card named Matthew Keller, whose secret talent might just be their only hope! TALES OF KNOWN SPACE A classic collection of stories that traces humankind's expansion and colonization throughout the galaxy from the twentieth century to the thirty-first . . . AND MORE: Larry Niven's latest thoughts on the evolution--both creative and "historical"--of known space, as well as an updated Timeline of Known Space and a complete Niven bibliography! Contents: Introduction: My Universe and Welcome Back! The Coldest Place Becalmed in Hell Wait It Out Eye of an Octopus How the Heroes Die The Jigsaw Man World of Ptavvs At the Bottom of a Hole Intent to Deceive Cloak of Anarchy The Warriors Madness Has Its Place A Gift From Earth There Is a Tide Safe at Any Speed Afterthoughts Bibliography: The Worlds of Larry Niven

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 stories that trace man's expansion and colonization throughout Known Space. A spectacular cycle of the future . . . a 10,000-year history of man on Earth and in space! Contents: · Neutron Star [Beowulf Shaeffer] · nv If Oct ’66 · A Relic of Empire · nv If Dec ’66 · At the Core [Beowulf Shaeffer] · ss If Nov ’66 · The Soft Weapon · nv If Feb ’67 · Flatlander [Beowulf Shaeffer] · nv If Mar ’67 · The Ethics of Madness · nv If Apr ’67 · The Handicapped [“Handicap”] · nv Galaxy Dec ’67 · Grendel [Beowulf Shaeffer] · nv *

Introduction: My Universe and Welcome to It! • (1975) • essayThe Coldest Place • [Known Space] • (1964) • shortstory Becalmed in Hell • [Known Space] • (1965) • shortstory Wait It Out • [Known Space] • (1968) • shortstory Eye of an Octopus • [Known Space] • (1966) • shortstory How the Heroes Die • [Known Space] • (1966) • novelette The Jigsaw Man • [Known Space] • (1967) • shortstory At the Bottom of a Hole • [Known Space] • (1966) • novelette Intent to Deceive • [Known Space] • (1968) • shortstory (variant of The Deceivers) Cloak of Anarchy • [Known Space] • (1972) • shortstory Afterthoughts (Tales of Known Space) • (1975) • essay Bibliography: The Worlds of Larry Niven • (1975) • essay by uncredited About the Cover (Tales of Known Space) • (1975) • essay by Rick Sternbach

THOSE KZIN DON'T KNOW WHEN THEY'RE LICKED (AND MAYBE THEY AREN'T...) It was so unfair! Here the Kzin were, warcats supreme, carving out empires like the idefatigable lords of creation that they were - and then they ran into those pesky humans. Mere apes! Contemptible weed-eaters! Hardly worth the screaming and leaping upon... But when the feline Kzin moved in to take over the monkey-occupied worlds, they got clobbered. The humans, with their underhanded monkey cunning, turned communications equiptment and space drives into weapons that cut the dauntless Kzin heroes into ribbons. When the humans gained faster-than-light drive, it was all over but the, uh, howling. The Kzin had lost their first war in centuries of successful conquest. Still, you can't keep a good warcat down, and the Kzin have by no means given up. New weapons, new strategies, and new leaders - the Kzin are on the march and the humans had better keep their powder dry. Once again, it's howling time in Known Space! For action and military SF fans, these four tales intelligently develop the Kzin... will add to the audience for these well-wrought aliens and their human friends and foes. - Publishers Weekly One of the longest-running and most successful shared-world anthology series continues to explore different aspects of the wars and other relations of humanity and the felinoid, ferocious, surprisingly complex Kzin - Booklist Cover illustration: Stephen Hickman

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 and outer space where others feared to tread! But Gil Hamilton had enemies. Many enemies. Some were organleggers - those murderous dealers of illicit transplants. Others were just ordinary killers. Around any corner, Gil could probably find someone waiting to kill him. In order to stay alive - and operating - he always had to be armed for death! THREE THRILLING NOVELETTES IN THE FAMED KNOWN SPACE SERIES BY THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF RINGWORLD Contents: · Death by Ecstasy [“The Organleggers”] · na Galaxy Jan ’69 · The Defenseless Dead · nv Ten Tomorrows, ed. Roger Elwood, Fawcett, 1973 · ARM · na Epoch, ed. Roger Elwood & Robert Silverberg, Berkley, 1975 · Afterword: The Last Word About SF! Detectives · aw

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LARRY NIVEN’S KNOWN SPACE IS AFLAME WITH WAR!Once upon a time, in the very earliest days of
interplanetary exploration, an unarmed human
vessel was set upon by a warship from the
planet Kzin—home of the fiercest warriors in
Known Space. This was a fatal mistake for the
Kzinti, of course; they learned the hard way that
the reason humanity had decided to study war
no more was that humans were so very, very
good at it.And thus began THE MAN-KZIN WARS. Now,
several centuries later, the Kzinti are about to
get yet another lesson in why it pays to be polite
to those hairless monkeys from planet Earth.