tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984067990467963645.post527655749252694836..comments2024-03-21T22:22:59.425-07:00Comments on Vintage Pop Fictions: Larry Niven's Neutron Star dfordoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984067990467963645.post-28522326097436582072021-01-07T08:04:22.092-08:002021-01-07T08:04:22.092-08:00[i]Neutron Star[/i] is one of the great collection...[i]Neutron Star[/i] is one of the great collections of SF stories. I first read "At the Core" when I was 15, in an [i]If[/i] magazine anthology, and said to myself, "Why can't there be more SF stories like that?" Unknown to me, Niven was busy writing them at the time. "At the Core" contains not only a dazzling sense-of-wonder journey, but real humor as well. Shaeffer has elements of Rex Stout's Archie Goodwin in him. (I met Niven at a convention in 1985 and asked if he had ever read Rex Stout when he was young, and he confirmed that he had.)<br /><br />"A Relic of the Empire" would make a great SF film.<br /><br />"Flatlander" is just astonishing -- one surprise and wonder after another.<br /><br />"The Soft Weapon" Niven himself adapted as "The Slaver Weapon" on the [i]Star Trek[/i] animated series in 1973, with Spock, Sulu, and Uhura as the heroes. It's not considered canon now -- the kzinti are not part of the ST universe -- but it was a tremendous job of adapting the story, and the episode is very exciting.Benzadmiralhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16762681617545684805noreply@blogger.com