Larry Niven is one of the biggest names in the history of science fiction, and it was a privilege to interview him via Zoom at his home in Los Angeles recently. His 1970 novel Ringworld is the latest pick for the 快猫短视频 Book Club, but he has also written a whole space-fleet-load of novels and short stories over the years, including my favourite sci-fi of all time, A World Out of Time. At 87 years of age, he is very much still writing. I spoke to him about Ringworld, his start in sci-fi, his favourite work over the years, his current projects and whether he thinks humankind will ever leave this solar聽system. This is an edited version of our conversation.
Emily H. Wilson: Larry, thank you so much for taking part in this interview and being part of the 快猫短视频 Book Club. It is a huge honour to have you here as an undisputed master of science fiction and an important person in the evolution of the genre.
Larry Niven: Thank you.
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EHW: So, what got you started as a science fiction writer?
LN: I read science fiction almost exclusively in my early twenties and in my teens, but I didn鈥檛 know about science fiction fandom until I had started it writing it for sale. That was a great boon to me. I finally had some contact with the people I wanted to reach.
EHW: How did you come up with the idea of Ringworld?
LN: I was told about Dyson spheres [hypothetical megastructures in space] by one of the other writers. I think it was Poul Anderson. I looked at the concept, which is a neat one. [It] told us how we could see other civilisations if they were powerful enough, because a tool-using civilisation should end up using all of the power from its sun. For that, it has to block all of the sunlight. I look at the Dyson sphere, I see that unless you can generate gravity, you鈥檒l have to depend on spin gravity. And you wind up using just the equator. With that idea in mind, I took just the equator鈥� the poor man鈥檚 Dyson sphere!
EHW: One of our book club members pointed out that the Ringworld itself inspires awe and wonder.
LN: My decision to go with a large-scale structure, despite the possibility of getting laughed off the stage, was [part of] my success. Ringworld is a grand intellectual toy, as I found it, and as a lot of readers did too. You can play with it, elaborate, work out Niven鈥檚 mistakes.
EHW: Looking back at it from 2025, it looks as if it was as if it was a huge hit straight away and transformed your fortunes and your career.
LN: Absolutely true.
EHW: You mentioned in a piece you wrote for 快猫短视频 about how science students and academics really got involved in the physics of Ringworld after it was published. They were doing papers on it. What was that like for you? And do you think that sort of intense global interactive reaction would happen today?
LN: Science fiction has pretty much won its point with all the movies and comic books and stuff. So Ringworld would be a bigger success today, but it wouldn鈥檛 grab the mathematicians as easily as it did.
EHW: What was science fiction鈥檚 point?
LN: Look to the future. Things are changing. And also, the point science fiction seems to make is that there are minds out there that think as well as you do, but differently.
EHW: Why did you leave it so long before you wrote The Ringworld Engineers? By the way, one of our book club members said he read that first before Ringworld and loved it. It was his favourite novel.
LN: I was trying to make a better book than Ringworld. Ringworld doesn鈥檛 have enough of the occupants of the structure. I wanted to elaborate on that. [The author] Robert Heinlein told me that Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers made a great novel, as if they belong together.
EHW: The universe that Ringworld is set in, Known Space, ended up spilling in so many directions. What was it like building such a web of connected literature?
LN: It seemed obvious [that] if I had a story that fitted a universe I鈥檇 already started writing in, I should [set it here]. It would make a more elaborate story. And I鈥檝e been doing that for 60 years.
EHW: Is there anything you would do differently if you wrote Ringworld today?
LN: I鈥檝e been telling people that I would start over with a universe in which you can鈥檛 go faster than light [and] nobody鈥檚 got psychic powers. The point is, if you build a Ringworld, it has to be because you can鈥檛 reach other stars.
EHW: At what point in your career did you become a full-time science writer? Was there a time when you juggled it with other work?
LN: I started as a science aficionado, particularly astrophysics and astronomy. About age 24, I realised I was just spinning my wheels as a graduate student in math. When I ran out of options, that鈥檚 when I started writing.
EHW: What is your general view of science fiction today?
LN: I have not been following the science fiction field as well as I might. I have been buying books on the internet for my Kindle at $2.99 or less. It doesn鈥檛 mean I鈥檓 getting the best of what鈥檚 coming out.
EHW: My personal favourite of your books, and in fact my favourite sci-fi by anyone, is A World Out of Time, which a lot of people haven鈥檛 read. It鈥檚 such a great story. It鈥檚 done in such a short amount of space. What can you tell me about writing that book, and do you view it as fondly as I do?
LN: First, I wrote a dystopian story in which the people who are getting frozen in order to reach the future get their wish a little bent. [They are] revived, but with no civil rights. You don鈥檛 have to consider a revived dead man as a citizen鈥� and you don鈥檛 have to give money to him. I put it in a short story [called Rammer] and was very happy with it. And it鈥檚 the first chapter of A World Out of Time. One day, I just continued the story and reached as far into the future as I felt comfortable with, and a little further.
EHW: You鈥檝e been a great collaborator on books, for example, The Mote in God鈥檚 Eye, which you wrote with Jerry Pournelle. How do two novelists write a novel together?
LN: I think [Jerry and I collaborated on] a little more than nine novels. When Jerry suggested doing a collaboration, I said, yes. I didn鈥檛 know what it would be like, but I was sure it would be fun. It was fun, but it was also a lot of work. It took longer than I expected. We belong to the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society and they watched us talk about The Mote in God鈥檚 Eye as it progressed over three years. And they gave us an award they made up: Best Unfinished Novel.
EHW: When I asked you before, via email, which of your books I should read before this interview, you said Draco鈥檚 Tavern, a collection of short stories. I bought the book and I started it with a bit of a heavy heart, because I鈥檓 not a short story person. For anyone who hasn鈥檛 read it, it鈥檚 set in a bar on Earth, you know the barman, and aliens come in. Each story is very short. And I think why it was so successful for me is because you鈥檝e got the character of the barman going through, and you learn about the aliens. So I felt it was more of a novel really, with an unusual structure, rather than an ordinary short story collection. Also, you put so many ideas into that book.
LN: I started writing short stories. I rapidly realised that if you wrote a really short story, it still had to be story-shaped rather than just a glimpse of story. Eventually, I decided I wanted to write stories that showed wisdom and also were story-shaped and localised and very short. That鈥檚 what I was after, wisdom and short, when I started the Draco鈥檚 Tavern stories. Yes, the Draco鈥檚 Tavern series became novel shaped.
EHW: If you were going to send a reader to four of your books other than Draco鈥檚 Tavern, which four would you choose?
LN: When people ask me my favourite book, I usually base my answer on who they are. 聽Lucifer鈥檚 Hammer for normal people. Footfall for military people. Ringworld for actual fans. Let鈥檚 see, Destiny鈥檚 Road, I think, again for normal people.
EHW: What are you working on now?
LN: I鈥檓 working with Steven Barnes on a novel set in the universe of [Niven鈥檚 fictional detective in Known Space]. A guy popped up with the idea of opening the Gil the Arm universe to other writers, and to do that as an anthology. [As part of that project] Steven and I wrote a short story called Sacred Cow with Gil as a star. And it won a best short story award from Analog Magazine. [Now] they want us to write another.
EHW: I鈥檝e got some quick-fire questions now. What is your favourite science fiction book not written by you?
LN: Just off the top of my head, I love Nova by Samuel R. Delany.
EHW: What is your favourite book in any genre not written by you?
LN: I鈥檓 afraid it has to be The Wizard of Oz.
EHW: What is your favourite science fiction TV show?
LN: Star Trek, although I鈥檝e lapsed.
EHW: What is your favourite sci-fi movie?
LN: Reaching way back, it鈥檚 Destination Moon. [I like] the ambitious ones, like 2001: A Space Odyssey. Rollerball was ambitious and it did it perfectly.
EHW: What is the one piece of advice you would offer someone trying to write science fiction today?
LN: Shorten your name, like I did.
EHW: Would you like to meet an alien, presuming you haven鈥檛 already?
LN: I think I鈥檇 be ready to meet a Pierson鈥檚 puppeteer or a Motie mediator [two fictional species of alien in Niven鈥檚 novels].
EHW: And do you think that humans are eventually going to make it out of this solar system?
LN: We are making progress. We鈥檙e not making it as fast as any of us expected. We thought the moon was in easy reach. It鈥檚 in difficult reach.
EHW: Larry, thank you so much for talking to us. It鈥檚 been an absolute privilege.
LN: You鈥檙e welcome. And it鈥檚 a pleasure to be [talking to] 快猫短视频. Have fun reading.
Larry Niven鈥檚 聽is the latest pick for the 快猫短视频 Book Club. Sign up and read along with us here.
