You can add the esteemed Larry Niven to writers who’ve graced us with huge Best of volumes. The Best of Larry Niven will weigh in at 27 stories, spread across more than 200,000 words.

With the publication of his first story, “The Coldest Place”, in 1964 Larry Niven launched one of the most important careers in the history of science fiction. Over the next decade his stunning hard science fiction won four short fiction Hugo Awards and both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for his all-time classic novel, Ringworld.

But it was the short stories that amazed and astounded first. Stories like “The Coldest Place”, “Becalmed in Hell”, “Neutron Star”, and “All the Myriad Ways”set the boundaries for ‘Known Space’, one of science fiction’s grandest future histories, while Niven also explored the classic tavern story in his ‘Draco’s Tavern’ sequence and even fantasy in his ‘Magic Goes Away’ stories.

Astoundingly, there has never been a single compendium the focused solely on Niven’s best short fiction until now. The Best of Larry Niven collects no less than twenty seven stories written over a period of thirty-five years, bringing together some of the best-loved stories in science fiction for the first time, along with some overlooked classics. Whether this is your first time in Known Space or you’re visiting old friends in Draco’s Tavern, The Best of Larry Niven is unforgettable.

As is usual for our Best of volumes, we’ll have a small signed leatherbound edition, and a larger unsigned trade hardcover, bound in cloth.

Posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 9:59 am.