I realize that this book is called Ringworld, and later on he literally creates a world, but the figurative world-building in those first chapters-he does it through the lens of our protagonist Louis Wu‘s 200th birthday party. In the second Beowulf Schaeffer story, which is called “At the Core,” he flies to the center of the galaxy and reports back that the galaxy is exploding … So I remember reading all that stuff as a kid, and all that stuff is referenced in this novel, so I was so excited reading the early chapters of this. One of my favorite science fiction stories is called “Neutron Star.” Niven has this character named Beowulf Schaeffer, who’s an adventurer and goes exploring. I was like, oh yeah, I remember all this stuff from when I was a kid, when I read books like The Man-Kzin Wars, which gets referenced pretty heavily in the early chapters of this.

When I started reading, I was totally into it. And check out some highlights from the discussion below.ĭavid Barr Kirtley on the Known Space universe: Rivera, and Abby Goldsmith in Episode 505 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above). Listen to the complete interview with Rajan Khanna, Mercurio D.

“They should get the Henson workshop,” she says. “I feel like the genetically engineered luck thing is just barely believable in prose form, and I think if you had actors talking about it, it would come across as completely ridiculous,” he says.Īnother major challenge for the show will be portraying Nessus, a two-headed, three-legged alien called a “Puppeteer.” Science fiction author Abby Goldsmith thinks that rather than using CGI, the show should make Nessus a literal puppet. They just need to come up with a better plot.”Ī major story element in Ringworld is the idea that one of the characters, Teela Brown, has been bred to be psychically “lucky.” Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy host David Barr Kirtley says that’s one detail that the show will probably want to change. “Because there’s no way they’re going to include some of the things that bothered us in the TV series-about the way that the female characters are treated. “I could see this being turned into something really fantastic,” he says. Rivera thinks that Ringworld could make a great show, provided certain changes are made to the source material. Ringworld is currently being adapted for television by Akiva Goldsman, with Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor slated to direct the pilot.

Larry niven ring world