Madness from the Inconstant Moon

A Collection of Short Works from Larry Niven

By: Larry Niven

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Madness from the Inconstant Moon is a collection of early short science fiction works by Larry Niven, the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series. This classic collection includes "The Inconstant Moon", the basis for a forthcoming film by The Arrival producer Shawn Levy.

This collection includes "All the Myriad Ways" (1968), "Passerby" (1969), "For a Foggy Night" (1968), "Wait It Out" (1968), "The Jigsaw Man" (1967), "Not Long before the End" (1969), "Unfinished Story No. 1" (1970),"Unfinished Story No. 2" (1971), "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" (essay, 1969), "Exercise in Speculation: The Theory and Practice of Teleportation" (essay, 1969), "The Theory and Practice of Time Travel" (essay, 1971), "Inconstant Moon" (1971), "What Can You Say about Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers?" (1971), and "Becalmed in Hell" (1965)

©2017 Larry Niven (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Classic thoughtful sci fi with a dose of snark

Niven's writing style comes across charmingly witty as it is expertly read by Bronson Pinchot.

Great Stories, Great Essays

This is a collection of short stories and essays by Larry Niven. The stories are all enjoyable and a couple will really make you think. The title story, Inconstant Moon, is particularly touching. It is the essays, however, that really make the collection stand out. Keep in mind that Larry Niven has been a leading hard sf author for decades, so when he decides to write an essay on time travel or on Superman’s ability to have a child with Lois Lane, it is well worth reading.

Good mix of SIFI

This has a very good mix of SIFI topics and some very good short stories mixed in. I enjoyed it as a whole much more then I expected to.

Some gems in here

Great little stories on the hard side of scifi. Surprisingly from the author of Ringworld - not a single alien orgy.

Fun and easy read.

This was a perfect lazy afternoon listen. Each story made me smile at the end. Simple but still interesting.

Odd endings

Many of the stories just seem to end. Man of steel lady of tissue is the best

Satisfying collection of short works

Madness from the Inconstant Moon is a collection of short stories by Larry Niven. Several of the offerings include Hugo and Nebula nominated and award-winning entries. There's a nice range of various concepts, mostly in the physical realm that display Niven's adherence to scientific authenticity as well as his playful side which includes a discussion on the incompatibility of relations between Superman and Lois Lane and raises the likelihood that if Lois were even able to become pregnant, one fetal kick could prove fatal. Also included is a long discussion on the various literary approaches and adjustments for time travel tales.

The narration is quite well done with excellent character distinction and in some cases seems to accurately voice the author himself.

Note: There are a number of individual offerings within the inventory, but this collection appears to aggregate them all. Also, this collection has been previously published with the selections under the title of All the Myriad Ways which is also the title of one of the short stories.

wide variety of story typed

inspired! The stories on Pluto and multiverse and fog are amazing, especially when you understand how long ago they were written.

A Collection of Gems

Larry Niven is a writer I was familiar with before this collection as I had read the first two Ringworld novels. Ringworld was pretty good but I was underwhlemed by the sequel, The Ringworld Engineers, which is probably why it has been years since I've tackled anything of his again. I'm glad that I picked this collection of gems (originally printed as All the Myriad Ways in 1971) to get more acquainted with this sci-fi Grand Master. My favorites of the bunch were:

For a Foggy Night - A story about the parallel universes you can find travelling in the fog.

The Jigsaw Man - Criminals, regardless of the severity of their crimes, are harvested for their organs to allow the societal elite immortality, Hugo Award-nominated.

Not Long Before the End - A warlock discovers a terrible secret: that magic is a natural resource and that it is being depleted! Hugo & Nebula Award-nominated.

Unfinshed Story No. 2 - Only a single sentence but it made me laugh out loud.

Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex - A look at the reproductive drawbacks of being a Kryptonian man on Earth.

What Can You Say About Chocolate-Covered Manhole Covers? - A theorhetical conversation about aliens and "Multiple Edens" at a party becomes all too real.

Also notable is Inconstant Moon, a Hugo Award-winning apocalyptic short story that was adapted into an episode of the Outer Limits TV series in the 1990's.

Probably an excellent work, except Niven sold his

Another author, a decent one at that sold his soul to to the sacrifice of cause and effect. There is certainly a bit of ground noise in probabilities that allow thing to appear intermittently along a probable path, but that does not give the entire “object” permission to appear somewhere else but that path. If everything was everywhere then something would be nowhere.