Larry Niven’s Convergent Series
Larry Niven is more of a pocket universe in geek literature than a strong force of undeniable magnitude the likes of Arthur C. Clarke or even Robert Heinlein. If it weren’t for a friend casually mentioning the man’s Ringworld series, I never would have taken note of him. And I would have been a lesser man for it.
See, I don’t think I’ve ever read more refreshing fiction than this guy’s fiction. Sure, you could say that it borders on somewhat hardcore sci-fi - as evidenced in the titular story in Convergent Series - but Niven’s enjoyable prose that’s funny and witty at times, as opposed to most of the other available sci-fi writers, who tend to overdo the science in their fiction (Clarke, for all his genius, is a dry storyteller).
I’ll write a review of some of the stories next time, since I still have to reread some of the old stories. But Niven’s introduction to the short story collection as a solution to a moral problem that instantly involves the reader is audacious, cheeky - and is probably one of the best first lines from a book I’ve ever read:
" . . . This book is my solution to a moral dilemma. If you’ve opened this book, you’re already involved, and I suppose you’d better hear about it. . . "
As to what that moral dilemma is - that’s a story for another day.