Larry Niven

As the great Hamner-Brown comet, dubbed Lucifer's Hammer by the press, approaches Earth, various business executives, politicians, criminals, journalists, and scientists await the impending cataclysm and its general and personal effects with decidedly differing feelings.

With the help of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, science fiction writer Allen Carpentier once escaped from the confines Hell, but remained haunted by what he saw and endured. Now he has returned, partnered with the poet Sylvia Plath, to make the nightmarish journey through the nine circles of Dante's Hell on a quest to harrow Hell and liberate as many tortured souls as possible.

In the free-fall environment of the Smoke Ring, descendants of the crew of the Discipline no longer remember their Earth roots or the existence of Sharls Davis Kendy, the computer-program despot of the ship--until Kendy initiates contact once more. Fourteen years later, only Jeffer, the Citizens Tree Scientist, knows that Kendy is still watching and waiting. Then, when the Citizens Tree people rescue a family of loggers, they learn for the first time...

They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star.

Offered a dream job escorting a teenage heir on a fabulous moon role-playing vacation, Scotty Griffin, a personal security specialist, becomes embroiled in a violent reality game involving armed terrorists, psychological tests, and a large audience.

A collection of Larry Niven's most eclectic work into one captivating volume. It includes hand selected excerpts from his novels, including Escape from hell and the Fleet of Worlds series, as well as numerous short stories, nonfiction articles, collaborations, and correspondence.

Two humans and two aliens, who are traveling to distant reaches of space to prevent a future catastrophe, crash on a ringworld apparently created by superior technologies.