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Larry Niven

The Draco Tavern Hardcover – January 10, 2006

by Larry Niven (Author)

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When a tremendous spacecraft took orbit around the Earth’s moon and began sending smaller landers down toward the North Pole, the newly arrived visitors quickly set up a permanent spaceport at Mount Forel in Siberia. Their presence attracted many, and a few people grew conspicuously rich from secrets they learned from talking to the aliens. One of these men, Rick Schumann established a tavern catering to all of various species of visiting aliens, a place he named the Draco Tavern.
From the mind of #1 New York Times bestselling author Larry Niven, come twenty-six tales and vignettes from this interplanetary gathering place, collected for the first time in one volume, including:

“The Subject Is Closed”: A priest visits the tavern and goes one-on-one with a chirpsithra alien on the subject of God and life after death.

“Table Mannners: A Folk Tale”: Rick Schumann is invited to hunt with five folk aliens, but he’s not quite sure what their hunt entails, or if he will be the hunted.

“Wisdom of Demons”: The age-old question of wisdom vs. knowledge is asked when Rick is confronted by a human who has been granted the wisdom of an individual gligstith(click)optok alien.

“Losing Mars” in this unpublished tale, a group of aliens who call Mars and its moon home, arrive at the Tavern only to find that humans have mostly forgotten about their neighboring planet.

Join Rick Schummann and his staff as they explore the alien passersby and attempt to chronicle the seemingly infinite alien species that spend a few moments pondering life and all its questions within the Draco Tavern.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Tor Books
Publication date

January 10, 2006
Dimensions

6.36 x 1.08 x 9.4 inches
ISBN-10

0765308630
ISBN-13

978-0765308634
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The cantina scene in Star Wars, as Niven (Ringworld) points out in his introduction, partakes of "a hoary old tradition," as do the 27 Draco Tavern stories in this solid SF collection. Most of the tales, set in the 2030s, are short-shorts, often reading like brilliant, half-whimsical notebook jottings. The inverted city carved out of the ice by ocean-dwelling creatures on Europa in "Playground Earth" could be the basis for a novel. Niven tosses it off in a sentence. Many of the best moments are similar hints: an overheard conversation about how an alien species casually denied humans immortality because the perception of death flavors human poetry ("Limits"). The most startling perspective of all comes from "The Green Marauder," in which a two-billion-year-old creature explains how the Earth was "ruined" by "pollution" long ago. These stories are best taken a few at a time, to savor their inventiveness without noticing the undeveloped characters or that, even for bar stories, there's sometimes too much chatter and not enough action. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Throughout an award-winning 40-year career, Niven has taken time out for brief layovers at his favorite interspecies watering hole, the Draco Tavern. Run by inimitable multimillionaire Rick Schumann in the middle of Siberia, where the enigmatic extraterrestrial Chirpsithra made first contact with humans, the saloon serves as trading post and chat room for aliens from every corner of the galaxy. Here Niven corrals all the Draco Tavern tales into one volume that consequently showcases his ability to use sf to explore mind-boggling, universal questions. In one story, the Chirpsithra reveal knowledge of a species that learned what waits beyond death--but were the resulting mass suicides provoked by discovering heaven, or nothingness? In others, Niven inspects such ultimate conundrums as immortality, extraterrestrial intelligence, and computers that outstrip their creators' cleverness. Most of the 27 stories are short shorts that, taken altogether, radiate Niven's wit and technological inventiveness. A must for Nivenites and just plain good reading for everyone else. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Books; 1st edition (January 10, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0765308630
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0765308634
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.36 x 1.08 x 9.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,639,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7,994 in First Contact Science Fiction (Books)
- #10,117 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction
- #21,132 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
372 ratings

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Larry Niven

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LARRY NIVEN is the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series, along with many other science fiction masterpieces. He lives in Chatsworth, California. JERRY POURNELLE is an essayist, journalist, and science fiction author. He has advanced degrees in psychology, statistics, engineering, and political science. Together Niven and Pournelle are the authors of many New York Times bestsellers including Inferno, The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, and Lucifer's Hammer.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

372 global ratings

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4 star		30%
3 star		9%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Unprofessional baker

Fast delivery. Unique item

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 24, 2023

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Good condition, fast delivery

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Growlor

Finally a Kindle version!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 11, 2022

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I owned a paperback copy of this years ago and just got the Kindle version (so I don't have to dig through my stacks of books to re-read it.) Very happy!
The book itself is great. Lots of interesting topics covered in these short stories.

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James D. DeWitt

Niven Writing to His Strengths

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 12, 2006

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I've been critical of Niven in my reviews of his most recent works. While some of his earlier works are among the very best science fiction, his more recent novels have been disappointing. With the publication of his Draco Tavern short stories, there's a return to his earlier form. Partly because he is writing to his strengths.

These stories span the period 1977-2006. Some of the older stories seem to have been revised a bit for this collection. But the stories illustrate what Niven has always done best: examine strange ideas. Not his limited skills at characterization, or his plotting. He's best at dreaming up ideas and exploring their implications. And his aliens have always been aliens.

Rick Schumann owns the Draco Tavern, and these are his stories. The owner-bartender is the narrative voice, and the adventures mostly, but not exclusively, happen to him. The stories are fairly short - some are very short - and involve the interaction of aliens with humans and with each other. Niven's subjects range from the existence of God to the perils of advanced computing. The last half of the collection focuses on various aspects of terrorism. I have the impression that some of them may have been revised to alter their focus. The refocus is mostly successful. But I wonder why Niven chose to be topical.

Reviewers should keep in mind this is a collection of loosely linked short stories. They were written over a period of nearly thirty years. So they offer only limited continuity, and there are some inconsistencies. But they do not seriously detract. The stories are fun, thought-provoking and offer glimpses of Larry Niven's best writing. Recommended.

54 people found this helpful

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caliopilops

Great collection of shorts with some cool sci-fi ideas

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 9, 2020

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I love sci-fi short stories, and these did not disappoint. There are some great stories in this collection, all taking place in a quaint bar serving all kinds of aliens. They're not perfect but enough of them captured my interest and imagination that I finished this in just a few days. I also must mention that while Larry Niven's human characters can sometimes be a little...lacking, but his alien characters are often quite interesting, and that's shown in this easy to read collection. Most of the stories are pretty light-hearted too, with some nice exceptions.

In particular, I enjoyed: "Assimilating Our Culture, That's What They're Doing!", "The Green Marauder", "Cruel and Unusual" and "Losing Mars."

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Michael Valdivielso

This IS Larry Niven at his best.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 28, 2008

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Aliens. Alien cultures. Alien philology. Alien biology. Alien spaceships. Alien children. Aliens getting drunk. Yes, Mr. Niven knows that aliens are just like you and me. But with more legs, two hearts, four eyes and they sometimes move slower. Still, when I open a sci-fi book I want strange aliens, weird technology and good plots. Plots about God and sex and the universe and everything. And I don't want to wait millions of years for an answer! So the universe gave us Larry Niven. And Nivenites were born.
These stories are about a tavern. A tavern in Siberia where aliens come to drink, chat and, sometimes, cause trouble. 26 stories. Well, 25 plus a play, which explore what it means to be alien. And, in the end, what it means to be human. Lovely stories. Funny stories. Sad stories. Mr. Niven pulls no punches. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it. Pass it on to friends.

One person found this helpful

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Trelligan

Compilation of Niven tales

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 12, 2006

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This collection of tales included some that were new to me, and provided me with a single place to go for that Draco Tavern goodness.

In this fictional universe, Earth was visited by aliens years ago. As a minor planet, we only get a few visits a year, but the passengers have to have somewhere to go. They dock at Pluto, and the place to go there is The Draco Tavern.

Owned and run by a man who got rich with a casual remark by an alien, the Tavern is a place where people (those who can pass the screening and get to Pluto) can meet aliens.

These stories are hard science fiction, concentrating on science that is more or less as known today. Nevertheless, there is a reality to the characters, and most of the plots are driven by the differences between cultures. This gives the stories an appeal to those that don't like 'straight' science fiction.

I like Larry Niven because he brings a humanity and richness to his stories without leaving behind the good old science fiction.

5 people found this helpful

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John M. Ford

Light Comfortable Interruptible Escape

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 26, 2008

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This collection of 27 short stories by Larry Niven is perfect to tuck in the bottom of your computer bag and read while you are waiting for something else to happen. Because the stories are short, straightforward and set in a comfortable and familiar--for Niven fans--setting, you can pop in and out of the book without effort or irritation. For this kind of readability it is nostalgically similar to Isaac Asimov's collections, such as 50 Short Science Fiction Tales and 100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories .

Enough about the format--the content is good, too. A series of interesting bar discussions happen in the Draco Tavern. Because the bar is next to Earth's one alien spaceport, it is constantly full of off-planet visitors, consuming exotic drinks and puzzling over the oddities of human culture. Bartender Rick Schumann offers helpful explanations, mediates disputes and cashes in on the occasional million-dollar idea. Readers profit as well, from Larry Niven's fascinating walk-on cast of alien species and his inexhaustible supply of "big ideas."

This book was a 2008 Christmas present from my 13 year-old daughter, Katie, who spent a week's allowance on it for me. It made my Christmas day, as I was able to pop in and out of it while opening presents, cooking Christmas dinner and juggling friendly interruptions from family and friends. Thanks, Katie--a great choice!

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Marshall Lord

Brings together all Niven's "Spaceport Bar" type stories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 25, 2008

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This enjoyable paperback brings together in one volume all of Niven's "Alien Cantina" type stories describing conversations with aliens in the bar of the Draco Tavern.

The main warning which has to be given is that most of these stories have been previously published elsewhere. If you've previously read most of Niven's other short story collections such as "Limits" you may already have read three quarters of this book - including the short story "Limits" itself. However, the last three or four stories are new - I particularly commend "Losing Mars" which has not previously been published.

The basic premise is that in the near future star travelling aliens make contact with humans, sending shuttles down for R&R stops in Siberia. The Draco Tavern is a bar which is established for them under UN auspices and each of the stories represents a conversation with aliens in that bar.

Niven does not attempt to find a way round the lightspeed limit imposed by the theory of relativity. As in Anderson's classic "Tao Zero", or in Haldeman's "Forever War" universe but even more so, the interstellar travellers who call at the Draco Tavern universe have spent what seems like years and centuries to the rest of the universe travelling at relativistic speed, e.g. velocities close to the speed of light. Because of time dilation these travellers have hardly aged at all during those voyages.

Some of those aliens who have travelled the furthest distances were born literally hundreds of millions of years ago, so far back that their species has significantly evolved in the meantime and they can remember visiting earth millions of years before the dinosaurs.

This gives Niven's characters the opportunity to discuss issues like God, life after death, biological and artificial intelligence, from the viewpoint of sentient beings who have seen large parts of the universe over a very long period of time. His speculations are always entertaining and often thought provoking.

These stories do not have the sweep or power of Niven's "Known Space" novels or the vast panoramic works he wrote jointly with Jerry Pournelle and others. They are short stories - how could they possibly compete with the kind of detailed worldbuilding he puts into his novels? I can't help feeling that some of the other reviewers are damning this book with faint praise for being a short story collection and not a novel.

If I could give this four and a half stars I would it's perhaps not up there with the very best of Niven's writing but it is very good indeed.

6 people found this helpful

Bradley

Brilliant book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

Excellent book. Lots of short stories of a future earth after alien contact. Brilliant ideas, concepts and perspectives. Be careful! You can't just read one.

Richienotrich

Excellent sci-fi stories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

Wonderful, imaginative, but hard sci-fi, ideal basis for a TV series...

Tim the Grey

For Completists...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 16, 2012

Verified Purchase

Niven's Tales of the Draco Tavern are well known among his fans, so a set seemed a good idea. But I suspect some of these are ideas that ALMOST made it, some that he felt SHOULD have made it, and TBH, one or two that really shouldn't have made it.
But it's Niven, so it's always thoughtful, always readable.

Thomas Turnbull

It's the weird place to visit but the stories are good.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great author great book

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