Ringworld Prequels

Ringworld was one of my first favorite sci fi novels. Now Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner have written a prequel Fleet of Worlds.

In Ringworld, adventurers catch a fascinating glimpse of several alien worlds in flight, but they don't actually see any of the aliens, Lerner said in an interview. "Fleet of Worlds explores—as history in the making—the awful secrets the aliens are later so desperate to keep hidden," he said.

As Fleet of Worlds begins, the alien species known as Pierson's Puppeteers are beginning their acceleration toward the edge of "Known Space," Niven said. "A human colony exists on one of the farming worlds," he said. "Members of that community, exploring alien space ahead of the fleet, are only just learning of an ancient crime the Puppeteers committed against them."

Lerner came up with the notion of writing around the events of "Known Space" as Niven laid them out over the past 35 years. "It sounded something like writing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead around and between the events in Hamlet, and that's the way it turned out," Niven said. "We kept ducking back and forth between the fleet and human space."

They've already finished the sequel, Juggler of Worlds.