Larry Niven’s latest book, The Draco Tavern, arrested my attention for the same reason most books do…it has a fantastic cover. In this case the cover art is by an artist I have featured on my site previously, Stephan Martiniere. Martiniere’s work has graced a number of science fiction and fantasy book covers lately and his modern techniques remind me so much of the classic science fiction illustrations on books that captured my attention as a child. Each time I see one of his covers I lovingly pick up the book wondering if the story is as good as the cover art. I had less to worry about in the case of Larry Niven. Niven is an award winning author of a series of books centered around a place called Ringworld…and I haven’t read a one. My one and only experience with Larry Niven is an excellent book called A World Out of Time, which has the distiniction of being the first book I ever bought as a kid from a used bookstore and is one I come back to every few years as I enjoy it so much.
The Draco Tavern is a series of short stories, 27 in number, that span the last three decades of Niven’s work. The stories center around, you guessed it, the Draco Tavern. Larry Niven points out in his introduction that the Mos Eisley Spaceport in Star Wars is part of a “hoary old tradition”, one that he felt he could put to use to discuss a number of topics in short story form. The tales told in The Draco Tavern are told by the bartender, Rick Schumann, who built the tavern on Mount Forel in Siberia after the appearance of the first aliens on earth. The stories are set in the 2030’s and Schumann is the only consistent character in each story. The Chirpsithra are a group of aliens who lay claim to having conquered all red dwarf systems in the universe and in discovering Earth they now shuttle various alien entities across the universe to visit this new planet and its race of interesting yet underdeveloped people. Rich Schumann does what any enterprising young man might do, he sets up a bar that serves all comers, maintaining a stock of food and drinkstuffs that defies explanation for an ever-growing number of aliens who defy description.
The Draco Tavern short stories are each individual, self contained tales and yet they build on each other in roughly the same way that episodes of shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation do. There is a definite progression of time and there are things that happen in previous stories that crop up in later tales. Larry Niven is a truly talented writer and this is very evident when you realize that there is almost no deep characterization in these tales and yet you find yourself really liking and connecting with Rick Schumann. As a bartender for the only interspecies tavern on earth Schumann is not only Earth’s ambassador to the alien races but he is the reader’s as well. Through these 27 stories you are allowed to meet any number of interesting alien races seen through the eyes of a man who is very much like you and me. There is not a great deal of action in these stories, they are tales told around the bar, but don’t let the lack of action turn you off, these stories are good. They are also very different. In reading the first two or three stories I was puzzled by how Niven seemed to end each one rather abruptly. I soon got used to this and ended up really enjoying the format, especially as I realized that the connectedness of each story make it read almost like a novel.
If you are a fan of the type of science fiction that does not have to center around explosions and interstellar wars then I really believe you’ll like this set of vignettes into the life of Rich Schumann and his most interesting watering hole. I found myself sadly disappointed when the book ended as I really felt a connection to Schumann and wanted his adventures to continue. Hopefully Larry Niven will revisit this world in future short stories. My only complaint about the book at all is that the last 3 or 4 stories were told out of chronological order (in the order he wrote them instead, I believe) and it felt odd to have them ordered that way as they were the most interconnected of all the short stories. That being said there wasn’t a disappointing story in the bunch and I am so glad that I have finally read my second Larry Niven book. Pull up a chair, order a beverage, and drink in the sights and sounds of the odd, yet somehow familiar, atmosphere of The Draco Tavern.
Great cover. I think I read Ringworld 20 years ago but I can’t remember for sure. Must not have made too much of an impression on me if I had. 🙂 I really don’t enjoy bars though so I don’t think I would get into these stories as much. I know it’s weird but they really put me off. I sound like such a snob.
You may or may not like the stories Jeff but I don’t think the “bar” thing would be what would make you not like them. Considering that taverns, pubs, etc. are such a part of fantasy stories and other things that I know you like (Gaiman’s short stories, the World’s End storyline in Sandman, DS9) I think that you’d find that this is much of the same. The stories aren’t about people being drunk, etc. It is more along the lines of a place like a club for aliens in which the story starts at the counter or at the table and the actual content of each tale is about a different race of people, etc. There’s a little romance thrown in, some sabatoge, some cultural stuff. The stories are much more interesting than my review is, that’s for sure. You might not like the sci fi angle but essentially these are stories that could be told in any genre only the characters in these are a mix of humans and people from other planets.
Most of the human “regulars” are biogists, etc. there to study aliens races, etc. and much of the stories revolve around how the aliens view earth and how the sudden presence of aliens changed the way humans live their lives, etc. The whole bar angle works well because it is the only believable plot device in which a total stranger (alien or human) would walk (or roll, or glide, etc.) up and involve another person so intimately in their lives.
Yes but now you drag biologists into the mix too. I can’t stand them. 🙂 I hear what your saying and I’m sure I would like the stories I just hate that story device. Just my own personal hang up.
No biggie, just didn’t want you to have the wrong idea about the book. Nothing wrong with not liking bars, that’s an okay “hang up” to have. Because of the sparse locale it reminds me of the inn that was “created” in Stardust. Speaking of, I think I need to put all my Gaiman books in hiding. Seems like every time I turn around I am wanting to pick one of them up. I’m really enjoying Anansi Boys the second time around. I’m almost finished reading it to Mary.
And you be nice to those biologists! They need love too, even if its alien love!
HAPPY TUESDAY!
What makes it even more happy is that it is almost Wednesday and I’m off Thurs. and Fri. 🙂
Thank you, thank you for daring to judge a book by it’s cover! You rock.
You’re welcome Miss Jay. I can’t feel to brave though because I generally judge every book by its cover. You may have noticed in my past book reviews the obsessive need to talk about the construction/presentation of the book. Even with books like my recent purchase of Pride and Prejudice (so I could finally say I read it) I was at the bookstore pouring through the copies trying to find a nice, well crafted hardback rather than a cheap, ugly paperback. I’m always disappointed when an author I like gets a book put out and the cover, etc. doesn’t meet my expectations. I’m in the wrong business that is for sure, I should be an art director for a publishing company!!!