Flatlander (Niven)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flatlander is a term used in Larry Niven's Known Space series, initially to describe one who has never left Earth. In later stories, it is apparently expanded to refer to anyone who has never traveled off their native world (but not for one who was born in a colony or space station, and never left it). The term comes from the fact that, from the surface, a planet seems flat. Other SF writers have subsequently adapted the term for their own use.
The short story "Flatlander" was part of Nivens' collection Neutron Star. It tells of semi-cautious pilot Beowulf Shaeffer and his reckless friend Gregory Pelton.
Flatlander (ISBN 0-345-39480-1) is also a 1995 collection of stories by Niven, all set in Known Space. It is the definitive collection of all stories by Niven about ARM agent Gil Hamilton.
The book includes the stories Death by Ecstasy (formerly The Organleggers), The Defenseless Dead, ARM, The Patchwork Girl, and The Woman in Del Rey Crater—the only previously unpublished story in the collection.
The collection is essentially a replacement for a 1976 collection called The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton (ISBN 0-345-30050-5) which contained only the first three stories. The Patchwork Girl was also published alone as a novel in 1986 (ISBN 0-441-65315-4).
