Hardboiled Niven

YOU might know Larry Niven from his science fiction (some of the hardest out there), but he has also produced engrossing stories of the hardboiled crime fiction persuasion. Here are two, the first one a suspenser that would have made a fine Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode back in the '50s, and the other—well, we're not sure how to categorize it:

   "You're crazy—crazy!"

"The Deadlier Weapon."

By Larry Niven (born 1938; Wikipedia HERE; ISFDb HERE).

First appearance: EQMM, June 1968.

Collected in The Best of Larry Niven (2010; WARNING! SPOILERS! in linked stories, Wikipedia HERE).

Other reprints (ISFDb HERE).

Short short story (8 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 91.)

(Note: Text very faded but legible.)

   "The concrete came at me."

ORDINARY PEOPLE who've been traumatized often express amazement afterwards at what they managed to accomplish in possibly the worst situation they've ever lived through. A good example would be the man in today's story who suddenly finds a knife pressed to his throat . . .

Main characters:

~ The driver ("Two drinks and I began to giggle"), the hitchhiker ("So you didn't have the guts!"), the desk sergeant ("I'd surprised him"), and the girl ("What kind of trouble?").

References:

- "the Santa Monica Freeway":

  "The Santa Monica Freeway is the westernmost segment of I-10, beginning at the east end of the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica and ending southeast of Downtown Los Angeles at the East Los Angeles Interchange." (Wikipedia HERE and PBSSoCal HERE.)

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  "Are you thinking of killing me?"

"16,940.00."

By Larry Niven (born 1938).

First appearance: AHMM, February 1974.

Reprinted in Alfred Hitchcock's Anthology #23, Spring/Summer 1987 (a.k.a. Alfred Hitchcock's A Brief Darkness, 1988).

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short short short story (4 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 131).

(Parental caution: Strong language.)

   "When one is handed an ace in the hole, the game may take a new turn."

DON'T look now, but your corruption is showing . . .

Main characters:

~ "Kelsey" ("I need sixteen thousand, nine hundred and forty dollars"), Carson ("That's 

a funny number"), and "Horatio" ("Do you know what the statute of limitations is for embezzlement?").

References and resources:

- "The best made plans of mice and men":

  Often quoted without knowing where the phrase got its start (HERE):

   "But Mouse, you are not alone,

   "In proving foresight may be vain:

   "The best-laid schemes of mice and men

   "Go oft awry,

   "And leave us nothing but grief and pain,

   "For promised joy!"

- "The Biter Bit bit":

  A durable idiomatic expression, "the biter bit" (see The Free Dictionary HERE); Wilkie Collins used it in the title of a story (see Project Gutenberg HERE).

From a 1914 newspaper report.

- "Murder Incorporated":

  By 1974 the term had become generalized to mean any assassin, but it originally had a narrower meaning, most often being associated with a mobster appropriately nicknamed "Bugsy":

  "Following Maranzano's death, Luciano and Lansky formed the National Crime Syndicate, an organization of crime families that brought power to the underworld. The Commission was established for dividing Mafia territories and preventing future gang wars. With his associates, Siegel formed Murder, Inc. After he and Lansky moved on, control over Murder, Inc. was ceded to Buchalter and Anastasia, although Siegel continued working as a hitman." (Wikipedia HERE). There was even a comic book series with the same title. (Comic Book Plus HERE).

- Larry Niven, in his usual role of science fiction author, is no stranger to this venue: "The Soft Weapon" (HERE and HERE), "How the Heroes Die" (HERE), "Dry Run" (HERE), "The Meddler" (HERE), "The Alibi Machine" (HERE), and "The Hole Man" (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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