This is a collection of six linked stories written over the course of Niven's long career.

Phil Ainsworth, a man trying to come to terms with the death of his wife, is plagued by the thought that he might be going out of his mind. When his sister suddenly dies and he suddenly finds himself named as the guardian of Betsy, her 10-year-old daughter, Phil is unsure if he is mentally capable of looking after her. Betsy has her own misgivings about moving in with Uncle Phil--she knows that his house is haunted.

Robert Sullivan links the behavior and population migration of rats to the urban lifestyle in general, and to life in New York in particular. Sullivan suggests that the history of rats and rat lore form a kind of shadow history of the city. Various musings about rats and their relationship with and similarity to humans are intermingled with scientific rat facts, interviews with exterminators, and nightly observations of the often-maligned rodents in a dirty alley in lower Manhattan.

A nonfiction account of the death of Christopher Marlowe.

It seems like nothing can save the animals holed up in Redwall Abbey from the siege of the evil one-eyed rat Cluny and his wicked band. Matthias, a young novice at the Abbey, vows to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior, founder of the Abbey, and use it against Cluny. On his quest to find the sword, Matthias befriends many animals, and these friendships, along with the sword, help Matthias triumph over the evil Cluny and bring peace to the Abbey.

As this popularly acclaimed, internationally best-selling sequel to THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY opens, the hapless Earthman Arthur Dent has just escaped certain death on the planet Magrathea. He now faces certain death from a Vogon spaceship, unless the ghost of ex-Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox's grandfather can lend a spectral helping hand. As he must, because Zaphod must fulfill a mission he's totally forgotten about--to search for the man who truly rules the universe. Naturally, there's time for everyone to stop for a bite to eat at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe first....In general, these first two books--THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY and this volume--are considered to be the definitive books in the HITCHHIKER'S series. Part of the reason why this is so may be because these first two books follow to a significant degree the plotline of the BBC radio series that inspired them, although the events are somewhat rearranged and some additional incidents added. The subsequent books take the story in an entirely new direction, far past the timeline of the radio series.

What is considered to be the most important fantasy epic of the 20th century roars to a close in this third and final volume of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The armies of the West mass for their final assault upon the forces of Sauron, but they have little hope of prevailing against the Dark Lord. All depends on whether the Ring-bearer Frodo will complete his quest, and destroy Sauron's Ring of Power in the fires of Mount Doom. But Frodo is imprisoned in the dungeons of Mordor. Are the quest--and Middle-earth--doomed? There are very few fantasy writers who can claim to be as detailed a world-builder as Tolkien was, and that comes to the fore in this book, as it contains over one hundred pages of appendices concerning the history, cultures, and languages of the peoples of Middle-earth, including the ultimate destinies of most of the main characters in the story.

Thousands of users become trapped in a virtual reality game when Tokyo is caught in the Mega-Quake.