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No Exit: The Science-Fantasy Classic
by Larry Niven, Jean Marie Stine
Category: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Description: "No Exit" is the rarest of all Larry Niven stories. Reprinted only once in an obscure British anthology, it has otherwise only been obtainable by those who could afford the high prices charged for older science fiction magazines. Written with Jean Marie Stine, it appeared in the June 1971 issue of Fantastic Stories. The original magazine blurb for the story read in part: "Stine's review here of television's The Prisoner led to the opportunity to write the third book in that series. Niven is a Hugo winner and the author of the recent novel Ringworld. Put them together and you have?" This special Dwarf-Stars digital republication contains a very personal Introduction by Jean Marie Stine discussing the writing of the story and sharing some unique glimpses of Niven as the young author-in-the-making.
eBook Publisher: Renaissance E Books/PageTurner,
eBookwise Release Date: October 2006
 
26 Reader Ratings:
Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [21 KB]
Words: 3289
Reading time: 9-13 min.
NO EXITThe smoke spiraled up from his cigarette, engulfed his head and stung his nose: an acrid, chemical smell. He came back to consciousness and jerked his eyes up from his notebook to the ashtray. The coal was burning the filter. He stabbed it out with a muttered, "Shit." He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, then opened them. Now. He resumed reading, sitting rigid in his armchair, concentrating fiercely on the page of yellow paper in the notebook. He might have been moving his eyes left to right, left to right, over blank paper. After finishing the first sentence he looked up and tried to visualize what he had read. Impossible. His recalcitrant memory would show him only one thing: The spiral. He slammed the book shut and started to throw it at a wall. Instead he got up, set the book aside and began pacing the room. His feet shook the floor as they fell. Down to the window by his littered desk, a pause to stare out at the barbershop across the street, back past the couch and reading lamp to the table with the record player. Halfway through a turn he gave it up and went into the kitchen to make lunch.
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