World of Ptavvs Add a review

World of Ptavvs is the first novel by American science fiction writer Larry Niven, published in 1966 and set in his Known Space universe. A “much shorter version” was originally published as a novella in Worlds of Tomorrow in March 1965. The plot is largely unchanged, but most of the Belter narration is new, as is the date of the action, 2106. The original title for the novella submitted to editor Frederik Pohl was “Relic of Empire”; Judy-Lynn Benjamin (later Del Rey) renamed it “World of Ptavvs.” Pohl sent it to Ballantine Books, suggesting it could become a novel, where it was purchased by Betty Ballantine. Niven later recycled his original title for the novelette “A Relic of the Empire” published in If, December 1966.