The Borderland of Sol

"The Borderland of Sol" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Larry Niven. It is the fifth in the Known Space series of stories about crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer. The story was originally published in Analog, January 1975, printed in the collection Tales of Known Space, Niven, Del Ray, reissued 1985 (ISBN 978-0-345-33469-5), and reprinted in Crashlander, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp. 160–207 (ISBN 978-0-345-38168-2). The story won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1976 and was nominated for the Locus Poll Award for Best Novelette in 1976. It is one of the earliest works of fiction to feature a black hole. Segments of the novel Fleet of Worlds serve as a prequel to the story.