Flatlander
	Release Date: 1995-05-01
	Amazon Price: $7.99 (% off the list price of $7.99) Sales Rank: 254029
	Lowest Prices from Amazon Merchants: New $3.83 Used $1.85

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Average Customer Rating: (16 reviews)

Reviews from Amazon customers:

Review by: Arthur W. Jordin, Smyrna, GA USA
Rating:
Future Mysteries
Flatlander (1995) is a collections of five SF stories in the Known Space series. It incorporates the three stories in The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton (1976), a short novel -- The Patchwork Girl (1980) -- and another short story original to this volume. It also includes an Afterword. <br /> <br />Gil Hamilton was a native of Earth, but migrated to the Belt. For six years, he was a crewman on a three-man prospecting ship. Then they had an accident and one crewman was killed. Gil lost his right arm, but found that his mind was able to project an imaginary arm that could pick up small objects and reach through walls and phone screens. <br /> <br />Gil returned to Earth to receive a transplant for the missing arm. His imaginary arm did not disappear after the operation. He joined the Amalgation of Regional Milita (ARM) -- the UN police -- and spent most of his time pursuing organleggers. <br /> <br /> - "Death by Ecstasy" (Galaxy, 1968, as "The Organleggers") brings a former comrade of Gil to Earth, only to die from a electric tap into his pleasure center. <br /> <br /> - "The Defenseless Dead" (TLAoGH, 1973) has Gil searching for organleggers behind a new bill to salvage the parts of a few hundred thousand corpsicles. <br /> <br /> - "ARM" (TLAoGH, 1975) involves Gil in a murder associated with a machine that accelerates time. <br /> <br /> - "Patchwork Girl" (novel, 1980) takes Gil to Luna for a legal conference and involves him in the investigation of an attempted murder. <br /> <br /> - "The Woman in Del Rey Crater" (original, 1995) has Gil checking out a spacesuit found in a highly radiactive crater on Luna. <br /> <br /> - Afterword describes the author's experiences writing the first three tales and the subsequent updates provided by readers. <br /> <br />The title of this book has been a problem, since "Flatlander" (If, 1967) is another -- but unrelated -- story in the Known Space series. The works within this volume are the only Gil Hamilton stories to date. Each is a puzzle of some sort, as are many other tales written by the author. <br /> <br />Recommended for Niven fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of future detectives, advanced technology, and persevering heroes. <br /> <br />-Arthur W. Jordin

Review by: Doc Katz, Tennessee USA
Rating:
Short Changed
I bought the kindle version and to my surprise it was not the book I had read years ago. I estimate the kindle version is only 50 pages long, vs 350+ as advertised. What happened to the rest of the book?? I hope Amazon corrects this problem. <br />I gave it 3 stars because what I have of the story was a good story, so if you don't mind getting short changed then buy it, otherwise let's hope the rest of the book will make it to the kindle.

Review by: Robert Giesecke, Munich, Germany
Rating:
Only the Beowulf Schaefer short, *Not* the real book
This is not the book, even though Amazon claims it to be (the cover, page count, etc) <br />It is a cool, yet very short, story, but not a full eBook.

Review by: JBPink, Sacramento USA
Rating:
Anyone notice that the cover used the WRONG arm?
I really enjoyed the first three stories. For me, it was some of the best I've read. I pull them out ever couple of years and read & enjoy them all over again. So: Five stars for the first three stories. The first "on the moon" story has so many characters coming in and out that I had to take notes to keep track of who was who, etc. Although there is definitely a falling off on the last two, but that is basically in comparison to how well the first three were written. 3 starts for the last 2, thus 4 overall. Gil "The Arm" Hamilton is one of my favorite characters & I wish there were more stories. I also think it'd be fun to rewrite the stories using DNA to see how different they could be. I hope everyone noticed that the cover is using the wrong arm as Gil's imaginary arm. Wow, how could they blow that? Must have been the same PR dept that put on Planet of the Apes movie poster the final "surprise & shocking" ending of the movie. Larry, give us more "Gil". Please.

Review by: Norman Strojny, western desert of Utah
Rating:
Very Good SF
"Flatlander" is a collection of short stories about Gil Hamilton, a detective who lives in our future. Yep, it is darn hard to find good SF mystery stories and Niven does a very good job here. Some of the hard SF gimmicks are really good! <br /> <br />I enjoyed reading it. I suggest that you buy it.