Larry Niven (author of “Ringworld” etc.) was once quoted to me as saying, “The best advice I ever got was from my father on my 21st birthday. He said, ‘Here’s $5 million. Try not to lose any of it.’”
Is this more or less true? Did Niven inherit a lot of cash?
I haven’t heard the story, but I’ve also heard that he inherited a boodle of money. I have no source for this at all.
Fenris
Niven did live off of a trust fund in the early years. His grandfather was the founder of Union Oil (I hope the link I provided works). I don’t know if the trust fund was worth $5 mil, however.
The man’s name was (I think Edward) Doheny, and Niven pays a passing tribute to him in the epilogue to The Burning City.
He’s mentioned in a couple of places learning the trade of writing publishable science fiction by living off the trust fund while he was writing slush-pile rejects until he finally “clicked.” One of the two volumes of retrospective with new material published for his anniversary as a writer a couple of years ago is my source. (N-Space and Playgrounds of the Mind*)
He has mentioned several times (no cites, sorry, I suck) that he didn’t have the usual battle with starvation vs. getting published that so many authors due, and the fact that his mother did dog breeding as a hobby would tend to indicate a certain amount of disposable income.