The Descent of Anansi

Larry Niven (Laurence van Cott Niven) is an American science fiction author. He was born 1938. His best known novel is Ringworld (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar and Nebula awards.

Steven Barnes (born 1952) is an African-American science fiction writer, lecturer, creative consultant, and human performance technician.

He has written several episodes of The Outer Limits and Baywatch. He has also written the episode "Brief Candle" for Stargate SG-1 and the Andromeda episode "The Sum of Its Parts". Barnes's first published piece of fiction, the 1979 novelette The Locusts, was written with Larry Niven, and was a Hugo Award nominee.