In the mid-1980s, Kingsbury, a regular collaborator with the publishing house "Bayen Books", was involved in work on the inter-author project "Man-Kzin Wars" ("Man-Kzin Wars"), created on the basis of Larry Niven's "Mastered" series. space" (“Kpown Space”) and dedicated to the protracted conflict between humanity and the kzinti race. Having become interested, Kingsbury published a whole “guide” to this world and wrote two stories. Below is one of them, "Cast Away" (1991), which John Clute called one of the best science fiction works of the year. The story takes place during the long stellar confrontation between humans and kzinti - a classic scenario for space opera, but this time the protagonist becomes a coward. This unexpected move adds originality to the story.