Following production of "The Slaver Weapon", Niven returned to his Known Space concept and began to expand it. "The Borderland of Sol" was developed from his original pitch for "The Animated Series" and was first published in "Analog" magazine in January 1975, and republished in the collection "Tales of Known Space" in the same year. It was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1976, and republished as part of the novel "Crashlander" in 1994. Niven later wrote a storyline in the syndicated "Star Trek" newspaper comic strip entitled "The Wristwatch Plantation", which re-introduced the Kzinti to that universe once more.