Vernor Vinge
Encyclopedia
Vernor Steffen Vinge is a retired San Diego State University (SDSU)
Professor
of Mathematics
, computer scientist
, and science fiction
author. He is best known for his Hugo Award
-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep
(1992), A Deepness in the Sky
(1999), Rainbows End
(2006), Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002) and The Cookie Monster
(2004), as well as for his 1984 novel The Peace War
and his 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity
", in which he argues that the creation of superhuman
artificial intelligence
will mark the point at which "the human era will be ended," such that no current models of reality are sufficient to predict beyond it.
", in the March 1966 issue of Analog Science Fiction, then edited by John W. Campbell
. The story explores the theme of artificially augmented intelligence by connecting the brain directly to computerised data sources. He became a moderately prolific contributor to SF magazines in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1969, he expanded the story "Grimm's Story" (Orbit 4, 1968) into his first novel, Grimm's World
. His second novel, The Witling
, was published in 1975.
Vinge came to prominence in 1981 with his novella True Names
, perhaps the first story to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace
, which would later be central to cyberpunk
stories by William Gibson
, Neal Stephenson
and others.
His next two novels, The Peace War
(1984) and Marooned in Realtime
(1986), explore the spread of a future libertarian society, and deal with the impact of a technology which can create impenetrable force fields called 'bobble
s'. These books built Vinge's reputation as an author who would explore ideas to their logical conclusions in particularly inventive ways. Both books were nominated for the Hugo Award
, but lost to novels by William Gibson
and Orson Scott Card
.
These two novels and True Names also emphasized Vinge's interest in the technological singularity
. True Names takes place in a world on the cusp of the Singularity. The Peace War shows a world in which the Singularity has been postponed by the Bobbles and a global plague, while Marooned in Realtime follows a small group of people who have managed to miss the Singularity which otherwise encompassed Earth.
Vinge won the Hugo Award (tying for Best Novel with Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
) with his 1992 novel, A Fire Upon the Deep
.
In it, he envisions a galaxy that is divided up into 'zones of thought', in which the further one moves away from the center of the galaxy, the higher the level of complexity one can achieve. Nearest the center is 'The Unthinking Depths', where even human-level intelligence is impossible. Earth is in 'The Slow Zone', in which faster-than-light
(FTL) travel cannot be achieved. Most of the book, however, takes place in a zone called 'The Beyond', where the computations necessary for FTL travel are possible, but transcendence beyond the Singularity to superhuman intelligence is not. In the last zone, 'The Transcend', there are apparently no limitations at all. The Beyond, therefore, permits a classic space opera
, using technology that would push past the Singularity. Fire includes a large number of additional ideas making for an unusually complex and rich universe and story.
A Deepness in the Sky
(1999) was a prequel
to Fire, following competing groups of humans in The Slow Zone as they struggle over who has the rights to exploit a technologically emerging alien culture. In addition, Deepness explores the themes of technological freedom vs. technology as a tool of enslavement and control, among other deep political issues. Deepness won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2000.
Vinge's novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High and The Cookie Monster
also won Hugo Awards in 2002 and 2004, respectively.
Vinge's 2006 novel, Rainbows End
, set in a similar universe to Fast Times at Fairmont High, won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
His next novel was released in October 2011. The Children of the Sky
is a sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep
, set approximately 10 years later.
Vinge retired in 2000 from teaching at San Diego State University
, in order to write full-time. Most years, since its inception in 1999, Vinge has been on the Free Software Foundation
's selection committee for their Award for the Advancement of Free Software. Vernor Vinge was Writer Guest of Honor at ConJosé, the 60th World Science Fiction Convention
in 2002.
Vinge was formerly married to Joan D. Vinge
, also an accomplished science fiction author.
and technological singularity
inform much of Vinge's writing, whether his stories embrace them (Bookworm, Run!; True Names; Rainbows End) or construct worlds to specifically explain the non-existence of these phenomena (A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky).
A pro-market/anarchocapitalist
theme can be seen in other works, either explicitly (The Ungoverned, Marooned in Realtime) or more quietly (the confrontation between the Emergents and the Qeng Ho in A Deepness in the Sky).
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, computer scientist
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author. He is best known for his Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, a space opera involving superhuman intelligences, aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and a conversation medium resembling Usenet...
(1992), A Deepness in the Sky
A Deepness in the Sky
A Deepness in the Sky is a Hugo Award–winning science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. Published in 1999, the novel is a loose prequel to his earlier novel A Fire Upon the Deep...
(1999), Rainbows End
Rainbows End
Rainbows End is a 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. It was awarded the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book is set in San Diego, California, in 2025, in a variation of the fictional world Vinge explored in his 2002 Hugo-winning novella "Fast Times at Fairmont High" and 2004's...
(2006), Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002) and The Cookie Monster
The Cookie Monster (novella)
The Cookie Monster is a short story/novella by Vernor Vinge. It was first published in the October 2003 issue of Dell Magazines' anthology publication Analog, and has subsequently been collected in several science fiction anthology collections...
(2004), as well as for his 1984 novel The Peace War
The Peace War
The Peace War is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about authoritarianism and technological progress. It was first published as a serial in Analog in 1984, and then appeared in book form shortly afterward. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985...
and his 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity
Technological singularity
Technological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as...
", in which he argues that the creation of superhuman
Strong AI
Strong AI is artificial intelligence that matches or exceeds human intelligence — the intelligence of a machine that can successfully perform any intellectual task that a human being can. It is a primary goal of artificial intelligence research and an important topic for science fiction writers and...
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
will mark the point at which "the human era will be ended," such that no current models of reality are sufficient to predict beyond it.
Life and work
Vinge published his first short story, "Bookworm, Run!Bookworm, Run!
"Bookworm, Run!" is a science fiction short story written by Vernor Vinge; it is Vinge's second published work of fiction. It appeared in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact in 1966, and was reprinted in True Names.....
", in the March 1966 issue of Analog Science Fiction, then edited by John W. Campbell
John W. Campbell
John Wood Campbell, Jr. was an influential figure in American science fiction. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction , from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.Isaac Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in...
. The story explores the theme of artificially augmented intelligence by connecting the brain directly to computerised data sources. He became a moderately prolific contributor to SF magazines in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1969, he expanded the story "Grimm's Story" (Orbit 4, 1968) into his first novel, Grimm's World
Grimm's World
- Background :In 1968, Damon Knight published Vinge's novella "Grimm's Story" as part of Orbit 4. Knight told Vinge that if he expanded the novella to book-length, then he would get Vinge a contract with Berkley Books, where Knight worked as a science fiction editor. Vinge wrote an extension, and...
. His second novel, The Witling
The Witling
The Witling is a 1976 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge, about a planet populated by a race of nearly-human aliens who have the ability to teleport with their minds...
, was published in 1975.
Vinge came to prominence in 1981 with his novella True Names
True Names
True Names is the science fiction novella which brought Vernor Vinge to prominence in 1981. It is one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to stories in the cyberpunk genre. Because of this, it is often referenced as a seminal...
, perhaps the first story to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
, which would later be central to cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
stories by William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
, Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction.Difficult to categorize, his novels have been variously referred to as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk...
and others.
His next two novels, The Peace War
The Peace War
The Peace War is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about authoritarianism and technological progress. It was first published as a serial in Analog in 1984, and then appeared in book form shortly afterward. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985...
(1984) and Marooned in Realtime
Marooned in Realtime
Marooned in Realtime is a 1986 murder mystery and time-travel science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about a small, time-displaced group of people who may be the only survivors of a technological singularity or alien invasion. It is the sequel to The Peace War and "The Ungoverned"...
(1986), explore the spread of a future libertarian society, and deal with the impact of a technology which can create impenetrable force fields called 'bobble
Stasis (fiction)
Stasis , or hypersleep, is a science fiction concept akin to suspended animation. Whereas suspended animation usually refers to a greatly reduced state of life processes, stasis implies a complete cessation of these processes, which can be easily restarted or restart spontaneously when stasis is...
s'. These books built Vinge's reputation as an author who would explore ideas to their logical conclusions in particularly inventive ways. Both books were nominated for the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
, but lost to novels by William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
and Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
.
These two novels and True Names also emphasized Vinge's interest in the technological singularity
Technological singularity
Technological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as...
. True Names takes place in a world on the cusp of the Singularity. The Peace War shows a world in which the Singularity has been postponed by the Bobbles and a global plague, while Marooned in Realtime follows a small group of people who have managed to miss the Singularity which otherwise encompassed Earth.
Vinge won the Hugo Award (tying for Best Novel with Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Connie Willis
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear...
) with his 1992 novel, A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, a space opera involving superhuman intelligences, aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and a conversation medium resembling Usenet...
.
In it, he envisions a galaxy that is divided up into 'zones of thought', in which the further one moves away from the center of the galaxy, the higher the level of complexity one can achieve. Nearest the center is 'The Unthinking Depths', where even human-level intelligence is impossible. Earth is in 'The Slow Zone', in which faster-than-light
Faster-than-light
Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
(FTL) travel cannot be achieved. Most of the book, however, takes place in a zone called 'The Beyond', where the computations necessary for FTL travel are possible, but transcendence beyond the Singularity to superhuman intelligence is not. In the last zone, 'The Transcend', there are apparently no limitations at all. The Beyond, therefore, permits a classic space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
, using technology that would push past the Singularity. Fire includes a large number of additional ideas making for an unusually complex and rich universe and story.
A Deepness in the Sky
A Deepness in the Sky
A Deepness in the Sky is a Hugo Award–winning science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. Published in 1999, the novel is a loose prequel to his earlier novel A Fire Upon the Deep...
(1999) was a prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
to Fire, following competing groups of humans in The Slow Zone as they struggle over who has the rights to exploit a technologically emerging alien culture. In addition, Deepness explores the themes of technological freedom vs. technology as a tool of enslavement and control, among other deep political issues. Deepness won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2000.
Vinge's novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High and The Cookie Monster
The Cookie Monster (novella)
The Cookie Monster is a short story/novella by Vernor Vinge. It was first published in the October 2003 issue of Dell Magazines' anthology publication Analog, and has subsequently been collected in several science fiction anthology collections...
also won Hugo Awards in 2002 and 2004, respectively.
Vinge's 2006 novel, Rainbows End
Rainbows End
Rainbows End is a 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. It was awarded the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book is set in San Diego, California, in 2025, in a variation of the fictional world Vinge explored in his 2002 Hugo-winning novella "Fast Times at Fairmont High" and 2004's...
, set in a similar universe to Fast Times at Fairmont High, won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
His next novel was released in October 2011. The Children of the Sky
Children of the Sky
The Children of the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge. It is a direct sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep and shares the Zones of Thought universe with A Deepness in the Sky. Unlike A Fire Upon the Deep, the novel is set completely on the Tines' world.-Plot:Two years pass...
is a sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, a space opera involving superhuman intelligences, aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and a conversation medium resembling Usenet...
, set approximately 10 years later.
Vinge retired in 2000 from teaching at San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
, in order to write full-time. Most years, since its inception in 1999, Vinge has been on the Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
's selection committee for their Award for the Advancement of Free Software. Vernor Vinge was Writer Guest of Honor at ConJosé, the 60th World Science Fiction Convention
Worldcon
Worldcon, or more formally The World Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention held each year since 1939 . It is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society...
in 2002.
Vinge was formerly married to Joan D. Vinge
Joan D. Vinge
Joan D. Vinge is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.-Biography:...
, also an accomplished science fiction author.
Themes
The concepts of artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and technological singularity
Technological singularity
Technological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as...
inform much of Vinge's writing, whether his stories embrace them (Bookworm, Run!; True Names; Rainbows End) or construct worlds to specifically explain the non-existence of these phenomena (A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky).
A pro-market/anarchocapitalist
Anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism is a libertarian and individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state in favour of individual sovereignty in a free market...
theme can be seen in other works, either explicitly (The Ungoverned, Marooned in Realtime) or more quietly (the confrontation between the Emergents and the Qeng Ho in A Deepness in the Sky).
Novels
- Grimm's WorldGrimm's World- Background :In 1968, Damon Knight published Vinge's novella "Grimm's Story" as part of Orbit 4. Knight told Vinge that if he expanded the novella to book-length, then he would get Vinge a contract with Berkley Books, where Knight worked as a science fiction editor. Vinge wrote an extension, and...
(1969), revised as Tatja Grimm's WorldTatja Grimm's World- Background :Eighteen years after the publication of Grimm's World, Jim Baen of Baen Books offered to reprint the novel. Vinge revised the original text of Grimm's World and added a new beginning. The plotline now begins with "The Barbarian Princess", a short story originally published in 1986 in...
(1987) - The WitlingThe WitlingThe Witling is a 1976 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge, about a planet populated by a race of nearly-human aliens who have the ability to teleport with their minds...
(1976) - Rainbows EndRainbows EndRainbows End is a 2006 science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. It was awarded the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book is set in San Diego, California, in 2025, in a variation of the fictional world Vinge explored in his 2002 Hugo-winning novella "Fast Times at Fairmont High" and 2004's...
ISBN 0-312-85684-9 (2006) — Hugo and Locus SF Awards winner, 2007; Campbell Award nominee, 2007
Realtime/Bobble series
- The Peace WarThe Peace WarThe Peace War is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about authoritarianism and technological progress. It was first published as a serial in Analog in 1984, and then appeared in book form shortly afterward. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985...
(1984) — Hugo Award nominee, 1985 - Marooned in RealtimeMarooned in RealtimeMarooned in Realtime is a 1986 murder mystery and time-travel science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about a small, time-displaced group of people who may be the only survivors of a technological singularity or alien invasion. It is the sequel to The Peace War and "The Ungoverned"...
(1986) — Prometheus AwardPrometheus AwardThe Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...
winner, Hugo Award nominee, 1987- (The Peace WarThe Peace WarThe Peace War is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about authoritarianism and technological progress. It was first published as a serial in Analog in 1984, and then appeared in book form shortly afterward. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985...
and Marooned in RealtimeMarooned in RealtimeMarooned in Realtime is a 1986 murder mystery and time-travel science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about a small, time-displaced group of people who may be the only survivors of a technological singularity or alien invasion. It is the sequel to The Peace War and "The Ungoverned"...
were collected as Across Realtime in 1986.)
- (The Peace War
Zones of Thought series
- A Fire Upon the DeepA Fire Upon the DeepA Fire Upon the Deep is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, a space opera involving superhuman intelligences, aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and a conversation medium resembling Usenet...
(1992) — Nebula Award nominee, 1992; Hugo Award winner, 1993; Campbell and Locus SF Awards nominee, 1993 - A Deepness in the SkyA Deepness in the SkyA Deepness in the Sky is a Hugo Award–winning science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge. Published in 1999, the novel is a loose prequel to his earlier novel A Fire Upon the Deep...
(1999) — Nebula Award nominee, 1999; Hugo, Campbell, and Prometheus Awards winner, 2000; Clarke and Locus SF Awards nominee, 2000 - Children Of The SkyChildren of the SkyThe Children of the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge. It is a direct sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep and shares the Zones of Thought universe with A Deepness in the Sky. Unlike A Fire Upon the Deep, the novel is set completely on the Tines' world.-Plot:Two years pass...
(October 2011)
Collections
- Across Realtime (1986) ISBN 0-671-72098-8
- The Peace WarThe Peace WarThe Peace War is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about authoritarianism and technological progress. It was first published as a serial in Analog in 1984, and then appeared in book form shortly afterward. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985...
- "The UngovernedThe UngovernedThe Ungoverned is a 1985 science fiction novella by Vernor Vinge, set between his novels The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime. It was first published in Far Frontiers, Volume III, first collected in True Names and Other Dangers, and later published in the 1991 edition of the omnibus Across...
" (1985 novella) (in no edition of Across Realtime except the 1991 Baen edition) - Marooned in RealtimeMarooned in RealtimeMarooned in Realtime is a 1986 murder mystery and time-travel science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about a small, time-displaced group of people who may be the only survivors of a technological singularity or alien invasion. It is the sequel to The Peace War and "The Ungoverned"...
- The Peace War
- True Names ... and Other Dangers (1987) ISBN 0-671-65363-6
- "Bookworm, Run!Bookworm, Run!"Bookworm, Run!" is a science fiction short story written by Vernor Vinge; it is Vinge's second published work of fiction. It appeared in Analog Science Fiction Science Fact in 1966, and was reprinted in True Names.....
" - "True NamesTrue NamesTrue Names is the science fiction novella which brought Vernor Vinge to prominence in 1981. It is one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to stories in the cyberpunk genre. Because of this, it is often referenced as a seminal...
" (1981, winner 2007 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award) - "The Peddler's Apprentice" (with Joan D. VingeJoan D. VingeJoan D. Vinge is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.-Biography:...
) - "The Ungoverned" (occurs in the same milieu as The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime)
- "Long Shot"
- "Bookworm, Run!
- Threats... and Other Promises (1988) ISBN 0-671-69790-0 (These two volumes collect Vinge's short fiction through the early 1990s.)
- "Apartness"
- "Conquest by Default" (occurs in the same milieu as "Apartness")
- "The Whirligig of Time"
- "Gemstone"
- "Just Peace" (with William Rupp)
- "Original Sin"
- "The Blabber" (occurs in the same milieu as A Fire Upon the Deep)
- True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier (2001) ISBN 0-312-86207-5 (contains "True Names" plus essays by others)
- The Collected Stories of Vernor VingeThe Collected Stories of Vernor VingeThe Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge is a collection of science fiction short stories by Vernor Vinge. The stories were first published from 1966 to 2001, and the book contains all of Vinge's published short stories from that period except "True Names" and "Grimm's Story".-Bookworm, Run!:Also...
(2001) ISBN 0-312-87373-5 (hardcover) or ISBN 0-312-87584-3 (paperback) (This volume collects Vinge's short fiction through 2001 (except "True Names"), including Vinge's comments from the earlier two volumes.)- "Bookworm, Run!"
- "The Accomplice"
- "The Peddler's Apprentice" (with Joan D. VingeJoan D. VingeJoan D. Vinge is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.-Biography:...
) - "The Ungoverned"
- "Long Shot"
- "Apartness"
- "Conquest by Default"
- "The Whirligig of Time"
- "Bomb Scare"
- "The Science Fair"
- "Gemstone"
- "Just Peace" (with William Rupp)
- "Original Sin"
- "The Blabber"
- "Win A Nobel Prize!" (originally published in NatureNature (journal)Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
, Vol 407 No 6805 "Futures") - "The Barbarian Princess" (this is also the first section of "Tatja Grimm's World")
- "Fast Times at Fairmont High" (occurs in the same milieu as Rainbows End) (winner 2002 Hugo Award for Best Novella)
Uncollected short fiction
- "A Dry Martini" (The 60th World Science Fiction ConventionWorldconWorldcon, or more formally The World Science Fiction Convention, is a science fiction convention held each year since 1939 . It is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society...
ConJosé Restaurant Guide, page 60) - "The Cookie MonsterThe Cookie Monster (novella)The Cookie Monster is a short story/novella by Vernor Vinge. It was first published in the October 2003 issue of Dell Magazines' anthology publication Analog, and has subsequently been collected in several science fiction anthology collections...
" (Analog Science Fiction, October 2003) (winner 2004 Hugo Award for Best Novella) - "Synthetic Serendipity", IEEE Spectrum Online, 30 June 2004
About Vinge
- Vernor Vinge, at Worlds Without End
- A website owned by Vinge (small and outdated)
Essays and speeches
- The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era, 1993
- Accelerating Change 2005: Vernor Vinge Keynote Address (64 kbit/s MP3 audio recording, 40 minutes long)
- Seminars About Long-term Thinking: Vernor Vinge (Summary and MP3 audio recording of a 2007 speech, 91 minutes long)
- "2020 Computing: The creativity machine", from NatureNatureNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
magazine, 23 March 2006. - Vernor Vinge's keynote address at the 2006 Austin Games Conference.