A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization. A Fire Upon The Deep, which began the Zones of Thought series, is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
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"I quite enjoyed this book and the breadth of ideas Vinge includes. I thought the ending was a little weak, especially with regard to the Blight, but overall well executed and very interesting. Definitely worthy of the Hugo it won. Recommended! " — Don (4 out of 5 stars)
"I quite enjoyed this book and the breadth of ideas Vinge includes. I thought the ending was a little weak, especially with regard to the Blight, but overall well executed and very interesting. Definitely worthy of the Hugo it won. Recommended! "
“Fleeing a menace of galactic proportions, a spaceship crashes on an unfamiliar world, leaving the survivors--a pair of children--to the not-so-tender mercies of a medieval, lupine race. Responding to the crippled ship's distress signal, a rescue mission races against time to retrieve the children and recover the weapon they need to prevent the universe from being changed forever. Against a background depicting a space-time continuum stratified into 'zones of thought,' the author has created a rarity--a unique blend of hard science, high drama, and superb storytelling.
A tale that burns with the brazen energy of the best space operas of the golden age. Vinge has created a galaxy for the readers of the '90s to believe in...immense, ancient, athrum with data webs, dotted with wonders.
Vernor Vinge's best novel yet.
Vast, riveting, far-future saga.... The overall concept astonishes; the aliens are developed with memorable skill and insight, the plot twists and turns with unputdownable tension. A masterpiece of universe building.
The first grand SF I've read in ages...Vinge is one of the best visionary writers of SF today.
Fiercely original...Compelling ideas in the book include problems and advantages of group mind, galactic communications turbidity, and the prospect of civilizations aspiring to godhood.
" One of the BEST sci-fi books I've read in recent years. Vernor Vinge has fast become one of my favorite and most anticipated authors as a result. READ THIS BOOK. "
" I like my SF HARD with a body count in the hundreds of billions. Also: pack consciousness! "
" outstanding example of hard scifi at the edge "
" As good as it gets... "
Vernor Vinge has won five Hugo Awards, including three for Best Novel, for A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, and Rainbows End. For many years a professor of computer science, he is a highly regarded, visionary authority on the subject of the technological Singularity. He lives in San Diego, California.
Ken Scholes’s short fiction has been appearing in various magazines and anthologies for the last eight years, including Realms of Fantasy, Polyphony 6, and Weird Tales. He is a winner of the Writers of the Future contest. Ken’s background includes service in two branches of the military, a degree in history, a brief stint as a clergyman, an even briefer stint as a label-gun repairman and over ten years’ experience managing nonprofit organizations. Originally from the Puget Sound area, Ken currently lives in Gresham, Oregon, with his amazing wonder-wife Jen, two cats, five guitars, and more books than you’d ever want to help him move.
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