Most Popular Books by Vernor Vinge

A novel with one foot in the future.

From his earliest stories in the mid-1960s, to his longer works of the 1970s and ''80s, these pieces display Vinge''s sense of wonder. Those who love his novels will find his short fiction even more impressive. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure. After thousands of years of searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free, innovative traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds. The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches. But first, both groups must wait at the aliens'' very doorstep, for their strange star to relight and for the alien planet to reawaken, as it does every two hundred and fifteen years... Amidst terrible treachery, the Qeng Ho must fight for their freedom and for the lives of the unsuspecting innocents on the planet below, while the aliens themselves play a role unsuspected by Qeng Ho and Emergents alike. More than just a great science fiction adventure, A Deepness In the Sky is a universal drama of courage, self-discovery, and the redemptive power of love. This new Tor Essentials edition of Vernor Vinge''s A Deepness In the Sky includes an introduction by the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning Jo Walton, author of Among Others. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Vinge''s masterpieces together at last, in one epic volume The Hugo Award winning A FIRE UPON THE DEEP and its epic companion novel A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY, set in the same universe but 20,000 years earlier, were benchmarks for SF in the last decade of the 20th century. In FIRE ''Vinge presents a galaxy divided into Zones - regions where different physical constraints allow very different technological and mental possibilities. Earth remains in the "Slowness" zone, where nothing can travel faster than light and minds are fairly limited. The action of the book is in the "Beyond", where translight travel and other marvels exist, and humans are one of many intelligent species. One human colony has been experimenting to find a path to the "Transcend", where intelligence and power are so great as to seem godlike. Instead they release the Blight, an evil power, from a billion-year captivity.'' Publisher''s Weekly In DEEPNESS, ''the story has the same sense of epic vastness despite happening mostly in one isolated solar system. Here there''s a world of intelligent spider creatures who traditionally hibernate through the "Deepest Darkness" of their strange variable sun''s long "off" periods, when even the atmosphere freezes. Now, science offers them an alternative. Meanwhile, attracted by spider radio transmissions, two human starfleets come exploring - merchants hoping for customers and tyrants who want slaves. Their inevitable clash leaves both fleets crippled, with the power in the wrong hands, which leads to a long wait in space until the spiders develop exploitable technology. Over the years Vinge builds palpable tension through multiple storylines and characters.'' Dave Langford

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 is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

A vast and destructive entity rampages through the Zones of Thought, subverting digital intelligence and devastating countless worlds, and the children of the scientists who unleashed the entity seek safety in an obscure world where they find medieval kingdoms of animals called the Tines.

The novel that garnered Vinge his first "Best Novel" Hugo Finalist nomination, back in print after thirteen years. With a combination of hard-SF concepts, tight plotting, and appealing characters, Vinge tells a now-classic story of the Few triumphing over the Many. The Peace Authority, wielding a new state-of-the-art weapon, takes over the world, and claims to be "maintaining the peace" while really controlling the scattered survivors of the new world. The inventor of their weapon, which was never meant to be a weapon at all, leads a resistance of high-tech "tinkers" who fight to defeat the "Peace."

This discounted ebundle of The Zones of Thought Series includes: A Fire Upon the Deep, The Children of the Sky, A Deepness in the Sky “Vinge is one of the best visionary writers of SF today.” —David Brin Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in 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. A Fire Upon The Deep — Fleeing a galactic threat, Ravna crash lands on a strange world with a ship hold full of cryogenically frozen children, the only survivors. They are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. The Children of the Sky — Ten years have passed on Tines World, and Ravna and the children have survived a war. While there is peace among the Tines, there are those among them—and among the humans—who seek power...and no matter the cost, these malcontents are determined to overturn the fledgling civilization that has taken root since the humans landed. A Deepness in the Sky — Thirty-thousand years before A Fire Upon the Deep, two human groups, the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds, stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Other Books by Vernor Vinge Realtime/Bobble Series The Peace War Marooned in Realtime Other Novels The Witling Tatja Grimm''s World Rainbows End Collections Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge True Names At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The exciting sequel to The Peace War by the author of A Fire Upon the Deep

This second novel by multiple award-winner Vernor Vinge, from 1976, is a fast-paced adventure where galactic policies collide and different cultures clash as two scientists and their faith in technology are pitted against an elusive race of telekinetic beings. Marooned on a distant world and slowly dying of food poisoning, two anthropologists are caught between warring alien factions engaged in a battle that will affect the future of the world''s inhabitants and their deadly telekinetic powers. If the anthropologists can''t help resolve the conflict between the feuding alien factions, no one will survive. This edition features sixteen full-page illustrations by Doug Beekman. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A collection of articles and essays about the new frontier of the Internet, especially a direct interface between brain and computer that enables game players of the future to actually experience the world of their fantasies.

Multiple Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge''s first full-length novel As a mud-spattered youngster, Tatja quickly realized she was different from the stone-age primitives with whom she grew up. Her insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge could not be quenched among them; she had to explore and learn more about the strange world she lived on. She finds the bastion of all culture, arts, entertainment and history for the entire planet, the seven-hundred-year-old science fiction magazine Fantasie, which is produced entirely aboard a gargantuan floating vessel the size of a small city. But despite the printing presses, sail-powered vessels, and mind-expanding technology, Tatja is still dissatisfied. Rising through the ranks, she finds that the people on the enormous barge are just as unintelligent as the primitives she grew up with. But others have come to the planet who not only challenge her intelligence, but offer her a tantalizing opportunity to uncover answers to mysteries that have long plagued her. But with opportunity comes risk. And if she acts unwisely, she could bring doom to the only world she knows. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In a short novel and six never-before-collected stories, one of science fiction''s finest authors takes science and humanity to the limit. For fans of Larry Niven, Carl Sagan, and others. From the author of Marooned in Realtime.

"After the Battle on Starship Hill" is more than 12000 words of prologue from Vernor Vinge''s forthcoming novel, The Children of the Sky. Taking place on Tines World, this mini e-book describes events of the years immediately following the conclusion of the predecessor novel, A Fire Upon the Deep. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Erstkontakt mit Folgen Seit längerer Zeit wird vom besiedelten Teil der Galaxis aus ein rätselhafter Stern beobachtet: Nicht nur, dass er auf einer engen Bahn um den Mittelpunkt der Milchstraße läuft und hoch in den galaktischen Halo aufsteigt, nach jeweils 215 Jahren Dunkelperiode strahlt er auch plötzlich für 35 Jahre hell auf, um sich dann wieder zu verdunkeln. Als man feststellt, dass der einzige Planet, der ihn umkreist, von intelligenten Wesen bewohnt ist, rüsten die beiden vorherrschenden Mächte der Galaxis Expeditionen aus: auf der einen Seite die Dschöng Ho, eine friedliche Händlerzivilisation, auf der anderen Seite die Aufsteiger, hochgerüstete Cyborgs. Sie überrumpeln die Händler, töten etliche von ihnen und versklaven den Rest. Und genauso gedenken sie, mit der Bevölkerung des Planeten zu verfahren, um ihr wissenschaftliches Know-how zu erbeuten. Sie gehen im Orbit in Lauerstellung und warten ab, bis die Sonne erneut in die Lichtphase tritt und die Bewohner aus ihrem Kälteschlaf erwachen. Aber sie ahnen nicht, dass auf dem Planeten auch jemand lebt, der von ihrer Anwesenheit weiß ...

Non, vraiment, la vie de Dixie Mae n’a pas toujours été rose... Mais grâce à LotsaTech, et au boulot qu’elle vient de décrocher au service clients de ce géant high-tech, les choses vont changer. Telle était du moins sa conviction jusqu’à ce que lui parvienne l’email d’un mystérieux expéditeur, message qui contient quantité de détails intimes liés à son enfance et connus...

Eine uralte Bedrohung Tausende Jahre in der Zukunft: In der Milchstraße gibt es verschiedene Zonen, in denen unterschiedliche Technologien möglich sind: Im Zentrum, der „Gedankenleeren Tiefe“, sind keine komplexen Geräte möglich, in den Randbereichen, dem „Jenseits“ hingegen schon. Noch weiter draußen liegt das „Transzens“, in dem Zivilisationen, Wesen oder Computerprogramme herrschen, die transzendiert sind. Die Menschen sind bis in das untere Transzens vorgedrungen und haben in einem alten Computerarchiv eine Virus-Waffe entdeckt, die sich jetzt im Netz ausbreitet und Technik und Lebensformen assimiliert – ungeachtet der mysteriösen technologischen Grenzen. Doch die Menschen haben möglicherweise auch ein Gegenmittel, und so stehen sie plötzlich im Zentrum des Interesses aller intelligenten Völker der Galaxis ...

Una expedición humana se encuentra muy lejos de su zona, estudiando un archivo de datos que podría contener riquezas inimaginables para la joven y ambiciosa población del reino de Straumli. Desgraciadamente, mientras llevan a cabo sus investigaciones, despiertan a la Plaga, un superente maligno que está dispuesto a fagocitarse en parte con tal de que los humanos no escapen, tal y como lo han planeado en secreto. La Plaga logra destruir una de las naves, pero la otra escapa con un centenar de niños criogenizados, una familia y una contramedida, quizá la única cosa en el universo a la que tema la maligna entidad.

Im Amerika des 22. Jahrhunderts wurden Wissenschaft und Technologie abgeschafft. Alles, was das religiös-fundamentalistische Regime stört, wurde in gewaltige, blasenartige Sphären verbannt, einschließlich unliebsamer Widerständler. Was keiner ahnt: In den Blasen wartet ein Geheimnis, und ein Krieg gegen das vermeintlich friedliche Regime scheint unausweichlich ...

Un feu sur l''abîme, énorme à tous les sens du terme, renoue avec la grande tradition épique de la Science-Fiction, où l''extravagant est de rigueur et où l''impossible ne constitue qu''une difficulté passagère. Mais l''imagination effervescente de Vernor Vinge respecte toujours les lois de la logique et autant que possible celles de l''univers. Une expédition straumlienne, explorant une Archive dans la presque Transcendance, a déchaîné une Perversion sur la galaxie entière. Un unique navire est parvenu à fuir dans la nuit épouvantable. A travers l''espace, il fonce vers le centre de la galaxie, vers Les Lenteurs où l''on ne peut pas dépasser la vitesse de la lumière, où les systèmes informatiques les plus performants - même les si lentes intelligences biologiques - subissent une perte de leurs facultés. Il cherche un monde où se poser. Les deux seuls survivants de l''expédition détiennent sans le savoir la clé du salut de millions de civilisations, dont certaines sont bien plus anciennes que l''humanité : ce sont deux enfants, Johanna et Jefri, abandonnés à eux-mêmes sur un monde médiéval, dont les conflits et les cruautés ne le cèdent en rien à ceux de la galaxie. Et ceux qui voudraient les aider, et sauver du même coup la galaxie civilisée, se trouvent encore à des milliers d''années-lumière...

Dans l''immensité de la Galaxie, l''étoile Marche-Arrêt est une énigme. Elle s''éteint pendant deux cent quinze ans puis se rallume pour trente-cinq ans. Son unique planète est habitée par des araignées intelligentes qui viennent d''inventer la radio. Leurs signaux attirent deux expéditions interstellaires. Celle des Queng Ho, un peuple marchand et itinérant qui parcourt l''espace en vendant et en achetant de l''information technologique. Et celle des Émergents, issus d''une civilisation violente et sadique qui a fait de la lutte pour le pouvoir son mode de vie. Qui l''emportera ? Un chef-d''œuvre du space opera. Au tréfonds du ciel a obtenu le prix Hugo 2000 et se situe dans le même univers, mille ans plus tôt, que le roman précédent de Vernor Vinge, Un feu sur l''abîme (Prix Hugo 1993), publié dans la même collection.

Ils voyagent dans le temps pais à sens unique, vers l''avenir, dans des bulles de stase qui leur permettent de franchir les siècles ou les millions d''années. Ils ne sont plus que trois cents. Toute l''humanité, qui se chercher un nouveau pays d''années. Et lorsque Marta Korolev meurt, assassinée d''une façon étrange et effrayante, naufragée de la temporalité, ils savent qu''un assassin se cache parmi eux. Que Wil Brierson, l''unique policier de la communauté doit démasquer. Avant qu''il n''extermine le reste de l''espèce humaine...

Collects five science fiction short stories about adventures in the strange world of the future