Vernor Vinge eBooks

Vernor Vinge is an American science fiction author. Born in Wisconsin in 1944, Vinge was a professor of mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University from 1972 to 2000. Throughout the 1960s, he regularly published short stories in science fiction magazines.

Vinge’s first novel, Grimm’s World, was published in 1969, and was an expansion of a short story he had published the year before. This was followed in 1975 by The Witling. His third novel, 1981’s True Names, became known for its presentation of cyberspace.

Along with True Names, Vinge’s next two novels, 1984’s The Peace War and 1986’s Marooned in Realtime, explored the idea of technological singularity. Vinge would become closely associated with the concept of the Singularity, with these three novels taking the concept to its logical conclusion. The latter two novels were also collected as Across Realtime in 1986.

Vinge’s novels have earned him a number of awards. A Fire Upon the Deep, published in 1992, won the Hugo Award, as did 1999’s A Deepness in the Sky and 2006’s Rainbows End. He has also won awards for his short fiction and his 2002 novella, Fast Times at Fairmont High.

His short fiction has been published in several collections. The first of these, True Names... and Other Dangers, was published in 1987. It was followed the next year by Threats... and Other Promises. The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge was published in 2001, and includes Fast Times at Fairmont High.

Vinge is a regular essayist in addition to his fictional writing. Notable among his essays is 1993’s The Coming Technological Singularity, which discusses superhuman artificial intelligence.