# Vernor Vinge - ‘A Fire Upon The Deep’ is now my favorite hard SF **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernor-vinge-a-fire-upon-the-deep-is-now-my-favorite-hard-sf/839717 "2019-09-05T00:51:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernor-vinge-a-fire-upon-the-deep-is-now-my-favorite-hard-sf/839717/21 "2019-09-09T22:50:43Z")
The Prologue to Fire is extraordinary. Lots of SF plots (eg SG Atlantis, Star Trek Organians) talk about ‘transcending’. Vernor describes what it’s actually like to transcend. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernor-vinge-a-fire-upon-the-deep-is-now-my-favorite-hard-sf/839717/22 "2019-09-09T23:37:37Z")
> [@EastUmpqua](#): > > The Prologue to Fire is extraordinary. Lots of SF plots (eg SG Atlantis, Star Trek Organians) talk about ‘transcending’. Vernor describes what it’s actually like to transcend. Have you read Vinge’s short works which also describe the experience of transcendence - I’m particularly thinking of “True Names.” (a non-Vinge example of this theme that I think was done well was Marc Stiegler’s “The Gentle Seduction”) ---
**Author:** ![EastUmpqua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eastumpqua/32/6025_2.png) [@EastUmpqua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastUmpqua)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernor-vinge-a-fire-upon-the-deep-is-now-my-favorite-hard-sf/839717/23 "2019-09-09T23:38:53Z")
Not yet ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernor-vinge-a-fire-upon-the-deep-is-now-my-favorite-hard-sf/839717/24 "2019-09-10T03:41:14Z")
In addition to touching on transhumanism and hints of a Singularity, Vinge’s True Names had one of (if not the first) detailed VR/Cyberspace setting, and predicted the vital role and some of the issues raised by anonymity on the internet. Keep in mind that it was published in 1981, three years before Neuromancer. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernor-vinge-a-fire-upon-the-deep-is-now-my-favorite-hard-sf/839717/25 "2019-09-10T04:08:12Z")
I read _Marooned in Realtime_ a few decades ago when it was serialized in _Analog_, and liked it a lot. I re-read it just last year after getting it on Kindle, and also finally got around to reading the prequel _The Peace War_. I liked both of these a lot, so maybe I’ll check out _A Fire Upon The Deep_. P.S. I read a short story by Vernor Vinge when I was a young teenager that I also liked a lot: [_Long Shot_.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collected_Stories_of_Vernor_Vinge#%22Long_Shot%22) It’s one of my all-time favorite short stories. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernor-vinge-a-fire-upon-the-deep-is-now-my-favorite-hard-sf/839717/26 "2019-09-10T12:39:58Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I read _Marooned in Realtime_ a few decades ago when it was serialized in _Analog_, and liked it a lot. I re-read it just last year after getting it on Kindle, and also finally got around to reading the prequel _The Peace War_. > > I liked both of these a lot, so maybe I’ll check out _A Fire Upon The Deep_. There’s also a novella set between Peace War and Marooned - it’s called “The Ungoverned” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vernor-vinge-a-fire-upon-the-deep-is-now-my-favorite-hard-sf/839717.md?page=1)