The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge

I had read Vinge's Zones of Thought novels "A Fire Upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky" before getting this. These two novels were vast, intricately plotted stories. Vinge does well to flesh out the characters and ideas in the relatively short stories of this book. It surprised me to learn he has been writing short fiction since his teens. One of the fascinating parts of reading this collection is seeing his writing style develop, although it was never too shabby in the first place. These stories were written over the last 30+ years, and his style varies from the classic Asimov-like tone of 60's sci-fi to one with more than a nod towards fast-talking cyberpunk. I found them all enjoyable in their own way - his speculative treatment of computer animation from the 60's is quaint, while "Fast Times" ended a bit abruptly just as it was getting interesting (it's being turned into a novel). The writing is never boring, and more often than not inspired - one of the better books I've read of late.

_The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge_ is a wonderful compilation of most of Vinge's short stories and novellas (there are only two omissions, _True Names_ and _Grimm's Story_, the latter of which became the core of one of his novels, _Tatja Grimm's World_). The short stories range in dates from the very first stories he ever had published, such as _Bookworm, Run!_, copyright 1966 and written while Vinge was a senior in high school, to one written just for this collection, _Fast Times at Fairmont High_, copyright 2001. They range in length from the 900 word story _Win a Nobel Prize!_ to the novella length _Blabber_, though most range somewhere in between. All told there are seventeen stories in this collection, two of which were collaborations (_The Peddler's Apprentice_ was written with Joan D. Vinge and _Just Peace_ was a joint effort with William Rupp). I really enjoyed the collection, there weren't any stories that I disliked and some were extremely good. His earlier stories, notably _Bookworm, Run!_, were a bit rougher, not as well done as later stories (which is understandable) but even those I liked. There were several themes explored in his stories, many of them noted by Vinge himself as a foreword and in several cases an after word accompanied each story, where Vinge discussed where he was in his writing career at that time, inspirations for the story, earlier versions of the story, how well he felt that tale has held up to the test of time, and whether or nor he planned (or plans) to further develop the characters or the setting. He revealed for instance in his commentary on _The Blabber_ that that story was both the sequel to the novels _A Fire Upon the Deep_ and _A Deepness in the Sky_ and at the same time a prequel, as he wrote _The Blabber_ first. Several of the stories were a bit dated, dealing with computer technology that has since become obsolete or with Cold War situations (or with post-World War III scenarios, which one can debate whether or not these settings are obsolete), though they were nonetheless well done fiction. One of the themes explored by Vinge was the concept of the Technological Singularity or simply the Singularity, a problem he ran into as far back as his story _Bookworm, Run!_. Vinge felt that eventually thanks to biological evolution and to advances in technology future humanity will surpass current humans in terms of intellectual ability. Such superbeings would be nearly impossible to write about, that at that point human history will have reached a point that is impossible for modern humans to imagine, a "place where extrapolation" breaks down, a world that will be beyond our understanding. Such superbeings should be kept off stage, hinted at, perhaps only dealt with when they are children or otherwise weakened if at all. His coming to terms with the Singularity was behind the development of the various galactic zones of mental abilities and technologies (the Zones of Thought) in his critica

My introduction to Vernor Vinge was "A Fire Upon the Deep," the novel that finally won him the long awaited Hugo award. With that and "A Deepness in the Sky" as an introduction, I was a little surprised to discover that Vernor Vinge was also once a beginning writer, just like the rest of us.This collection of short stories is interesting both for the stories themselves and for the way they chart a truly excellent writer's evolution. The first few stories are amateurish and awkward. Very soon, they improve in both content and style. I ended up buying several of the books that grew out of the short stories included in this collection, and they were even better than the stories that inspired them.I really enjoyed this collection of stories. Mostly, I was just pleased to realize that even someone who is as mind-blowingly intelligent and skilled as Vinge did not spring full-formed from his father's forehead, but developed incrementally into the writer he is today. I especially recommend this book to aspiring writers as inspiration.

Despite reading SF for over 30 years, I only encountered V.V's works in the past year because he had received major awards. I was impressed but could not understand how he had achieved such levels of proficiency. This collection with an almost Asimovian set of chatty and personal introductions helps lay out the map. Strongly recommended.

Vernor Vinge has won several wards for his novels (A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY), and over the last three and a half decades has also produced some of the best science fiction short stories. THE COLLECTED STORIES OF VERNOR VINGE provides most of the author's short stories plus a novella, FAST TIMES AT FAIRMONT HIGH. Most of the tales are well written furbishing the reader with provocative concepts though many of those from before the fall of the Wall seem more alternate history in nature. The added bonus of Mr. Vinge's commentary to most of the contributions provides readers with insight to the author's philosophy. Fans of science fiction anthologies that induce deep postulating on the part of the reader will enjoy this collection, but it is best savored over a couple of weeks.Harriet Klausner