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Vernor Steffen Vinge (/ˈvɜːrnər ˈvɪndʒiː/ ⓘ; October 2, 1944 – March 20, 2024) was an American science fiction author and professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He was the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singularity concept and among the first authors to present a fictional "cyberspace".[3] He won the Hugo Award for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), and Rainbows End (2006), and novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2001) and The Cookie Monster (2004).

Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Vernor Vinge
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Vinge in 2006
BornVernor Steffen Vinge
(1944-10-02)October 2, 1944[1]
Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S.[1]
DiedMarch 20, 2024(2024-03-20) (aged 79)
La Jolla, California, U.S.
OccupationComputer scientist
EducationUniversity of California, San Diego (PhD)
Period1966–2011
GenreScience fiction
Notable works
Notable awardsHugo Awards:
  Best Novel: 1993, 2000, 2007;
  Best Novella: 2003, 2005
Prometheus Awards:
  1987, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2014 Special Award for Lifetime Achievement
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1972; div. 1979)​
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Writing career

Vinge published his first short story, "Apartness", in the June 1965 issue of the British magazine New Worlds. His second, "Bookworm, Run!", was in the March 1966 issue of Analog Science Fiction, then edited by John W. Campbell.[4] The story explores the theme of artificially augmented intelligence by connecting the brain directly to computerized data sources. He became a moderately prolific contributor to SF magazines in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1969, he expanded the story "Grimm's Story" (Orbit 4, 1968) into his first novel, Grimm's World. In 1971, Vinge received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, San Diego, under the supervision of Stefan E. Warschawski.[5] His second novel, The Witling, was published in 1976.[6]

Vinge came to prominence in 1981 with his novella True Names, perhaps the first story to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace,[3] which would later be central to cyberpunk stories by William Gibson, Neal Stephenson and others. His next two novels, The Peace War (1984) and Marooned in Realtime (1986), explore the spread of a future libertarian society, and deal with the impact of a technology which can create impenetrable force fields called 'bobbles'. These books built Vinge's reputation as an author who would explore ideas to their logical conclusions in particularly inventive ways. Both books were nominated for the Hugo Award, but lost to novels by William Gibson and Orson Scott Card.[7][8]

Vinge won the Hugo Award (tying for Best Novel with Doomsday Book by Connie Willis) with his 1992 novel, A Fire Upon the Deep.[9] A Deepness in the Sky (1999) was a prequel to Fire, following competing groups of humans in The Slow Zone as they struggle over who has the rights to exploit a technologically emerging alien culture. Deepness won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2000.[10]

His novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High and The Cookie Monster also won Hugo Awards in 2002 and 2004, respectively.[11]

Vinge's 2006 novel Rainbows End, set in the same universe and featuring some of the same characters as Fast Times at Fairmont High, won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel.[12] In 2011, he released The Children of the Sky, a sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep set approximately 10 years following the end of A Fire Upon the Deep.[13][14]

Vinge retired in 2000 from teaching at San Diego State University, in order to write full-time. He was Writer Guest of Honor at ConJosé, the 60th World Science Fiction Convention in 2002. Additionally, Vinge served on the Free Software Foundation's selection committee for their Award for the Advancement of Free Software for most of the years between 1999 and his death in 2024.[15]

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Personal life

His former wife, Joan D. Vinge, is also a science fiction author. They were married from 1972 to 1979.[16]

Vernor Vinge died in La Jolla, California on March 20, 2024, at the age of 79. He had Parkinson's disease.[17][18]

Awards

More information Year, Title ...
Year Title Award Category Result Ref
1985 The Peace War Hugo Award Novel Finalist [7]
1987 Marooned in Realtime Hugo Award Novel Finalist [8]
Prometheus Award — Won
1992 A Fire Upon the Deep Nebula Award Novel Finalist [19]
1993 Hugo Award Novel Won [9]
John W. Campbell Memorial Award — Finalist [9]
Locus Award Science Fiction Novel Nominated
2000 A Deepness in the Sky Nebula Award Novel Finalist
Hugo Award Novel Won
John W. Campbell Memorial Award — Won
Prometheus Award — Won
Locus Award Science Fiction Novel Nominated
Arthur C. Clarke Award — Nominated
2007 Rainbows End Hugo Award Novel Won [12]
Locus Award Science Fiction Novel Won [12]
John W. Campbell Memorial Award — Nominated [12]
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Bibliography

Novels

Realtime/Bobble series

  • The Peace War (1984) ISBN 0-312-94342-3
  • Marooned in Realtime (1986) ISBN 0-312-94295-8

Zones of Thought series

Standalone novels

Collections

  • Across Realtime (1986) ISBN 0-671-72098-8
  • True Names ... and Other Dangers (1987) ISBN 0-671-65363-6
    • "Bookworm, Run!"
    • "True Names" (1981, winner 2007 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award)
    • "The Peddler's Apprentice" (with Joan D. Vinge)
    • "The Ungoverned" (occurs in the same milieu as The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime)
    • "Long Shot"
  • Threats... and Other Promises (1988) ISBN 0-671-69790-0 (These two volumes collect Vinge's short fiction through the late 1980s.)
    • "Apartness"
    • "Conquest by Default" (occurs in the same milieu as "Apartness")
    • "The Whirligig of Time"
    • "Gemstone"
    • "Just Peace" (with William Rupp)
    • "Original Sin"
    • "The Blabber" (occurs in the same milieu as A Fire Upon the Deep)
  • True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier (2001) ISBN 0-312-86207-5 (contains "True Names" plus essays by others)
  • The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge (2001) ISBN 0-312-87373-5 (hardcover) or ISBN 0-312-87584-3 (paperback) (This volume collects Vinge's short fiction through 2001 (except "True Names"), including Vinge's comments from the earlier two volumes.)
    • "Bookworm, Run!"
    • "The Accomplice"
    • "The Peddler's Apprentice" (with Joan D. Vinge)
    • "The Ungoverned"
    • "Long Shot"
    • "Apartness"
    • "Conquest by Default"
    • "The Whirligig of Time"
    • "Bomb Scare"
    • "The Science Fair"
    • "Gemstone"
    • "Just Peace" (with William Rupp)
    • "Original Sin"
    • "The Blabber"
    • "Win a Nobel Prize!" (originally published in Nature, Vol. 407 No. 6805 "Futures")[21]
    • "The Barbarian Princess" (this is also the first section of "Tatja Grimm's World")
    • "Fast Times at Fairmont High" (occurs in the same milieu as Rainbows End; winner 2002 Hugo Award for Best Novella[11])

Essays

  • "The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era" (1993),[2] Whole Earth Review[22]
  • "2020 Computing: The creativity machine" (2006), Nature[23]
  • "The Disaster Stack" (2017) Chasing Shadows[24]

Uncollected short fiction

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References

External links

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