Occupation Computer scientist Name Vernor Vinge Genre Science fiction | Period 1966–present Nationality American Role Professor of mathematics | |
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Born Vernor Steffen Vinge
October 2, 1944 (age 79)
Waukesha, Wisconsin, US ( 1944-10-02 ) Notable works True Names (1981),
A Fire Upon the Deep (1992),
"The Coming Technological Singularity" (1993),
Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002) Notable awards Hugo Awards,
Best Novel: 1993, 2000, 2007;
Best Novella: 2003, 2005
Prometheus Awards:
1987, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2014 Special Award for Lifetime Achievement Spouse Joan D. Vinge (m. 1972–1979) Education University of California, San Diego Awards Hugo Award for Best Novel Short stories True Names, The Cookie Monster, The Ungoverned, Fast Times at Fairmont High, The Barbarian Princess Books A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, Rainbows End, The Children of the Sky, The Peace War Similar People Joan D Vinge, Charles Stross, Ursula K Le Guin, Neal Stephenson, Gene Wolfe | ||
Freedom science fiction and the singularity a conversation with author vernor vinge
Vernor Steffen Vinge (; born October 2, 1944) is an American science fiction author and retired professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), Rainbows End (2006), Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002), and The Cookie Monster (2004), as well as for his 1984 novel The Peace War and his 1993 essay "The Coming Technological Singularity".
Contents
- Freedom science fiction and the singularity a conversation with author vernor vinge
- Vernor vinge foresight and the singularity interview
- Life and work
- Personal life
- References
Vernor vinge foresight and the singularity interview
Life and work
Vinge published his first short story, "Bookworm, Run!", in the March 1966 issue of Analog Science Fiction, then edited by John W. Campbell. The story explores the theme of artificially augmented intelligence by connecting the brain directly to computerised 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. His second novel, The Witling, was published in 1975.
Vinge came to prominence in 1981 with his novella True Names, perhaps the first story to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, 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.
Vinge won the Hugo Award (tying for Best Novel with Doomsday Book by Connie Willis) with his 1992 novel, A Fire Upon the Deep. 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.
His novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High and The Cookie Monster also won Hugo Awards in 2002 and 2004, respectively.
Vinge's 2006 novel Rainbows End, set in a similar universe to Fast Times at Fairmont High, won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel. His next novel was released in October 2011. The Children of the Sky is a sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep, set approximately 10 years later.
Vinge retired in 2000 from teaching at San Diego State University, in order to write full-time. Most years, since its inception in 1999, Vinge has been on the Free Software Foundation's selection committee for their Award for the Advancement of Free Software. Vernor Vinge was Writer Guest of Honor at ConJosé, the 60th World Science Fiction Convention in 2002.
Personal life
His former wife, Joan, is an accomplished science fiction author.