Re: Vernor Vinge (1944 - 2024)

On 2024-03-21, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

SF author Vernor Vinge (1944 - 2024) is reported to have died, age 79.

I saw him at one of the conferences organized by the Extropians,
some 25 years ago.  He was a very influential author in transhumanist
circles.

Of his works, I have read:

* _The Peace War_
  I'm sorry to say, but that one was forgettable, other than setting
  up _Marooned in Realtime_.

* _Marooned in Realtime_
  Takes an idea and runs with it.  Thinking at a rare scale.
  Disparate people use stasis fields to travel into a future of
  ever accelerating human progress... until, at some point, humanity
  is gone.  Disappeared.  Without a trace.  The befuddled time
  travelers leave each other messages and eventually meet up 50
  million years from now.  This is a story where people need to
  consider geological events.  IIRC, one character killed some time
  by exploring the galaxy at STL speed.  If I had something like
  Lynn's six-star list, this book would feature prominently there.

* _A Fire Upon the Deep_
  His magnum opus.  An exuberant display of ideas.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy@mips.inka.de