V
Vernor Vinge
A retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author.
A Fire Upon the Deep
Synopsis
An expedition from the human Straumli Realm, excavating an ancient data archive at the edge of the galaxy, wakes something that should have stayed asleep. The superintelligence later called the Blight spreads outward through the Beyond, seizing civilisations as it goes. One ship escapes the disaster carrying children in cold sleep and crashes on a medieval world inhabited by the Tines — dog-like creatures whose minds exist only in packs, and whose warring realms take the surviving children as pawns. Half a galaxy away, Ravna Bergsndot, the only human employed at the Relay information hub, sets out aboard a Skroderider merchant ship with a man reconstituted from the wreck of another vessel to reach the marooned children before the Blight, or the fleets hunting them, arrive first.
Vernor Vinge's novel divides the Milky Way into Zones of Thought: concentric regions in which the attainable level of intelligence itself changes with distance from the galactic core. It shared the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel with Connie Willis's Doomsday Book.
Genres
Characters
Ravna BergsndotProtagonist
The only human employed at the Relay information hub, from the human world of Sjandra Kei; she traces the distress signal and mounts the rescue mission to Tines World.
Pham NuwenProtagonist
A human reconstituted by the Transcendent Power called Old One to act as its agent against the Blight, unsure whether his memories of a lost trading civilisation are his own.
Johanna OlsndotProtagonist
One of two Olsndot children who survive the crash on Tines World; rescued from the Flenserists and taken to Woodcarver's domain.
Jefri OlsndotProtagonist
Johanna's younger brother, held by the Flenserists and led to believe that Woodcarver is his enemy.
FlenserAntagonist
The Tines architect of the Flenserist regime, who built a society of ruthless mental discipline by surgically recomposing packs.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to read A Deepness in the Sky first?
No. A Deepness in the Sky was published seven years later, in 1999, and is only a loose prequel — it is set roughly 20,000 years earlier and shares one character, Pham Nuwen, rather than a continuing plot. A Fire Upon the Deep came first and is written to be read first. The direct sequel is The Children of the Sky (2011), which picks up ten years after this book ends.
Did A Fire Upon the Deep win the Hugo Award?
Yes. It won the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel, in a tie with Connie Willis's Doomsday Book.
What are the Zones of Thought?
They are four concentric regions of the galaxy in which the attainable level of intelligence itself differs. Innermost are the Unthinking Depths, where almost no intelligence is possible; then the Slow Zone, which contains Old Earth and where faster-than-light travel and true artificial intelligence cannot work; then the Beyond, where FTL travel, FTL communication and AI are all possible; and outermost the Transcend, home to superintelligent Powers. The characters never establish whether the zones are a natural phenomenon or something built.
Is there an annotated edition of A Fire Upon the Deep?
Yes. The novel was included on a CD-ROM issued by ClariNet Communications alongside the other 1993 Hugo nominees, carrying extensive annotations by Vinge on his intentions for different parts of the book. That annotated text was later released on its own as an e-book. The novel's own text is unchanged — there is no expanded or revised edition of the story itself.
