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One of the true greats. True Names is a better cyberpunk story than anything Gibson or Neal Stephenson wrote. Everyone mentions A Fire Upon the Deep and A Dee

by nl 3y ago

One of the true greats. True Names is a better cyberpunk story than anything Gibson or Neal Stephenson wrote. Everyone mentions A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky which are some of the best sci fi ever written, but I think The Peace War is way underrate too (although it was nominated for a Hugo award which it lost to Neuromancer). RIP

adamgordonbell 3y ago
The Bobbler was a strange idea. It made for a fun concept. I think there was more than one story in that world, if I'm remembering correctly. Rainbow's End was very good!
- phrotoma 3y ago
  The shift of the use of bobbles from Peace War to Marooned in Realtime is _wild_. Fantastic stories, wildly creative, delightfully different.
- KineticLensman 3y ago
  > I think there was more than one story in that world Two separate novels: 'The Peace War' and 'Marooned in Realtime', sold collectively as 'Across Realtime'. Enjoyed them both a lot, but for me 'Marooned...' had a more emotional punch, especially as it becomes clearer what had happened to the victim. There is also a short story 'The Ungoverned' whose main character is Wil W. Brierson, the protagonist in 'Marooned...'. Overviews without plot spoilers: 'The Peace War' describes a near-future in which bobbles (apparently indestructible stasis fields where time stands still) are used by 'hacker' types to launch an insurrection against the state. 'Marooned...' is set in the far future of the same world, where bobbles are used to support one-way time travel further into the future, where the few remaining humans try to reconnect following the mysterious disappearance of 99.9% of humanity. Both are high-concept SF, but 'Marooned...' also has elements of police procedural where a low-tech detective (Brierson) shanghaied into his future has to solve the slow murder of a high-tech individual (someone from the far future, relative to him).
- at_a_remove 3y ago
  He had the Bobbler and he also had the Babbler, the later being a short story involving the Tines ...
- shostack 3y ago
  Rainbows End was very prophetic and changed how I view technology.
tetris11 3y ago
The Cookie Monster was one of the best short novella's I ever read, and its influence can be seen everywhere from Greg Egan's Permutation City to episodes of Black Mirror. Edit: I got it backwards, Egan's book came out first.
jordanpg 3y ago
A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are the books that opened my eyes to the utter incomprehensibility and weirdness of what intelligent alien life would really be like if it's out there. I also credit the Transcend as being the first plausible, secular explanation for "gods" that I ever came across back in my militant atheist days. These stories will be with me until I am gone, too. Thank you, Vernor. RIP.
deleted 3y ago
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Hortinstein 3y ago
Came here to post almost this exact sentiment. I am not sure why but in college I checked out the Peace War and I largely credit that book and a few others for getting me back into reading. A couple years ago I decided to order a first edition and it's sitting on my shelf. The deepness books were great as well. "Software archaeologists" was a fantastic concept, I felt like that today digger through excel VBA Additionally I think he was the first sci Fi author I found who was a computer science practitioner/professor. This led me to discover other great authors like Greg Egan.

by nl 3y ago

adamgordonbell 3y ago

The Bobbler was a strange idea. It made for a fun concept. I think there was more than one story in that world, if I'm remembering correctly. Rainbow's End was very good!

phrotoma 3y ago
The shift of the use of bobbles from Peace War to Marooned in Realtime is _wild_. Fantastic stories, wildly creative, delightfully different.
KineticLensman 3y ago
> I think there was more than one story in that world Two separate novels: 'The Peace War' and 'Marooned in Realtime', sold collectively as 'Across Realtime'. Enjoyed them both a lot, but for me 'Marooned...' had a more emotional punch, especially as it becomes clearer what had happened to the victim. There is also a short story 'The Ungoverned' whose main character is Wil W. Brierson, the protagonist in 'Marooned...'. Overviews without plot spoilers: 'The Peace War' describes a near-future in which bobbles (apparently indestructible stasis fields where time stands still) are used by 'hacker' types to launch an insurrection against the state. 'Marooned...' is set in the far future of the same world, where bobbles are used to support one-way time travel further into the future, where the few remaining humans try to reconnect following the mysterious disappearance of 99.9% of humanity. Both are high-concept SF, but 'Marooned...' also has elements of police procedural where a low-tech detective (Brierson) shanghaied into his future has to solve the slow murder of a high-tech individual (someone from the far future, relative to him).
at_a_remove 3y ago
He had the Bobbler and he also had the Babbler, the later being a short story involving the Tines ...
shostack 3y ago
Rainbows End was very prophetic and changed how I view technology.

tetris11 3y ago

The Cookie Monster was one of the best short novella's I ever read, and its influence can be seen everywhere from Greg Egan's Permutation City to episodes of Black Mirror. Edit: I got it backwards, Egan's book came out first.

jordanpg 3y ago

A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are the books that opened my eyes to the utter incomprehensibility and weirdness of what intelligent alien life would really be like if it's out there. I also credit the Transcend as being the first plausible, secular explanation for "gods" that I ever came across back in my militant atheist days. These stories will be with me until I am gone, too. Thank you, Vernor. RIP.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Hortinstein 3y ago

Came here to post almost this exact sentiment. I am not sure why but in college I checked out the Peace War and I largely credit that book and a few others for getting me back into reading. A couple years ago I decided to order a first edition and it's sitting on my shelf. The deepness books were great as well. "Software archaeologists" was a fantastic concept, I felt like that today digger through excel VBA Additionally I think he was the first sci Fi author I found who was a computer science practitioner/professor. This led me to discover other great authors like Greg Egan.