Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

Our SERIES PICK for the next three months is the Zones of Thought series by Vernor Vinge, starting with A Fire Upon the Deep.



"Faster-than-light travel remains impossible near Earth, deep in the galaxy's Slow Zone--but physical laws relax in the surrounding Beyond. Outside that again is the Transcend, full of unguessable, godlike "Powers." When human meddling wakes an old Power, the Blight, this spreads like a wildfire mind virus that turns whole civilizations into its unthinking tools. And the half-mythical Countermeasure, if it exists, is lost with two human children on primitive Tines World.

Serious complications follow. One paranoid alien alliance blames humanity for the Blight and launches a genocidal strike. Pham Nuwen, the man who knows about Countermeasure, escapes this ruin in the spacecraft Out of Band--heading for more violence and treachery, with 500 warships soon in hot pursuit. On his destination world, the fascinating Tines are intelligent only in combination: named "individuals" are small packs of the doglike aliens. Primitive doesn't mean stupid, and opposed Tine leaders wheedle the young castaways for information about guns and radios. Low-tech war looms, with elaborately nested betrayals and schemes to seize Out of Band if it ever arrives. The tension becomes extreme... while half the Beyond debates the issues on galactic Usenet..."


And I'd like to add at this point that I had the privilege of hearing Mr. Vinge speak at BOSKONE a couple of years ago about his concepts of meta-consciousness and our ability as thinking creatures to pool our collective knowledge via the internet to create more than the sum of our parts, and it was a very enlightening (and uplifting) speech.

Are you reading A Fire Upon the Deep? Shout it out in the comments thread below to find out who else is reading it and discuss what you think about the book. Just remember to be kind ...use the spoiler .html (view spoiler)[so you don't ruin the fun for other people (hide spoiler)] or open your own spoiler-filled discussion thread in the Book Buddies Club folder located w-a-y at the bottom of the main community page where you can discuss the book in spoilery goodness.

BTW ... there is a brief prequel to this series currently available *FREE* on most distribution platforms.


After the Battle on Starship Hill: Prologue to The Children of the Sky

Looks good. I downloaded an audio version from the library.

Tom wrote: "Looks good. I downloaded an audio version from the library."

Who narrates it, Tom? A professional narrator? Or Vernor Vinge? He's a wonderful speaker. Though audio narration is a skill unto itself.

Anna wrote: "Tom wrote: "Looks good. I downloaded an audio version from the library."

Who narrates it, Tom?"

Peter Larkin. I'm not familiar with him.

A Fire Upon the Deep is one of my favorite books I have ever read. Everyone is in for a treat!

Really interesting start to the book. First Contact + Artificial Intelligence... I'm in!

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to put this on hold. The plot is a little too involved to keep track of using an audio format. I have to refer to my Kindle version to catch up and while I enjoy what I've read so far I have other books that I'm committed to reading at the moment. Hopefully I'll get to it in time to keep up with the later volumes.

I won't quite finish this book this month, I'm about 80% through. I really like it though, and am excited to continue with A Deepness in the Sky.

Packi wrote: "I won't quite finish this book this month, I'm about 80% through. I really like it though, and am excited to continue with A Deepness in the Sky."

Think of the BOTM club as more 'guidelines' than hard rules Packi :-) We suggest things and hopefully it inspires people to read them instead of, oh, say the latest were-vampire/shapeshifter/elf paranormal BDSM tale?

Yeah, I know. I just wanted to give my 2 cents as long as this thread is open. Would be a shame not to praise a book that deserves it. ;)

I'm new to this group and wasn't planning to jump in and participate right away, but this is a book and series that I've been meaning to read for a while. I was considering the audio version actually. If I do start reading it, is there a discussion going on other than what's in this thread if I want to chime in?

Andy wrote: "If I do start reading it, is there a discussion going on other than what's in this thread if I want to chime in? ..."

We're very informal here Andy. Tomorrow (or the day after if I'm busy) I'll post the new threads, so you can just start transfer over to there as this one will get buried down in the 'past BOTM threads' folder.

I had the privilege of meeting Vernor Vinge once at a sci-fi conference and what a marvelous, positive way he thinks!