Interview: Vernor Vinge

Posted Dec 10, 2008 18:10 UTC (Wed) by pheldens (guest, #19366)
Parent article: Interview: Vernor Vinge

Thanks, it made me subscribe because I love Vinges scifi books. I have mixed feelings about the article style the poster above me likes. It's as if it wasn't an interview.

Interview: Vernor Vinge

Posted Dec 10, 2008 18:31 UTC (Wed) by joey (guest, #328) [Link]

Is this an interview, or an annotated transcription of Vinge speaking at the above mentioned FSF event?

Interview: Vernor Vinge

Posted Dec 10, 2008 19:10 UTC (Wed) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link]

One of Stanisław Lem's chief criticisms of most SF in the 1960-70s was that it was being written by people who didn't know what they were talking about, most of them had no science or engineering background at all, yet they purported to imagine for their readers what "anti-gravity" or "time travel" could mean. I think people like Vinge immensely improve SF writing by actually having relevant expertise. The prologue of "A Fire Upon the Deep" in particular is in a sense the same lesson as Ken Thompson's non-fiction "Reflections on Trusting Trust" - but woven as dramatic fiction. Brilliant.