Vernor Vinge’s 1992 novel A Fire Upon the Deep is a deal with for followers of galaxy-spanning journey. Science fiction creator Mercurio D. Rivera was significantly impressed by the ebook’s portrayal of the Tines, a race of doglike aliens.

“What stood out in my mind when I read the book 25 years ago was the Tines, the aliens on this world, the pack minds that he creates for these aliens,” Rivera says in Episode 530 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “It blew me away at the time, and it stayed with me all these years. That’s what I was looking forward to when I read it now. It’s just amazing the way he pulls it off.”

Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy host David Barr Kirtley agrees that A Fire Upon the Deep is an incredible accomplishment. The central conceit of the ebook, a universe during which computation turns into simpler the farther one travels from the galactic core, creates a setting that encompasses nearly each sci-fi idea possible. “It has 10 books’ worth of ideas packed into it,” Kirtley says. “Every couple pages there was just some amazing idea where I was like, ‘Oh yeah,’ and I was underlining everything.”

A Fire Upon the Deep juggles dozens of characters and plotlines with out ever turning into complicated. Science fiction creator Abby Goldsmith appreciated the ebook’s fastidiously crafted story. “Just plotwise it’s stunning, as well as creatively,” she says. “The work shows. The amount of time and effort he put into thinking it through, I really admire that.”

The novel imagines a galaxy during which hundreds of alien races are capable of talk with one another by way of quick paragraphs of textual content. Science fiction creator Tobias S. Buckell notes that the novel deftly captures the varied methods during which such a system is perhaps abused. “I read all these cyberpunk books that I thought were preparing me for the internet, but it turns out that the book that most prepared me for the internet as it stands today was A Fire Upon the Deep and its ‘net of a million lies,’ and its whole ‘groups of people trying to commit genocide because of something they read on the net of a million lies,’” he says. “I’m just like, ‘Oh my god, this book really, really, really prepared me for all this.’”

Listen to the entire interview with Mercurio D. Rivera, Abby Goldsmith, and Tobias S. Buckell in Episode 530 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (above). And try some highlights from the dialogue beneath.

Tobias S. Buckell on A Fire Upon the Deep:

I used to be low-key obsessive about this ebook after I was in highschool. … I even paid my sister 20 bucks to rely what number of pages have been in every chapter, and I constructed a chart of what viewpoint was in every chapter and what occurred in every chapter. And I drew the plot of the ebook out onto 10 items of paper that I might unfold and stretch out over a complete flooring so I might see the form of the ebook visually, and I used totally different coloured pens for various factors of view. The ebook actually had a huge effect on my potential to plot and take into consideration the construction of novels as a result of I actually dissected it again and again as a result of I simply needed to determine how within the heck he did it.

Abby Goldsmith on the Tines:

They’re lovely, initially, as a result of they’re principally wolf packs. Their minds are related, so there’s 4 to eight wolf people, that are referred to as “members,” however three of them can’t type an entire particular person. It needs to be 4 or extra. … They can’t go into shut proximity with one another or they begin to lose their sense of self as a result of in the event that they stand three or 4 members subsequent to a different one, they begin overlapping ideas. And the entire level is that the pack has to remain collectively with a view to keep a cohesive particular person—they usually do consider themselves as particular person folks, as a pack. Each member isn’t a person. It doesn’t assume for itself. A “person” on this world is any individual with, principally, 4 or extra our bodies.

Mercurio D. Rivera on setting:

There’s an fascinating melding of fantasy and science fiction tropes in each storylines. In the Tines World, we’re coping with these actually fascinating aliens, but it surely’s set on this weird medieval setting with queens and castles. It’s a typical fantasy setting with science fiction aliens in them. … We’ve been speaking about how improbable the ebook is, and I agree. I did have one reservation—most likely my solely reservation—and that was that I believed the medieval setting within the Tines World is so, so human. I imply, the alien characters are in libraries, they’re consuming brandy, they’re smoking, they’re sitting round, and I couldn’t assist however consider these photos of dogs playing poker. That was my solely reservation, that the world is simply so, so, so human.

David Barr Kirtley on worldbuilding:

Occasionally the [human characters] say issues that reveal what their societies are like. … The instance I actually needed to say of that’s once they’re at this place referred to as Harmonious Repose, they usually’re negotiating with aliens to repair their ship, and the Skroderiders are haggling with the aliens, and Ravna has by no means seen haggling earlier than as a result of she’s solely ever been in societies the place everybody all the time has excellent details about what all the pieces is price, and so there’s by no means any negotiating. “We both know this is worth this, and so this is what the price is going to be.” And I believed that was a extremely fascinating thought.

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