Vernor Vinge

"Ten years have passed on Tines World, where Ravna Bergnsdot and a number of human children ended up after a disaster that nearly obliterated humankind throughout the galaxy. Ravna and the pack animals for which the planet is named have survived a war, and Ravna has saved more than one hundred children who were in cold-sleep aboard the vessel that brought them. While there is peace among the Tines, there are those among them--and among the humans--who...

Scientists release an ancient Transcendent artifact that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence, only one ship escapes and the struggle begins.

The Peace Authority eliminated war by using the "bobble," a unique spherical state of stasis than encapsulated an object in an impenetrable force field. Paul Naismith, reclusive leader of the Tinker underground, has deceloped his own extraordinary, illegal, technology, far surpassing the Authority, hoping to strike back someday.

On a distant future Earth where the human race has inexplicably dwindled to some three hundred members, a secretive person harbors a deadly secret that he or she is willing to kill in order to protect.

A collection of articles and essays about the new frontier of the Internet, especially a direct interface between brain and computer that enables game players of the future to actually experience the world of their fantasies.