Customer Reviews

Threats and Other Promises

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"Threats and Other Promises" is a compilation of seven short stories written by Vinge, and include both his early years as a young author and some of his latest short fiction. Most are exceptional only in their mediocrity, with the two exceptions being "Original Sin" and "The Blabber". Both deal with his concept of a technological Singularity, the point when our extrapolations of the future break down because of the creation of greater-than-human intelligence. In "Original Sin" Vinge describes a planet populated by hyperactive, vicious beings crippled by short lifespans. He has the good taste and intelligence not to bother trying to invent technobabble for technologies beyond human comprehension (a post-Singularity civilization is involved). "The Blabber" is actually the precurser to Vinge's Hugo Award winning "A Fire Upon the Deep". Several of the main characters from said book are introduced here, all set in a galaxy stratified into "zones of thought", where thinking machines and humans get less effective closer to the galactic core. Its an interesting, if unlikely literary tool that allows Vinge to write plausable stories in the far future, with all the inconcievables isolated far outside the main settings. An interesting read.

This book might have a mixed bag of stories, but there's no real clunkers in it: I disagree with the previous reviewer... most of the stories are at the very least "good", and I would recommend this and its companion "True Names and Other Dangers" to any Vinge fan. The "singularity" is also a background element in more of the stories than is immediately obvious.

One other thing to keep in mind, as you read "The Blabber" - Vinge has said it's not intended as a sequel to "A Fire Upon the Deep", the names of the characters notwithstanding.