Mark Alpert's Blog - Posts Tagged "vinge"

One of the great joys of being an author is getting praise from a writer you absolutely love. I recently got a blurb for my upcoming thriller EXTINCTION from Vernor Vinge, who I think is one of the best science fiction writers of our time. His best-known novel, A FIRE UPON THE DEEP, is a masterpiece. It describes a planet where the dominant life form is a race of dog-like creatures called Tines. The Tines run in packs, and the members of each pack share a collective "group mind" that is an amalgam of the intelligences of the pack members. What's more, this group mind changes its "personality" when pack members die and new creatures join the group. When I read the book years ago I thought this concept was outrageously cool, and I knew that one day I'd steal the idea and use it in one of my own books. And I finally got the chance to do it in EXTINCTION, which features a network of man-machine hybrids. When my editor and I talked about sending the book out for blurbs, I said, "Let's try Vinge, we have to try Vinge!" And now I'm overwhelmed and elated that he read my book. That's more important than the blurb itself, actually; I'm just so thrilled that he read it!