A career-spanning collection of science fiction from one of the field"s most highly regarded writers, The Collected Stories contains all of Vinge"s published short fiction with the exception of two stories--almost 40 years of work including his first professional sale and his most recent novella (published here for the first time). It"s a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable review of his career, made richer by the addition of forewords and afterwords to the individual stories in which he discusses everything from the ideas that drove the story to insights on his own writing process. Vinge"s writing is characterized by a clear love of science and an empathy for human needs and feelings. He"s intensely curious about what happens when people and science collide. His stories explore the legacies of racism and xenophobia, the pros and cons of anarchy, alien contact, and the sometimes even more difficult contact between humans. He"s a master of big ideas, epic settings, and stories well told. --Roz Genessee