A fire upon the deep is the first book in the zone of thought science fiction series by vernor vinge published in 1993 it was named the hugo award for best novel of the year because of its complex detailed and thought provoking dramatic plot about a galactic war taking place thousands of years in the future. A fire upon the deep by vernor vinge tells a tale of human scientists inadvertently releasing an ancient blight on the universe and the blight racing an expedition to find what mystery has escaped their control a secret that can make the blight even more powerful or a countermeasure that can once again defeat it. A fire upon the deep book summary and study guide vernor vinge booklist vernor vinge message board detailed plot synopsis reviews of a fire upon the deep its kind of hard to make a short description of such a far ranging book you essentially have two plots one involving a unique and very well thought out alien race and one involving a set of humans abnd aliens trying to circumvent the . A fire upon the deep by vernor vinge tells a tale of human scientists inadvertently releasing an ancient blight on the universe and the blight racing an expedition to find what mystery has escaped their control a secret that can make the blight even more powerful or a countermeasure that can once again defeat it. A fire upon the deep summary while i cant pretend to fully understand exactly how the zones operate or why they are supposed to exist ill do my best to give a general description of the ideas involved