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The Venging
Greg Bear is one of the foremost voices in science fiction today, with many successful and award winning novels to his credit. However, this is his first published collection of short stories. It is a significant volume, containing many characters and situations that later evolved into their own novels. "Mandala" features technologically perfect cities that eject their sinful human occupants, a premise that can be found at the root of Bear's later novel, Strength of Stones.
In "Hardfought", Bear brilliantlt handles the classic science fiction dilemma of human communication with aliens. Other stories include "The Wind From a Burning Woman" in which a woman holds the world hostage by controlling a giant asteroid; "Scattershot", in which the inhabitants of many universes meet in an undefined limbo space; and "Petra", a story of a world where chaos rules, stone moves and the mind controls reality.
Hailed by readers and critics alike, The Venging has been described as "an excellent collection" and Bear praised as "one of the freshest writers to break into the science fiction field in many a year".
272 pages, eBook
First published January 1, 1983
21 people are currently reading
365 people want to read
About the author
Greg Bear
228 books2,094 followersGreg Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), parallel universes (The Way series), consciousness and cultural practices (Queen of Angels), and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin’s Radio, and Darwin’s Children). His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.
(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)
(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 19, 2014
When I got this out from the library, I didn't realize it was short stories. And even then, it wasn't until I sat down with it and started to think that, hey, some of these stories seem awfully familiar, that I realized that a couple of years ago I read that mammoth book of Greg Bear's short stories, and so, yes, I had read all of these before.
But it had been a few years, and I remembered enjoying the stories the first time, so I settled in to read them again. (Except for Mandala, which I reread as part of Strength of Stones not that long ago.)
And did enjoy them a second time. The title story is great, the novella Hardfought at the end is great, and all the stories in between are enjoyable. Many of his protagonists are strong, complex women, and that pleased me to no end.
I was annoyed that the jacket leaf gave away what was going on in Hardfought before I got to read it again - I would have enjoyed making that discovery at the same time the characters did. It is a piercing critique of the distortions that happen in a society perpetually at war.
But it had been a few years, and I remembered enjoying the stories the first time, so I settled in to read them again. (Except for Mandala, which I reread as part of Strength of Stones not that long ago.)
And did enjoy them a second time. The title story is great, the novella Hardfought at the end is great, and all the stories in between are enjoyable. Many of his protagonists are strong, complex women, and that pleased me to no end.
I was annoyed that the jacket leaf gave away what was going on in Hardfought before I got to read it again - I would have enjoyed making that discovery at the same time the characters did. It is a piercing critique of the distortions that happen in a society perpetually at war.
December 27, 2014
I mostly enjoyed this collection of early-ish fiction by Greg Bear, although I have taken a star off because many of the stories had endings that jarred with me, or seemed abrupt or unfinished. The best example of this is probably Mandala. This is story with a great hook: the living cities of the planet God Does Battle threw out their inhabitants a thousand years ago because they were unworthy. One man is trying to get into a city to be made whole and discovers more than he bargained for. This is a great setup, it's going at a great pace, there's several huge revelations, one after the other, and suddenly the story just stops. No conclusion or resolution. I appreciate that sometimes this is the effect being aimed for, but it's not one that I like. Petra doesn't have quite this problem, but that story of life trying to continue after chaos has overtaken the world tries to pack too much plot into the last few paragraphs, and that doesn't entirely work either. My favourite story in the collection is probably Hardfought, which tells of alien communication, an eternal war and over-specialisation. This is a great story, but it also has an ambiguous ending, leaving more questions than answers.
There are also two early stories that Bear has reworked and added to this edition. Those are decent, although I was left scratching my head at one of them. The last one is rather heartbreaking though.
There are also two early stories that Bear has reworked and added to this edition. Those are decent, although I was left scratching my head at one of them. The last one is rather heartbreaking though.
March 12, 2020
I read "The Venging," a variant title for this collection of the same stories. TOC & story histories: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?5...
● The best and best-known story in the collection is "Hardfought", which won the 1984 Nebula for best novella, and 2nd place for the 1984 Hugo. Also available as a $2 ebook, which is the way to go if you missed the story. It's great. 5 stars!
See https://www.amazon.com/Hardfought-Gre... for the $2 Kindle ed.
● The Wind from a Burning Woman (1978 novelette). This one has moments, but hasn't aged well, Re-read, I think. 3 stars.
● Mandala (1978 novella) by Greg Bear. Starts out well, a fallen colony-world trying to get back on its feet. Then it -- just stops. Abandoned draft for a novel, maybe? 2.5 stars
The remaining stories are OK at best.
● The best and best-known story in the collection is "Hardfought", which won the 1984 Nebula for best novella, and 2nd place for the 1984 Hugo. Also available as a $2 ebook, which is the way to go if you missed the story. It's great. 5 stars!
See https://www.amazon.com/Hardfought-Gre... for the $2 Kindle ed.
● The Wind from a Burning Woman (1978 novelette). This one has moments, but hasn't aged well, Re-read, I think. 3 stars.
● Mandala (1978 novella) by Greg Bear. Starts out well, a fallen colony-world trying to get back on its feet. Then it -- just stops. Abandoned draft for a novel, maybe? 2.5 stars
The remaining stories are OK at best.
March 19, 2024
“You deserve whoever governs you,” she said quietly. “Everyone is responsible for the actions of their leaders.”
Better-than-average anthology of science fiction novellas. Published in 1983 of then-recent works. Five great stories. Original protagonist and world building. Better than many series he’s done since.
I went from innocent to cynic. The transition dizzied me, leaving little backwaters of noble emotion, but the future seemed clear.
Damaged protagonists seeking self-definition, not to mention surviving, in a post-apocalyptic future. Each story longer than the preceding; the last is most complex but most satisfying.
How the fires grow! Peace passes
All memory lost.
Somehow we always miss that single door
Dooming ourselves to circle.
Ashes to stars, lies to souls,
Let’s spin round the sinks and holes.
Kill the good, eat the young.
Forever and more
You and I are never done.
The track faded into nothing. Around the mandate, the universe grew old very quickly.
Better-than-average anthology of science fiction novellas. Published in 1983 of then-recent works. Five great stories. Original protagonist and world building. Better than many series he’s done since.
I went from innocent to cynic. The transition dizzied me, leaving little backwaters of noble emotion, but the future seemed clear.
Damaged protagonists seeking self-definition, not to mention surviving, in a post-apocalyptic future. Each story longer than the preceding; the last is most complex but most satisfying.
How the fires grow! Peace passes
All memory lost.
Somehow we always miss that single door
Dooming ourselves to circle.
Ashes to stars, lies to souls,
Let’s spin round the sinks and holes.
Kill the good, eat the young.
Forever and more
You and I are never done.
The track faded into nothing. Around the mandate, the universe grew old very quickly.
March 3, 2024
I like The White Horse Child, the second story of six, the best. It is lyrical and symbolic, like a lot of Bradbury's sci-fi about kids and based upon his own childhood.
February 19, 2022
Antologia interessante, purtroppo in generale ha una valutazione più negativa che positiva ma alcuni racconti sono davvero eccezionali.
Tra tutti il mio preferito è stato "baraonda", soprattutto la conclusione dove si rompe la quarta parete e si parla direttamente al lettore come potenziale genève
Molto bello anche "petra", con le sue statue che prendono vita e l'ultimo ovvero "la vendetta"
Tra tutti il mio preferito è stato "baraonda", soprattutto la conclusione dove si rompe la quarta parete e si parla direttamente al lettore come potenziale genève
Molto bello anche "petra", con le sue statue che prendono vita e l'ultimo ovvero "la vendetta"
June 27, 2016
Too much form, too little substance. Beautiful and intriguing worlds are described. Language is a bit of a hurdle. Not much story and even less ending of the stories.
July 5, 2020
The Venging ( I’d read this before )
The Wind from a Burning Woman:
A bitter female space-pilot seizes control of the ultimate terrorist weapon in an attempt to expose the political scandal the took her loved ones lives. The Gershels who run the Moon, and the Naderites are the two political factions representing Technicians and Elitist Bureaucratic factions respectively. Her aim is to force a public confession from the chief Naderite responsible for ruining a
Gershel dream that could have helped mankind reach another star. Brilliant yet sad story of the futility of extremist action when faced with systemic corruption on a mass scale. (Perhaps not comparable with the loss of accountability currently implicit in Pres. Trumps lying and cheating style of facist anti rational fear mongering. Obviously the US has now lost its democratic gains and will be reopening the slave trade soon (. June 2020).
The White Horse Child:
Cool creepy short. Part of “the venging” collection. A young boy meets a couple of strangers who tell him strange and frightening stories. Despite his mother’s warnings and the best efforts of the evangelical aunt from your worst nightmare, the boy is profoundly influenced an succumbs to his imagination fulfilling the dire prophecies by becoming a member of a highly denigrated profession.... ~( B;)>
Petra:
After God dies cities are reclaimed by nature and reality and fantasy merge. Dream thoughts come alive. The occupants of a crumbling Cathedral form a primitive society including the offspring of gargoyles come to life and humans. One such progeny, hides in the walls but is inspired by his clandestine glimpses of the first love between a young statuesque Adonis and the innocent virgin daughter of the “Bishop”. So he tries to resist the authoritarian rule of the “Bishop” who encourages public castrations and decapitation for living in sin, aided by the wisdom of a giant copper Apostle, and discovering that the hidden statue of Christ is so depressed as to be of little use. Cool.
Scattershot:
Super strange happenings aboard a spacecraft under attack from a disruptive weapon that changes the ship and its crew by somehow selecting a new ship/crew configuration from the multiverse. As you might imagine the possibilities are infinite and the chances of surviving the changes only slightly higher than the minuscule chance of being able to return to the Earth of ones original universe. However luck seems to be with our plucky protagonist and a cuddly companion...despite the mind boggling changes to the ship and the unknown alien associates lurking behind each sealed door.
Mandala:
Not so short a story of a young man who is first outcast from his tribe and then encounters one of the ancient moving cities that long ago ejected their populace. Not always easy to experience this tale covers a broad scope of challenging deeply ingrained beliefs and nevertheless managed to build a world I have happily transferred to long term visual memory.
Hardfought:
A war between human and the Senexi, an ancient alien race that evolved in gas giants is described from the perspective of a warrior intent on fulfilling her duty. The two sides seem evenly matched and the conflict interminable although the Senexi, naturally conservative and with a strictly heirarchically structured society labour under the vast stores of knowledge contained in their “mandate” repositories. To attempt to match human speed, creativity and flexibility the Senexi overs experiment by attempting to understand their enemy even by growing a hybrid caste that believes itself to be human. The roles and sides become blurred as they learn about humanity, eventually leading to a deeper consideration of the motives for the war and as comprehension of human concepts change the combatants simple but powerful emotions subvert their effectiveness. By mixing reality with simulations, past and present, alien and human until I for one was thoroughly confused this story nevertheless expressed the folly of war, with its stagnant future and the preferability of discourse. It documents the triumph of a love that grew where no such concept had been possible for an alien whose evolutionary path was more akin to those of ants than men. A goodly journey into hardcore weirdness.
The Wind from a Burning Woman:
A bitter female space-pilot seizes control of the ultimate terrorist weapon in an attempt to expose the political scandal the took her loved ones lives. The Gershels who run the Moon, and the Naderites are the two political factions representing Technicians and Elitist Bureaucratic factions respectively. Her aim is to force a public confession from the chief Naderite responsible for ruining a
Gershel dream that could have helped mankind reach another star. Brilliant yet sad story of the futility of extremist action when faced with systemic corruption on a mass scale. (Perhaps not comparable with the loss of accountability currently implicit in Pres. Trumps lying and cheating style of facist anti rational fear mongering. Obviously the US has now lost its democratic gains and will be reopening the slave trade soon (. June 2020).
The White Horse Child:
Cool creepy short. Part of “the venging” collection. A young boy meets a couple of strangers who tell him strange and frightening stories. Despite his mother’s warnings and the best efforts of the evangelical aunt from your worst nightmare, the boy is profoundly influenced an succumbs to his imagination fulfilling the dire prophecies by becoming a member of a highly denigrated profession.... ~( B;)>
Petra:
After God dies cities are reclaimed by nature and reality and fantasy merge. Dream thoughts come alive. The occupants of a crumbling Cathedral form a primitive society including the offspring of gargoyles come to life and humans. One such progeny, hides in the walls but is inspired by his clandestine glimpses of the first love between a young statuesque Adonis and the innocent virgin daughter of the “Bishop”. So he tries to resist the authoritarian rule of the “Bishop” who encourages public castrations and decapitation for living in sin, aided by the wisdom of a giant copper Apostle, and discovering that the hidden statue of Christ is so depressed as to be of little use. Cool.
Scattershot:
Super strange happenings aboard a spacecraft under attack from a disruptive weapon that changes the ship and its crew by somehow selecting a new ship/crew configuration from the multiverse. As you might imagine the possibilities are infinite and the chances of surviving the changes only slightly higher than the minuscule chance of being able to return to the Earth of ones original universe. However luck seems to be with our plucky protagonist and a cuddly companion...despite the mind boggling changes to the ship and the unknown alien associates lurking behind each sealed door.
Mandala:
Not so short a story of a young man who is first outcast from his tribe and then encounters one of the ancient moving cities that long ago ejected their populace. Not always easy to experience this tale covers a broad scope of challenging deeply ingrained beliefs and nevertheless managed to build a world I have happily transferred to long term visual memory.
Hardfought:
A war between human and the Senexi, an ancient alien race that evolved in gas giants is described from the perspective of a warrior intent on fulfilling her duty. The two sides seem evenly matched and the conflict interminable although the Senexi, naturally conservative and with a strictly heirarchically structured society labour under the vast stores of knowledge contained in their “mandate” repositories. To attempt to match human speed, creativity and flexibility the Senexi overs experiment by attempting to understand their enemy even by growing a hybrid caste that believes itself to be human. The roles and sides become blurred as they learn about humanity, eventually leading to a deeper consideration of the motives for the war and as comprehension of human concepts change the combatants simple but powerful emotions subvert their effectiveness. By mixing reality with simulations, past and present, alien and human until I for one was thoroughly confused this story nevertheless expressed the folly of war, with its stagnant future and the preferability of discourse. It documents the triumph of a love that grew where no such concept had been possible for an alien whose evolutionary path was more akin to those of ants than men. A goodly journey into hardcore weirdness.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2017
Nonsense. Bear's notes for a novel, bunch of incoherent paragraphs. This is more the norm than exception with Bear, I'm realizing. DNF. He thinks he's clever but he's just obscure and smug about it. I don't like this writer any more.
February 14, 2019
Really good stuff.
not-my-taste
February 10, 2023Unrated, as I bounced off it too hard to give any kind of fair assessment. I was a big fan of Bear in my teen years, especially the novels: Blood Music and Eon, but I just couldn't get into this one.
March 5, 2023
3.5 stars rounded down. Short story collections can be a bit of a mixed bag and I liked some more than others, but on the whole it was enjoyable. Standouts were Mandala and Hardfought.
May 6, 2024
L'Autore è sicuramente tra i nomi celebri della SF propriamente detta, ma questi racconti li ho trovati noiosi e faticosi da leggere.
April 18, 2024
I dunno. Some of these hit and some of them either went on for too long or frayed apart too readily. There's some memorable imagery in here but it frequently runs distraction against the jumble of themes and messaging, or a handful of these shorts being dismally sad for unclear reasons. There are some highlights--Hardfought is really good, Venging is pretty good, the one about the roving cities is impressively detailed if thematically muddled--but I would have to recommend just checking those out and skipping the rest.
April 4, 2018
The book is sci-fic short story based on the world ruled by the human mind and one of the excellent collection of "The Wind From Burning Woman". A woman who holds the universe by controlling a giant asteroid. Thus, story has the power of a human mind to the universe for controlling and disturbing by the power of mind.
April 16, 2017
A couple of the stories are terrific, while a couple remind me of the Outer Limits and are not particularly good. The best involves a blackmail plot on an epic scale, "Tell the truth or I'll destroy you," which does not go as planned.
July 1, 2010
i love you greg bear. these short stories kicked ass. and his preface made me love him even more.
May 15, 2010
Some great stories; made me buy more Greg Bear books, but none ever re-captured the same magic.
September 13, 2013
Bad.Boring,and hard to understand what the stories are about.
December 27, 2015
I have read this book a long time ago (10 years or more) but remember absolutely nothing about it, so it must have been pretty unremarkable (therefore the 2-stars rating).
Want to read
June 8, 20256 stories:
(2/6 read)
The Wind from a Burning Woman (1978)
***** The White Horse Child (1979)
Petra (1982)
Scattershot (1978)
Mandala (1978)
***** Hardfought (1983)
(2/6 read)
The Wind from a Burning Woman (1978)
***** The White Horse Child (1979)
Petra (1982)
Scattershot (1978)
Mandala (1978)
***** Hardfought (1983)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews