This is the first published collection of short stories by one of the
foremost voices in science fiction today. This significant volume
contains 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
brilliantly 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 its author praised as "one of the freshest
writers to break into the science fiction field in many a year."