The release date for the English version of 'A Deepness in the Sky' by
Vernor Vinge is Jan 2000. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
This is the preface to A Fire Upon the Deep and tells the tale of Pham Nuwen, a minor player in the Queng Ho's interplanetary commerce ship. Although the sleeping planet Arachna is about to awaken to technology, the Queng Ho and the Emergents are circling the planet with dark intentions.