I've read some Vinge: the novels "A Fire Upon The Deep" (one of the best SF novels I've ever read) and "A Deepness In The Sky" (which I don't think is nearly as good "A Fire Upon The Deep"), and the collections "Across Realtime", "Threats...and Other Promises", and "True Names...and Other Dangers", but not "Rainbow's End". I wouldn't call any of them dystopic, though "Across Realtime" deals with a new technology which can be used as a weapon. I've never read any David Foster Wallace, though. The main dystopic novel I've read is John Brunner's "The Sheep Look Up", but it's an environmental dystopia (based entirely on Earth, and one we easily recognize), not based around weapons. His other big "non-linear" novel, "Stand On Zanzibar", presents and takes place in a pretty dysfunctional society, but I'm not sure I'd call it dystopic. Which Spider Robinson do you mean? I haven't read a lot of his early novels (except for maybe "Stardance"), but I know his short fiction (especially the "Callahan's Bar" stories) is, if anything, more down the humourous end than the dystopic end. Does that help? Aloha, Brad