The Hyperion Cantos is a masterpiece which every scifi fan ought to have read, but I would like to recommend a lesser known title of Simmons for readers who have read at least some works of Charles Dickens (self-explanatory) and Wilkie Collins (such as The Woman in White or The Moonstone).
Simmons wrote Drood (2009), which takes these two classical authors and places them in a mystery novel. What struck me as particularly masterful is that Simmons managed to write his prose in such a way that as a reader you soon forget that this book was not written in the 1900s — his tone and style match that of Dickens and Collins so convincingly.
layer8 1 minutes ago [-]
> The Hyperion Cantos is a masterpiece which every scifi fan ought to have read
You have to have some affinity to religious/Christianity/church topics, otherwise it’s quite a turn-off.
Thanks for posting this. It should be the link in the OP frankly.
melecas 27 minutes ago [-]
The TechnoCore using human minds as unwitting processing nodes — to solve a problem humans couldn't even be told about — reads differently every few years. 2026 is a particularly strange time to reread it.
perardi 25 minutes ago [-]
Also, that should have been the backstory of the Matrix, and not the whole “living power source” nonsense.
xg15 1 minutes ago [-]
I like how the other story that has this premise is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
MikeTheGreat 4 minutes ago [-]
I saw a YouTube video where they said this was more-or-less the original backstory but then they changed it. I think it said that the People In Charge thought the 'living power source' would be easier for the audience to understand?
I don't have the link handy, and don't trust everything I read on the Internet, etc, etc.
But yeah - this makes so much more sense than breeding, raising, and feeding humans just to harvest their body heat.
ortusdux 18 minutes ago [-]
I'm convinced that the studio forced the change to 'human batteries' out of concern over a conflict with Hyperion.
jnellis 37 minutes ago [-]
The library wait list for Hyperion was months. I'm in the middle of Fall of Hyperion right now. Great writing.
teeray 21 minutes ago [-]
Enjoyed the first Hyperion, but Fall of Hyperion was a bit of a slog for me. If Fall of Hyperion were compressed into the conclusion of Hyperion and other stories left as novellas (in the way James S.A. Corey has done), I think I would have enjoyed the story more.
Trasmatta 5 minutes ago [-]
I recommend everyone read Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. The messages about AI and human stagnation are highly relevant to our current world.
lordleft 27 minutes ago [-]
Hyperion was a wonderful sci-novel. Thank you Dan, for your amazing writing; may you rest in peace.
DonHopkins 17 minutes ago [-]
I had a copy of Hyperion but didn't read it for years because the scary knife robot on the cover seemed intimidating. I finally read it, and all the sequels, and they were great books, and hell YEAH that was an intimidating knife robot! Sometimes you CAN tell a book by its cover.
hinkley 14 minutes ago [-]
The scary knife robot is way, way more intimidating in person.
matthewsinclair 16 minutes ago [-]
Vale Dan Simmons. You brought the world a _lot_ of joy.
jabroni_salad 41 minutes ago [-]
See you later, alligator...
textm0de 15 minutes ago [-]
Here lies one whose name was writ in Eternity.
LaurensBER 39 minutes ago [-]
I'm sorry to read this, I was just thinking about rereading the entire saga the other day. His words and ideas will forever life in my mind.
okasaki 15 minutes ago [-]
RIP. I really liked the Hyperion books and Ilium/Olympos. He seemed to become a bit of a chud after 9/11 but the books are still well worth reading.
hinkley 10 minutes ago [-]
Things most people don’t know about Illinois is that while the Mason Dixon line officially goes around the bottom of the state, philosophically it cuts through the middle. Peoria is maybe thirty miles north of the rednecks.
Add that he was a boomer and I was disappointed but not surprised when people started complaining about him.
rwmj 1 hours ago [-]
Although it's quite a flawed novel compared to brilliant space opera like Hyperion, I have a bit of a soft spot for Carrion Comfort. I think it'd make a great movie!
perardi 26 minutes ago [-]
I have a real soft spot for Summer of Night.
It obviously owes a lot to Stephen King’s IT. But it stands on its own merits…and I give it extra credit because it was set in my home town. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Night)
boznz 51 minutes ago [-]
I would also rate this above hyperion, like hyperion book 1 it crossed into the horror genre quite well, the rest of the hyperion books were a little bit too preachy but a good series never the less. RIP Dan.
Izikiel43 8 minutes ago [-]
I picked up Hyperion on a whim on Kindle because it was on sale for 2$.
Amazing book, I bought and loved the other 3, I still hope they do a good miniseries with the books.
shablulman 1 hours ago [-]
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Rendered at 19:23:29 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
Simmons wrote Drood (2009), which takes these two classical authors and places them in a mystery novel. What struck me as particularly masterful is that Simmons managed to write his prose in such a way that as a reader you soon forget that this book was not written in the 1900s — his tone and style match that of Dickens and Collins so convincingly.
You have to have some affinity to religious/Christianity/church topics, otherwise it’s quite a turn-off.
* https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/longmont-co/danie...
I don't have the link handy, and don't trust everything I read on the Internet, etc, etc.
But yeah - this makes so much more sense than breeding, raising, and feeding humans just to harvest their body heat.
Add that he was a boomer and I was disappointed but not surprised when people started complaining about him.
It obviously owes a lot to Stephen King’s IT. But it stands on its own merits…and I give it extra credit because it was set in my home town. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Night)
Amazing book, I bought and loved the other 3, I still hope they do a good miniseries with the books.