Hyperion author Dan Simmons dies from stroke at 77I went into Hyperion blind, decades ago, knowing almost nothing about it.

[steinarb@mastodon.social]

I really liked Hyperion way back when.

I heard that the author had turned out to be... not a pleasant person. But I still think the Hyperion books are good. They have stuck with me all these years.

[kentenmakto@mastodon.ie]

@arstechnica Dan Simmons was the Leslie Fish of overeducated science fantasy writers.

[causticmsngo@mastodon.social]

@arstechnica One of the worst books I’ve ever read. The author held some truly despicable beliefs & said some awful things, too.

I hope he healed whatever ailment made him that way & was a better person before he died.

[hankarus@social.bopinions.de]

@arstechnica Wenn ein Autor stirbt, stirbt auch ein ganzes Universum.

Kann mich der Beschreibung von Hyperion nur anschliessen. Auch wenn es fast ein Jahrzehnt her ist das ich es gelesen habe kommt eine Erinnerung daran regelmäßig zurück. Bei meinem viel zu grossen Medienkonsum ist das etwas besonderes.

Danke, Dan Simmons.

[ralph@hear-me.social]

@arstechnica

#alttext

The scene depicts the landscape of the planet Hyperion. The central figure is the Shrike, a terrifying creature made of razor-sharp blades and thorns. There is an alien tree with banana-like fruit and a futuristic city on the right and a marshy expanse in the lower half with a sailing ship coming towards the camera. Above are purple and gold clouds illuminated by a setting sun.

Cover art for the novel Hyperion. Credit: Gary Ruddell / Bantam Spectra / Doubleday

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@arstechnica

That book stands up there in one of the most interesting sci-fi. I read.

[synfinatic@infosec.exchange]

@taylorswiftboat @distractal @arstechnica he was clearly no fan of religion. The Catholics are portrayed far worse.

[lumii@masto.ai]

@arstechnica
Possibly my favorite author. Definitely one who made a significant impact on me.

[rgrosz@discuss.systems]

@arstechnica I am currently reading Summer of Night, and loving it. I was blown away by the last 25% of The Terror.

[csolisr@hub.azkware.net]

I didn't know about this person or his work until today... sad to see why I'm constantly proven right with my "boycott all art preemptively" position.

[alexafontanilla2024@mastodon.social]

@crenquis
#PostOfTheWeek (season 3):
Dan Simmons (American fiction writer), the author of more than three dozen books, including the famed Hyperion Cantos, has died from a stroke. He was 77.

Simmons, who worked in elementary education before becoming an author in the 1980s, produced a broad portfolio of writing that spanned several genres, including horror fiction, historical fiction, and science fiction. Often, his books included elements of all of these.

[alexafontanilla2024@mastodon.social]

@crenquis
This obituary will focus on what is generally considered his greatest work, and what I believe is possibly the greatest science fiction novel of all time, Hyperion.

Published in 1989, Hyperion is set in a far-flung future in which human settlement spans hundreds of planets. The novel feels both familiar, in that its structure follows Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and utterly unfamiliar in its strange, far-flung setting.

RIP, Dan...

[sassinake@mastodon.social]

@arstechnica

I remember reading that brick at a time when I could actually read bricks.

Now I can only read tweets.