THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: onewheelwizzard on 24 Jun 2011, 10:19
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Anyone else here into the science fiction of Dan Simmons? I'm halfway through The Rise of Endymion (4th of 4 in The Hyperion Cantos) and I just keep getting impressed. Ilium and Olympos blew my mind when I first read them, and they're still some of the best sci-fi I've ever read, but Hyperion and the books that follow it are absolutely stunning. Really, guys, if you like epic sci-fi, this is the guy to read.
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um...the Hyperion Cantos are pretty much my favorite books of all time. I've read them about three or four times now, and they never cease to amaze me.
Ilium and Olympos were...interesting...I read them after the Hyperion books so they didn't really affect me that much, since it seemed like a sort of zanier rehash of alot of the same ideas. I've only read those two once apiece though, so I'm sure there's lots I missed.
I enjoyed the shit out of his recent historical fiction kick as well, even though alot of people seemed to not like it. The Terror and Drood are absolutely stunning. They are total departures from his sci-fi style though, so it's definitely not for everyone.
I'm looking forward to his new one Flashback but after reading some reviews I'm a little...nervous. It seems to be his worst-reviewed book yet (at least from my brief scannings of amazon) and apparently it's got a lot of conservative undertones (or overtones?) basically saying "this is the horrible future you are creatiing, liberal people" which....is fairly offensive to me for reasons which should be obvious
of course those reviews could all be bullshit; we'll see when it finally comes out, i guess
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He's also a pretty darn good short story writer...I remember picking up a collection of zombie-based short stories at the library once, and his was the first one (I think it was called "The Teacher"?)...basically about a schoolteacher who was still alive and kept all the zombie kids in her classroom and tried to teach them stuff. Anyways, both Hyperion and the Olympos duologies were fucking fantastic. Definitely worth a read if you like any kind of sci-fi or re-interpretations of famous epics and plays.