News broke this week that acclaimed science fiction and horror author Dan Simmons has died at the age of 77 following a stroke. Coverage can be found at Ars Technica and Locus Magazine:
Simmons was, of course, best known for the Hyperion Cantos, beginning with Hyperion in 1989. I read the series as a teenager, and I still remember the profound impact it had on me. The first book in particular remains, in my view, the strongest of the four—largely because of its unusual structure. Framed as a kind of science-fiction Canterbury Tales, it presents a series of interlocking pilgrim narratives, each distinct in tone and genre. At the time, I had never read anything quite like it.
Of all the stories in Hyperion, the most haunting for me was that of Sol Weintraub and his daughter Rachel, who suffers from “Merlin’s sickness,” a condition that causes her to age in reverse. Watching a parent slowly lose a child not to death but to time itself is a devastating conceit, and it has stayed with me for decades. It is one of the most emotionally powerful arcs I encountered in science fiction at that age.
While I am most familiar with the Hyperion books, Simmons’ body of work extends far beyond them. His debut novel, The Song of Kali, won the World Fantasy Award, and he went on to write across horror, historical fiction, and mainstream thrillers. Whether one encountered him through epic space opera or darker, more intimate horror, his range and ambition were unmistakable.
It is always sobering to see figures who shaped one’s early reading life pass on. Simmons made lasting contributions to speculative fiction, and for many readers—myself included—Hyperion was not just a novel, but an experience.
His passing makes me want to revisit the Hyperion books, this time with older eyes, and perhaps finally explore more of his horror work as well.
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