Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948 in Peoria, Illinois) is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle. He spans genres such as science fiction, horror and fantasy, sometimes within the same novel.
Easton Press Dan Simmons books
Hyperion - Masterpieces of Science Fiction - 1991
The Rise of Endymion - Signed First Edition of Science Fiction - 1997
The Crook Factory - Signed First Editions of Science Fiction - 1999
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Author Dan Simmons
Simmons received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, and, in 1971, a Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He subsequently worked in elementary education until 1989.
He soon started to write short stories, although his career did not take off until 1982, when, through Harlan Ellison's help, his short story "The River Styx Runs Upstream" was published and awarded first prize in a Twilight Zone Magazine story competition. His first novel, Song of Kali, was released in 1985.
Simmons became famous in 1989 for Hyperion, winner of Hugo and Locus Awards for the best science fiction novel. This novel deals with a space war, and is inspired in its structure by Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Many of his works have similarly strong ties with classic literature:
Carrion Comfort derives its title and many of its themes from Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem
"Vanni Fucci Is Alive and Well and Living In Hell", a 1988 short story lampooning televangelists included in Prayers to Broken Stones, is about a brief return to earth by the title character, an inhabitant of Dante's Inferno
The basic structure of Hyperion is taken from the Early Modern cycle of stories The Canterbury Tales. A varied group of individuals are on a pilgrimage to solicit a kind of demon-god called "the Shrike" on the planet "Hyperion" in a universe on the edge of the apocalypse. Each pilgrim tells his or her tale of why they are going to see the Shrike. The Fall of Hyperion is the conclusion to the story of the pilgrims rather than a stand-alone sequel. Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are essentially one work in two volumes.
The Hollow Man (1992) is influenced by Dante's Inferno and T. S. Eliot
A short story from 1993, "The Great Lover", is inspired by the World War I War Poets.
In The Fall of Hyperion, John Keats appears as one of the main characters.
His Ilium/Olympos cycle is inspired by Homer's works. Both Shakespeare and Proust are mentioned as well.
The character of Ada and her home Ardis Hall in the Ilium cycle are inspired by Vladimir Nabokov's novel Ada or Ardor, which was Nabokov's foray into the science fiction genre and alternate history.
Dan Simmons books
Hyperion Cantos series
Hyperion (1989)
The Fall of Hyperion (1990)
Endymion (1996)
The Rise of Endymion (1997)
Related short fiction
"Remembering Siri" (1983) - (Novelette), prequel to Hyperion
"The Death of the Centaur" (1990) - (Novelette)
"Orphans of the Helix" (1999) - (Novelette), sequel to The Rise of Endymion
Seasons of Horror series
Summer of Night (1991)
Children of the Night (1992)
Fires of Eden (1994)
Darwin's Blade (2000)
A Winter Haunting (2002)
Related
Banished Dreams (1990)
Joe Kurtz series
Hardcase (2001)
Hard Freeze (2002)
Hard as Nails (2003)
Ilium/Olympos series
Ilium (2003)
Olympos (2005)
Standalone books
Song of Kali (1985)
Carrion Comfort (1989)
Phases of Gravity (1989)
The Hollow Man (1992)
The Crook Factory (1999)
The Terror (2007)
Drood (2009)
Black Hills (2010)
Flashback (2011)
The Abominable (2013)
The Fifth Heart (2015)
Omega Canyon (unpublished - publication date 2025)
Short stories
Prayers to Broken Stones (1990), six short stories and seven novellas/novelettes:
The River Styx Runs Upstream
Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams (novelette)
Vanni Fucci Is Alive and Well and Living in Hell
Vexed to Nightmare by a Rocking Cradle
Remembering Siri (novelette of Hyperion Cantos series)
Metastasis
The Offering (novelette)
E-Ticket to Namland (novelette)
Iverson's Pits (novella)
Shave and a Haircut, Two Bites
The Death of the Centaur (novelette of Hyperion Cantos series)
Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds
Carrion Comfort" (novelette)
Lovedeath (1993), collection of five novelettes and novellas:
Entropy's Bed at Midnight (novelette)
Dying in Bangkok (novelette)
Sleeping with Teeth Women (novella)
Flashback (novelette)
The Great Lover (novella)
Worlds Enough & Time (2002), collection of five novellas/novelettes:
Looking for Kelly Dahl (novella)
Orphans of the Helix (novelette from Hyperion Cantos series)
The Ninth of Av (novella)
On K2 with Kanakaredes (novelette)
The End of Gravity (novella)
Uncollected short fiction
Presents of Mind (1986, with Edward Bryant, Steve Rasnic Tem and Connie Willis)
Dying Is Easy, Comedy Is Hard (1990, with Edward Bryant) - (Novelette)
The Counselor (1991) - (Novelette)
All Dracula's Children (1991) - (Novelette)
My Private Memoirs of the Hoffer Stigmata Pandemic (1991)
This Year's Class Picture (1992)
Elm Haven, IL (1992) - (Novelette), from Freak Show series
One Small Step for Max (1992)
My Copsa Micas (1994) - (Novelette)
Madame Bovary, C'est Moi (2000)
Muse of Fire (2007) - (Novella)
The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderōz (2009) - (Novella published as a chapbook and set in Jack Vance's Dying Earth setting)
The Final Pogrom (2024)
Non-fiction
Going After the Rubber Chicken (1991 a collection of three convention guest-of-honor speeches by Simmons)
Summer Sketches (1992 Simmons reveals how his travel experiences have allowed him to instill a feeling of place in readers of his fiction)
Negative Spaces: Two talks (1999)
Source and additional information: Dan Simmons