I know it's been said before, but I'd like to elaborate.
Dan Simmons doesn't seem to get a huge bit of publicity for some reason, but I think his writing will stand the test of time because all his stories revolve around characters.
He doesn't rely on short-sighted or ambitious predictions about the near future, and he goes beyond discussing relativity and androids. All his stories are about people, whether they be human, virtual, or artificial. Also, as is especially vivid in the _Hyperion_ series, he takes seemingly trite ideas about the future or physics or human nature, gives a detailed and arguably bleak picture about that future, and when it's all told, you wish you could be there.
I especially love Simmons's sci-fi. The _Hyperion_ series is vastly underrated, especially the last two books, _Endymion_ and _The Rise of Endymion_. But the wonderful thing about Dan Simmons is that he is masterfully intelligent, incredibly well-read, creative, and obviously driven as an artist to write. A common theme in his forewords is that the story demanded to be written. And the story never focuses on the technology but on the ideas and the most of all, the characters.
He's written in other genres and has proven that he is a writer -- an artist -- and the stories he tells transcend genre and time.
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I know it's been said before, but I'd like to elaborate.
Dan Simmons doesn't seem to get a huge bit of publicity for some reason, but I think his writing will stand the test of time because all his stories revolve around characters.
He doesn't rely on short-sighted or ambitious predictions about the near future, and he goes beyond discussing relativity and androids. All his stories are about people, whether they be human, virtual, or artificial. Also, as is especially vivid in the _Hyperion_ series, he takes seemingly trite ideas about the future or physics or human nature, gives a detailed and arguably bleak picture about that future, and when it's all told, you wish you could be there.
I especially love Simmons's sci-fi. The _Hyperion_ series is vastly underrated, especially the last two books, _Endymion_ and _The Rise of Endymion_. But the wonderful thing about Dan Simmons is that he is masterfully intelligent, incredibly well-read, creative, and obviously driven as an artist to write. A common theme in his forewords is that the story demanded to be written. And the story never focuses on the technology but on the ideas and the most of all, the characters.
He's written in other genres and has proven that he is a writer -- an artist -- and the stories he tells transcend genre and time.