Promotional Information

'Sets the standard for SF in the new century' Peter F. Hamilton 'Beautifully written, chock full of literary references, grand scenery and fascinating characters, this book represents Simmons at his best' Publishers Weekly 10,000 copies sold in its trade editions The long-awaited new SF epic from the author of Hyperion An intelligent and highly literate SF take on Greek mythology The Hyperion series is credited with reviving space opera Dan Simmons is an award-winning bestseller author A cutting-edge space opera for the 21st century from the Hugo Award-winning author who re-invigorated SF in the 1990s with the ground-breaking Hyperion books.

About the Author

Dan Simmons arrived on the scene with the epic horror novel Carrion Comfort. Then in the 1990s he rewrote the SF rulebook with his Hyperion Cantos quartet. He has also written thrillers. Alongside his writing, he maintains a career as a college lecturer in English Literature in the USA.

Reviews

The first in a new series drawing on The Iliad and The Tempest, no less. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Hugo and Stoker winner Simmons (Hyperion) makes a spectacular return to large-scale space opera in this elegant monster of a novel. Many centuries in the future, Earth's small, more or less human population lives an enjoyable, if drone-like existence. Elsewhere, on some alternate Earth, or perhaps it's the distant past, the battle for Troy is in its ninth year. Oddly, its combatants, Hector, Achilles and the rest, seem to be following a script, speaking their lines exactly as Homer reported them in The Iliad. The Gods, who live on Olympus Mons on the planet Mars, may be post-humans, or aliens, or, well, Gods; it isn't entirely clear. Thomas Hockenberry, a late-20th-century professor of the classics from De Pauw University in Indiana, has, along with other scholars from his era, apparently been resurrected by the Gods. His job is to take notes on the war and compare its progress to Homer's tale, noting even the smallest deviations. Meanwhile, the "moravecs," a civilization of diverse, partially organic AIs clustered on the moons of Jupiter, have been disturbed by the quantum activity they've registered from the inner solar system and have sent an expedition to Mars to investigate. It will come as no surprise to the author's fans that the expedition's members include specialists in Shakespeare and Proust. Beautifully written, chock full of literary references, grand scenery and fascinating characters, this book represents Simmons at his best. (July 22) Forecast: An 11-city author tour, plus the anticipation over Simmons's first new SF epic in years, will fuel sales. The conclusion to this two-part saga, Olympos, is due in 2004. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.