Hyperion (Simmons novel)
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''Hyperion'' is a 1989
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novel by American author
Dan Simmons Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works which span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes wi ...
. The first book of his ''
Hyperion Cantos The ''Hyperion Cantos'' is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. The title was originally used for the collection of the first pair of books in the series, '' Hyperion'' and '' The Fall of Hyperion'', and later came to refer to the ...
'', it won the
Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...
for best novel. The plot of the novel features multiple time-lines and characters. It follows a similar structure to ''
The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''Masterpiece, ...
'' by
Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...
. The next book in the series was '' The Fall of Hyperion'', published in 1990.


Plot summary


Premise

In the 29th century, the Hegemony of Man comprises hundreds of planets connected by farcaster portals. The Hegemony maintains an uneasy alliance with the TechnoCore, a civilization of AIs. Modified humans known as Ousters live in space stations between stars and are engaged in conflict with the Hegemony. Numerous "Outback" planets have no farcasters and cannot be accessed without incurring significant
time dilation In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...
. One of these planets is Hyperion, home to structures known as the Time Tombs, which are moving backwards in time and guarded by a legendary creature known as the
Shrike Shrikes () are passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, ''Lanius'', is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are also know ...
. On the eve of an Ouster invasion of Hyperion, a final
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
to the Time Tombs has been organized. The pilgrims decide that they will each tell their tale of how they were chosen for the pilgrimage.


Part One, The Priest's Tale: "The Man who Cried God"

Paul Duré and Lenar Hoyt are
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
priests. Duré is exiled to Hyperion. He researches an isolated civilization known as the Bikura. Duré deduces that the Bikura have been infected with cross-shaped parasites called cruciforms. After death, the cruciform rebuilds the physical body and resurrects them. Duré encounters the Shrike and is infected with a cruciform. Severe pain prevents Duré from either cutting out the cruciform or leaving the Bikura; his journal entries end. Hoyt reveals that Duré crucified himself to a tesla tree in a desperate attempt to rid himself of the cruciform. For seven years, Father Duré had been continually electrocuted and resurrected. As Hoyt touches Duré, the cruciform falls from his body and allows him finally to die. The Bikura are destroyed with
nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s, but not before Hoyt is infected with both Duré's cruciform and one of his own.


Part Two, The Soldier's Tale: "The War Lovers"

Colonel Fedmahn Kassad's tale begins with a flashback to his days training in the FORCE military academy on
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
. During a simulation battle, a mysterious woman saves Kassad and becomes his lover. Kassad hijacks an Ouster shuttle and crashes it onto Hyperion. There he is reunited with his lover
Moneta In Roman mythology, Moneta (Latin Monēta) was a title given to two separate goddesses: It was the name of the goddess of memory (identified with the Greek goddess Mnemosyne), and it was an epithet of Juno, called Juno Moneta (Latin Iūno Monēt ...
. Kassad sees the Tree of Pain, a gigantic steel tree on which the Shrike impales its victims. Moneta and the Shrike teach him to use time-altering abilities in combat. Kassad realizes that Moneta and the Shrike have been manipulating him and wish to use him to spark an
interstellar war An interstellar war is a hypothetical space war between combatants from different planetary systems. The concept provides a common plot device in science fiction, especially in the space opera subgenre. In contrast, the term ''intergalactic war ...
in which billions of people will die. After Kassad is rescued, he becomes an anti-war activist.


Part Three, The Poet's Tale: "Hyperion Cantos"

Martin Silenus trained as a poet, but his training was interrupted when a
black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
destroyed
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
. Silenus is forced to work as a laborer. During this time, he starts work on his ''Hyperion Cantos'', his
magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
. His ''Dying Earth'' series becomes an enormous hit, making him a multi-billionaire. Silenus joins Sad King Billy on Hyperion. Billy is an aristocrat who decides to relocate to Hyperion and establish a kingdom of artists. Silenus resumes work on the Cantos and becomes convinced that the Shrike is his muse. Billy burns the Cantos manuscript and is taken away by the Shrike. In the centuries since, reliant on life-extending treatments, Silenus has been waiting to return to Hyperion to finish the poem.


Part Four, The Scholar's Tale: "The River Lethe's Taste Is Bitter"

Sol Weintraub, a Jewish professor, is present on the pilgrimage with his infant daughter Rachel. Twenty years ago, Sol's adult daughter became an archaeologist and went to Hyperion. While mapping one of the Tombs, the Shrike appears; Rachel contracts a disease which causes her to age backwards. Sol wrestles for years with dreams in which he is ordered to go to Hyperion and sacrifice Rachel in a replay of the
Binding of Isaac The Binding of Isaac ( he, , ), or simply "The Binding" (, ), is a story from Genesis 22 of the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical narrative, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Moriah. As Abraham begins to comply, having bound Isaa ...
. He decides to become a pilgrim and to implore the Shrike for a cure. After hearing Weintraub's tale, the party retires outside to gaze at the stars. There, they see the Templar treeship which carried them to Hyperion destroyed by Ousters. The ship's captain (who is also on the pilgrimage), Het Masteen, does not react and retires to his room without speaking. In the morning, Masteen is missing and his room is found full of blood, despite a watch that has been kept all night.


Part Five, The Detective's Tale: "The Long Good-Bye"

Brawne
Lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...
is a
private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
. Her current client is a cybrid (a human body controlled by a TechnoCore AI) named Johnny. She and Johnny are forcibly farcast to a planet that seems to be a perfect replica of Old Earth. They become lovers. Lamia and Johnny undertake a virtual reality heist on the TechnoCore. They discover that the Core AIs are divided by their varying loyalty to the Core's Ultimate Intelligence (UI) project. Some members of the Core plan to create an omniscient AI: in essence, a god. Johnny is killed in an ambush, but not before he transfers his consciousness into an implant in Lamia's skull. It is revealed that Lamia is pregnant with Johnny's baby. She is rescued by Shrike cultists, and granted asylum by the Church of The Shrike under the condition that she will embark on the pilgrimage.


Part Six, The Consul's Tale: "Remembering Siri"

The Consul tells the story of Merin Aspic and Siri. Aspic engages in several voyages aboard a spaceship to build a farcaster portal on Maui-Covenant, connecting it to the Hegemony and its waiting hordes of tourists. Eventually he falls in love with Siri. Each time they meet, Merin and Siri age at different speeds due to
time dilation In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...
. This difference grows more pronounced until the eighth visit, in which Merin returns to find Siri dead of old age and the farcaster ready to be activated. Merin chooses to sabotage the farcaster, beginning a hopeless resistance against the Hegemony. In crushing the rebellion, the military destroys the ecology as thoroughly as the tourists would have. The Consul reveals that Siri and Merin were his grandparents. He bides his time, waiting for a chance to betray the Hegemony and achieve revenge. The Consul reveals that he triggered an Ouster device which led to the emptying of the Time Tombs and the release of the Shrike, knowing that doing so would likely cause the destruction of humanity.


Epilogue

The pilgrims decide to continue their journey to meet the Shrike. The narrative abruptly ends as they approach the Time Tombs, which now emit an unusual glow, across the desert plain.


Characters

* The Consul is the former planetary governor of Hyperion. He is enigmatic for much of the first novel, observing and recording the stories of the other Shrike Pilgrims but reluctant to share his own. He is one of only a few thousand individuals to own a private
starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...
. * Lenar Hoyt is a Roman Catholic priest in his early 30s, in a universe where
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
claims only a few thousand followers. * Fedmahn Kassad is a
Martian Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pred ...
colonel in the Hegemony's FORCE military, of
Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
descent. * Brawne Lamia is a private detective. Her name derives from a combination of
Fanny Brawne Frances "Fanny" Brawne Lindon (9 August 1800 – 4 December 1865) is best known as the fiancée and muse to English Romantic poet John Keats. As Fanny Brawne, she met Keats, who was her neighbour in Hampstead, at the beginning of ...
, the love of
John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
, and the eponymous creature of his
Lamia and Other Poems "Lamia" is a narrative poem written by the English poet John Keats, which first appeared in the volume ''Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St Agnes and Other Poems'', published in July 1820. The poem was written in 1819, during the famously productive ...
. Brawne is the daughter of Senator Byron Lamia, once a friend of CEO Meina Gladstone's, who apparently committed suicide when Brawne was a child. * Martin Silenus is a foul-mouthed poet. Born on Earth before its destruction, he is incredibly old. Like
Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...
, he is working on an unfinished epic poem. * Sol Weintraub is a Jewish scholar. His daughter was afflicted with an illness dubbed the "Merlin Sickness" that caused her to age backwards: she gets younger as time progresses. * Het Masteen is the most mysterious of all seven pilgrims. He is a Templar (a nature priest) who captains the treeship that brings the pilgrims to Hyperion. * The Shrike is a menacing and immensely powerful creature of uncertain origin and motives which appears throughout the narrative. It is known for impaling people on a massive metal tree. It is named after the bird of the same name, which impales insects and small animals on branches. The pilgrims expect to find the Shrike in the Time Tombs, which are the ultimate destination of their journey, but as they tell their individual tales it becomes clear that the creature is already connected to each of them. * Meina Gladstone is the
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
and Commander in Chief of the Hegemony of Man, residing on Tau Ceti Center.


Background

In the 1970s, Simmons was an elementary school teacher in a small town in
Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. He began telling stories to his pupils, which eventually grew to become '' The Death of a Centaur'' in ''Prayers to Broken Stones''. This was the first story set in the universe of ''Hyperion''.


Reception

''Hyperion'' was well received critically. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' praised its literary references, its format, and its treatment of the Ultimate Intelligences. Other reviews call it a
cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
, praising Simmons's worldbuilding and character development. Some reviewers enjoyed the way that the six central stories weave together to create a cohesive novel, but others have criticized the fact that most of the story takes place during flashbacks, leaving limited room for plot advancement.


Awards

The novel won the 1990
Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,00 ...
and the 1990
Locus Award for Best Novel Winners of the Locus Award for Best Novel, awarded by ''Locus'' magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award for Best Novel was presented from 1971 (when the awards began) to 1979. S ...
. It was nominated for the 1991
BSFA Award for Best Novel The BSFA Awards are given every year by the British Science Fiction Association. The Best Novel award is open to any novel-length work of science fiction or fantasy that has been published in the UK for the first time in the previous year. Serial ...
. With its sequel '' The Fall of Hyperion'', it was nominated for the 1992
Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...


Adaptations

In 2009,
Scott Derrickson Scott Derrickson (born July 16, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the films '' The Exorcism of Emily Rose'' (2005), ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (2008), ''Sinister'' (2012), '' Deliver Us from Evil'' (2014), '' ...
was set to direct ''Hyperion Cantos'' for
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
and
Graham King Graham King is an English film producer. King was nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing the films '' The Aviator'' (2004), ''Hugo'' (2011), ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' (2018), and winning for ''The Departed'' (200 ...
, with Trevor Sands penning the script to blend ''Hyperion'' and ''The Fall of Hyperion'' into one film. In 2011, actor
Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, si ...
expressed interest in taking over the adaptation. On June 10, 2015 it was announced that TV channel
Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
will produce a mini-series based on the Hyperion Cantos with the involvement of Cooper and King. In November 2021, it was announced that Warner Bros. and Bradley Cooper would instead be developing ''Hyperion'' as a film.


References


External links


Hyperion
at Worlds Without End {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyperion (Simmons Novel)
Hyperion Cantos The ''Hyperion Cantos'' is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. The title was originally used for the collection of the first pair of books in the series, '' Hyperion'' and '' The Fall of Hyperion'', and later came to refer to th ...
1989 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Doubleday (publisher) books Frame stories Hugo Award for Best Novel-winning works Novels about virtual reality Novels by Dan Simmons Fiction set around Tau Ceti Teleportation in fiction Nonlinear narrative novels Novels set on fictional planets