3 ms·

RIP. I really liked the Hyperion books and Ilium/Olympos. He seemed to become a bit of a chud after 9/11 but the books are still well worth reading.

by okasaki 7mo ago

hinkley 7mo ago
Things most people don’t know about Illinois is that while the Mason Dixon line officially goes around the bottom of the state, philosophically it cuts through the middle. Peoria is maybe thirty miles north of the rednecks. Add that he was a boomer and I was disappointed but not surprised when people started complaining about him.
- perardi 7mo ago
  Ha, I’d argue it starts right at Pekin.
  - hinkley 7mo ago
    That puts several university towns below the line. But little towns outside big towns in the Midwest have their own vibe.
JackFr 7mo ago
Loved Ilium, and Olympos a little less so. Inspired me to read the Iliad.
AdmiralAsshat 7mo ago
Yeah, the Islamophobia in Ilium/Olympos made me really tempted to put the books down several times. It's such a strange about-face from when he wrote the character Kassad in the Hyperion Cantos. Like Frank Miller, it seems like 9/11 just broke him.
poisonarena 7mo ago
> He seemed to become a bit of a chud I will now read Ilium/Olympos
jauntywundrkind 7mo ago
Ilium was my first Simmons & I was glued to it. The mem/meme "brane" portals to other realities still anchors so much of my thought, frames my perception signficiantly. It also featured giant space crustaceans! Or at least one, the moravec Orpho. Along with his more human Mahnmut moravec friend. This feels low key resonant with our days filled with OpenClaw. Accelerando hit 2 years latter (2005), with much more alien space lobsters. Where-as Orpho was a moravec that picked a crustacean shape. Some random fan art, https://www.deviantart.com/microcosmicecology/art/Mahnmut-and-Orphu-53023409 https://www.deviantart.com/microcosmicecology/art/Mahnmut-an... https://www.deviantart.com/vengethenian/art/Mahnmut-and-Orphu-Moravecs-364620947 https://www.deviantart.com/vengethenian/art/Mahnmut-and-Orph... Someone mentioned lobsters in Schismatrix (1985) reminding me that I haven't read it!!

RIP. I really liked the Hyperion books and Ilium/Olympos. He seemed to become a bit of a chud after 9/11 but the books are still well worth reading.

by okasaki 7mo ago

RIP. I really liked the Hyperion books and Ilium/Olympos. He seemed to become a bit of a chud after 9/11 but the books are still well worth reading.

hinkley 7mo ago

Things most people don’t know about Illinois is that while the Mason Dixon line officially goes around the bottom of the state, philosophically it cuts through the middle. Peoria is maybe thirty miles north of the rednecks. Add that he was a boomer and I was disappointed but not surprised when people started complaining about him.

perardi 7mo ago
Ha, I’d argue it starts right at Pekin.
- hinkley 7mo ago
  That puts several university towns below the line. But little towns outside big towns in the Midwest have their own vibe.

JackFr 7mo ago

Loved Ilium, and Olympos a little less so. Inspired me to read the Iliad.

AdmiralAsshat 7mo ago

Yeah, the Islamophobia in Ilium/Olympos made me really tempted to put the books down several times. It's such a strange about-face from when he wrote the character Kassad in the Hyperion Cantos. Like Frank Miller, it seems like 9/11 just broke him.

poisonarena 7mo ago

> He seemed to become a bit of a chud I will now read Ilium/Olympos

jauntywundrkind 7mo ago

Ilium was my first Simmons & I was glued to it. The mem/meme "brane" portals to other realities still anchors so much of my thought, frames my perception signficiantly. It also featured giant space crustaceans! Or at least one, the moravec Orpho. Along with his more human Mahnmut moravec friend. This feels low key resonant with our days filled with OpenClaw. Accelerando hit 2 years latter (2005), with much more alien space lobsters. Where-as Orpho was a moravec that picked a crustacean shape. Some random fan art, https://www.deviantart.com/microcosmicecology/art/Mahnmut-and-Orphu-53023409 https://www.deviantart.com/microcosmicecology/art/Mahnmut-an... https://www.deviantart.com/vengethenian/art/Mahnmut-and-Orphu-Moravecs-364620947 https://www.deviantart.com/vengethenian/art/Mahnmut-and-Orph... Someone mentioned lobsters in Schismatrix (1985) reminding me that I haven't read it!!