The two Hyperion books are up there with the best SF of the last fifty years, and most of his other 90s work is good as well. Sadly he was one of those Americans who seemed to have his brain broken by 9/11, and he descended into right-wing paranoid Islamophobia (or let it out after previously keeping it leashed, idk). Very very little he wrote in the last twenty years is worth paying attention to, but the genius of Hyperion is undeniable.
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I think I first read Carrion Comfort when I borrowed/was given a bunch of seconds hand books from a friend of my mum’s, and I loved that book as a teenager. Think I read it a couple of times, and was annoyed there was one page somewhere in the middle that was half torn out, and I never knew if I had missed something vital.
I loved the Hyperion books too, and think I liked the Endymion ones, although lots of folk don’t seem to like them as much, so maybe my memory isn’t quite as trustworthy! I think I read a few others, but yeah, after reading about his possibly later politics and beliefs, and seeing his posts on his website, I lost any interest in reading his other books I hadn’t read.
So I’m not sad at his passing, but still a bit of a shock.
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My thoughts exactly. Hyperion/FoH are amongst the best books I’ve read, but the brain worms got him. We’ll always have the Shrike and the Pain Tree though.
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Whilst that is true, my impression was that he had stepped back from that in recent years (at least somewhat in comparison to the current right-wing mainstream), and at least in the Sci-Fi community was no longer scene seen as a crank as he was in the 2000s (although it is just an impression).
Both The Terror and Drood are very good/good books as well (although they just creep into the last twenty years), and I had understood that The Abominable more recently was well regarded too.
I’d not heard that but I hope it’s right. My issue with the later books isn’t just the politics (though Flashback is a truly vile novel in that regard), it’s also that they become these great wodges of research just dumped on the page that is really reader resistant. Still, when he was good he was really good.
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I need an Expanse rewatch. What a series, the best Sci-Fi since Babylon 5. (Which I also need to rewatch.)
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Yeah, I don’t really have a thing in my mind of ‘sci-fi shows’ I guess now - seen a lot just not sure what I think of as definitively the best. I mean B5 was great when it was great but didn’t really stand up well to rewatches that I recall.
I loved the Expanse books too.
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Noticed book 2 of the new series by the Expanse lads is out in April. There was a lot I liked about the first and I’m interested to see where it goes. The novella was pretty cool mil sci fi too.
And on the subject of release dates, looks like the new Children Of has slipped a bit to Late March. Super hyped about that one.
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Head and shoulders above every other sci fi on tv. Like not even close.
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