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Title: Worlds Enough & Time : Five Tales of Speculative Fiction by Dan Simmons ISBN: 0-06-050604-0 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 26 November, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.14 (7 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A good enough collection of short stories
Comment: If you like Dan Simmons, then this is a book I highly recommend. If you don't or haven't read his work before, I'd recommend other novels (such as the Hyperion series) before reading this collection of short stories. Some of the stories were better than the others, 'Orphans of the Helix' for example, but in general a good read and thought provoking. One complaint: I didn't care for 'The Ninth of Av,' as I felt it to be rather obtuse and muddling, and assumed a bit too much about the reader's perceptions and interpretations.
Rating: 5
Summary: Some of his best work, and it got hidden away...
Comment: Dan Simmons' WORLDS ENOUGH AND TIME didn't receive quite the fanfare it deserved when it was published late last year. WE&T, which collects five of Simmons' best recent sci-fi (or speculative) novellas, was originally put out in hardcover by a small press, in a relatively small run. It wasn't made readily available to the readers who would have eaten it up until its large-size paperback publication earlier this year, which means it unfortunately missed its window of window time at the front of the major chain bookstores, where bestsellers get stacked like Aztec pyramids.
It's too bad, because WE&T contains some of Simmons best work. Some of the best work from a guy who has been writing consistently for over twenty years now without hardly ever compromising the intelligence, emotion, and spontaneity of his output.
If you like Dan Simmons' work, but haven't read this one (or haven't even heard of it until you clicked on this page) don't waste any time...click on the add to your cart button, or run out to your local bookstore or library and hope they have a copy. It's a short, but consistently good collection that'll keep reminding you over and over again what a good writer Simmons is.
The collection includes two pieces that tie into Simmons' larger Sci-Fi opi (let's pretend I didn't use that phrase): THE HYPERION CANTOS, and the recently begun ILIUM-OLYMPOS saga. "Children of the Helix," probably the tightest plotted and most thrilling story included in WE&T is drawn from the HYPERION universe, though, as Simmons explains in his introduction for the tale, he originally wrote it as a STAR TREK episode. "The Ninth of Av," an obscure and yet strangely moving look into the far-future, serves as the seed for the new Homeric saga that Simmons has just begun this summer with the excellent ILIUM and will continue next year with OLYMPOS.
Also included is "Looking for Kelly Dahl," a great first narrative detailing a truly bizarre relationship that reads half non-fiction of Tracy Kidder and half like Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND.The writing is this tale is probably the best in the collection and nearly the best in Simmons' career. He hits all of the right emotional notes so that they resound like echoing memories in an empty house. It's just beautiful.
Rounding out the collection are a thrilling adventure story about a team of rogue mountaineers that must climb K2 with an alien. Definitely a journey a discovery. Also, Simmons includes an interesting treatment for a movie that he wrote, which if made, might star Dustin Hoffman.
At the end of the day, WE&T is a great bite-size sampler of Simmons at his best. It's either a great introduction for those unfamiliar with the work of this amazingly talented writer, or a great unexpected treat for those Simmons fans who may have missed this one when it initially fell through the cracks.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great collection of novellas and short stories
Comment: Simmons has concentrated most of his efforts on novels (for obvious reasons) so it's always a delight to find a collection of his shorter work. He's a master of both forms but there's something distinctive about his shorter works. Perhaps it's because there are so few masters of the form. Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury and Nancy Kress are some of the dozen or so authors that are worthwhile (besides Simmons)investigating that are masters of the form. Two stories of note for fans who have read Simmons' novels.
Orphans of the Helix takes place in the Hyperion Universe but without any of the characters from any of the novels. It's a well written story that might have ended up on Star Trek Voyager if not for the ignorance of one of the show's producers.
The Ninth of Av relates to Illum (Simmons' latest novel). It's a prequel involving one of the characters from the novel and takes place prior to the disappearence of most of humanity.
All the stories are interesting particularly the mysterious Looking for Kelly Dahl. This marvelous story (which opens the book) concerns a character who has lost the will for living. He rediscovers it when he becomes involved in a variation on The Most Dangerous Game.
Worlds is well worth picking up. I know there are a number of readers who don't care for short stories (it seems to be a dying art form with less and less magazines publishing them). Worlds will be just as rewarding and more varied than most novels and is comparable in quality to Simmons' fine novels. I'd highly recommend it.
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Title: Ilium by Dan Simmons ISBN: 0380978938 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Hard Freeze by Dan Simmons ISBN: 0312989482 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Phases of Gravity by Dan Simmons ISBN: 1587541068 Publisher: Olmstead Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan ISBN: 0345457684 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Endymion by DAN SIMMONS ISBN: 0553572946 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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