Dan Simmons Anyone?

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RandallFlagg19

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May 5, 2014
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Sometimes I think Simmons is out to impress his readers with his vocabulary. But, that said, he is an educated man and taught for some years, his students were exceptional ones, meaning the brainy type. I enjoy his novels, even if sometimes he goes abit beyond my intellectual threshold. I remember the second time I met him, as I handed a book to him for signing, he looked up at me and asked me a question about something and I had no idea what he was talking about. Talk about being embarrassed! Sometimes his words don't quite 'flow', but the tale is always good. On another note, now that Leonardo DiCaprio has scored an Oscar, maybe the filming of Hyperion will begin. Dan told us years ago that the star of a movie about a ship hitting an iceberg and the director of said movie were interested in filming Hyperion. He couldn't name them as the contract hadn't been signed as of yet.....

AMC Orders ‘The Terror’ Anthology Drama Series From Scott Free | Deadline
 

RichardX

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Sep 26, 2006
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I ended up liking "Summer of Night" a bit more than in my previous post. Not a great book, but it has its moments. There were a few very memorable scenes. The art work in the recent anniversary edition captures those well. Overall though I still find Simmons hard going. Both his writing style and narrative.
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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I ended up liking "Summer of Night" a bit more than in my previous post. Not a great book, but it has its moments. There were a few very memorable scenes. The art work in the recent anniversary edition captures those well. Overall though I still find Simmons hard going. Both his writing style and narrative.
I can mostly agree with you. Some are worth it despite them being hard. And his, in my view, absolutely best novel isnt hard going at all i thought. I really liked Carrion Comfort! After that one A Winter Haunting is probably my second favourite.
 

RichardX

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Sep 26, 2006
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I can mostly agree with you. Some are worth it despite them being hard. And his, in my view, absolutely best novel isnt hard going at all i thought. I really liked Carrion Comfort! After that one A Winter Haunting is probably my second favourite.

I'm on to "Carrion Comfort" now. Just started but finding it interesting. It reminds me a bit of Streiber's "The Hunger." Maybe because I just recently finished that one. LOL. It also reminds me a bit of the "The Strain" with its Nazi and holocaust themes.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
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I'm on to "Carrion Comfort" now. Just started but finding it interesting. It reminds me a bit of Streiber's "The Hunger." Maybe because I just recently finished that one. LOL. It also reminds me a bit of the "The Strain" with its Nazi and holocaust themes.
I love this book. The Hunger can't even come close- CC's scope is much wider. It's classified as a horror novel but it blends a few different genres in the mix.
 
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RichardX

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Sep 26, 2006
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I love this book. The Hunger can't even come close- CC's scope is much wider. It's classified as a horror novel but it blends a few different genres in the mix.

There is a King blurb on the cover that says CC is one of three greatest horror novels of the 20th century. I wonder what the other two are? Maybe Shirley Jackson's House on Haunted Hill is one?
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
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Spokane, WA
There is a King blurb on the cover that says CC is one of three greatest horror novels of the 20th century. I wonder what the other two are? Maybe Shirley Jackson's House on Haunted Hill is one?
I'm sure I read it somewhere, but don't remember. Shirley Jackson or Richard Matheson are probably the other two.
 

RichardX

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Sep 26, 2006
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I'm down to the final few pages of Carrion Comfort. A good book for the most part but I'm exhausted by all endless confrontations between the good and bad guys. This one is about a hundred pages longer than it should be. I enjoyed the parts where the characters could develop more than the showdowns. Certainly worth a read though.
 

RichardX

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Sep 26, 2006
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Just finishing "Drood." I feel like the survivor of some great disaster. It is about 200 pages longer than necessary. With a good editor this could have been a classic but turns out to be something of an overlong endurance contest between author and reader with too much detail on Dickens and Collins. The concept is vast in scope and many of the scenes are memorable but the average reader is not going to endure 700+ pages of text. With that said, I think it is the best of Simmons just a notch below Summer of Night.
 

Tooly

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Jul 13, 2014
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Just finishing "Drood." I feel like the survivor of some great disaster. It is about 200 pages longer than necessary. With a good editor this could have been a classic but turns out to be something of an overlong endurance contest between author and reader with too much detail on Dickens and Collins. The concept is vast in scope and many of the scenes are memorable but the average reader is not going to endure 700+ pages of text. With that said, I think it is the best of Simmons just a notch below Summer of Night.
I found it rather a chore in parts, but ultimately satisfying. Much like Dickens novels, which could have had a prune also, I think Simmons was a little too in tune with the esteemed author, amd the length of Drood is the result. Imho
 
Mar 12, 2010
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I found it rather a chore in parts, but ultimately satisfying. Much like Dickens novels, which could have had a prune also, I think Simmons was a little too in tune with the esteemed author, amd the length of Drood is the result. Imho

just wanted to say... of all the avatars any of the members on the SKMB have ever used, yours creeps me out the most. I actually shiver when I see it lol.
 

Kurben

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Apr 12, 2014
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I loved Summer of Night because it strongly reminded me of IT. Based on Muskrat's review of The Terror I will be searching for it next. A few others have said it was very scary.
I also liked Summer of Night but just because it so strongly resembles IT i was ultimately disapointed in it. Why read it when you could get almost the same story, down to details, by reading IT. The total lack of originality was an offputting thing for me. Still, wellexecuted but it was too alike. My fave Simmons is Carrion Comfort. It is not flawless but better, in my opinion, than the Terror which is second place.
 

Doc Creed

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Nov 18, 2015
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I also liked Summer of Night but just because it so strongly resembles IT i was ultimately disapointed in it. Why read it when you could get almost the same story, down to details, by reading IT. The total lack of originality was an offputting thing for me. Still, wellexecuted but it was too alike. My fave Simmons is Carrion Comfort. It is not flawless but better, in my opinion, than the Terror which is second place.
Thanks, I'll search Amazon and Goodreads for CC.
 
Mar 12, 2010
6,538
29,004
Texas
I also liked Summer of Night but just because it so strongly resembles IT i was ultimately disapointed in it. Why read it when you could get almost the same story, down to details, by reading IT. The total lack of originality was an offputting thing for me. Still, wellexecuted but it was too alike. My fave Simmons is Carrion Comfort. It is not flawless but better, in my opinion, than the Terror which is second place.

I felt the same way about Summer of Night... after reading a couple chapters, I decided I'd rather reread IT. I liked The Fall Of Hyperion. I'm going to give Carrion Comfort a try :)
 

Blake

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Feb 18, 2013
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I've got 'Hard Freeze' sitting on the shelf waiting to be read. Next to it, just looking at it now, is a book by a namesake of SKMB, John Creed, The Day of the Dead. Then there is G.M. Ford, who in the hell is wand fuca? plus a couple of SF stuff.
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
I also liked Summer of Night but just because it so strongly resembles IT i was ultimately disapointed in it. Why read it when you could get almost the same story, down to details, by reading IT. The total lack of originality was an offputting thing for me. Still, wellexecuted but it was too alike. My fave Simmons is Carrion Comfort. It is not flawless but better, in my opinion, than the Terror which is second place.


Whenever I pass by the old Meade school in Gettysburg I'm reminded of Summer of Night. It is fits with how I imagine the school in that book would look (and the cover). The place has been turned into a hotel (the picture of the kids on the front steps is particularly spooky with its white halo effect and knowing they are all long since gone):


History - Federal Pointe Inn, an Ascend Hotel - Gettysburg, PA - USA
 

Matt G.

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Sep 16, 2016
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I have listened to the audio books of the Hyperion and Endymion series and am now 1/2 way through the Illium and Olympus series. I love the way he writes. I recommend the Hyperion/Endymion series. It's a long haul but so well though out. Just amazing. And if you like audiobooks, the narrator is awesome.