It obviously owes a lot to Stephen King’s IT. But it stands on its own merits…and I give it extra credit because it was set in my home town. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_Night)
Simmons wrote Drood (2009), which takes these two classical authors and places them in a mystery novel. What struck me as particularly masterful is that Simmons managed to write his prose in such a way that as a reader you soon forget that this book was not written in the 1900s — his tone and style match that of Dickens and Collins so convincingly.
You have to have some affinity to religious/Christianity/church topics, otherwise it’s quite a turn-off.
Christian references in the Cantos were probably incidental, given the expected familiarity of the intended audience (american white male young men). eg The Matrix trilogy started with the obvious messianic hero's journey, then attempted to expand it in the following films (karma, cycles of death and rebirth, etc).
For some, these religious messages can be a turn off, I agree. I happened to be raised in a culture that allowed me to ignore it more or less and I can recognize that.
I still think you can enjoy it without caring much about religion.
[1]: https://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2013/02/dan-simmons-river...
I don't have the link handy, and don't trust everything I read on the Internet, etc, etc.
But yeah - this makes so much more sense than breeding, raising, and feeding humans just to harvest their body heat.
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1amree7/theres_a_wi...
Add that he was a boomer and I was disappointed but not surprised when people started complaining about him.
Amazing book, I bought and loved the other 3, I still hope they do a good miniseries with the books.
I didn't know that Summer of Night was a series - really liked the original book - will have to investigate.
And, of course, I'm sad he's died.
I read that many years ago, forgot the source.
It's nice that he ruminated on these old stories these books riff on without being smug about it.
It's sad that he didn't manage to resist the fear based, fiercely reactionary politics of the last quarter of a century or so.
throw0101a•1h ago
* https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/longmont-co/danie...
liquidise•1h ago
tomhow•26m ago