For those wondering why I discuss the Hyperion Cantos and Ilium duology only very briefly in this video, it's because a major focus of my channel is on books and authors that aren't already widely covered on BookTube. I want to add something new or different to the conversation, and other channels such as Jonathan's @WordsinTime have done a great job providing detailed, spoiler-free reviews of the Hyperion and Ilium books. The rest of Simmons' works are far less widely known or discussed on BookTube.
Thanks! Last October, I uploaded a couple of classic short stories that I narrated. They were a lot of fun to perform, and I hope to record more in the future.
Simmons is a Colossus, The Terror and Abominable were absolutely tremendous books, and extremely touching in parts , Summer of night is superb, fantastic author does not get enough credit
the 7-11 rating system was a convenient one you had in store for us ;) Also great tier list! I only had Hyperion in my to-read list and did not know about how broadly Simmons wrote, this is great
Thanks, and I see what you did there! :D The rating scales were largely dictated by the fact that I need to fit 28 books on the chart by the end of the next video, so I increased the ambitiousness scale to spread the books out more.
Thank you for the wonderful feedback! I try to take a similar approach with most of my videos. I enjoy making these kinds of author retrospectives, and I have many more planned.
Your many intriguing reviews and insights into these legendary authors is going to give me book hunting quests for many years to come. So grateful for your work, sir.
Having read Hyperion (my first ever Simmons book) recently, I have come to think of him as a genius. My expectations for his other novels have been high because of it. Your evaluation in this video gave me a clearer idea of what to expect from them and probably saved me from a lot of disappointment. Awesome video as always! Looking forward to next one.
Thanks! And like many geniuses, his work often results in masterpieces, but sometimes can overreach, resulting in what I describe in the video as "an impressive mess."
Awesome video Bridger! I enjoyed the detailed info and the enjoyment/ambition scale. And thanks for the shout out on my Hyperion/Endymion/Ilium videos!
Excellent video and analysis. I'm a big fan of this author because of The Terror novel in which I've gotten by accident, without having a clue what was about - of course my mind was blown and since then I kept reading his books looking for my next fix. I found some "copium" in Song of Kali and in Drood. And then I discovered the infinity pool which was called Hyperion Cantos. And I'm still struggling through it. Please keep making this sort of videos - they are greatly appreciated. Cheers!
Thanks! I love making these kinds of videos because it gives me an opportunity to showcase some of the hidden gems of well-known (and perhaps not-so-well-known) authors and to broaden the discussion on BookTube. That's why I started this channel, and I have many more videos like this one planned.
Thanks for the spoiler-free and graphical breakdown. Definitely gonna check out your channel again. Also, what a VOICE! I am almost done with Carrion Comfort and already on the hunt for my next one.
damn the synchronicity! Song of Kali, my first Dan Simmons book its on its way to be read and then puff your video pops up! I really want to read this author this year. Thanks for this video
@@thelibraryladderAs a creative person (being an exponent of primarily the musical and visual variety) it’s impossible to lay a golden egg every time! Our greatness ebbs and flows, almost as if we aren’t in control of when the Muses deign to grace our works with their presence! Hahah!
What a fantastic video! As a big fan of the Hyperion Cantos I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read other novels by Dan SImmons. But since I really liked Boy's Life I think I have to pick up Summer of Night asap!
Thanks! If you enjoy the big ideas and complex story of the Hyperion Cantos, you should give the Ilium duology a try also. I didn't find it quite as satisfying as the Hyperion books, but it's the kind of ambitious storytelling that very few authors even attempt, let alone succeed at.
@@thelibraryladder Just finished Summer of Night and you are not wrong! A five star read (although not quite as good as Boy's Life). It also really drove home your point about how versatile an author Simmons is. Never would I have guessed that the Hyperion Cantos is written by the guy.
Great video! I love a good Dan Simmons book. I've read 8 of the 14 books listed here. It would be 9 except I was about 100 pages into Olympus when I accidentally left it at a friends' house when I was traveling out of town. When I went back to their house a year later, their puppy had found it and chewed through the book. Some day I'll finish it. I read Summer of Night but hadn't payed a lot of attention to its sequels. Your descriptions of Fires of Eden and Children of the Night make them sound like a lot of fun. I'll definitely check those out. Also, Boy's Life, man. I was so happy to hear that book get a shout out. I'd love to hear you discuss Robert McCammon at some point.
Thanks! You're making good progress with Simmons' books. Fires of Eden and Children of the Night are fun reads. They don't have the same intensity or emotional heft as Summer of Night or the Hyperion Cantos, which is why I rated them a little lower. I'm a big fan of McCammon, and I've been thinking about doing a retrospective of his works later this year during Halloween season. I'm not sure if I'll have time to squeeze it in, though, given the many other video topics I want to cover this year. In any case, McCammon will get the focused overview treatment from me at some point (if not this year, then almost certainly next year).
This is a very interesting and worthwhile video. I've mainly read his science fiction and historical fiction so I'm not familiar with many of this other works and I really appreciate your detailed thoughts on them. I'm very much looking forward to the next one.
This series has inspired me to go through and read at least most of Simmons's work that I find interesting. Just finished Song of Kali and, holy cow (no pun intended), was that a great book. Absolutely haunting. I do feel like I need to shower after reading it though.
Me too! I originally planned to do the tier ranking as a single video, but it grew too long and unwieldy, so I had to divide it. Part 2 will probably be about as long as this one. By dividing them, though, I'm behind schedule on the other videos I want to get to this month. Thanks for your patience!
Absolutely love this video! I'm a big Dan Simmons fan and it was great to see you give him some much needed focus. Really great video! Tremendous channel as well.
Thanks! I particularly wanted to highlight his lesser-known works that don't get much attention on BookTube, which I'll continue in my next video focused on the rest of his books.
Thanks! I appreciate your kind words. My goal is to provide useful information, and when I share my personal views, I try to ensure they're informed opinions.
Thanks! I think of The Terror primarily as historical fiction. I'll be discussing it in the final part of my Dan Simmons overview, which will be uploaded in a couple of hours. I have no issue with Vance's worldbuilding. My reference to illogical dystopian worldbuilding was aimed at authors that want readers to take their stories at face value. Vance included some serious themes in his Dying Earth stories, but he also injected enough humor and silliness into the stories to let readers know that they shouldn't take them too seriously.
Thanks! I think the 11-point scale I used for ambitiousness is a little much, but I needed a way to fit 28 books on the chart (counting the 14 books in the next video) that would spread them out for easier visualization, rather than having many of them bunched around the same coordinates.
Thanks! I have fun making them, although I wish I could figure out a way to produce them at a faster rate. I have a long list of videos I want to make, and it's going to take me a long while to get to all of them.
Song of Kali is one of the only books I’ve ever thrown in the garbage. It creeped me out so bad and the end was expected all through the book and when it played out I was so disturbed I threw the book away I didn’t want it in my house anymore. Great book though.
I'm two minutes in and already want to buy a couple of books, simply because you always talk in a very interesting way about them. As if you were a little bit in love with them :D I bought my third Elric Volume yesterday, after watching your video about how to collect books. It's quite difficult to find good copies here in germany (Moorcock and even Pratchett aren't that popular here as they should be, unfortunately) but then I discovered, that in octobre there will be a special edition! Eight Elric novels in one book. Don't know if you are interested in collecting foreign copies, but here you are :D Thanks for your work. Years ago, I lamented that there are no documenteries about books, only short videos, snippets, basically. But here we are, 30 minutes and this is even not your longest video. Also I have to mention (really, really have to) that I'm one of the first subscibers, number 441 or something. I remember thinking something along the way of ''this guy will surely make high quality videos, but what's with his voice...?'' after watching the first video :D
Thank you to a early subscriber! (Alas, there's not much I can do about my voice. I've had it since I was 15.) :) I do have a bias here on my channel, which is that I prefer to talk about books and authors I enjoy. I want people to try reading things they haven't before, and I don't want to impose my taste on others by steering them _away_ from books I don't enjoy. My only exceptions to that approach are generally in the context of providing overviews of an author's works, where I'll identify their books I enjoy and the ones I don't. Even there, my goal is to convince viewers to try at least some of the author's works and to suggest good starting points. I plan to increase my focus on quasi-educational overview videos. They require a lot more time and effort to produce, but they're my favorite type of video to make, and they seem to occupy a useful niche on BookTube. That Elric omnibus sound intriguing. Thanks for the tip!
@@thelibraryladder Well, you don't have to! I'am used to your voice/style now and so are many others. It's important to have such litte unique selling points. And that's perfectly fine. I see it as a way of showing general respect and saying ''thank you'' to writers, by not allowing to forget their work (your Arkham House video is a good example). Sounds interesting. But be careful, because I've seen a lot of stories like this: People put a lot of work into educational videos but then realise that, ironically, those videos generate much less views. After disappointment and frustration, some needed a break and others never returned back. Or they change the direction of the channel completly. It's easy to kill your motivation and fun this way. And I actually think that patreon is a way to cope with it. Because even if you only have 20 people there, you will always have at least some sort of reward after making a video. Sounds superficial. But at the end of the day I really don't care, as long as you keep going! :D You're welcome! It's illustrated, too. Have a nice day.
Thanks for the supportive comments! My goals for the channel might be a little different from those of most other BookTube channels. Ultimately, I'm trying to create a reference library of useful and substantive book-related content that's easy to navigate and (I hope) engaging and entertaining for viewers. Thus, my videos are all about books and authors and the histories of various genres and not about me or my journey reading books. I want to talk about books I've actually read, rather than speculate about books I haven't read, which is another reason why I don't make TBR, book haul or other similar videos that would clutter my channel. I've been very happy with viewer response to my videos, even when videos haven't performed as well as I'd hoped. My biggest obstacle has been RUclips's algorithm, which gets confused when I make videos covering different book genres, frequently leading it to show some of my videos to the wrong audiences. I'm trying to train the algorithm to think of my audience as encompassing more than just fans of the fantasy genre (who comprise ~75% of my subscriber base), but it's a slow process that likely will require me to make a lot more videos. Fortunately, I'm not in a hurry. I'm happy to build the channel slowly and steadily. If I were in a hurry, I'd be producing a regular stream of clickbait 'Top 10'-style videos that say more about the person making the list than about the books on it. :)
I really enjoyed your review of these books. I've been a Simmons fan since the publication of Hyperion, truly one of the greatest achievements of the scifi genre, but I've liked most of his other works as well.
Thanks! My experience with Simmons is very similar to yours. Hyperion might be the science fiction novel I've re-read the most over the past 30+ years. (I don't keep track of those things, so it's just a guesstimate.)
Fantastic video.I have read the Hyperion Cantos and Summer of Night from Dan Simmons and really liked them all.Hyperion is my second all time favourite sci-fi novel,only behind Dune.Except this five books,I know nothing about his other works,so this video is exactly what I need.I'll definitely read more books from him.
Thank you for this Bridger! I really appreciated this candid, and in depth look into Simmons books. And my goodness, there’s more to come haha. I had no idea he was that prolific. Very much looking forward to the next one.
Thanks, Chas! That's the primary reason why I'm making these videos about Simmons -- to increase awareness of the many other books he's written beyond the 8-10 most recognizable titles. I hope to have the final video up by the end of next week.
Thanks! I had a little difficulty adjusting to Endymion the first time I read it, because I was expecting something more like his Hyperion duology. Instead, I found Endymion to be more complex, more metaphysical and more mundane. I still enjoyed it very much, but it was a different reading experience.
This is amazing! I’m so glad I was recommended your channel. I’m just about finished with a reread of Hyperion and I was tickled to see the drug Flashback pop up just once during one of the travelers stories. I’m looking forward to part two.
Thanks! One of the fun things about Simmons is that he sprinkles little references to his other works throughout many of his books. Often it's just a brief description of a place or activity, but sometimes, as with the flashback drug, it's a specific reference.
Just discovered your channel, hard agree with your Hyperion cantos opinion. That first book has not been topped for me in terms of science fiction. I'm currently reading the Mystery of Edwin Drood by Dickens just so I can read Drood by Simmons. Looking forward to your next video!
Welcome aboard! Reading the Dickens novel before tackling Drood is a worthwhile step. It adds another layer to Drood when you start to recognize the overlaps between them. Thanks for watching!
I just stumbled over this video, which was very serendipitous as I just started reading The Terror in honor of October. I'm really enjoying it so far. 😁
Thanks! I divided my discussion of Simmons' works across three videos, and The Terror is in the third one (due to its historical fiction setting). I think the novel is terrific, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Another great video! I've read 4 by Simmons now and (beyond Hyperion- a priority this year),these videos may help me decide where to go next. (Or even if to continue). Thanks! Looking forward to the next one, especially to see where The Terror lands on your spectrum.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Josh! I probably tipped my hand about The Terror by calling it a masterpiece in this video (although my upcoming discussion of it will be a bit more nuanced, as it's not a book that everyone will enjoy). :D
Great video! I'm reading and enjoying Hyperion at the moment, thank you for the other suggestions as I was curious about his other books, and they all sound great to me.
Thanks! I hope Hyperion and his other books live up to (and surpass) your expectations. He's been a must-read for me for more than 30 years, even when I haven't always enjoyed his books.
Thanks! That's an interesting idea. I'll give it some thought, although I'm not sure it would be as useful for Kay's books. The ambitiousness scale fits Simmons because of how diverse his output is and how creative he gets in combining ideas and genres. With Kay, I suspect most of his novels would be clustered around the same general level of ambitiousness. I'll think about it, and if it works, I'll upload a screenshot as a community post.
@@thelibraryladder Yup. I was definitely thinking of a simple screenshot. Also, I want to take this time to thank you for introducing me to Kay's works. Lions and the Sarantine Mosaic are some of the best works I have ever read so far.
What a great video, thank you very much, Bridger! Hyperion is my favorite science fiction novel, and I enjoyed also The Terror. Hopefully I will read this year Summer of night. Ps. Enjoyment and ambition ranks is so nice idea!
Very informative, thank you for putting this together. I've only read Hyperion (which I found captivating) and Fall of Hyperion (which I fell off of at the halfway point), but I own Song of Kali, Carrion Comfort, Summer of Night and The Terror as well. This is inspiring me to hasten my reading of those and maybe attempting to revisit FoH. Since you mentioned Boy's Life, would love to see your take on Robert McCammon's work someday as well.
Thanks! I'd encourage you to give Fall of Hyperion another try. While the narrative structure is quite different from Hyperion and perhaps not quite as compelling (IMO), it does tie together very effectively the many loose ends from the first book. I'm planning a similar retrospective of McCammon's works. I hope to fit it into my schedule this fall (Halloween season), but if not, then I'll get to him next year. (I have a lot of videos in the production queue and limited time to make them.)
I definitely wanna check out song of kali!! that book sounds awesome. I have to also finish reading the hyperion cantos, I've only read the first book and I really did like it, i just thought the ending was disappointing. I don't like cliffhangers. great video once again and thank you!
Great! The Hyperion Cantos is really two duologies (Hyperion and Endymion). The two Hyperion books should be read as a whole because of the cliffhanger ending and several unanswered questions in the first book. The Endymion books aren't essential to the Hyperion duology, but they add new and enjoyable dimensions to the overall story. Thanks for sharing!
I have only read the Hyperion cantos by Dan Simmons yet. Probably going for Ilium and Olympos next because I prefer Sci-fi to horror. Great video and I have to say you have a real pleasant voice.
Boy, do I love the library ladder's encyclopedic knowledge of the genres he collects, and his analysis too. TOP shelf! All that and a deeply hypnotic, mellifluous voice. But it's the latter that ends up being the weakest part of this channel. It's a one-trick-pony we never get a break from and quickly becomes monotonous and eventually off-putting. Although I'm sure it attracts lots of new followers. Thing is, he could keep the dulcet tone - it's not like he it's going to go anywhere - but switch to a conversational style, instead of the pedantic (inoffensively so) monotone, and then we have the best of both worlds. As it is there just isn't a wide enough range of color and feeling. No matter how lush the tone is a good reader should speak naturally, and not affect a mood. I yearn for the guy to drop the projection and just be himself - which is obviously a man of deep knowledge and penetrating understanding - what is the guy like in real life, we wonder.
i just finished Hardcase not an hour ago. not my usual thing but engaging from start to end. the two homeless guys arguing in Greek and Hebrew over a chess game was pure Simmons. i'm still pondering on The Book of the New Sun and the Urth of the New Sun. i noticed two references of the sea of grass in the pampas north of Thrax. i wonder what are your thoughts on Wolfe? a new favorite of mine. i read all four Hyperion volumes as they were released and just snagged it to r-read all these years later. i remember going from Simmons to the Gap cycle and was hooked on operas.
Simmons' Joe Kurtz trilogy is very different from almost everything else he's written. As I'll note in my next video, he wrote the first one as a kind of palate cleanser to take his mind off of another novel (A Winter Haunting) he was struggling to complete. Wolfe is an author I put in the same category as Simmons -- they're both ambitious boundary-pushers whose literary experiments can succeed magnificently or devolve into a frustrating mess. I wonder if their shared affinity for unreliable narrators has anything to do with that. As with Simmons, I'm glad I've read Wolfe's books even when I don't always enjoy them. If my schedule permits it, I plan to do a nearly complete retrospective of Wolfe's works later this year (otherwise it will happen next year).
Hi! I just recently discovered your channel, and I immediately subscribed, as I enjoy your videos so much. I could listen to your voice all day long, and the way you talk about books makes me wanna read them all! I love Dan Simmons, however my all time favorite writer is Clive Barker. Do you consider making a video about his work in the future? Best wishes from Serbia!
Hvala! Great suggestion. Barker is an author I'd love to feature in a retrospective video. I'll need to read a _lot_ more of his books before I can do him justice. Also, if you aren't already aware of his channel, you should check out Baron at @YourBrainonBooks. Baron is a wonderful advocate for Barker's books.
It's about every few months or so that I watch a video that made me gush the whole way through. Such is the case here. I'll try not to make this too long of a comment... I've been a Dan Simmons fan for the past 6-7 years, since I started with Summer of Night and was blown away by how creepy and engaging it was. I've since read about about 15 of his other books, and I have a few favorites mentioned here -- Summer of Night, Carrion Comfort and the Hyperion Cantos (I'll admit that Endymion was my #1 of the four, but I loved them all) I remember after reading Carrion Comfort, which took me almost a month, I went to visit one of the sights mentioned in the book, since I live so close to Philadelphia. Remember the Grumblethorpe house? I loved that whole part of the novel (honky-monster), but wow, was it a bad side of town. I didn't linger. A few books mentioned here I have yet to read. Song of Kali, Fires of Eden and the Ilium duo are ones I hope to get to in the near future. **I absolutely CANNOT WAIT for the next video, because I'm excited to hear your thoughts on some of my other favorites of Simmons. Thank you for the deep dive, this was fantastic!!
Thank you for gushing! Simmons has said that he made a point of setting part of Carrion Comfort in the Germantown area of Philadelphia because that's where he was first inspired to become a school teacher. He spent a semester in Germantown as an undergraduate intern helping a professional filmmaker teach kids about making movies, and it prompted him to pursue a career in teaching before becoming a writer. He was very familiar with the Grumblethorpe House and its surrounding neighborhood (circa 1968/69), which is why he set Carrion Comfort in 1980, to maintain continuity with his own experience in the community (because by the late 1980s, apparently a lot had changed there).
Really liked, Song of Kali, as well as Carrion Comfort (though it was quite long and meandering at times.) Hyperion has been tough for me to get into. I've tried several times. Will try again someday. And dude... you're voice is very chilling and effective. If you haven't already, you should consider reading for audio books. I'm new to your channel. Really appreciate this video and your analysis. I've now subscribed, so looking forward to more.
Haha... I've just flipped through your video list, and see that you have indeed narrated a few books/ stories. Right on! I will continue enjoying your work, good sir! Cheers.
Welcome aboard! As I think said in one of my Simmons videos, it would be a very remarkable person who enjoys everything Simmons writes. His writing styles and subject matter are incredibly varied and are likely to appeal differently to different readers. Some of his books that are my least favorites have ardent fans who consider them masterpieces (and vice versa).
This video was incredibly well put together. Thanks for all of the effort you put into it! Are all the books in your Hyperion Cantos collection first editions? I've always loved the cover of the original. I really wish they would print another hardback edition with the original cover. Options for nice editions of Hyperion are pretty limited especially considering how iconic the book has become since its release. Keep up the incredible work!
Thanks! With the exception of the US first edition, the various Hyperion editions have some of the worst cover art of any popular work of fiction I can think of. I love the first edition cover, though. (And, yes, all of my Hyperion Cantos books are first edition, first printings...and they're also signed by Simmons.) The final video in my Simmons retrospective is coming soon!
I read a lot of him in the 90s, my favorite book of his was Phases of Gravity, though like most I started with Hyperion and then Summer of Night. Looking forward to the next installment.
Thanks! I first encountered him in the early 90s through Hyperion, and he's been a must-read author for me ever since. I think Phases of Gravity is an impressive novel, particularly considering it was published the same year as Hyperion and Carrion Comfort. His ability to write three _very_ different novels essentially at the same time was truly remarkable.
I read his "prayers to broken stones". The paperback I have has a man in a spacesuit on the cover. It surprised me when half of the stories at least were horror. I have a copy of Illium but haven't touched it yet. I am still trying to finish Heinlein's books. I have 6 left.
You're right. Prayers to Broken Stones contains mostly horror short fiction. His 1993 collection Lovedeath is an eclectic mix of several genres. And his 2002 collection Worlds Enough and Time is overwhelmingly science fiction. That's impressive that you've almost finished all of Heinlein's books. He wrote a lot of them. I still have a few to cross off my list too, mostly from his later period.
I'm glad you enjoy it! I'm planning many more videos like this one covering other authors. It's going to take me a while to get to them all, though. :)
Read "Song of Kali" many years ago and I just remember being horrified. Hyperion Cantos are the best. Cannot recommend them enough! I've re-read them and done audio books of them many times. Every time I tell someone about them and I start by explaining how it starts with "The Priests Tale" I end up having to re-read them because it's SO damn engaging, ha ha! I read the Ilium duology... and I just remember being very confused. Read them both all the way so couldn't have been too bad. I remember never quite knowing what was going on. I should re-read. "Carrion Comfort" is easily the scariest book I've ever read. It is just horrifying. The span and scope are huge and its something you can just dive into and get lost in. Love it. Curious what you've read you think was scarier? Great video!!
Thanks! My experience with the Ilium duology might be useful to you. The first time I read it, I was a little blinded by how ambitious it was and didn't worry too much about making sense of it all. On re-read several years later, it was easier to make sense of things and my opinions of the books changed. Ilium went up a little in my estimation, while Olympos suffered some by comparison. I found Simmons' Summer of Night to be scarier than Carrion Comfort, particularly the first half of Summer of Night. It gave me the creeps. Very few supernatural horror novels have allowed me to suspend disbelief in that way, particularly as I've gotten older. King's Salem's Lot and Pet Sematary had similar effects on me the first time I read them 40+ years ago.
@@thelibraryladder HA ha, I read "Salem's Lot" about 40yrs ago too, about 13-14 I guess. Gave me actual nightmares. The idea of being in an entire town of vampires really got me. Same feeling of utter helplessness and hopelessness as I got reading "Carrion Comfort." I'll have to check out "Summer of Night" Thanks!
If you enjoy the first two Hyperion books, I'd recommend continuing with books 3 & 4 (the Endymion novels), due to the complexity of the plot and range of characters tying the four books together. It might be hard to remember important details from the first books if too much time goes by before starting Endymion. Beyond that, it's hard to recommend specific Simmons books, because it really depends on reader tastes. He writes in so many genres. I like most of his horror works, and Summer of Night is a great place to start in that genre, particularly if you like Stephen King. I'll have more suggestions in my next video covering his historical, literary and crime fiction novels. Thanks for watching!
I recently found your channel and I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your work. Thank you for all your recommendations. My wallet is significally lighter.
Thank you for your kind comment, and welcome aboard! I can empathize with your wallet. To keep my book buying within a budget, I've often used the public library for my initial reading of a book. If I enjoy the book, then I might buy a copy to have for future re-reads.
@@thelibraryladder i know but I really knew very little about his other works, so i really have been waiting for this video. I am sad u didnt tell us which hyperion was your favorite, but I understand why you focused on his other works. Thank you!
Interestingly, he also use the Flashback drug in his Hyperion novel. It is mentioned in the Poet's tale as tried twice by said poet. The effects are the same. Thanks for another great video.
Also in Olympus,after Harman drowned in the golden liquid and walked on the ground of the ocean with Moira. But im sure i wont remember in a year since i cant remember the drug from Martin Silenius and for me, the Cantos is even better than the dune books.
While both books are excellent, comparing Summer of Night and It uncovers one of Kings biggest weaknesses - Simmons knows how to write realistic kids, whereas King writes kids as short adults who like fart jokes.
Thank you! I'm just trying to shine a small spotlight on books and authors that don't get a lot of attention on BookTube. I hope it's information that readers find helpful or interesting. I've been a King fan for more than 40 years and, at some point, I'll probably make a video about his works. However, because he's already so widely discussed on BookTube, I want to approach it in a way that adds something new and different to the conversation.
Flashback may have been an allegory when it was written, but (as much as I dearly love Simmons' fiction) I made the mistake of searching for any non-fiction from him about the art of writing. What I found were numerous diatribes about politics, religion, and the Middle East in particular which led me to believe that in real life, he seems to be a xenophobic, paranoid and extraordinarily angry man that I would never enjoy meeting at all. His social media history seems to still support that conclusion. Too bad. Another case of "Never meet your heroes".
Thanks! I plan to do a similar overview of Herbert's books. I hope to get to him sometime next year. (Alas, my list of planned videos is longer than I can realistically accomplish in the next five years.)
Thanks! It seemed appropriate to the main character of the Simmons novel (and I'm also a fan of Chabon's work). Sometimes I struggle to represent visually what I'm saying in my videos, but in that instance, I was pretty happy with the result.
Summer of night was my intro to dan and I thought it was an ok book. Im kind of interested in children of night & a winter haunting as well as carrion comfort, but im not exactly actively seeking them out
Absolutely! I think of Phases of Gravity as being predominantly literary fiction, despite the presence of some science fiction elements. Thus, I'll discuss it in the next video.
I loved Dan in his early years and haven't been able to get into him for about the last 25 to 30 years. My favorite Sci Fi book ever is the Hyperion I and 2. He wrote my one of my top favorite Horror novels is Carrion Comfort. I liked his detective series. However his writing style and "voice" changed and I've never been able to get into him again.
His turn toward historical fiction with a strong literary influence over the past 20 years has been a mixed bag for me (as I'll describe in my next video). There are some good ones worth checking out, though, if you haven't already tried them. Thanks for sharing!
I've reed a few of Simmon's novels. Most recently Black Hills and The Terror. Black Hills was okay....I found the story a little far fetched but the character was pretty good. I enjoyed The Terror more. The added aspect of being in the cold. As a matter of fact I kinda think he went a little overboard on the cold. Human died at 50 or 60 degrees below zero
For those wondering why I discuss the Hyperion Cantos and Ilium duology only very briefly in this video, it's because a major focus of my channel is on books and authors that aren't already widely covered on BookTube. I want to add something new or different to the conversation, and other channels such as Jonathan's @WordsinTime have done a great job providing detailed, spoiler-free reviews of the Hyperion and Ilium books. The rest of Simmons' works are far less widely known or discussed on BookTube.
I love your way of reviewing books thank you.
my goodness, if you don't narrate audiobooks the world is missing out! Your voice is incredible.
Thanks! Last October, I uploaded a couple of classic short stories that I narrated. They were a lot of fun to perform, and I hope to record more in the future.
Agreed!
@@thelibraryladderwhich stories? And did you upload them on here? Thank you friend, be well.
Addendum: Have you read Lord Dunsany?!
Man wake up pla, you son't see that hw is a bordo?
Carrion Comfort and The Terror are favorite works of his so far, highly recommend
Simmons is a Colossus, The Terror and Abominable were absolutely tremendous books, and extremely touching in parts , Summer of night is superb, fantastic author does not get enough credit
I agree, and I hope to draw more attention to his lesser-known works. Thanks for watching and commenting!
This is, without a doubt, one of the best compilation book reviews I've seen. This should have 10x the views!
Thank you!
I absolutely love Hyperion, I'm definitely going to read more from this author.
the 7-11 rating system was a convenient one you had in store for us ;)
Also great tier list! I only had Hyperion in my to-read list and did not know about how broadly Simmons wrote, this is great
Thanks, and I see what you did there! :D
The rating scales were largely dictated by the fact that I need to fit 28 books on the chart by the end of the next video, so I increased the ambitiousness scale to spread the books out more.
This is the best review of an author I’ve heard on RUclips. Thank you so much.
Thank you for the wonderful feedback! I try to take a similar approach with most of my videos. I enjoy making these kinds of author retrospectives, and I have many more planned.
Your many intriguing reviews and insights into these legendary authors is going to give me book hunting quests for many years to come. So grateful for your work, sir.
Having read Hyperion (my first ever Simmons book) recently, I have come to think of him as a genius. My expectations for his other novels have been high because of it. Your evaluation in this video gave me a clearer idea of what to expect from them and probably saved me from a lot of disappointment. Awesome video as always! Looking forward to next one.
Thanks! And like many geniuses, his work often results in masterpieces, but sometimes can overreach, resulting in what I describe in the video as "an impressive mess."
Awesome video Bridger! I enjoyed the detailed info and the enjoyment/ambition scale. And thanks for the shout out on my Hyperion/Endymion/Ilium videos!
Thanks, Jonathan! I thought you did a great job reviewing his books in those videos.
Nah carrion comfort slaps. Freaking loved it
Excellent video and analysis. I'm a big fan of this author because of The Terror novel in which I've gotten by accident, without having a clue what was about - of course my mind was blown and since then I kept reading his books looking for my next fix. I found some "copium" in Song of Kali and in Drood. And then I discovered the infinity pool which was called Hyperion Cantos. And I'm still struggling through it. Please keep making this sort of videos - they are greatly appreciated. Cheers!
Thanks! I love making these kinds of videos because it gives me an opportunity to showcase some of the hidden gems of well-known (and perhaps not-so-well-known) authors and to broaden the discussion on BookTube. That's why I started this channel, and I have many more videos like this one planned.
Thanks for the spoiler-free and graphical breakdown. Definitely gonna check out your channel again. Also, what a VOICE! I am almost done with Carrion Comfort and already on the hunt for my next one.
Thank you! I'd suggest Summer of Night as your next Simmons book.
damn the synchronicity! Song of Kali, my first Dan Simmons book its on its way to be read and then puff your video pops up! I really want to read this author this year. Thanks for this video
Perfect timing! There's a lot to enjoy in his books (and a few disappointments too).
@@thelibraryladderAs a creative person (being an exponent of primarily the musical and visual variety) it’s impossible to lay a golden egg every time! Our greatness ebbs and flows, almost as if we aren’t in control of when the Muses deign to grace our works with their presence! Hahah!
Very disturbing. ❤❤❤
I've considered reading Summer of Night for a while now, so this video has convinced me to give it a shot. I'm looking forward to the next video.
Great! I hope you enjoy Summer of Night as much as I do.
Amazing - can’t wait for part two!
Coming soon! I hope to get it out faster than I did this one. Thanks for your patience!
What a fantastic video! As a big fan of the Hyperion Cantos I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read other novels by Dan SImmons. But since I really liked Boy's Life I think I have to pick up Summer of Night asap!
Thanks! If you enjoy the big ideas and complex story of the Hyperion Cantos, you should give the Ilium duology a try also. I didn't find it quite as satisfying as the Hyperion books, but it's the kind of ambitious storytelling that very few authors even attempt, let alone succeed at.
You must read Ilium and Olympos
@@thelibraryladder Just finished Summer of Night and you are not wrong! A five star read (although not quite as good as Boy's Life). It also really drove home your point about how versatile an author Simmons is. Never would I have guessed that the Hyperion Cantos is written by the guy.
This was excellent. I've still only read Hyperion, SOng of Kali, and some short fiction. SO I found this quite informative.
Thanks! I'm glad you found it helpful. You have some very good reading ahead of you if you continue with his works.
Great video! I love a good Dan Simmons book. I've read 8 of the 14 books listed here. It would be 9 except I was about 100 pages into Olympus when I accidentally left it at a friends' house when I was traveling out of town. When I went back to their house a year later, their puppy had found it and chewed through the book. Some day I'll finish it.
I read Summer of Night but hadn't payed a lot of attention to its sequels. Your descriptions of Fires of Eden and Children of the Night make them sound like a lot of fun. I'll definitely check those out.
Also, Boy's Life, man. I was so happy to hear that book get a shout out. I'd love to hear you discuss Robert McCammon at some point.
Thanks! You're making good progress with Simmons' books. Fires of Eden and Children of the Night are fun reads. They don't have the same intensity or emotional heft as Summer of Night or the Hyperion Cantos, which is why I rated them a little lower.
I'm a big fan of McCammon, and I've been thinking about doing a retrospective of his works later this year during Halloween season. I'm not sure if I'll have time to squeeze it in, though, given the many other video topics I want to cover this year. In any case, McCammon will get the focused overview treatment from me at some point (if not this year, then almost certainly next year).
This is a very interesting and worthwhile video. I've mainly read his science fiction and historical fiction so I'm not familiar with many of this other works and I really appreciate your detailed thoughts on them. I'm very much looking forward to the next one.
Thanks! The next video will shine a light on some of his least-known works, as well as on some of his masterpieces of blended genres.
This series has inspired me to go through and read at least most of Simmons's work that I find interesting. Just finished Song of Kali and, holy cow (no pun intended), was that a great book. Absolutely haunting. I do feel like I need to shower after reading it though.
Terrific! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope the rest of his books live up to that standard for you. Many of them do for me. Thanks for sharing!
Pangs of of undiluted joy incoming whenever i get notifications from the channel.
One of, if not the best hidden gems of booktube.
Thank you for your wonderful comment! I'm so glad you enjoy my videos.
Carrion Comfort is one of my favorite books. I need to read more of his stuff. Thank you for covering his books!
You're so welcome! He has a lot of very enjoyable books to choose from. Thanks for watching!
Great video. I'm looking forward to part 2 :)
Me too! I originally planned to do the tier ranking as a single video, but it grew too long and unwieldy, so I had to divide it. Part 2 will probably be about as long as this one. By dividing them, though, I'm behind schedule on the other videos I want to get to this month. Thanks for your patience!
Absolutely love this video! I'm a big Dan Simmons fan and it was great to see you give him some much needed focus. Really great video! Tremendous channel as well.
Thanks! I particularly wanted to highlight his lesser-known works that don't get much attention on BookTube, which I'll continue in my next video focused on the rest of his books.
i always appreciate your knowledgeable perspective ❤️🙃
Thanks! I appreciate your kind words. My goal is to provide useful information, and when I share my personal views, I try to ensure they're informed opinions.
Another great video from the sentient ladder! Aaaaaand the TBR grows longer.
Enjoying your tier-ranking system, and adding Flashback, Summer of Night, and Ilium/Olympos to the pile 📚😅
Looking forward to part 2 video! Thank you!
Great! I hope you enjoy them!
very interesting thanks! What about The Terror? I like naval stories, would you recommend any? @31:25 what about The dying earth by jack vance?
Thanks! I think of The Terror primarily as historical fiction. I'll be discussing it in the final part of my Dan Simmons overview, which will be uploaded in a couple of hours.
I have no issue with Vance's worldbuilding. My reference to illogical dystopian worldbuilding was aimed at authors that want readers to take their stories at face value. Vance included some serious themes in his Dying Earth stories, but he also injected enough humor and silliness into the stories to let readers know that they shouldn't take them too seriously.
I must say I truly enjoy the way you grade books on the coordinate plane. It works great as a reference point when going back to the video.
Thanks! I think the 11-point scale I used for ambitiousness is a little much, but I needed a way to fit 28 books on the chart (counting the 14 books in the next video) that would spread them out for easier visualization, rather than having many of them bunched around the same coordinates.
I love this style of your videos; they are so well done!
Thanks! I have fun making them, although I wish I could figure out a way to produce them at a faster rate. I have a long list of videos I want to make, and it's going to take me a long while to get to all of them.
Song of Kali is one of the only books I’ve ever thrown in the garbage. It creeped me out so bad and the end was expected all through the book and when it played out I was so disturbed I threw the book away I didn’t want it in my house anymore. Great book though.
Great and disturbing.
I'm two minutes in and already want to buy a couple of books, simply because you always talk in a very interesting way about them. As if you were a little bit in love with them :D
I bought my third Elric Volume yesterday, after watching your video about how to collect books. It's quite difficult to find good copies here in germany (Moorcock and even Pratchett aren't that popular here as they should be, unfortunately) but then I discovered, that in octobre there will be a special edition! Eight Elric novels in one book. Don't know if you are interested in collecting foreign copies, but here you are :D
Thanks for your work. Years ago, I lamented that there are no documenteries about books, only short videos, snippets, basically. But here we are, 30 minutes and this is even not your longest video.
Also I have to mention (really, really have to) that I'm one of the first subscibers, number 441 or something. I remember thinking something along the way of ''this guy will surely make high quality videos, but what's with his voice...?'' after watching the first video :D
Thank you to a early subscriber! (Alas, there's not much I can do about my voice. I've had it since I was 15.) :)
I do have a bias here on my channel, which is that I prefer to talk about books and authors I enjoy. I want people to try reading things they haven't before, and I don't want to impose my taste on others by steering them _away_ from books I don't enjoy. My only exceptions to that approach are generally in the context of providing overviews of an author's works, where I'll identify their books I enjoy and the ones I don't. Even there, my goal is to convince viewers to try at least some of the author's works and to suggest good starting points.
I plan to increase my focus on quasi-educational overview videos. They require a lot more time and effort to produce, but they're my favorite type of video to make, and they seem to occupy a useful niche on BookTube.
That Elric omnibus sound intriguing. Thanks for the tip!
@@thelibraryladder Well, you don't have to! I'am used to your voice/style now and so are many others. It's important to have such litte unique selling points.
And that's perfectly fine. I see it as a way of showing general respect and saying ''thank you'' to writers, by not allowing to forget their work (your Arkham House video is a good example).
Sounds interesting. But be careful, because I've seen a lot of stories like this: People put a lot of work into educational videos but then realise that, ironically, those videos generate much less views. After disappointment and frustration, some needed a break and others never returned back. Or they change the direction of the channel completly.
It's easy to kill your motivation and fun this way. And I actually think that patreon is a way to cope with it. Because even if you only have 20 people there, you will always have at least some sort of reward after making a video. Sounds superficial. But at the end of the day I really don't care, as long as you keep going! :D
You're welcome! It's illustrated, too. Have a nice day.
Thanks for the supportive comments! My goals for the channel might be a little different from those of most other BookTube channels. Ultimately, I'm trying to create a reference library of useful and substantive book-related content that's easy to navigate and (I hope) engaging and entertaining for viewers. Thus, my videos are all about books and authors and the histories of various genres and not about me or my journey reading books. I want to talk about books I've actually read, rather than speculate about books I haven't read, which is another reason why I don't make TBR, book haul or other similar videos that would clutter my channel.
I've been very happy with viewer response to my videos, even when videos haven't performed as well as I'd hoped. My biggest obstacle has been RUclips's algorithm, which gets confused when I make videos covering different book genres, frequently leading it to show some of my videos to the wrong audiences. I'm trying to train the algorithm to think of my audience as encompassing more than just fans of the fantasy genre (who comprise ~75% of my subscriber base), but it's a slow process that likely will require me to make a lot more videos. Fortunately, I'm not in a hurry. I'm happy to build the channel slowly and steadily. If I were in a hurry, I'd be producing a regular stream of clickbait 'Top 10'-style videos that say more about the person making the list than about the books on it. :)
I really enjoyed your review of these books. I've been a Simmons fan since the publication of Hyperion, truly one of the greatest achievements of the scifi genre, but I've liked most of his other works as well.
Thanks! My experience with Simmons is very similar to yours. Hyperion might be the science fiction novel I've re-read the most over the past 30+ years. (I don't keep track of those things, so it's just a guesstimate.)
Fantastic video.I have read the Hyperion Cantos and Summer of Night from Dan Simmons and really liked them all.Hyperion is my second all time favourite sci-fi novel,only behind Dune.Except this five books,I know nothing about his other works,so this video is exactly what I need.I'll definitely read more books from him.
Thank you! You might try reading his Ilium duology, which is similar to Hyperion in its narrative complexity and in the creativity of its ideas.
Thank you for this Bridger! I really appreciated this candid, and in depth look into Simmons books. And my goodness, there’s more to come haha. I had no idea he was that prolific. Very much looking forward to the next one.
Thanks, Chas! That's the primary reason why I'm making these videos about Simmons -- to increase awareness of the many other books he's written beyond the 8-10 most recognizable titles. I hope to have the final video up by the end of next week.
Ok Dammit!!! You convinced me to give _Endymion_ and _Rise of Endymion_ another chance. Great video!
Thanks! I had a little difficulty adjusting to Endymion the first time I read it, because I was expecting something more like his Hyperion duology. Instead, I found Endymion to be more complex, more metaphysical and more mundane. I still enjoyed it very much, but it was a different reading experience.
Would love a william gibson tier ranking! One of my favorite authors but mostly just because of the neuromancer trilogy
Great suggestion! He's on my list, although I'm unlikely to get to him this year. Thanks!
This is amazing! I’m so glad I was recommended your channel. I’m just about finished with a reread of Hyperion and I was tickled to see the drug Flashback pop up just once during one of the travelers stories. I’m looking forward to part two.
Thanks! One of the fun things about Simmons is that he sprinkles little references to his other works throughout many of his books. Often it's just a brief description of a place or activity, but sometimes, as with the flashback drug, it's a specific reference.
Just discovered your channel, hard agree with your Hyperion cantos opinion. That first book has not been topped for me in terms of science fiction. I'm currently reading the Mystery of Edwin Drood by Dickens just so I can read Drood by Simmons. Looking forward to your next video!
Welcome aboard! Reading the Dickens novel before tackling Drood is a worthwhile step. It adds another layer to Drood when you start to recognize the overlaps between them. Thanks for watching!
What an outstanding survey. Thank you for the thoughtful precis of several books I've been aware of but not yet read.
Thanks! I had a lot of fun making this video. I hope you enjoy reading Simmons.
Just picked up carrion comfort and your analysis is fantastic
I just stumbled over this video, which was very serendipitous as I just started reading The Terror in honor of October. I'm really enjoying it so far. 😁
Thanks! I divided my discussion of Simmons' works across three videos, and The Terror is in the third one (due to its historical fiction setting). I think the novel is terrific, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Another great video! I've read 4 by Simmons now and (beyond Hyperion- a priority this year),these videos may help me decide where to go next. (Or even if to continue). Thanks! Looking forward to the next one, especially to see where The Terror lands on your spectrum.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Josh! I probably tipped my hand about The Terror by calling it a masterpiece in this video (although my upcoming discussion of it will be a bit more nuanced, as it's not a book that everyone will enjoy). :D
Of the 4 I've read so far, The Terror stands at the top, but I'm definitely interested to see some of the others that weren't on this one.
Great video! I'm reading and enjoying Hyperion at the moment, thank you for the other suggestions as I was curious about his other books, and they all sound great to me.
Thanks! I hope Hyperion and his other books live up to (and surpass) your expectations. He's been a must-read for me for more than 30 years, even when I haven't always enjoyed his books.
The Simmons-King axis seems to move in both directions: Carrion Comfort sounds like an antecedent of Doctor Sleep.
Ooooh, good connection! I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!
I like the new ranking system. Would be neat to see a pic of the GGKay books under this ranking.
Thanks! That's an interesting idea. I'll give it some thought, although I'm not sure it would be as useful for Kay's books. The ambitiousness scale fits Simmons because of how diverse his output is and how creative he gets in combining ideas and genres. With Kay, I suspect most of his novels would be clustered around the same general level of ambitiousness. I'll think about it, and if it works, I'll upload a screenshot as a community post.
@@thelibraryladder Yup. I was definitely thinking of a simple screenshot.
Also, I want to take this time to thank you for introducing me to Kay's works. Lions and the Sarantine Mosaic are some of the best works I have ever read so far.
Thank you for these incredibly thoughtful videos. Your perspective is so valuable and im grateful to have you producing these videos
Thank for the very kind words! I really enjoy making these videos.
What a great video, thank you very much, Bridger! Hyperion is my favorite science fiction novel, and I enjoyed also The Terror. Hopefully I will read this year Summer of night.
Ps. Enjoyment and ambition ranks is so nice idea!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy Summer of Night as much as I do. Будьмо!
@@thelibraryladder cheers!:)
Very informative, thank you for putting this together. I've only read Hyperion (which I found captivating) and Fall of Hyperion (which I fell off of at the halfway point), but I own Song of Kali, Carrion Comfort, Summer of Night and The Terror as well. This is inspiring me to hasten my reading of those and maybe attempting to revisit FoH. Since you mentioned Boy's Life, would love to see your take on Robert McCammon's work someday as well.
Thanks! I'd encourage you to give Fall of Hyperion another try. While the narrative structure is quite different from Hyperion and perhaps not quite as compelling (IMO), it does tie together very effectively the many loose ends from the first book.
I'm planning a similar retrospective of McCammon's works. I hope to fit it into my schedule this fall (Halloween season), but if not, then I'll get to him next year. (I have a lot of videos in the production queue and limited time to make them.)
@@thelibraryladder exciting to hear! I'll be counting down the days.
I definitely wanna check out song of kali!! that book sounds awesome. I have to also finish reading the hyperion cantos, I've only read the first book and I really did like it, i just thought the ending was disappointing. I don't like cliffhangers. great video once again and thank you!
Great! The Hyperion Cantos is really two duologies (Hyperion and Endymion). The two Hyperion books should be read as a whole because of the cliffhanger ending and several unanswered questions in the first book. The Endymion books aren't essential to the Hyperion duology, but they add new and enjoyable dimensions to the overall story. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent video. Would love to see individual detailed reviews of Simmons books!
Excellent. Thank you for the video and I'm glad I found this chanel!!!
Thanks! I'm so glad you found it too.
I have only read the Hyperion cantos by Dan Simmons yet. Probably going for Ilium and Olympos next because I prefer Sci-fi to horror. Great video and I have to say you have a real pleasant voice.
Thanks! Ilium is a great next step from the Hyperion Cantos. Both are very similar in their wide scope and high levels of creativity.
Boy, do I love the library ladder's encyclopedic knowledge of the genres he collects, and his analysis too. TOP shelf! All that and a deeply hypnotic, mellifluous voice. But it's the latter that ends up being the weakest part of this channel. It's a one-trick-pony we never get a break from and quickly becomes monotonous and eventually off-putting. Although I'm sure it attracts lots of new followers.
Thing is, he could keep the dulcet tone - it's not like he it's going to go anywhere - but switch to a conversational style, instead of the pedantic (inoffensively so) monotone, and then we have the best of both worlds. As it is there just isn't a wide enough range of color and feeling. No matter how lush the tone is a good reader should speak naturally, and not affect a mood. I yearn for the guy to drop the projection and just be himself - which is obviously a man of deep knowledge and penetrating understanding - what is the guy like in real life, we wonder.
Absolutely fantastic breakdown
Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
Can't wait for part 3!
Coming soon! (By next weekend I hope.)
i just finished Hardcase not an hour ago. not my usual thing but engaging from start to end.
the two homeless guys arguing in Greek and Hebrew over a chess game was pure Simmons.
i'm still pondering on The Book of the New Sun and the Urth of the New Sun. i noticed two references of the sea of grass in the pampas north of Thrax. i wonder what are your thoughts on Wolfe? a new favorite of mine.
i read all four Hyperion volumes as they were released and just snagged it to r-read all these years later. i remember going from Simmons to the Gap cycle and was hooked on operas.
Simmons' Joe Kurtz trilogy is very different from almost everything else he's written. As I'll note in my next video, he wrote the first one as a kind of palate cleanser to take his mind off of another novel (A Winter Haunting) he was struggling to complete.
Wolfe is an author I put in the same category as Simmons -- they're both ambitious boundary-pushers whose literary experiments can succeed magnificently or devolve into a frustrating mess. I wonder if their shared affinity for unreliable narrators has anything to do with that. As with Simmons, I'm glad I've read Wolfe's books even when I don't always enjoy them. If my schedule permits it, I plan to do a nearly complete retrospective of Wolfe's works later this year (otherwise it will happen next year).
Wow. What a review. Made me want to read way more Simmons books.
Hi! I just recently discovered your channel, and I immediately subscribed, as I enjoy your videos so much. I could listen to your voice all day long, and the way you talk about books makes me wanna read them all!
I love Dan Simmons, however my all time favorite writer is Clive Barker.
Do you consider making a video about his work in the future?
Best wishes from Serbia!
Hvala! Great suggestion. Barker is an author I'd love to feature in a retrospective video. I'll need to read a _lot_ more of his books before I can do him justice. Also, if you aren't already aware of his channel, you should check out Baron at @YourBrainonBooks. Baron is a wonderful advocate for Barker's books.
It's about every few months or so that I watch a video that made me gush the whole way through. Such is the case here.
I'll try not to make this too long of a comment... I've been a Dan Simmons fan for the past 6-7 years, since I started with Summer of Night and was blown away by how creepy and engaging it was.
I've since read about about 15 of his other books, and I have a few favorites mentioned here -- Summer of Night, Carrion Comfort and the Hyperion Cantos (I'll admit that Endymion was my #1 of the four, but I loved them all)
I remember after reading Carrion Comfort, which took me almost a month, I went to visit one of the sights mentioned in the book, since I live so close to Philadelphia. Remember the Grumblethorpe house? I loved that whole part of the novel (honky-monster), but wow, was it a bad side of town. I didn't linger.
A few books mentioned here I have yet to read. Song of Kali, Fires of Eden and the Ilium duo are ones I hope to get to in the near future.
**I absolutely CANNOT WAIT for the next video, because I'm excited to hear your thoughts on some of my other favorites of Simmons.
Thank you for the deep dive, this was fantastic!!
Thank you for gushing! Simmons has said that he made a point of setting part of Carrion Comfort in the Germantown area of Philadelphia because that's where he was first inspired to become a school teacher. He spent a semester in Germantown as an undergraduate intern helping a professional filmmaker teach kids about making movies, and it prompted him to pursue a career in teaching before becoming a writer. He was very familiar with the Grumblethorpe House and its surrounding neighborhood (circa 1968/69), which is why he set Carrion Comfort in 1980, to maintain continuity with his own experience in the community (because by the late 1980s, apparently a lot had changed there).
@@thelibraryladder That's really cool to hear, I didn't know any of that! Thanks for sharing this 🙌
Five seconds into the video and already subbed because of your voice!
Thanks and welcome aboard!
Really liked, Song of Kali, as well as Carrion Comfort (though it was quite long and meandering at times.) Hyperion has been tough for me to get into. I've tried several times. Will try again someday.
And dude... you're voice is very chilling and effective. If you haven't already, you should consider reading for audio books.
I'm new to your channel. Really appreciate this video and your analysis. I've now subscribed, so looking forward to more.
Haha... I've just flipped through your video list, and see that you have indeed narrated a few books/ stories. Right on!
I will continue enjoying your work, good sir! Cheers.
Thanks! I hope to narrate some more stories in the not-too-distant future. I had a lot of fun with two I recorded last fall.
@@thelibraryladder Awesome. Definitely do it!
Welcome aboard! As I think said in one of my Simmons videos, it would be a very remarkable person who enjoys everything Simmons writes. His writing styles and subject matter are incredibly varied and are likely to appeal differently to different readers. Some of his books that are my least favorites have ardent fans who consider them masterpieces (and vice versa).
This video was incredibly well put together. Thanks for all of the effort you put into it! Are all the books in your Hyperion Cantos collection first editions? I've always loved the cover of the original. I really wish they would print another hardback edition with the original cover. Options for nice editions of Hyperion are pretty limited especially considering how iconic the book has become since its release. Keep up the incredible work!
Thanks! With the exception of the US first edition, the various Hyperion editions have some of the worst cover art of any popular work of fiction I can think of. I love the first edition cover, though. (And, yes, all of my Hyperion Cantos books are first edition, first printings...and they're also signed by Simmons.) The final video in my Simmons retrospective is coming soon!
Awesome video!
Cheers from Spain
¡Muchas gracias!
I read a lot of him in the 90s, my favorite book of his was Phases of Gravity, though like most I started with Hyperion and then Summer of Night. Looking forward to the next installment.
Thanks! I first encountered him in the early 90s through Hyperion, and he's been a must-read author for me ever since. I think Phases of Gravity is an impressive novel, particularly considering it was published the same year as Hyperion and Carrion Comfort. His ability to write three _very_ different novels essentially at the same time was truly remarkable.
Thanks for these videos! It makes me want to read more and buy the books you have recommended! Where is your Library even located?
Absolutely love these videos!
Thanks, Dan! I plan to keep making more like this one.
I read his "prayers to broken stones". The paperback I have has a man in a spacesuit on the cover. It surprised me when half of the stories at least were horror. I have a copy of Illium but haven't touched it yet. I am still trying to finish Heinlein's books. I have 6 left.
You're right. Prayers to Broken Stones contains mostly horror short fiction. His 1993 collection Lovedeath is an eclectic mix of several genres. And his 2002 collection Worlds Enough and Time is overwhelmingly science fiction. That's impressive that you've almost finished all of Heinlein's books. He wrote a lot of them. I still have a few to cross off my list too, mostly from his later period.
This is amazing. What a great channel.
I'm glad you enjoy it! I'm planning many more videos like this one covering other authors. It's going to take me a while to get to them all, though. :)
@the library ladder this is a lot of work so take your time. As always I look forward to the next video.
amazing voice tone 👍
I inherited it from my dad. :)
Read "Song of Kali" many years ago and I just remember being horrified.
Hyperion Cantos are the best. Cannot recommend them enough! I've re-read them and done audio books of them many times. Every time I tell someone about them and I start by explaining how it starts with "The Priests Tale" I end up having to re-read them because it's SO damn engaging, ha ha!
I read the Ilium duology... and I just remember being very confused. Read them both all the way so couldn't have been too bad. I remember never quite knowing what was going on. I should re-read.
"Carrion Comfort" is easily the scariest book I've ever read. It is just horrifying. The span and scope are huge and its something you can just dive into and get lost in. Love it. Curious what you've read you think was scarier?
Great video!!
Thanks! My experience with the Ilium duology might be useful to you. The first time I read it, I was a little blinded by how ambitious it was and didn't worry too much about making sense of it all. On re-read several years later, it was easier to make sense of things and my opinions of the books changed. Ilium went up a little in my estimation, while Olympos suffered some by comparison.
I found Simmons' Summer of Night to be scarier than Carrion Comfort, particularly the first half of Summer of Night. It gave me the creeps. Very few supernatural horror novels have allowed me to suspend disbelief in that way, particularly as I've gotten older. King's Salem's Lot and Pet Sematary had similar effects on me the first time I read them 40+ years ago.
@@thelibraryladder HA ha, I read "Salem's Lot" about 40yrs ago too, about 13-14 I guess. Gave me actual nightmares. The idea of being in an entire town of vampires really got me. Same feeling of utter helplessness and hopelessness as I got reading "Carrion Comfort." I'll have to check out "Summer of Night" Thanks!
Tadd Williams next please! He's underrated if you ask me.
Agreed, and coming soon! I'm planning a retrospective of all his works this spring.
Awesome videos, I really enjoy them.
Thank you! I'm glad you like them!
I am finishing Hyperion now. I intend to read book two, what should be my next Dan Simmons novel?
If you enjoy the first two Hyperion books, I'd recommend continuing with books 3 & 4 (the Endymion novels), due to the complexity of the plot and range of characters tying the four books together. It might be hard to remember important details from the first books if too much time goes by before starting Endymion. Beyond that, it's hard to recommend specific Simmons books, because it really depends on reader tastes. He writes in so many genres. I like most of his horror works, and Summer of Night is a great place to start in that genre, particularly if you like Stephen King. I'll have more suggestions in my next video covering his historical, literary and crime fiction novels. Thanks for watching!
I recently found your channel and I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your work. Thank you for all your recommendations. My wallet is significally lighter.
Thank you for your kind comment, and welcome aboard! I can empathize with your wallet. To keep my book buying within a budget, I've often used the public library for my initial reading of a book. If I enjoy the book, then I might buy a copy to have for future re-reads.
About time!!!! Im sooooo excited!!?!!?!?
Hey! Isn't patience a virtue? :D
Technical difficulties delayed this one a few days.
@@thelibraryladder i know but I really knew very little about his other works, so i really have been waiting for this video. I am sad u didnt tell us which hyperion was your favorite, but I understand why you focused on his other works. Thank you!
Interestingly, he also use the Flashback drug in his Hyperion novel. It is mentioned in the Poet's tale as tried twice by said poet. The effects are the same. Thanks for another great video.
Also in Olympus,after Harman drowned in the golden liquid and walked on the ground of the ocean with Moira.
But im sure i wont remember in a year since i cant remember the drug from Martin Silenius and for me, the Cantos is even better than the dune books.
While both books are excellent, comparing Summer of Night and It uncovers one of Kings biggest weaknesses - Simmons knows how to write realistic kids, whereas King writes kids as short adults who like fart jokes.
I've seen many booktubers. You are the one I respect the most. We the audience need a Stephen King video from Bridger.
Thank you! I'm just trying to shine a small spotlight on books and authors that don't get a lot of attention on BookTube. I hope it's information that readers find helpful or interesting.
I've been a King fan for more than 40 years and, at some point, I'll probably make a video about his works. However, because he's already so widely discussed on BookTube, I want to approach it in a way that adds something new and different to the conversation.
Flashback may have been an allegory when it was written, but (as much as I dearly love Simmons' fiction) I made the mistake of searching for any non-fiction from him about the art of writing. What I found were numerous diatribes about politics, religion, and the Middle East in particular which led me to believe that in real life, he seems to be a xenophobic, paranoid and extraordinarily angry man that I would never enjoy meeting at all. His social media history seems to still support that conclusion. Too bad. Another case of "Never meet your heroes".
Thank you for the introduction to an author (sorry, writer!)I haven't read and who sounds wonderful.
This video was done vary well! I'm convinced I have to start reading something by simmons.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy his novels as much as I do.
Your voice is like a lullaby. Not in a boring way, like I just want you to sing me to sleep.
Awesome video. Is frank herbert in the pipelines?
Thanks! I plan to do a similar overview of Herbert's books. I hope to get to him sometime next year. (Alas, my list of planned videos is longer than I can realistically accomplish in the next five years.)
Love the use of Wonder Boys footage 😂
Thanks! It seemed appropriate to the main character of the Simmons novel (and I'm also a fan of Chabon's work). Sometimes I struggle to represent visually what I'm saying in my videos, but in that instance, I was pretty happy with the result.
Summer of night was my intro to dan and I thought it was an ok book. Im kind of interested in children of night & a winter haunting as well as carrion comfort, but im not exactly actively seeking them out
OK, I just put in a quick order for 'Song of Kali', time to broach a new author!
Great! Keep in mind that it might take a few different books by Simmons to decide if he's right for you. :D
Great so far, but wondering if Phases of Gravity, one of my favourite books, is even going to get a mention.....
Absolutely! I think of Phases of Gravity as being predominantly literary fiction, despite the presence of some science fiction elements. Thus, I'll discuss it in the next video.
I loved Dan in his early years and haven't been able to get into him for about the last 25 to 30 years. My favorite Sci Fi book ever is the Hyperion I and 2. He wrote my one of my top favorite Horror novels is Carrion Comfort. I liked his detective series. However his writing style and "voice" changed and I've never been able to get into him again.
His turn toward historical fiction with a strong literary influence over the past 20 years has been a mixed bag for me (as I'll describe in my next video). There are some good ones worth checking out, though, if you haven't already tried them. Thanks for sharing!
I love your channel!!
Thank you!
whether or not Dan meant it, he might not be that far off....also Flashback drug is in Hyperion too
I've reed a few of Simmon's novels. Most recently Black Hills and The Terror. Black Hills was okay....I found the story a little far fetched but the character was pretty good. I enjoyed The Terror more. The added aspect of being in the cold. As a matter of fact I kinda think he went a little overboard on the cold. Human died at 50 or 60 degrees below zero
Re-animator is one of my favourite films :-)
My wife thinks the mummified corpse that reawakens resembles me. I'm not quite sure how to interpret that. :D
@@thelibraryladder Best not to think too deeply about it :-). I forgot to say, thanks for the review. I have some more books to read now 🙂
Man, the second you started speaking I hit the subscribe button. Hahahahaha
"Summer of Night" is my favorite horror novel of all time....
It ranks high on my list as well.
28:38 considering just international news from the last 10 days, that “economic colapse” doesn’t sounds too much of a cheat…
Would Carrion Comfort or Summer Of Night potentially be a good first novel from Simmons?
I'd say Summer of Night would be the better starting point. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I appreciate it, Summer of Night will definitely be my next read.
Is there a Flashback drug in Hyperion? I think so if my memory does not fail me
Yes. If I remember correctly, the poet, Silenus, used it briefly at some point in his long life.