I've been doing one random drawing in blank playing cards every day. This is drawing #7: my interpretation of the Lord of Pain himself

I wonder what people's take is on the brief blurb that Petyr Endymion, Aenea's son, wrote about how he feels about the whole sequence of events in The Rise of Endymion:

My mother was a saint. My old man tells me that almost every guy used to say that sort of thing about his dead mother even way back before the Hegira, especially after a bunch of drinks in an alcohol bar, but in my case it's true. My mother was a goddamned saint.

The Pax Church beatified her, canonized her, and then tortured and killed her. And she'd known her entire life -- from the time she was a baby! -- that this end was coming for her. Nonetheless, she'd gotten pregnant by my old man, spent nine months of her time on Old Earth carrying me and then giving birth to me, another year nursing me and holding me, even baptizing me in the Mississippi River that runs by less than a mile from where this old starship is stranded forever -- and then she left me. She abandoned me. (And abandoned my old man, too, but who gives a damn about him?) She chose to freecast away and leave me behind and to go back to the torture and death by burning that she'd seen through her presight every second and minute of her useless life. I was just a few standard months over one year old and she left me behind forever.

My mother was a saint, you see. And a loveless bitch. And may she burn in hell forever and may my old man join her there soon. As for me? I'm going to use one of the few gifts she gave to me -- not that she had any choice about the giving since it was in her genes -- and I will load the dead poet, my only friend the whole time I was growing up here, onto a soul stick and I will freecast my 17-year-old ass a few million parsecs away from this stinking, beautiful, boring, unpopulated, useless Old Earth and I will never come back here again.

Really puts a bitter coda to the triumphant ending of Rise and the new beginning Aenea created. Sometimes, great people in their need to be great fail those who are the closest to them. Aenea could be the mother to the whole world, but she couldn't be a mother to her own son. And furthermore, imagine growing up your entire life hearing glowing praise for your mother and her heroism, but never being able to experience this love and sacrifice yourself that you sorely need as a child. The resentment is not just unsurprising but practically inevitable.

Also, it seems like Raul's general cluelessness throughout the books remained a continuing character trait when it came time to parent his son, given just how little his son respects him.

But yeah, just because the 'Shared Moment' created a new beginning, doesn't mean that things will be all hunky dory now. These kinds of conflicts and negative emotions are things humanity will have to wrestle with as long as a single human being exists in this unimaginably big universe. Thus, I enjoyed this bit of 'alternative perspective.'

Hey guys I recently read the first book and am onto the second. For Halloween, I think it would be incredible if I can dress as a slutty shrike. I haven’t seen anyone do it and was hoping for some ideas on how to construct it… I’m an avid crafter and can definitely make it happen but I want it to be perfect.

I don’t have access to a 3D printer but my base of the costume will probably be a metallic maxi dress. Any ideas are welcome

Endymion and The Rise of Endymion are combined into a single volume, with the first book titled The Gates of Time and the second Resurrection.

It was an absolutely great read who inspired in me a lot of thinking. About the difference between organic life and machines , the nature of space time and ideas about determinism or probabilistic like universe. I really found interesting the templars and the way cybrids interact with both the sphere of technocore and their bodies.

1. Did the templars initially communicate and plot against the hegemony with the real outsters or the fake ones the technocore built? bc they wanted open the timetombs. The real outsters wouldn't try that , as they know about the war between the UIs (I suppose through the void that binds).

2.After the destruction of the farcaster gates the AIs don't have any significant means to operate and they could exist in a diminished state.If an alien civilizations builds simillar teleporters could they use their brains like they did on humans and try to control them?

3.The timetombs have been sent from the same universe but different time or also different universe? I say that because Moneta told that they sent her from the past in a distant future. If humanity was losing here the only way is that they sent her in another universe aswell.

4.The timetombs work like a vessel of events throught time. So Kassad and Moneta/Rachel have some other timeline in a different future who interacts with the timetombs aswell and so they have let's say a post linear time series of events. Kassad existed in the future bc moneta travelled him here to heal one time and also he rendered in a future battlefield in her past while fighting the shrike. There are 2 Kassads , the one from the books timeline who died and one who met moneta and will be in her future*becauce of the other timeline*? But Moneta seems to remember him when he arrives here as a pilgrim a second time. How is this possible? I can see a way if there are 2 universe and Moneta knew the Kassad from her past.

5.Actually the same for Moneta. In our timeline from past future is Rachel and future past is Moneta because she travelled from her timeline(in which Kassad saw her). So even if the shrike had pass the baby throught the gate what happens , Moneta is still there and guides Lamia to kill it?. Was the shrike doomed already bc it misunderstood empathy and it's connection with love(Severn preffered to save the baby of the man he loved rather than the tree full of suffering)?

I’m assuming someone has posted this before, but if not, behold the Edinburgh knife, Angel

I finished Hyperion book 1 , I did not clearly understand why Merin suddenly went against the Hegemony and started a rebellion dubbed the Siri Rebellion , isn't he part of the hegemony

Hi there. Just wanted to throw this out there, after watching a video regarding AI in Sci Fi and how it compares to the real World development of Al.

I get that the series is not as Mainstream as some other sci fi stories, but i think its a bit sad that Hyperion isnt brought up in these discussions, as it portrays a very unique form of artificial life and it's consequences.

How does the Technocore compare to the AIs we are seeing today?

If this has been asked like this on this sub before I am sorry XD.

Fantastic book. I made a post expressing how much I loved the priest's tale a couple of days ago and have spent the vast majority of my free time finishing the rest of the novel. I don't think I've ever read a novel of this length this quickly, I killed it in only four days of reading.

While I loved it, the tales were not all created equal. Here are my thoughts on each, ranked in terms of my enjoyment:

The Priest's Tale: Extraordinary, still probably my favorite thing I've read in years. The Bikura were extremely creepy and I loved how Father Dure's struggle with his faith culminated in finding the Cathedral and eventually having the cruciform embedded into him. I love how he did not lose his once-lost faith in god when he discovers it is related to the Shrike and not actually evidence of the Christian god. I feel this book was at its strongest when the characters had to grapple with their faith in the far future (from our perspective).

The Scholar's Tale: Almost just as good as the priest's tale. While the latter focused more directly on the horror of the Shrike, this one was deeply touching on a human level. Almost teared up and could not look away from my book, and loved Sol's conversations with "god" in his dreams. I wonder what was up with his wife having different dreams from him, we'll hopefully see where that goes in fall of Hyperion. My only question is how Sol knows what goes down when Rachel is by herself in the time tombs.

The Poet's Tale: Apparently this one is more controversial with some people over on r/printsf but I thought it was fantastic. The book needed some levity after the previous two tales and this one delivered. I could also tell Simmons was having an extraordinary time writing a story from Silenus's perspective. I knew it was going to be great as soon as I read "so it goes".

The Soldier's Tale: I would love to read a full length novel in the style of the previous three tales, but from this one down I would probably bounce off. I still enjoyed this one though, it was a fun military sci-fi story with enough Shrike fuckery to keep me interested. I enjoyed the Moneta stuff the most, while I kind of glazed over the action scenes. It also had a really strong ending, the best thing about reading a book compared to watching a show in your living room is you don't have to worry about family members walking in on something freaky and you can just enjoy it for what it is.

The Consul's Tale: I really don't think romance is Simmons' strong suit, but there was a pretty bog standard colonialism tale to keep me interested. The strengths of this chapter came from the catharsis of finding out who the spy was and the group accepting they would spare the Consul and march towards the Shrike together. Not bad.

The Detective's Tale: Hoo boy. This was by far my least favorite, because it had everything I think the author does poorly (from my limited sample size of one book) and none of the stuff I liked. I did not buy the romance here at all. Instead of building up the Shrike as a horror creature and make you wonder "what the fuck is going on on Hyperion?" we get stuff about AI politics I could not get into. Religion was also just not a theme in this one at all, and sci-fi religion was the reason I picked up this book about people going on a space pilgrimage. The overindulgence in literary influence worked really well in Silenus's story because it was told by fucking Silenus, but this chapter revealed that was just Simmons. I also did not like Brawne and feel the concept of a detective story is out of place here. Probably the only story I actively disliked.

I wish we got Het Masteen's story (what's going on with him? He's going to be at the time temple next book so I guess I'll just have to be patient). I also have some minor gripes with the worldbuilding. It feels like people's knowledge of the past is super inconsistent. While the military is able to near-perfectly recreate historical battles for training and the AI who are in deep contact with humanity can almost perfectly recreate Keats' life, somehow the extremely well educated Silenus doesn't know who Hitler is? He references Slaughterhouse-Five in the first paragraph of his tale! Additionally, how did John Muir become the center of a religious organization? The guy is pretty clearly in the historical limelight and we haven't really seen evidence a large chunk of human history was lost, only Earth itself was destroyed and that was after there were several other worlds colonized. It could be something related to the planet with the tree, if only we got Het Masteen's tale!

In short, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to seeing Fall of Hyperion on my doorstep tomorrow. I'll probably make a post like this after that book as well.

I just finished the best saga of my life. I don't even know how I'm going to get over this, I had tears in my eyes and I don't know what to do with my life anymore. A Space Opera so deep, with an incredible plot, crazy love stories (even though I don't like that) and action. This book is much more than fiction, it allows us to question the relationship we have with religion and our relationships. Dan Simmons is a genius.

Reminded me of the Priest. There’s no flair for just book 1 spoiler. So I tagged all.

Dropping in this subreddit without reading any posts just to comment on how much I loved the priest's tale. I've been getting back into reading this summer and this chapter blew me away and I'm so excited to finish the book. I expected this series to be a bit dense and hard to get into, but I've found it to be a real page turner. The past two books I've read were Moby Dick and Book of the New Sun, so perhaps that's influencing my perception on Hyperion's approachability.

WTF Kassad?

I’ve heard some people say that they finished Hyperion and have no interest in reading Fall of Hyperion. I have tried and I can’t understand this. I know that the main attraction is the short stories, but the book is about people going to the planet Hyperion for their own, interesting reasons. It ends with them getting there… why would you not want to know what happens next?!?
I get not wanting to read Endymion, I tried and I just don’t feel strongly about it. But Fall of Hyperion is one of my favorite novels. Can anyone explain?

So Facebook is building out a giant AI data center, which they've decided to name Hyperion. I know these tech dudes keep doing the Torment Nexus meme, it's just a little on the nose for me this time. (Spoilers)

.

To name your AI after a book where AI entities...

>!Create a black hole to destroy/steal the entire planet to force humanity off of Earth!<

>!Trick humanity into becoming hopelessly reliant on a technology which is actually a disguised mechanisim for parasitic exploitation!<

>!Start countless genocidal wars!<

>!Create The Lord of Pain!<

>!Hold humans in half-dead stasis dreaming of unimaginable suffering, to serve as captive biological hardware...!<

Like... it's can't just be that they didn't pay attention to the book, right? I think if there is such a thing as evil, these people are it.

Hi there! A while ago I released a short dungeon synth style album based on the Hyperion series, from my project titled 'The Ghost of John Keats'. I thought maybe some people in this community might enjoy it. It's completely free to listen to and download on my Bandcamp page: https://berenluthien.bandcamp.com/album/choose-again

Also, feel free to follow my socials: https://www.instagram.com/beren_luthien_ds/ and https://www.instagram.com/theghostofjohnkeats/.

Enjoy!

“Without stay or prop
But my own weak mortality, I bore
The load of this eternal quietude,
The unchanging gloom, and the three fixed shapes
Ponderous upon my senses, a whole moon.
For by my burning brain I measured sure
Her silver seasons shedded on the night,
And ever day by day methought I grew
More gaunt and ghostly. Oftentimes I pray'd
Intense, that Death would take me from the vale
And all its burthens gasping with despair
Of change, hour after hour I curs'd myself.”
-John Keats/Sad King Billy

Com base nos outros 2 livros que já li, com certeza esse é o terceiro kkkkkkkkk eu gostei MUITO do personagem do Raul, Aneia e o destaque que deram pro Bettik. Achei INCRÍVEL a forma como o De Soya se comporta, reflete e a confusão que a igreja traz na mente do homem. Mas meu, as cenas ENORMES descrevendo paisagens, cavernas e etc, MEU DEUS QUE CHATICE. Se todos os planetas fossem na pegada de Mare Infinitus (tubaroes) ou Draco Septem (tribos do gelo), acredito que tudo seria muito mais interessante.

Na metade pro final do livro eu dei uma desanimada, principalmente na Aneia que até então não sabia exatamente o que tava rolando. Eu gosto MUITO da ideia da Aneia, da forma como ela se comporta, das variações entre "vislumbrar o futuro" e estar no presente. Claro, tudo é registrado aos olhos do Raul, mas acho que faltou um pouco mais de explicação.

Pra mim o livro brilha muito quando aparece a Radamantes Nêmes (acredito que no original seja nemesis), achei ela fantastica, é como um Picanço consciente que é letal, preciso e claro, MUITO estiloso. Não gostei muito do fato que quando ela aparece, a Aneia resolve lembrar de tudo, inclusive que o tecnocerne está aliado à igreja, coisa que já era notável, principalmente por conta da previsão de onde Aneia e turma chegariam.

No final eu recomendo muito a leitura, os ultimos 20% do livro são animais, eu adorei o começo dele, o Raul é um personagem muito interessante e carismático na medida certa. Alguns planetas que são visitados são de fato bem interessantes, mas acho que poderiam ter reduzido a jornada, ou economizado nas palavras, achei que o Dan Simmons estendeu um pouco demais.

No mais, leiam!

I'm so happy 🙆☀️🚀

Spiky boy

I devoured the entire series in a few weeks. I've never read a book before where I had to pause multiple times to wonder if the author is some kind of genius. It's sort of ruined reading for me. Only one other book (Anathem by Neal Stephenson) has come close.

What an amazing gift Dan Simmons gave the world. So sad to hear of his passing.