Hyperion (Simmons novel)

Did You Know?

• In the 1970s, Simmons was an elementary school teacher in a small town in Missouri and began telling stories to his pupils, which grew into 'The Death of a Centaur', the first story set in the Hyperion universe.
• The New York Times praised the novel's literary references, its format, and its treatment of the Ultimate Intelligences.
• Some reviewers enjoyed how the six central stories weave together, while others criticized that most of the story takes place during flashbacks.

Plot

Around the year 2732, the Hegemony of Man connects hundreds of planets through farcaster portals and maintains an uneasy alliance with the TechnoCore, a civilization of AIs. Modified humans called Ousters live in space stations between stars and are in conflict with the Hegemony. On the eve of an Ouster invasion of Hyperion, a final pilgrimage to the Time Tombs is organized, and the pilgrims decide to each tell how they were chosen. Paul Duré and Lenar Hoyt are Catholic priests. Father Hoyt tells the story by reading from Duré's journals. Duré had earlier faked evidence that Christianity reached a colony world before humanity, hoping to revive the church; his ruse was uncovered, and he was exiled to Hyperion. There he sought a fabled isolated civilization called the Bikura, discovering they worship a cross-shaped parasite visible under the skin. The cruciform rebuilds and resurrects hosts upon death, but repeated resurrection has degraded them into bald, sexless eunuchs with limited mental abilities. The Bikura kill outsiders not infected with the cruciform, explaining why they were never discovered.

Characters

The Consul, former planetary governor of Hyperion, is enigmatic and reluctant to share his own story; he is one of the few thousand individuals who own a private starship. Lenar Hoyt is a Roman Catholic priest in his early 30s in a universe where Catholicism claims only a few million followers. Fedmahn Kassad is a Martian colonel in the Hegemony's FORCE military, of Palestinian descent. Brawne Lamia is a private detective, daughter of Senator Byron Lamia, who apparently committed suicide when she was a child. Martin Silenus is a foul-mouthed poet born on Earth before its destruction, incredibly old, working on an unfinished epic poem. Sol Weintraub is a Jewish scholar whose daughter suffers from the Merlin Sickness, aging backward. Het Masteen, the most mysterious pilgrim, is a Templar nature priest who captains the treeship bringing the pilgrims to Hyperion. The Shrike is a menacing creature of uncertain origin that impales people on a massive metal tree; it is already connected to each pilgrim. Meina Gladstone is the CEO and Commander in Chief of the Hegemony of Man, residing on Tau Ceti Center.

Adaptations

In 2009, Warner Bros. and Graham King tapped Scott Derrickson to direct the Hyperion Cantos, with Trevor Sands writing a script that combined Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion into a single movie. Bradley Cooper expressed interest in taking over the adaptation in 2011. On June 10, 2015, Syfy announced a mini-series based on the Cantos, with Cooper and King attached. In November 2021, Warner Bros. and Cooper said they were developing Hyperion as a film.