Sci Friday: A Good Story, Told Well

Laser guns, magic swords, space ships, and dragons. These are some of the things that make the Sci Fi and Fantasy section our favorite in the store. Books have always been an escape from the real world, but Sci Fi and Fantasy take it a step or two further and let us escape our entire galaxy and sometimes even universe. So if you’re a lover of Science Fiction, or someone looking for something new, join Thomas and Marie right here every week for Sci Fridays. We’ll talk about our favorite reads, the awesome new books we’re excited about, and take a look at some of the best, and worst, film adaptations of some of the best, and worst, Sci Fi novels out there.

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A GOOD STORY, TOLD WELL

~Post by Marie

Sometimes when people ask what kind of books I like, I respond, “A good story, told well.”  While this may be a somewhat flippant answer, I feel it is the most succinct and accurate response to such a difficult question.  A good story is not as easy to come by as it should be, considering that literally millions of books were published just in 2012.  I have often wondered why many of them were even legitimately considered in the first place, let alone how they were published and set out on the shelves.  So, a good story told well narrows it down significantly, while still allowing me to sample from all types of books.  It applies across genres, embracing everything from science to science fiction, and it is there that Hyperion, by Dan Simmons, is found.  Hyperion is an amazing story, told brilliantly, although Hyperion is more of a tale than a story.

The story is built along the same lines as the frame structure of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the first person stories of several different individuals who are all pilgrims on a journey.  A distinct difference, though, is that unlike Canterbury Tales, the overarching meta-story in Hyperion is incredibly important and revelatory of an even greater story unfolding as the pilgrims all spin their threads.  The destination and fate of the pilgrims becomes ever more important as each new piece of the story fits into place, and the tension that each story adds becomes incredible.

Hyperion is a colony planet on the fringes of the extensive network of developed planets making up the Hegemony, the collective human civilization that has evolved from Earth out into space.  Humans have carelessly ravaged Original Earth, but had the technology available to spread to other planets.  With the help of the TechnoCore, an unfathomably large collective of AI’s, humanity has linked the habitable planets together with Far Casters, their instant teleportation devices.  There are nefarious Ousters, who live out in space and refuse to use or accept the ubiquitous WorldWeb implantation devices or the imposing Hegemony, and it is they who are threatening this seemingly unimportant and distant planet.

Yet there is something strange on Hyperion that makes it quite important.  There exists a remote area of relics and tombs where Time doesn’t travel forward, and the Tombs are somehow traveling backwards.  These mysterious Time Tombs are guarded by a menacing creature called The Shrike, who seems unaffected by Time and can walk in it like we walk on the ground.  It also has the ability to grant any request.  Seven pilgrims are called forth by various circumstances to make the incredibly perilous journey through the back country of Hyperion to the Time Tombs, where they will confront the Shrike, and ask for the impossible to be made possible.

Only one person from each pilgrimage ever returns; the rest are all destroyed by dangers of Hyperion, themselves, or the Shrike.

Our seven pilgrims meet for the first time on an incredible Tree Ship traveling through space on their way to Hyperion, and they begin their tales: The Priest, the Soldier, the Poet, the Scholar, the Detective, the Consul, and the Templar.  At the back of their minds lurks the secret insight that one among them is an Ouster spy.  All of the pilgrims have an unusual connection, and it becomes clear that while they all have their own unique and discreet lives, they are interconnected in ways they cannot begin to comprehend.

Simmons is a master story teller.  His pacing and revelations are played perfectly, and each one is more shocking than the next.  Some of Simmons’ other books can be found in the Horror section, and it shows in his graphic and vivid descriptions of the horrors some of the pilgrims have experienced, and the deadly brutality of the Shrike.  I became wary of reading this book at lunch.  Although it is not rampant, the violence is sometimes unexpected, and always effective.  One of my favorite things about Sci Fi is how imaginative and creative the authors can be, and Simmons is no exception.  A giant tree jetting through space propelled by mysterious life forms, a forest of electromagnetic trees, a parasite that brings its host back from the dead and the host of planets and terrains he conjures and describes are just a few of the fantastic and beautiful elements of this epic tale.  This book rightfully claims the Hugo Award and Locus Award it garnered in 1990, and is an exemplary piece of creative story telling.

The best and worst part about this book is the end, as it is a MASSIVE cliff hanger, but luckily there is another equally incredible episode to be had in Fall of Hyperion, which came out five years later and picks up pretty well where Hyperion left off.  Another good story, told well.