In his introduction to 'Orphans of the Helix', Simmons elaborates: The original Hyperion Cantos has been described as a novel published in two volumes, published separately at first for reasons of length. 'Orphans' is currently the final work in the Cantos, both chronologically and internally. After the quartet was published came the short story ' Orphans of the Helix'. It then inspired his short story 'Remembering Siri', which eventually became the nucleus around which Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion formed. The Hyperion universe originated when Simmons was an elementary school teacher, as an extended tale he told at intervals to his young students this is recorded in ' The Death of the Centaur', and its introduction. ' Remembering Siri' (1983, included almost verbatim in Hyperion).The series also includes three short stories: generously conceived and stylistically sure-handed.' - The New York Times Book Review 'Simmons's own genius transforms space opera into a new kind of poetry.' - The Denver Post 'An essential part of any science fiction collection.This final novel in the series finishes the story begun in Endymion, expanding on the themes in Endymion, as Raul and Aenea battle the Church and meet their respective destinies. In sheer scope and complexity it matches, and perhaps even surpasses, those of Isaac Asimov and James Blish.' - The Washington Post Book World 'An unfailingly inventive narrative. Praise for Dan Simmons and Hyperion 'Dan Simmons has brilliantly conceptualized a future 700 years distant. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands. Each carries a desperate hope-and a terrible secret. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man.

The Hyperion Omnibus by Dan Simmons