Five short stories from dan simmons, picked this up primarily due to interest in the follow on novelette related to his brilliant hyperion books.

Looking for Kelly Dahl – mostly forgettable, unexplained sci-fi leanings with disappearing worlds/towns/people and man hunting? a former student

Enjoyed the hyperion universe entry with the spectrum helix people’s encounter with post human ousters in deep space

Ninth of av- would be pretty meaningless for anyone who hadn’t read ilium and olympos prior to this

On K2 with kanakaredes – three climbers and an alien scaling K2

The end of gravity – a journalist assigned the cover the dilapidated and waning days of the once great Russian space program

generally enjoyable stories that I guess i'd only recommend to fans of dan simmons

I’m not a fan of the short story format, so take my opinions worth a grain of salt. Like many others I came here because of the Hyperion connection, but the 57-page Orphans of the Helix adds nothing to the two major duologies. In fact, it kind of sullies the positive memory of those stories. It is set four hundred years since the Shared Moment of Aenea’s death. It is about a group of people from the planet that sheltered Raul who have since renounced both the crucifix and the blood of Aenea and have remained closest to unaltered humans. They are on a ship destined for new part of the galaxy when they are awakened by AI on the ship that has detected a distress call. There’s a situation to be resolved, but mostly not that interesting to me until the final two pages when a surprising twist is revealed. That story gets four stars, but, as I said, adds nothing of substance to the main Hyperion-Endymion saga.

The other stories ranged from just barely two stars (the mountain climber story) to a solid three stars for The End of Gravity about an American writer researching for a story about the Russian space agency. That had a few mysterious points to ponder. I also didn’t care for Looking for Kelly Dahl, about a grade school teacher who has been fired who attempts suicide only to wake up to an altered reality. Kind of a demented Twilight Zone story.

Verdict: Not a keeper in my library. Will not sit next to the Hyperion-Endymion masterpieces!

Dan Simmons wrote one of my favorite sci-fi series ever - the Hyperion Cantos. These stories were enjoyable, but not on the same level. Which maybe isn't a fair comparison, but that's how I feel. I enjoyed these stories, but this is probably ultimately skippable if you're trying to hit Simmons' high points.

Five shortish stories, one tied into the Hyperion books, the other four stand-alones. Shorter than most of his novels (duh!) and has been sitting unread on the shelf for 15 years (bought February 2004) so about time...

An interesting range of topics - climbing K2 with an alien, mankind's survivors coming to the end of their life before being put into stasis while the post-humans sort out the planet, an alcoholic teacher being haunted/hunted by a former pupil, a treatment for a film...

A collection of 5 "long short-stories" by Simmons, with introductions by the author.

* "Looking for Kelly Dahl"
I'd read this one before, I think in a "Year's Best SF" collection for 1996.
It's a surreal but memorable story of a burned-out, alcoholic teacher, who's emotionally suffering from the death of his son and his subsequent divorce. In an all-too-real dreamworld(?), he's being hunted down by Kelly Dahl, a former student whom, he believes, he failed to help - he didn't see the clues that she came from an abusive home situation. Through violence and anger, is there a hope of redemption?

* "Orphans of the Helix"
Inspired by Simmons' being asked to write an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, but set in his world of Hyperion/Endymion. It does have a very Star-Trek-like plot. A far-voyaging colony ship intercepts a distress call, far from human space. The locals have settled on a giant tree-helix around their sun - which was already there when they arrived. Their problem? Every 57 years a giant harvester-ship arrives, and munches up part of their settlements. They ask the well-armed colony ship to destroy this destructive threat. But ethical issues come into play - does the harvester belong to anyone? Does another civilisation depend on it for their survival? Only days remain before the next disaster strikes... Although it sounds simple, the background of the story is complex and rich, informed by Simmons' previous world-building.

* "The Ninth of Av"
This is a weird story. In the intro, Simmons complains that most people don't like it and/or don't "get it." Sadly, I might have to go down as on of those people. In 3001, humans are nearly extinct, wiped out by a disease. A seemingly benevolent race of aliens has helped the remnants of humanity (who are all descended from ethnic Jews) survive, giving them extended life spans - but they are infertile. The aliens have also given humanity teleportation ("faxing"). But the day of the Final Fax is approaching. The aliens have told humans that they are going put them "on hold" for 10,000 years, while they renovate the earth. But are they really planning to bring humans back? Or is it a mysterious plot to wipe out the Jews once and for all?

* "On K2 with Kanakaredes"
Mantis-like aliens have sent a delegation to Earth. But they live quietly in the Antarctic, and communication is virtually nil. When a young alien pulls some strings to be allowed to join a trio of human climbers who are planning an expedition to the famously treacherous mountain peak known as K2, the State Department looks on it as an unprecedented chance to find out more about the race. But facing adversity and Nature together, a more significant event that the Secretary of State might have hoped for happens - from being ultimate strangers, the climbers, human and alien, truly become a team.

* "The End of Gravity"
Probably the weakest of these stories, but still an interesting piece. An aging writer, in ill-health, is sent to Russia to interview cosmonauts regarding the Russian space program. He meets a woman who's hit the "glass ceiling" in the program due to her gender, and some philosophical thoughts ensue.

A decent collection of short stories. If you're interested in Simmons sci-fi work, but don't want to commit to a full novel, this serves as a good introduction.

Its a nice return to the universe of Hyperion several hundred years later after the end of Rise of Endymion and learn what came of the various societies and heroes Short and sweet with a tiny twist at the end left me wanting more-- and to return to this world again.

I've only read one Simmons novel, so was not familiar with the bulk of his work as I set down to read this collection. Five stories, all impressively different, and well-crafted.

My favorites were 'Orphans of the Helix' (set in the universe of his Hyperion novels, and originally a proposal for a Star Trek episode) and 'On K2 with Kanakaredes.' Some critiques of the others:

'Looking for Kelly Dahl' is more Twilight Zone-esque than proper science fiction, which is fine. I could have done without yet another tale of a dissolute middle-aged college professor and his emotional relationship with a young female student, but, well, at least it's never overtly romantic.

'The Ninth of Av' which I read, coincidentally, on the Ninth of Av, is about anti-Semitism still existing a thousand years hence ... and while parts of it are evocative and parts successfully disturbing, I found it incomprehensible. Reading other reviews, it seems this is a prequel to a set of his novels, which one is apparently expected to read first (although this is not mentioned in the introduction). That's not a good strategy and the disturbing elements of it disincline me to read the novels.

The final story, 'The End of Gravity,' is the closest to the present reality of the set, and a reasonably well-done story of another middle-ages literary type. I never became quite involved in the story, however, and the reactionary tone of the introduction was a complete turn-off.

Kelly Dahl, K2, and End of Gravity certainly stronger than the other two.

Dan Simmons schreibt meist Horror, aber sein SF-Roman "Hyperion" steht (zu recht) auf vielen Science-Fiction-Bestenlisten.
Hier nun ein Band mit 5 SF-Novellen mit 50 bis 100 Seiten.

Simmons war früher einer meiner Lieblingsautoren. Dieses Buch hat mich jetzt aber nicht so vom Hocker gehauen.
Die Story "Die verlorenen Kinder der Helix (Orphans of the Helix)" spielt im Hyperion-Universum. Ich musste feststellen, dass ich mich nicht mehr an allzu viel erinnern kann. Sie war ordentlich, aber 100 Seiten waren zuviel für die Storyidee. 10 bis 20 hätten gereicht.

"Der neunte Av (The Ninth of Av)" spielt im Illium-Universum und war (für mich) sehr schwer verständlich.

Am besten gefiel mir klar die Story "Mit Kanakaredes auf dem K2 (On K2 with Kanakaredes)". Bei Kanakaredes handelt es sich um einen wanzenartigen Alien, der auf Vermittlung der UNO hin bei einer kleinen Bergsteigertour auf den Berg K2 mitmachen darf. Eine coole Idee und spannend umgesetzt.

3.5 stars. Good

As with most short story collections, there are some great stories and some meh ones.

The main reason I decided to read this book was "Orphans of the Helix", a short story from the Hyperion Cantos universe, my all-time favorite book series. While I wasn’t blown away by this story, it was nice to revisit my favorite universe, reconnect with familiar characters, and see how Aenea's teachings shaped the world.

My favorite short story in this collection was "On K2 with Kanakaredes". It’s a tale of friendship, endurance, and, of course, mountains—a subject Dan Simmons clearly loves (looking at you, "The Rise of Endymion"). In this story, three friends climb the dangerous K2 with an unexpected companion. During the climb, they face numerous challenges, revealing their true character and will to succeed.

Plus, SPOILER ALERT: Kanakaredes reminded me so much of Rocky

I mostly enjoyed the stories in this collection. It pulls together five longer stories, more or less of novella length, along with introductions for each one. As I say, the stories are generally quite enjoyable, but the introductions are another matter. They seem to lack the discipline and editing that goes into the stories, feeling bloated and self-indulgent. The exception to this is the introduction to my favourite story in the collection, Orphans of the Helix, a story set in the universe of the  Hyperion Cantos. Set some years after the end of  Rise of Endymion, it was nice to return to that universe, following a group of colonists of the Amoiete Spectrum Helix, looking for a planet to settle well outside existing human space who encounter a distress signal en-route.

Of the other stories, I probably enjoyed On K2 with Kanakaredes the most, about a small group of mountain climbers who climb the world's second-highest mountain with an alien, even if a lot of the actual mountain-climbing bits left me cold. I felt there was lots of context in The Ninth of Av that I wasn't getting. It's a story about the end of the world, as the post-humans get ready to put the remaining old-fashioned humans into suspended animation while they clean up the Earth. Or possibly it's about genocide of the Jews. I think there were hints in the text, but possibly ones you need to be familiar with Judeo-Christian mythology to understand.

Looking for Kelly Dahl was interesting, about a suicidal former school teacher who has to track down one of his former pupils. And finally, The End of Gravity was possibly the least interesting to me. You know that cliché about Lit Fic being all about 50-something straight white writers who have affairs with young, pretty women? This felt sort of like that. The protagonist is an older straight white male writer, and there's an attraction to a younger woman, and possibly some sort of metaphor involving the International Space Station that I didn't really get. I think I found the protagonist too irritating to really pay that much attention to his internal monologue.

So a decent hit rate with stories that have a bit more room to breathe than your normal shorts. But I would mostly skip the introductions (although YMMV, as always).