Pět delších scifi povídek, z toho jedna ze světa Hyperionu a jedna z Ílionu. Nejvíc se mi ale asi líbily "Lov na Kelly Dahlovou" a "Na K2 s Kanakaredesem", které do žádného z těchto světů nepatří.
Průběh čtení vypadal asi takto:

Lov na Kelly Dahlovou - první povídka, nadšení, 5 hvězd a vysoká očekávání na zbytek knihy
Sirotci ze šroubovice - pěkná space opera z Hyperionu, 4 a půl hvězdičky , nadšení trvá
Devátý z Av - tak tohle nebylo pro mě, max 3 hvězdičky, nadšení mě opouští...
Na K2 s Kanakaredesem - ...aby se zase vrátilo při téhle parádní povídce o výstupu na K2 spolu s mimozemšťanem, 5 hvězd
Konec gravitace - vlastně popis výletu na Bajkonur a popis tamějšího prostředí a atmosféry Američanům. Pro ně asi dost bizár, pro nás nic zvláštního, takže tak dvě a půl hvězdy

Průměrem vychází čisté 4 hvězdičky, a za ty tři povedené povídky si je tahle sbírka zaslouží.
A poznámka na závěr - pane Simmonsi, nic proti úvodům k povídkám, ale stačí nám to stručně, nic se nemá přehánět :-)

I got this book just to read "Orphans of the Helix" and it was excellent. So nice to return to the Hyperion universe.

I also really like "Looking for Kelly Dahl" and "On K2 with Kanakaredes".

This collection of five science fiction stories is one of Simmons' most overlooked titles. It contains one story in the Hyperion universe and one in the Ilium universe, but all work quite well as stand-alones. Too, each piece has a very interesting introduction. Simmons is a terrific writer at these shorter lengths, though his reputation as a novelist overshadows the fact. My favorite was On K2 with Kanakaredes, even though I knew nothing about climbing.

Such a great book - only the second five star review I’ve given a collection of short stories but so deserving. I’ve been looking a long time for “Orphans of the Helix” to extend my participation in the “Hyperion” universe and it was worth the wait. “On K2 with Kanakaredes” was a truly moving story and the intro written by Dan Simmons to lay the groundwork for that story was a fantastic compare and contrast of mountains and oceans and the way these two geological features make us humans feel - it’s a beautiful a piece of writing on its own and shouldn’t be skipped if you read this book.

If you like the short works of Ted Chiang, Stephen King or Charlie Jane Anders you’ll truly enjoy this book.

These were fun short stories, especially the one set in the Hyperion universe. I love the varied genres Simmons writes in and while these were all speculative fiction, they had great variety. Some of the authors intros I could have down without - maybe a don’t meet your heroes situation. But I’m always a Dan Simmons fan :)

Sadly, I think that I would have enjoyed this five-story collection better if all of them had been stand-alones. While all of the tales CAN be read without any previous knowledge, two of them are set in the "worlds" of Simmons' series. "Orphans of the Helix" is set in the "Hyperion/Endymion" universe, and, while I liked to story OK, I feel that I would have gotten more out of it if I had read those four books (which ARE on my To Read shelf). "The Ninth of Av," on the other hand, is set on Earth prior to the events in Illium and Olympos, a duology that I enjoyed at the beginning but had become heartily sick of by about 1/3 of the way through the second volume. "Looking For Kelly Dahl" was an interesting story, with a certain "Weird Tales" vibe. I also enjoyed "On K2 with Kanakaredes" which felt like re-visiting Abominable (a later Simmons' book), but set in a future with insectoid aliens. The last story "The End of Gravity" was readable, but seemed short and the weakest (plot-wise) of the bunch. I do recommend that you be sure to read Simmons' introductions to each story as well; all are interesting. Totaling the pluses and minuses, I give this an extremely low 3.

I loved Dan Simmons Hyperion universe and bought this book because it had a story in which he returned to that universe. The other stories were incomprehensible to me. I think there was not enough time for him. It failed for because he didn’t have enough time to set up the universe these stories were in.

Most of these stories are pretty good. The first tale is powerfully poignant, a story of love and redemption.

Enjoyable as usual. If you read "Abominable " by Simmons then you can probably skip the third story about K2

Quite a mixed bag. Of note, "Orphans of the Helix" had some fascinating sci-fi bits wrapped around a moral conundrum that I found interesting. Also "The Ninth of Av" presents a kind of apocalyptic mystery and a glimpse of a very bizarre far future that I was barely able to comprehend, yet was quite compelling nonetheless.

Interesting. #2 is in the universe of Hyperion. The only story I didn't like was #3.

I had high expectations , and it fell flat. The first story is interesting, but not enough to justify the rest of the book. The introductions to the stories seem longer than the stories themselves, despite the author's self proclaimed loathing of such obnoxious techniques.