Dan Simmons, the award-winning author of science fiction and horror novels including Hyperion and The Terror, has died at the age of 77. He passed away on 21 February in Longmont, Colorado, with his wife and daughter at his side, according to his obituary.
Simmons wrote more than 30 novels and short story collections across multiple genres. He is best known for Hyperion (1989), which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel and a Locus Award, and later wrote three sequels. His 2007 novel The Terror, a fictional account of the doomed Franklin expedition, was adapted into a critically acclaimed television series in 2018.
Born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, Simmons worked as an elementary school teacher for 18 years in Missouri, New York, and Colorado, where he was once a finalist for Colorado Teacher of the Year. His obituary notes that he told his students a daily story that later became his Hyperion Cantos.
His other works include Song of Kali (1985), Carrion Comfort (1989), Summer of Night (1991), the sci-fi epics Ilium and Olympos, and Drood (2009). His 2011 political thriller Flashback drew criticism for its dystopian vision, which Simmons defended as part of a longer pattern in his work.
Simmons won numerous awards, including two World Fantasy Awards, a dozen Locus Awards, and several Bram Stoker Awards. His obituary described him as a “profoundly curious learner” who defied literary norms and wrote across genres.
