The novel, which was praised by Stephen King in a cover blurb, is similar to King's It (1986) in its focus on small-town life, the corruption of innocence, the return of an ancient evil, and the responsibility for others that emerges with the transition from youth to adulthood. Summer of Night (1991) recounts the childhood of a group of pre-teens who band together in the 1960s, to defeat a centuries-old evil that terrorizes their hometown of Elm Haven, Illinois. He worked in elementary education until 1989. Simmons's first novel, Song of Kali, was released in 1985. He soon started writing short stories, although his career did not take off until 1982, when, through Harlan Ellison's help, his short story ' The River Styx Runs Upstream' was published and awarded first prize in a Twilight Zone Magazine story competition, and he was taken on as a client by Ellison's agent, Richard Curtis. in English from Wabash College in 1970 and, in 1971, a Masters in Education from Washington University in St. He also writes mysteries and thrillers, some of which feature the continuing character Joe Kurtz.īorn in Peoria, Illinois, Simmons received a B.A. Simmons's genre-intermingling Song of Kali (1985) won the World Fantasy Award.

He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles, among other works which span the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres, sometimes within a single novel. Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer.

Dan simmons ilium review