http://archive.boulderweekly.com/1030...This review originally appeared in the BOULDER WEEKLYA good storyDan Simmons weaves words into worldsby Vince Darcangelo- - - - - - - - - - - - Technology has enabled artists to express themselves and materialize their artistic visions in ways that would have seemed like fanciful science fiction just a few years ago. Take big-budget motion pictures, for instance. But strip away the hi-resolution, computer-enhanced dressing, and the core of great art remains the same as it’s been since the earliest cave drawings: You’ve got to tell a good story.Cosmic computer animation is great, but is rendered meaningless without a foundation of creativity, discipline and idea development. And for that you don’t need advanced technology–you need a great storyteller. Boulder County is home to one of America’s greatest storytellers, author Dan Simmons.Simmons is well known for his work in the genres of mystery, science fiction and horror, but a common thread in all of Simmons’ writing is the deep imagination of the unassuming author. And with more than 20 years of published fiction and non-fiction under his belt, Simmons’ voice is still as fresh as the most ambitious up-and-comer. This is partly attributable to his three-headed career as a novelist."I enjoy the switching of gears. Every genre that I like writing in demands a certain type of attention, and it’s a relief sometimes to enter into another project for nine months to a year where you’re using a whole different set of skills," says Simmons. "I sometimes compare it to when I was growing up in the Midwest. We had to rotate the crops or the soil would become pretty useless."In science fiction circles, Simmons is best known for his Hyperion series of novels. In the area of mystery, he's known for his Joe Kurtz books, Hardcase, Hard Freeze and Hard as Nails, the last of which was released earlier this month. In horror, he's recognized for Song of Kali, Carrion Comfort, Song of Night and 2002’s A Winter Haunting. Writing in these voices allows Simmons to explore all his writing interests."It depends on what itch needs to be scratched," he says. "When I most want to engage with language, surprisingly enough science fiction is the most attractive genre to me because I’ve suggested to some people that it’s rather close to poetry… The sheer amount of linguistic invention is delightful to me. At other times I get sick of that and I just want to write very lean and mean, and at both times the mystery stuff comes in very handy."I still enjoy horror fiction a lot, but not so much for the linguistic dance," he continues. "That’s more for getting in touch with some very basic emotions… You’re not so much trying to raise goosebumps on everybody all the time as to just light a lantern and take people into the basement where they don’t want to go all too often."To date, Simmons has taken millions of eager readers into that basement, and they keep coming back for a return trip. Simmons’ most recent horror offering, A Winter Haunting, is tied in with his 1991 classic, Summer of Night. Haunting is a psychedelic page-turner that adds a unique, user-friendly twist to the classic haunted-house tale. It’s as much about the horror of isolation and personal failure as it is about a haunted Midwestern farmhouse. Both books make for a great holiday read this Halloween.Fans of the books will be glad to know Simmons is taking another trip to that haunted farmhouse on the big screen."Next summer I am re-engaging with Summer of Night / A Winter Haunting. Two producers have asked me to do a screenplay incorporating elements of both books, so they’ve optioned both books," says Simmons. "It’ll be A Winter Haunting per se, with more flashbacks to the kids 40 years earlier that were in Summer of Night. I’m really looking forward to that because it will in no way be a literal translation of my novel. I want it to be much more frightening; I want it to be exquisitely cinematic. I’m working with a director friend just to use modern technology–not super-special digital effects–just to use the technology because one of the points of view in A Winter Haunting is a kid who’s been dead for 40 years who’s still in this house, but he’s not a ghost. He’s a cyst of memory in the character’s mind."Many writers are nervous about seeing their creations up on the big screen. It’s difficult to fit 300-plus pages of character development, dialogue and conflict resolution into a 90-minute feature film. And in Simmons’ case, it will be the condensing of two books. But unlike most authors, Simmons is excited by the possibilities."I think the movie can be superior to the novel," he says. "I’m the only novelist who thinks that."A Winter Haunting is not the only movie project on the horizon for Simmons. The Hyperion series is slated for a big studio release, and there is the possibility of an ambitious, big-name production of his first published book."My first and in some ways scariest book was Song of Kali, set in Calcutta. Regency Films has optioned that, and the director they’ve chosen, who’s on board and working on it, is Darren Aronofsky, who did ¼ and Requiem for a Dream," says Simmons. "Quite honestly, I can’t think of any other director who might go at this material in Song of Kali better than Aronofsky because it would take tremendous guts and it has certain other things that nobody in Hollywood wants to put in a movie. And just the act of shooting in Calcutta, which he insists he wants to do, is very daunting."But despite his Hollywood forays, Simmons still maintains a low profile, often receiving more notice on his book tours away from home than along the Front Range."Obviously, when you’re producing, on average, two books a year, you’re not out having too much social life. But over here in Longmont, I have a great advantage," says Simmons. "I was a teacher in the district for 14 years. I taught and ran gifted programs for 18 years before I started writing full time. So when people know me here at all, they just know me as old Mr. Simmons, the former teacher. So I’m pretty anonymous."I’ve been in the phone book forever. It’s rather nice," he continues. "I’m better known most places that I travel than I am here in Boulder County."Simmons recently completed a book tour supporting his 2003 science fiction release Ilium. Ilium is the first of a two-part epic that will close with Olympos, the book Simmons is working on now. Olympos is set for release in the spring of 2005. Until then, readers can enjoy the prolific writer’s back catalogue and keep an eye trained to the local movie listings.But whether he’s writing interplanetary epics, hard-boiled noir, disturbing horror or big-budget screenplays, Simmons’ greatest gift is that timeless creative component that is often forgotten in the boisterous business of the entertainment industry.That is his gift to tell a great story.Hard as Nails is currently available from St. Martin’s Press. Ilium is currently available from Harper Collins EOS.
Loved it. Was actually compelled to write my first review of a book ever when I closed it earlier today. Is it "Summer of Night"? Nope. I thoroughly enjoyed that book as well, but for different reasons. The prequel was nostalgic, adventurous, and scarier with a wide-eyed innocence. In this one, Simmons strips off any sentimentality (from this story or "Summer"). Duane, the narrator now actually "shakes his head" at the wistfulness of the first story--which is interesting given what we find out of "Summer of Night"'s creation in this story. This story is bleak. If you're read "The Terror", you know how hopeless Simmons's pages can be. It's hard to watch Dale, once a carefree, light-hearted, and decent boy become a depressed, suicide-contemplating adulterer. It's brutal as well. We get to see C.J. Congden all grown up--having devolved into more of a bully--and Michelle Staffney, the sixth grade sex grenade who's worse for the wear as well. But the story also speaks to a friendship that spans, in many ways, the chasm of death. It certainly has it's creepy moments, but I didn't find it incredibly scary. I would say more interesting. I found it entertaining, but I suppose I was more impressed with the writing, the development of the story--specifically how things were wrapped up--more than anything. All in all a fantastic read.SPOILERSJust some things I appreciated about the book:I liked the theme of birth/death throughout the book. Dale's marriage was dying, then he found "life", in an affair. But that brought death and even fascinations on Dale's part of making that a physical reality for his ex-lover. Then there are the sheets Dale cut and squeezed through upstairs (birth), ironically, to go kill himself. When that didn't work, he emerged from the underground bootleggers' tunnel, squeezing himself through again, only to find C.J. Congden waiting to kill him. Also, the "melding" of C.J. Congden and the skinhead leader (evil) was juxtaposed with the melding of Dale and Duane (good). The irony of the black dogs "surrounding" Dale throughout the book. How they started out as little, insignificant, but actually grew in proportion to Dale's own depression and thoughts of suicide. What he was terrified of was actually sent there to guard him from going over that great divide. Also, the fact that Duane's old notes served as the "spell" Dale shouted, at which point the dogs attacked the skin heads. I appreciated how Duane came through in the end, relentlessly steering Dale toward hope, restoration with his family, etc. After 40 years he was still loyal to Dale. How Dale wasn't quite as loony as we were lead to believe. Many of the things he saw were probably, in some sense, real. The ghosts of Michelle Staffney and C.J. Congden? C.J. had raped her in the house he was staying in, so they left a world of bad mojo in that place. And also, in some sense, they both still wanted something in the real world. The dogs? Already mentioned those. The random typing? Duane obviously. So, thing were not all lost on Dale and in many ways he got caught up in a whirlwind spiritual activity from the past. I found the last chapter (after all the previous bleakness and every indication that Dale would die) to be incredibly redemptive. Top notch novel.
What do You think about A Winter Haunting (2002)?
This book is a sequel to Dan Simmons' excellent horror novel Summer of Night, which I read years ago and, to be honest, don't remember much of it. I do remember it being very good, very scary, original, and well-written. So when I saw this in the library, I snatched it up.Simmons has written other fine horror novels, like Carrion Comfort and Children of the Night, but then he went into science fiction and I lost interest in him. I'm glad he's returned to the horror genre.This book picks up with a fifty-something Dale Stewart in a full mid-life crisis. He's divorced from his wife and daughters because of a torrid affair with a hot young college student (Dale is a college English professor in Montana) and being treated for depression. He's already tried to kill himself, but the shotgun misfired. In an effort to get his life straight, he decides to spend his sabbatical year writing a novel in the home of his old friend Duane, the fat, genius kid who was killed in Summer of Night. Dale is the author of a popular series of mountain man novels, but now he wants to write a serious novel about that long-ago summer in 1960, a summer he only dimly remembers. Needless to say, strange things start happening at the house and around town, and that's all I'll say about that. Duane is in this novel, although he's long dead. It's a nice little twist that could have turned out very badly but Simmons makes it work.The novel is hard to categorize - it could be a straight ghost story, or horror novel, or even psychological thriller. It's really all three. Again, such a tactic is risky, but Simmons is a great writer and, in my opinion, pulls it off wonderfully.This is a great book, eerie, moody, full of atmosphere, a tad slow in the beginning, with several flashbacks about Dale's affair and how it ended. It all comes together in the end, in a satisfying and unique way. Again, I can't say any more or I'll give it away.
—Eric
A once-respected college professor and novelist, Dale Stewart has sabotaged his career and his marriage -- and now darkness is closing in on him. In the last hours of Halloween he has returned to the dying town of Elm Haven, his boyhood home, where he hopes to find peace in isolation. But moving into a long-deserted farmhouse on the far outskirts of town -- the one-time residence of a strange and brilliant friend who lost his young life in a grisly "accident" back in the terrible summer of 1960 -- is only the latest in his long succession of recent mistakes. Because Dale is not alone here. He has been followed to this house of shadows by private demons who are now twisting his reality into horrifying new forms. And a thick, blanketing early snow is starting to fall... (cover blurb)I finished this at 2:00 in the morning. Should have gone to bed hours before, but this story demanded to be finished.A year after a suicide attempt, Dale Stewart returns to the tiny Illinois town where he grew up to write the story of the summer of 1960, the year his friend Duane died.Gripping story, extraordinarily well-told. No gore, no gross-out scenes, just an ever-more-creepy atmosphere leading to some genuine gasps of shock. Reminds me in some ways of Lost Girls -- both protagonists are isolated physically and mentally, by the hostile small towns they've chosen and by their own unresolved pasts. And it tickled my "coincidence" bone that I happen to also be in the middle of Beowulf at the same time I started this novel. The Old English epic plays a significant role in the storyline.Highly recommended.
—Angela
oh my god thank you dan simmons!.......................................................................oh, dan simmons, i wish you had dedicated the terror to me instead of this one. spooky month is not going as well as i had hoped...this is fine. it is a very straightforward, classic-feeling horror novel,like an early stephen king or something, and i still think simmons is a good writer, but this one just didn't thrill me the way the terror did.it is at once a psychological horror novel and a traditional-ish ghost story, with some mythology thrown in for spice. it is tricky business, because we have a character who is medicated after a suicide attempt, returning to his hometown and his deceased childhood friend's house to try his hand at an autobiographical novel (ummm, summer of night??)* , and he finds himself isolated in a cell phone dead zone, and facing a triple threat of ghosties, skinheads, and the horror of his own mind and his guiltish memories. so - what is "real" and what is delusion and what is self-punishment? the reader is kept guessing, and it is perfectly readable and page-turning, but it lacked that special "oomph" that would have turned this from a serviceable novel into a shiverlicious one.i did like all the nerdishness, with the henry james and the beowulf quotes, and all the english-major memories (and how many horror novels have proust in them, sparking a turning point for the character??) it was dorky good times.but it just wasn't enough for me, i guess. i need something less...expected - i need a horror novel that is going to scare me, but it just never happens for me. i am scared of plenty of real things, but books have to work really hard to give me the bumps.this would probably scare someone else more than it did me - the dogs in particular - but alas,to a karen, it remains "fine."* it would have been nice for me to have known that this was a sequel to summer of night, because now i guess i know how summer of night ends up, and now i am less inclined to read it anytime soon, even though it is sitting right there. i see that goodreads has helpfully called this "seasons of horror #2," but the book itself did not. sigh.
—karen
