Dinara Tengri

Title: Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1) Author: Dan Simmons First published in 1989 by Doubleday. I read the 1995 reissue by Bantam. Source: the school library On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.  Well, it's finally over. I finally finished what must have been one of the longest reads in the history of books. Hyperion - the first novel in Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos series. Yup, it's ove...

Welcome to Weekly Small Talk, where I catch up on the latest book and pop culture- related news. This week, I also come to you with a very special book haul. For the past three weeks, I have been a pious attendee at the annual Swedish book sale , one of the most important events in the life of any professional book nerd. I have been attending this book sale thing for many-many years (although I rarely went home with as many books as this year), and I got curious about its origins. In my search for the truth I turned to where any self-respecting writer would turn: the Wikipedia. The annual book sale - or Bokrean , as it's called in Swedish - started all the way back in the 1920's as a means for publishing houses to get rid of the books that were no longer in publication. There were no rules as to how this event was supposed to be managed. One publishing house would usually start it up and the others would follow suit. Over the years, some basic rules and agreements were...

Welcome to Weekly Small Talk, where I catch up on the books, movies and other fine/pop culture I have consumed in the past week. This week, I want to talk a little bit about Bill Paxton , who passed away a week ago. So much has already been said about this talented and charismatic actor and director, and I cannot say anything that hasn't been said before. Most of the movie fans remember Paxton from movies like Aliens, The Terminator and Predatpr 2. And even though his resume was far more impressive than just his roles in the cult sci fi franchises , for many of us who grew up in the 1980/90's, Bill Paxton will always be remembered as that badass who wasn't afraid to face off with the most dangerous alien monsters. When I was a kid, we had a bootlegged VHS copy of Predator 2 in our home, and naturally the quality of that tape was so atrocious, that for years I didn't even know that it was Paxton who played Jerry, the cocky cop with a heart of gold. Not until I fin...