a few thousand followers. Fedmahn Kassad is a Martian colonel in the Hegemony's FORCE military, of Palestinian descent. Brawne Lamia is a private detective. Her name derives from a combination of Fanny Brawne, the love of John Keats, and the eponymous creature of his Lamia and Other Poems. Brawne is the daughter of Senator Byron Lamia, once a friend of CEO Meina Gladstone's, who apparently committed suicide when Brawne was a child. Martin Silenus is a foul-mouthed poet. Born on Earth before its destruction, he is incredibly old. Like Keats, he is working on an unfinished epic poem. Sol Weintraub is a Jewish scholar. His daughter was afflicted with an illness dubbed the "Merlin Sickness" that caused her to age backwards: she gets younger as time progresses. Het Masteen is the most mysterious of all seven pilgrims. He is a Templar (a nature priest) who captains the treeship that brings the pilgrims to Hyperion. The Shrike is a menacing and immensely powerful creature of uncertain origin and motives which appears throughout the narrative. It is known for impaling people on a massive metal tree. It is named after the bird of the same name, which impales insects and small animals on branches. The pilgrims expect to find the Shrike in the Time Tombs, which are the ultimate destination of their journey, but as they tell their individual tales it becomes clear that the creature is already connected to each of them. Meina Gladstone is the CEO and Commander in Chief of the Hegemony of Man, residing on Tau Ceti Center. Background In the 1970s, Simmons was an elementary school teacher in a small town in Missouri. He began telling stories to his pupils, which eventually grew to become The Death of a Centaur in Prayers to Broken Stones. This was the first story set in the universe of Hyperion. Reception Hyperion was well received critically. The New York Times praised its literary references, its format, and its treatment of the Ultimate Intelligences. Other reviews call it a cult classic, praising Simmons's worldbuilding and character development. Some reviewers enjoyed the way that the six central stories weave together to create a cohesive novel, but others have criticized the fact that most of the story takes place during flashbacks, leaving limited room for plot advancement. Awards The novel won the 1990 Hugo Award for Best Novel and the 1990 Locus Award for