Dan Simmons' Hyperion series is one of the great underappreciated masterpieces of contemporary science fiction. Ten voyagers on a starship, telling their life stories while they approach a planet where the most terryifying life-killing force known to humanity is silently decimating the planet Hyperion. It's bawdy, Shakespearian, reflective on the great religious themes of modern life, terrifying, violent, and an updated version of the Canterbury tales. What more could you want? A really good movie of it with really good actors. Because otherwise it would suck.
My nomination for the foul-mouthed Shakespearean poet Martin Silenus is Wallace Shawn . Most of us probably know Shawn as Vizzini, the devious Sicilian from The Princess Bride (Never start a land war in Asia!). But Shawn is a consummate actor who doesn't look like other Hollywood actors (that's a plus); see My Dinner with Andre or Vanya on 42nd Street if you don't believe me. And he's perfect for the part. Here's a tidbit from the first few pages of Hyperion to indicate Silenus' personality in a nutshell - just picture Shawn in your brain:
"The Consul sighed ... 'Who knows what the Ousters will do? They no longer appear to be motivated by human logic.' Martin Silenus laughed loudly, spilling his wine as he gestured. 'As if we f---ing humans were ever motivated by human logic!' He took a deep drink, wiped his mouth, and laughed again."
He's immediately crazy - you get the picture. Please, if you are a science fiction fan, a literature fan, or consider yourself at all well-read, and have not read Hyperion yet, dive in immediately. And Hollywood - you've got the technology, you've got the actors - let's get this done. I'll start writing the script immediately.
excellent choice for silenus! (:
ReplyDeletealso, jeremy, you should know that i've gotten about 9 or 10 people to read these books since i finished them, so you should take partial credit for that. i'm way overdue for a reread.
-beth g