2004-01-05 A mixed bag

I'm guessing that, like me, you started reading Simmons with Hyperion and the rest of the Cantos.

If so, you may have noticed variable quality in his output since then, and this collection of short stories typifies this.

The good news for Hyperion fans is that Simmons revisits that Universe in Orphans of the Helix, with even a brief guest appearance from a many-bladed old friend.

Those of us still digesting the rich content of Ilium will also welcome The Ninth of Av, in which the period around the Final Fax, the history of the mysterious Savi and the origins of the enigmatic Voynix are fleshed out.

As for the rest, as mixed as Simmons' novel-sized output, but all of them worth the time and attention.