Dan Simmons (1948 -2026) was a recipient of numerous major international awards, including the Hugo Award, World Fantasy Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Widely considered one of the world's premier multiple-genre fiction writers, his novels included the acclaimed Hyperion Cantos, the Ilium/Olymposas cycle, Song of Kali, as well as several New York Times bestselling standalones like The Terror, Drood, and Black Hills. He lived along the Front Range in Colorado.