Dan Simmons, Author of Hyperion, Dies at 77 After Stroke
The science fiction world is in mourning. Dan Simmons, the author of more than three dozen books including the acclaimed Hyperion Cantos, died on February 21, 2026, from complications of a stroke. He was 77 years old. Simmons died in Longmont, Colorado, with his wife Karen and daughter Jane at his side. The news became widely public today, Friday, February 27, 2026 ET.
Dan Simmons Cause of Death: Stroke at 77
Simmons died from complications of a stroke in Longmont, Colorado, on February 21, 2026, at the age of 77. Fellow author David Morrell — a close personal friend — announced the news publicly Friday morning on X, writing: "My dear friend and incomparable author Dan Simmons died Saturday from a stroke at age 77. He defied literary norms, exploring historical fiction, horror, crime and other genres. He was one of a kind."
He is survived by his wife Karen, daughter Jane, grandchildren Milo and Lucia Glenn, and his brother Wayne. His family described him as an incredible human being who will be deeply missed by everyone fortunate enough to have known him.
Hyperion: The Masterwork That Defined Dan Simmons' Legacy
Hyperion, published in 1989, is Simmons' masterwork. Structured after Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the novel follows seven pilgrims traveling to the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion, where they may encounter the legendary and terrifying Shrike. Each pilgrim tells their story in a different subgenre, creating a mosaic narrative that showcases Simmons' range as a writer. The novel won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1990.
Its sequel, The Fall of Hyperion, won the Locus Award and the British Science Fiction Association Award. The series continued with Endymion and The Rise of Endymion, completing a four-book cycle that explored themes of religion, artificial intelligence, time, and the nature of consciousness. Hyperion stands alongside Dune, Ender's Game, and Neuromancer as one of science fiction's literary peaks.
A Career That Defied Every Genre Boundary
Dan Simmons defied literary norms by writing across genres and defying pressure to conform to formulaic novels. He wrote groundbreaking work in historical fiction, horror, hard-boiled crime, and speculative fiction and explored topics ranging from Ernest Hemingway's World War II Cuban spy ring to mountain climbing in the Himalayas.
His 1985 debut novel Song of Kali, inspired by three days spent in Kolkata, India, won the World Fantasy Award. Carrion Comfort, a massive horror novel about psychic vampires who can control human minds, won the Bram Stoker Award. The Terror, a fictionalized account of the lost Franklin Expedition to the Arctic, became a bestseller and was adapted into an acclaimed AMC limited series in 2018.
The Teacher Who Told His Students a Story — That Became Hyperion
Before his literary fame, Simmons spent 18 years as an elementary school teacher in Missouri, New York, and Colorado. Every day after lunch, he told his students a daily installment of an epic tale that started on the first day of school. As they listened, the students would color illustrations he had drawn for them. When the story finally came to an end on the last day of school, many recalled being reduced to tears. That treasured story would go on to become the Hyperion Cantos.
In 1987, Simmons quit his job and left teaching to become a full-time author — one of the most frightening leaps any writer can take. The gamble paid off in ways even he likely could not have imagined on that last day of school in Colorado.
Awards and Legacy: Hugo, Bram Stoker, World Fantasy, and More
Many of his books won honors ranging from the Hugo Award — science fiction's most prestigious — to two World Fantasy Awards, three Bram Stoker Awards for horror, a dozen Locus Awards, and the Shirley Jackson Award. His titles have been translated into at least 20 languages and published in 28 foreign countries. Dan Simmons was 77 years old — and leaves behind a body of work that will endure for generations.
