[Vote 4 Nixon]

Dan Simmons,The Hyperion Cantos. I can say that after a lifetime of reading sci-fi that this series of books will really blow you away. Really can't speak highly enough of it.
He also has some other work that is top of the line also. Try his book called, The Terror. Fantastic.

[Ransomed]

That Hyperion/Endymion stuff is fantastic. Simmons is the guy who wrote message from a from a time traveler that gets posted to FR once in while.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1743776/posts

FReegards

[mills044]

You very nearly mirrored the exact words I had imagined posting. Hyperion saga is brilliant- stunning imagery, sweeping imagination. I actually feel it overwhelms tolkien’s epic nature.

So many parts blew me away. One in particular: in book 2 (or 3?), protagonist returns to a forest world, where a stupendously large tree used to grow. The World Tree, which served as a Capitol building of sorts until being destroyed from space,is now just a burned out stump. But what a stump! Towering in the distance, literally the size of a mountain.

I don’t do it justice. Incredible author.