The return of Madoka to cinema will take place this summer — the feature film Mahou Shoujo Madoka. Magica Movie 4: Walpurgis no Kaiten will be released in August

Dan Simmons, One of the Greatest Contemporary Science Fiction Writers, Has Passed Away

The literary world bids farewell to Dan Simmons: the famous American science fiction writer has passed away at the age of 78. The author died on February 21st due to complications from a stroke, but the public learned of it only a week later. In his final moments, he was with his wife Karen and daughter Jane.

Simmons left behind about three dozen works, but his true monument is the science fiction series The Hyperion Cantos — an epic often ranked alongside the genre's greatest masterpieces. Novels like The Terror (later adapted into a series of the same name), the Ilium — Olympos duology, and The Abominable also earned immense reader love. His final novel, Omega Canyon, remained unfinished.

The writer's collection of awards includes the Locus and Hugo Awards, the genre's highest honors recognizing its masters.