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Nick Perumov

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Nick Perumov
Occupationwriter, microbiologist
GenreEpic fantasy, science fiction

Nick Perumov (Ник Перумов) is the pen name of Nikolay Daniilovich Perumov (Николай Даниилович Перумов), a famous Russian fantasy and science fiction writer.

Biography

Perumov was born November 21, 1963 in Leningrad, USSR. He was writing short stories since he was a teenager, and after reading The Lord of the Rings in the early 1980s, he became a fantasy fan. After studying at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute, Perumov worked at a research institute, and later as a translator. In 1985-1991 he wrote Нисхождение тьмы (Descending of Darkness), a fantasy duology, which consisted of two novels: Эльфийский Клинок (Elven Blade) and Черное Копье (Black Lance). The events of the book took place in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, 300 years after the War of the Ring. His novel, as Perumov says, was just fan fiction written for friends, before one of his colleagues offered to publish this work. In 1993 the duology, re-edited and re-named Кольцо Тьмы (Ring of Darkness) was published in Severo-Zapad publishing, which paid Nick just $300. Ring of Darkness has sold at least 100,000 copies, and ranked high in popularity among Russian fantasy readers, though it also provoked a wave of criticism from old Tolkien fans. Their main arguments against Perumov's work was that no one has the right to write sequels to The Lord of the Rings and to change Middle-earth's history. Other critics argue that Perumov eroded the edge between Good and Evil by giving Uruk-hai humanlike behaviour.

After the success of his debut, Perumov decided to start a career of a professional writer. He wrote the novel Гибель Богов (Godsdoom), in which he mentioned Упорядоченное (The Consistent) for the very first time, his universe of multiple connected worlds. The Consistent became the main locale of his following books, including the most known, 8-volume series Хранитель Мечей (The Keeper of Swords).

Nick Perumov's books published in overall number of more than 4 mln. of copies and translated to many languages, Northern and Eastern European mostly. One of his books, Godsdoom has also been translated to English. At Eurocon 2004 he was awarded as the best fiction writer of Europe.

Nikolay now lives in the United States of America, where he works at a research center as a microbiologist. He claims writing is his 'hobby', while science is his work.

Series

Кольцо Тьмы (Ring of Darkness)

This fantasy novel takes place in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, 300 years after the War of the Ring. The books tell the story of hobbit Folko Brandybuck, the heir of Meriadoc, and his two dwarven friends, who are trying to protect Middle-earth from a new danger: powerful Olmer, the leader of the Eastern nations, who is gathering the remainder of the nine Nazgûl's Rings of Power. The original duology was later followed with the third book, Адамант Хенны (The Adamant of Henna).

  1. Эльфийский Клинок (Elven Blade, 1993)
  2. Черное Копье (Black Lance, 1993)
  3. Адамант Хенны (The Adamant of Henna, 1995)

Хроники Хьерварда (Hjorward chronicles)

A three-volume series of non-connected novels tells the different parts of Hjorward world history, including the rebellion of Hedin and Rakot against the Young Gods, the main event of Consistent history.

  • Гибель Богов (Godsdoom, 1995)
  • Земля Без Радости (The Land Without Joy, 1995)
  • Воин Великой Тьмы (Warrior of Great Darkness, 1995)

Хранитель Мечей (Keeper of the Swords)

Also known as 'Chronicles of The Rift' or 'Series of Mage', this eight-volume series tells the story of Fess the necromancer, who keeps the secret of magical Diamond and Wooden swords. Fess was caught in the 'closed' world of Evial, and suffers the pressure of local inquisition. This series is the final books of Consistent epopee.

  1. Алмазный Меч, Деревянный Меч (Diamond Sword, Wooden Sword, 1998)
  2. Рождение Мага (Birth of the Mage, 1999)
  3. Странствия Мага (Wandering of the Mage, 2000)
  4. Одиночество Мага (Loneliness of the Mage, 2001)
  5. Война Мага: Дебют (War of the Mage: Debut, 2003)
  6. Война Мага: Миттельшпиль (War of the Mage: Middlegame, 2004)
  7. Война Мага: Эндшпиль (War of the Mage: Endgame, 2006)
  8. Война Мага: Конец Игры (War of the Mage: Game Over, 2006)

Short novels connected:

  • Дочь Некроманта (Daughter of the Necromancer)
  • Вернуть Посох (Bring Back the Rod)
  • Эльфийская Стража, или Лемех и Борозда (Elfguard, or Plough and Furrow)

Империя Превыше Всего (Empire Above All)

Science fiction dualogy tells about a distant future in which the "German nation" became the human hegemon in the Galaxy, namely through abandonning its Nazi ideology in favour of a multicultural "Empire Above All" nationalism. The book centers on the quest of Ruslan Fateev to attain independence for his homeworld of New Crimea, the sole Russian-speaking corner of the Empire (according to the books, the overwhelming majority of Russians chose voluntary germanisation over the centuries). All this is set in an atmosphere of uprisings of a federation of colony worlds against the Empire and the invasion of human planets by mysterious alien creatures named "Biomorphs".

  1. Череп на Рукаве (Skull on a Sleeve, 2002)
  2. Череп в Небесах (Skull in the Sky, 2004)

Техномагия (Technomagia)

  1. Разрешенное Волшебство (Legal Wizardy)
  2. Враг Неведом (Enemy is Unknown)

Co-authored works

  • Чёрная Кровь (Black Blood, 1996) with Svetoslav Loginov
  • Не Время Для Драконов (No Time For Dragons, 1997) with Sergey Lukyanenko.
  • Армагеддон (Armageddon, 2000, published in USA as 'Lords of Terror') with Allan Cole.
  • Посредник (Mediator, 1996) with Polina Kaminskaya.