Home > Sergey Lukianenko

Originally a practicing psychiatrist from Kazakhstan, Lukianenko quckly moved from participation in the group of aspiring writers led by Boris Strugatsky to full-time writing career. His first publications were short stories in magazines Zaria (Dawn, Alma-Ata) and Uralsky Sledopyt (Scout of Urals, Ekaterinburg) circa 1988, but his true popularity had begun with the short novels Knights of the Forty Islands and Nuclear Dream. Viewed at first as a challenger to the work and philosophy of Vladislav Krapivin , he quickly proved to be an original author with self-sufficient style and artistic interests.

With the recent acquisition by 20th Century Fox of record-breaking motion picture based on his novel Nochnoy Dozor (Night Watch), Lukianenko seems to be moving towards an international career in science fiction art.

Lukianenko's works explore a variety of themes and genres; he enjoys literary games and genre fusion, never staying within a given frame for long. His notable works include:

• Knights of the Forty Islands (Рыцари Сорока Островов, 1992), the harsh tale of children extracted at random and put in an artificial environment by what appears a highly advanced technical civilization. The environment consists of small islands connected by narrow bridges, each equipped with a small castle; children from many cultures are put on them at random, and the Forty Islands' lore says that whoever conquers all islands will be allowed to return home. The novel polemizes with books by Vladislav Krapivin whose writing always emphasized the inherent goodness of children; Lukianenko in turn draws on the harsher city subculture and the realities of growing up to draw something more in like with Golding's pessimistic views. Lukianenko does not go as low as Golding, though; his skepticism is expressed on higher levels of social and inter-cultural interaction, rather than on descent to savagery, as he tracks the progress and eventual failure of the kids' attempt to build a federation of islands and thus circumvent the game's rule instead of maintaining an uneasy status quo forever. The harshness and seriousness of the theme, very contrasting with Krapivin's bright outlook, has earned Lukianenko a somewhat dubious fame as "anti-Krapivin" at first. However, his subsequent works had shown that the truth was not that simple.

• The Lord from Planet Earth trilogy (Принцесса стоит смерти - A Princess Worth Dying for; Планета, которой нет - The World that Is Not, 19; Стеклянное море - The Sea of Glass, 1994), an unorthodox take at space opera on three progressing levels. In the first part, the struggle is almost intimate, with a series of duels and ritual mixed with legal loopholes as an individual contests an ambitious colonial state. In the second, it is elevated to the level of well thought-out and credible starship battle and planetary terrorism between a militant faction and a single ship. In the final part, the game is played on the level of terminal conflict between two interstellar civilizations with incompatible basic values. All three are exercises in moral issues and combat strategy, aided with character development and imaginative settings. (This is the only major work of Lukianenko that is partially set in the same imaginary universe as The Road to Wellesberg series of short stories.)

• The Illusion Emperors dilogy (Императоры иллюзий - The Illusion Emperors and Линия Грёз - The Dream Line, 1996)

• The Road to Wellesberg short stories (Дорога на Веллесберг, various years)

• Visits in Autumn (Осенние визиты, 1997)

• The Labyrinth of Reflections (Лабиринт отражений, 1997)

• The Boy and the Darkness (Мальчик и Тьма, 1997)

• Night Watch (Ночной дозор, 1998)

• Spectrum (Спектр, 2000)

[The article is work in progress]