Sergei Lukyanenko

After moving from Kazakhstan to Moscow, he continued to write there, now often venturing into literary experiments – like the religiously themed alternative history dilogy Seekers of Heaven, where he experimented with language stylization. He also continued several series started in his earlier period, and started several new ones (often in his favorite genre of space opera) – like the Genome series, now featuring two novels (Genome and Dances on the Snow) and the Cripples novella, or The Stars Are Cold Toys dilogy, sharing the same themes with David Brin's Uplift series.

Lukyanenko has been known as an avid supporter of copyright, as seen from his statement during the large meeting of various authors and business people titled "Copyright defense on internet" in 2013. During this meeting, he complained that "only 1% of all downloads of his latest book were legal downloads".

Recently his works have been adapted into film productions, for which he wrote the screenplays. He was also a blogger, keeping a blog at LiveJournal, and posting both personal and public information or snippets of a book in progress. His first blog was discontinued on 11 July 2008 after a conflict with readers over the issue of foreign (American) adoptions of Russian children. He started another blog a few days later, promising firmer moderation policies.

The 2004 film Night Watch (Nochnoy dozor), based on the book, was regarded as "the first Russian blockbuster." The film grossed over $16 million in Russia, a box office record at that time. In the United States, an adaptation of the film was released by Fox Searchlight. The film Day Watch (Dnevnoy dozor) was released in Russia on January 1, 2006, and it was released in the US on June 1, 2007.

Until recently relatively few of Lukyanenko's works have been released outside of Russia, mostly in Baltic states, Bulgaria and Poland, countries with traditionally strong ties with Russian literature. Even fewer were commercially published in English. However, success of the movies finally changed the situation. Night Watch, translated by Andrew Bromfield, was published in English in July 2006, Day Watch followed in January 2007, Twilight Watch was published in July 2007. 2009 saw the international publication of Last Watch by Hyperion Press. Labyrinth of Reflections, published originally in 1997, was also translated and published in other languages.

Since then, a number of other movie adaptations of his books have been considered. To date, only one of these projects, a 2005 children's film Asiris Nuna, based on Today, Mother!, a humor novella coauthored with Yuly Burkin, has been completed; several other movies, however, seem to remain in production. In many of these projects Lukyanenko acts as both scriptwriter and consultant.

Lukyanenko himself said that his work has been heavily influenced by that of Robert A. Heinlein, the Strugatsky brothers and Vladislav Krapivin, and that he hopes to be remembered as a literary follower of the Strugatsky brothers. Although his books are often set in harsh worlds, Lukyanenko is a humanist writer, and in this sense believes he follows in the footsteps of the Strugatsky brothers. In May 2000, Boris Strugatsky referred to the spirit of the brothers' books as "that goodness with fists, those tortured attempts by the heroes to remain kind while being strong", and added "this is the underlying theme for Lukyanenko: how to preserve your goodness in the world of evil when you are strong and well-armed."

First works of this period show the clear influence of the Russian children's author and teacher Vladislav Krapivin, whose fan Lukyanenko remains up to this day. These works, such as the novella Eighth Color of Rainbow, feature the same themes of coming of age, loyalty and friendship, as well as teenage protagonists and a similar target audience. However, Lukyanenko soon moved from imitating Krapivin toward a more polemic view of his idealistic views of children and their interaction. In the 1994 novel Knights of 40 islands, Lukyanenko established himself as an author of the Goldingian tradition.

His books at the time included the aforementioned Knights of the 40 Islands, plus Nuclear Dream, a collection of short stories and novellas, published in 1992, and two space opera trilogies: Line of Delirium, the setting of which was loosely based on that of the Master of Orion series of videogames, and the earlier Lord from Planet Earth, based on the dark setting brought forth in his early short stories (entitled A Splendid Faraway Universe). Autumn Visits, was also written during that time, when the author was struggling with depression.

Lukyanenko was born in Karatau, Kazakhstan, then a part of the Soviet Union, to a Russian-Ukrainian father and a Tatar mother. After graduating from school, he moved to Alma-Ata, and enrolled at the Alma-Ata State Medical Institute in 1986 majoring in psychotherapy. He had started writing as a student, and in 1992 had just started making money from it. During this time he became an active member in Russian fandom, visiting conventions and attending seminars all around the Soviet Union. In 1996 he has moved to Moscow where he currently resides.

Lukyanenko started writing in the mid-1980s, and his first publication, the short story "Misconduct" ("Where The Mean Enemy Lurks", although written earlier, was published later), followed soon in 1988. Science fiction in the Soviet Union was exposed to political control, as it was viewed chiefly as a political tool rather than an art. In the late 1980s, however, it was viewed somewhat benevolently, and he was able to jump on the bandwagon of the state support, attending a number of literary seminars and publishing several novellas and short stories.

Sergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko (Russian: Серге́й Васи́льевич Лукья́ненко , Russian pronunciation: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej vɐˈsʲilʲjəvʲɪtɕ ɫʊˈkjænʲɪnkə] ; born 11 April 1968) is a Russian science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, interwoven with the moral dilemma of keeping one's humanity while being strong.