Nick Perumov

Nick Perumov (Russian: Ник Перумов) is the pen name of Nikolay Daniilovich Perumov (Russian: Николай Даниилович Перумов; born 21 November 1963), a Russian fantasy and science fiction writer. Perumov was born November 21, 1963 in Leningrad, USSR. He began 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 his first fantasy novel Нисхождение тьмы (Descent of Darkness), which consisted of two volumes: Эльфийский Клинок (Elven Blade) and Черное Копье (Black Lance). The book was set in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, 300 years after the War of the Ring. Perumov initially regarded his novel as just a fan fiction written for friends, until one of his colleagues offered to publish it. In 1993 the duology, re-edited and renamed Кольцо Тьмы (The Ring of Darkness) was published by Severo-Zapad, which paid Perumov a small sum of $300. The Ring of Darkness was a surprising success, it sold at least 100,000 copies, and spurred Perumov's popularity. The book also provoked a controversy in Tolkien fandom; some fans considered it was not fair to set book in Middle-Earth rather than Perumov's own setting, and to challenge Tolkien's "Good against Evil" philosophy in it. Koltso Tmy, however, was one of a kind, as several other 1990's Russian writers, including Natalia "Niennah" Vasilyeva and Kirill Yeskov, would publish unauthorized Middle-Earth books that challenged Tolkien far more sharply.