...Marcus Hammerschmitt's name is synonymous with literaryly demanding science fiction. Everyone knows this, except those who in Germany define what literature is and what is not - the lack of recognition of the latter pushes Hammerschmitt towards caustic irony, but not to abandon science fiction, because in his eyes “only it is capable of on the one hand to anticipate, and on the other hand to critically analyze technological development, its false promises and myths.” Markus Hammerschmitt was born in 1967 in Saarbrücken, lives in Tübingen. Since 1994, he has been a freelance writer. His first publications appeared in the “Library of Fiction” of the Suhrkamp publishing house. It all started in 1995 with Der Glasmensch, a collection of science fiction stories, one of which immediately won the German Science Fiction Prize. In 1997, followed by "Wind", two short novels under one cover, and, finally, in 1998 - the novel "Target", which in 1999 was again republished in the same collection with the works of famous SF authors and now stands there in the same row with novels by Stanislaw Lem, H. P. Lovecraft, J. G. Ballard and the Strugatsky brothers. After this, Marcus Hammerschmitt parted ways with Suhrkamp and moved to the young, but more energetic publishing house Hamburger Argument. In 2000, Der Opal, a space opera, was published. In 2001, the novel “Der Zensor” followed, in which in the 21st century the Mayan culture experiences a renaissance and, thanks to the dominance of nanotechnology, conquers Europe. Polyplay, released in 2002, is a sci-fi detective story set in an alternate history in which socialism triumphed and the Federal Republic of Germany was annexed to the GDR. His list of awards confirms that Marcus Hammerschmitt is recognized beyond the science fiction genre: he was awarded in 1997 the Thaddeus Troll Prize, in 1998 the Gutenberg Prize, in 1999 the Wurth Literary Prize and the Digital Content Award in 2001. In addition, he was awarded special prizes in the field of science fiction - German (1996) and Kurd Lasswitz (1999 and 2001).And that's not all. From the pen of Marcus Hammerschmitt come poems, online projects, radio plays and political articles, and above all essays. What a person can get involved in is made clear by the following story, in which politics, technology and psychology are mixed into a very interesting cocktail. The hero of the story decides to take his own future into his own hands - however, only after several strong kicks in the most sensitive places... (A. Eshbach)