Jacek Dukaj is a bright and original Polish science fiction writer who has been actively working since the second half of the 90s of the last century. Author of several successful novels and collections of stories, winner of several awards. Born in July 1974 in Tarnow. He studied philosophy at the Jagiellonian University. The first science fiction book he read was “Investigation” by Stanislaw Lem, which inspired him to try his own writing. Dukaj successfully made his debut at the age of 16 with the story “Złota Galera”, which was then included in several anthologies, including the English-language “The Dedalus Book of Polish Fantasy”. Quite quickly, the young writer became famous due to the complexity of his works and the serious themes raised in his works. them. Even Dukay’s short stories sometimes contain so many ideas that another author would have enough for everything his books. Among the issues that most interest him are technological singularity, nanotechnology, virtual reality, alien threat, and the future of religion. Usually the genre in which he works is characterized as hard science fiction, but the writer easily introduces elements of mysticism or fantasy into his works. Among his favorite authors is Australian Greg Egan. Also, Dukay's books should appeal to those who read David Brin. The author's stories and stories are varied and inventive, dedicated to the theme of virtual reality ("Irrehaare"), religious issues ("Ziemia Chrystusa", "In partibus infidelium", "Medjugorje"), politics (“Sprawa Rudryka Z.”, “Serce Mroku”). While remaining original, Dukay sometimes relies on various cult or classical things - for example, gloomy and Dukaj himself describes the pessimistic cyberpunk novella “Szkoła” as a mixture of “Blade Runner”, “Flowers for Algernon” and “A Clockwork Orange”. "Serce Mroku" contains allusions to Joseph Conrad. And “Gotyk” is a free continuation of the play by Juliusz Słowacki. Dukaj’s debut in major book form took place in 1997, when two stories (sometimes classified as short novels) were published under the same cover - “Xavras Wyzryn” and “Until the Night.” The first of them received good reviews and even created some buzz. This is an alternate history/war SF that deals with the serious philosophical aspects of war, and shows the fine line between terrorism and the fight for freedom. The book takes place in a world where the USSR was once victorious in the Soviet-Polish War. In the novel “Perfekcyjna "niedoskonałość" an astronaut returning to Earth after eight centuries finds a post-technological world and falls into intergalactic traps and intrigues. Another novel “Czarne oceany” and the story “Extensa” are dedicated to the topic of the immediate development of a post-singular society. The popularity of Jacek Dukaj is evidenced by the fact that his last novel, another dashingly twisted alternative history - “Ice”, became an unprecedented publishing house in Poland success in 2007. The book sold 7,000 copies within two weeks. Jacek Dukaj is also the author of numerous reviews (mainly in the publications Nowa Fantastyka, SFinks and Tygodnik Powszechny) of books by such authors as Peter Beagle, Gene Wolfe, Tim Powers , Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Neal Stephenson, Clive Barker, Greg Egan, Kim Stanley Robinson, Carol Berg, as well as Polish authors - Sapkowski, Lem, Kolodziejczak, Felix Kres. He also wrote film reviews for the publication Science Fiction. Among his favorite films, Dukaj names “Donnie Darko”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Gattaca”, “Pi” and “Being John Malkovich”. Jacek Dukaj was nominated for the Janusz Seidel Award 12 times, and won it 5 times - in 2000 for the story “Katedra”, the computer animation of Tomek Baginski was nominated for an Oscar in 2003, and for novels - in 2001 for “Czarne oceany”, in 2003 for “Inne pieśni”, in 2004 for “Perfekcyjna niedoskonałość” , and in 2007 for “Lód”. His works have been translated into English, German, Czech, Hungarian, Russian and other languages. The writer is currently working on several large works, novels or long stories, including new ambitious and imaginative texts “Fabula”, “Rekursja”, “Stroiciel luster”. Among the previously announced postponed or abandoned projects are the books “Baśń”, “Interversum”, “Afryka”, and possible sequels to the novel “Perfekcyjna niedoskonałość”. (Unofficial electronic publication).