Robert Jerzy Szmidt (born 26 July 1962 in

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) is a

Polish science fiction and fantasy Science fiction and fantasy in Poland dates to the late 18th century. However, science fiction as a genre in Polish literature truly began to emerge at the end of the 19th century under the influence of Jules Verne's work. During the latter yea ...

writer, translator and journalist.

Biography

Szmidt trained as a sailor, however, he never worked as one. In the late 80s and early 90s, he was a sales representative for Amber Publishing House, and worked in the video and bookselling business. He was also the owner of one of the first legal video rentals in Poland. In late 80s he founded two magazines: ''Video Business'' and ''Video Premiery''. Afterwards he moved into video games publishing (editor of ''PlayStation Plus'' and ''Player Station Plus'' magazines) and as a translator. Robert Szmidt joined the Polish Science Fiction fandom in the early 80s and soon became a co-founder of the Sphinx Award, which later was renamed the Zajdel Award. In 1985 he was awarded the Śląkfa Prize as The Fan Of The Year. In 2015 he received the award Wrocławianin Roku, and in 2017 and 2018 a Silver and Gold, respectively, Odznaka Honorowa Zasłużony dla Województwa Dolnośląskiego. He founded the

Science Fiction magazine A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard-copy periodical format or on the Internet. Science fiction magazines traditionally featured speculative fiction in short story, novelette, nov ...

(2000) and

Nautilus Award Nautilus Award was a Polish science fiction and fantasy award created by Robert J. Szmidt of the ''Science Fiction magazine''. The award is named after the cephalopods of that name (nautilus A nautilus (; ) is any of the various species wi ...

(2004). He was a publisher and editor in chief of the '' Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror'' monthly magazine. Szmidt has lived in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, Poland, since 1986.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Toy Land'', "Science Fiction" No. 11 / 2002, Fabryka Słów,

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

2008 *''Revelation'' by Mr. John (Apokalipsa według Pana Jana), D.W. Ares, Katowice 2003; Fabryka Słów,

2008 *''Whisperer'' (Zaklinacz), D.W. Ares, Katowice 2003 *''Unicorn Chronicles: Hunting'' (Kroniki Jednorożca: Polowanie), Fabryka Słów, Lublin 2007 * ''Szczury Wrocławia: Chaos'' (Wrocław Rats: Chaos)

Metro 2033 Metro 2033 may refer to: * ''Metro 2033'' (novel), a 2002 novel by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky * ''Metro 2033'' (video game), a 2010 first-person shooter video game based on the novel See also * ''Metro'' (franchise), originating from t ...
series

Schmidt wrote three books which were included in the official

Universe of Metro 2033 ''Metro'' () is a post-apocalyptic fiction franchise consisting primarily of novels and video games that began with the 2002 release of Russian writer Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel ''Metro 2033 (novel), Metro 2033''. It was followed by his sequels ' ...

and

Universe of Metro 2035 The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

* ''Otchłań'' (The Abyss), Insignis, Kraków 2015 * ''Wieża'' (The Tower), Insignis, Kraków 2016 * ''Riese'' (The Giant), Insignis Media, Kraków 2019

Books translated

*Campbell, Jack; Lost fleet: Fearless, Fabryka Słów, Lublin 2008 *Campbell, Jack; Lost fleet: Fearless, Fabryka Słów, Lublin 2008 *Church, James; Death in the Koryo, Książnica, Katowice 2008 *Gibson, William; Spook Country, Książnica, Katowice 2008 *Portis, Charles; True Grit, Sonia Draga, Katowice 2011

References