Search SFE    Search EoF

  Omit cross-reference entries  

Szmidt, Robert J

Entry updated 13 October 2025. Tagged: Author.

(1962-    ) Polish editor, translator, and author. His fiction is characterized by a fondness for post-apocalyptic settings, which has led to him being referred to as "Destroyer of Worlds." He became involved with Polish Fantastika Fandom in the 1980s, becoming a laureate of the Śląkfa Award from the Silesian SF Club (1985 as the Fan of the Year). His first genre story "Test" (vt "Wspinaczka" ["The Climb"]) (1983 No Wave #2) was about a Robot aide for mountain climbers. Initially, however, he was not a prolific writer; he published only two stories in the 1980s and no more until the 2000s. He became a significant figure in Polish Fantastika publishing in 2001, co-founding Science Fiction and editing it until 2009; he also founded the Nautilus Award associated with that magazine, and the publishing house Ares (active from 2000 until the end of the decade, renamed Ares 2 in 2005).

His career as a writer resumed with thirteen stories published in his own Science Fiction magazine in 2001-2005. These and later stories, which he kept publishing if at a less prolific rate, were collected in three volumes: Ostatni zjazd przed Litwą ["Last Inn Before Lithuania"] (coll 2007), Alpha Team (coll 2019), and Ciemna strona Księżyca ["Dark Side of the Moon"] (coll 2025),

His book debut came in 2003 with two novels: Apokalipsa według Pana Jana ["The Apocalypse According to John"] (2003) and Zaklinacz ["The Conjurer"] (2003). The latter is a humorous fantasy. The former is a Post-Holocaust tale about the collapse of civilization after nuclear World War Three, depicting the violent struggle of survivors in Lower Silesia, where survivors emerge from bunkers to find Wrocław ruled by the ruthless yet charismatic "Pan Jan", a petty pre-war politician who reinvents himself as dictator and dreams of forging a new empire. Structured as four linked tales, the novel mixes post-nuclear ruin with militarized political allegory, combining Fallout-like survivalism with elements of Polish political Satire. Though sometimes faulted for thin characterization, implausible military detail and a tendency toward political wish-fulfilment, it remains one of Szmidt's most enduringly popular works, often cited as a landmark "classic" in Polish post-apocalyptic fiction.

His next novel, Kroniki Jednorożca: Polowanie ["Unicorn Chronicles: The Hunt"] (2007) is set in Near-Future Poland, where the intelligence services attempt to exploit Psi Powers. Gifts of Telepathy and mental coercion become engines of both heroism and tyranny, a device through which Szmidt interrogates the fragility of democratic power. The novel was praised for its pace, its imaginative if derivative espionage/fantastic premise, and later for correctly anticipating several geopolitical shifts, such as the growing activities of Russian intelligence in Europe (hybrid warfare; see also Cold War); but it was also faulted for predictable plotting, shallow characterization, and heavy-handed intertextual allusions. The sequel is Kroniki Jednorożca: Wojna ["Unicorn Chronicles: The War"] (2025).

His next book, Toy Land (2008), follows Dante, a mercenary thawed after 200 years of cryogenic imprisonment, who assembles a new band of misfits for a mission to the colony world where corporate exploitation and alien lifeforms collide in an action-packed tale. Notably, the book borrowed its main character from fellow writer Andrzej Ziemiański – specifically, from his Toy Wars (coll 2008) – but uses them largely as scaffolding for Szmidt's blend of Military SF, Space Opera adventure, burlesque Humour, and heavy-handed Satire. Readers and critics noted its fast pace, comic set-pieces and plentiful intertextual gags, but also its reliance on sexist, racist and scatological banter, which polarized audiences. Thematically, Toy Land oscillates between pastiche and parody, raising occasional questions about corporate-sponsored Colonization and First Contact ethics, although its significance lies chiefly in sketching early outlines of the setting later developed more seriously in his best-known series, Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew ["Fields of Long Forgotten Battles"], to which Toy Land is effectively a prequel.

The Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew sequence began with the short story "Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew" (March 2004 Science Fiction (Polish magazine)); the sequence mixes Space Opera spectacle with reflections on military ethics (see Military SF) and Polish history. The series is composed of two subseries. The first, Święcki, with Łatwo być bogiem (2014; trans by David French as Easy to be a God 2017 ; new trans by Ursula Gardner under same title 2022), Ucieczka z Raju (2016; trans by Ursula Gardner as Escape from Paradise 2022), Na krawędzi zagłady (2017; trans by Ursula Gardner as Edge of Extinction 2023), Zwycięstwo albo śmierć ["Victory of Death"] (2018) and Ostatnia misja Asgarda ["Asard's Last Mission"] (2019), presents a traditional though well executed universe in which humanity, having colonized the Galaxy, has to defend itself from genocidal Aliens. The sequence received a dedicated prequel subseries Bukowski, composed of Per aspera ad astra (2020), Uderzenie wyprzedzające ["Preemptive Strike"] (2022), Do ostatniej kropli krwi ["Till the Last Drop of Blood"] (2023) and Wet za wet ["Tit for Tat"] (2025), describing the events of a civil war that tore human space apart. The series is notable as one of the few longer works of Polish science fiction translated into English.

His next stand-alone book was Samotność Anioła Zagłady ["The Loneliness of the Angel of Destruction"] (2009; vt Samotność Anioła Zagłady: Adam; 2015), a post-apocalyptic survival road novel set in the USA, where the weapons used annihilated all protein-based life while leaving infrastructure intact. The novel's protagonist journeys across a depopulated America, confronting both the emptiness of a world without people and his own psychological limits; and the novel tackles themes of solitude, sanity, and existential futility. Some critics praised its bleak atmosphere and abandonment of the classic Mad Max survivors-fighting-over-scraps scenario; others found its narrative thin and derivative, and its protagonist too emotionless. A second volume, Samotność Anioła Zagłady: Ewa ["The Loneliness of the Angel of Destruction: Eve"] (2023), revisits the scenario from the novel perspective of astronauts stranded on the ISS. Together, the sequence suggests Szmidt's ambition to transplant Anglo-American post-apocalypse idioms into Polish sf, filtered through his characteristic mix of military detail, survivalism, and pop-cultural pastiche.

His next project was the The Szczury Wrocławia ["The Rats of Wrocław"] sequence, which describes a Zombie apocalypse scenario unfolding under late-Communist rule. Szczury Wrocławia ["The Rats of Wrocław"] (2015, vt Szczury Wrocławia: Chaos, 2024) depicts the epidemic's origins in Wrocław, where the infected rise and overwhelm local authorities. Szczury Wrocławia. Kraty ["The Rats of Wrocław: Bars"] (2019) shifts focus to a prison where survivors unleash a condemned killer. Szczury Wrocławia. Szpital ["The Rats of Wrocław: Hospital"] (2019) offers a claustrophobic reprise from inside a psychiatric ward, while Szczury Wrocławia. Dzielnica ["The Rats of Wrocław: District"] (2019) presents a slightly larger focus, as the intervening Soviet force joins the fray. Blending precise local topography with black humour, grotesque violence, and a rotating cast often drawn from real-life fans (see Tuckerisms), the series reimagines Romero-style apocalypse within the bureaucratic absurdities and brutalities of the communist era.

Around the same time Szmidt also wrote three novels set in Dmitry Glukhovsky's post-apocalyptic Metro Shared World: Metro 2033: Otchłań ["Metro 2033: The Abyss"] (2015), Metro 2033: Wieża ["Metro 2033: The Tower"] (2016) and Metro 2033: Riese (2019), expanding the Metro universe to Poland (Wrocław and Lower Silesia).

His next novel was Zgasić słońce. Szpony smoka ["Turn off the Sun. Dragon's Claws"] (2020). Set in an alternate 1905, the novel opens with an extended aerial assault on Tokyo, where the combined forces of Europe, United States, and Russia unleash fleets of steam-powered Airships and Mecha against Imperial Japan, only to be annihilated by dragons unleashed under the command of Amaterasu. Told from the perspective of a young Polish prisoner of war, the book combines Alternate History with Steampunk and Kaiju-like spectacle. Critics praised the epic scale of the opening aerial battle, the intriguing world-building, and the imaginative fusion of supernatural and technological elements. However, some faulted the pacing for slowing after the opening sequence and the open ending, which left the story unfinished with no announced continuation.

His next novel was the Cyberpunk-themed Mrok nad Tokyoramą ["Darkness over Tokyorama"] (2020), set in 2077 as an obvious nod to the popular Polish Videogame Cyberpunk 2077. Its protagonist, a Polish-Japanese ex-soldier, earns a living in the underworld of a classic futuristic mega-City where corporations rule in concert with gangs and entertainment revolves around che-do – gladiatorial contests that combine Chess with martial combat. Critics praised the originality of che-do (see Games and Sports) and the experimental-literature-like final twist, while faulting uneven pacing, schematic characterization, and an overfamiliar revenge plot.

Szmidt's most recent genre stand-alone novel, Ostateczne Rozwiązanie ["Final Solution"] (2021), is an Alternate History thriller positing the success of Georg Elser's 1939 assassination attempt on Hitler. In this timeline Himmler, not Hitler, steers the Third Reich. He redirects German forces eastward, launching an early invasion of the USSR during the Winter War period, while Japan and the US stay out of the war, and the Western Allies are content to wage the Phony War well into 1942 (the novel's time frame), hoping that the Nazis and the Soviets bleed each other out. Meanwhile, the Nazis under Himmler are pursuing the titular genocidal policies (see Holocaust) with even greater bureaucratic efficiency. In an intriguing take on Hitler Wins scenario, Szmidt's suggests that Hitler's removal might have produced not salvation but a more dangerous Nazi leadership, crafting a grim cautionary tale that meditates on the structural nature of totalitarian evil rather than the charisma of any single tyrant.

He translated numerous Anglophone SF writers into Polish as early as the mid-1980s, when he was the first Polish translator of Isaac Asimov's Foundation (fixup 1951): a bootleg translation published by a fan press. Subsequently he translated works by Kevin J Anderson, Orson Scott Card, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, Ian McDonald, Mike Resnick and David Weber, among others. Some of his early translations were signed as simply Robert Szmidt; most use Robert J Szmidt, as seen in his published work. [PKo]

Robert Jerzy Szmidt

born Wrocław, Poland: 26 September 1962

works

series

Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Święcki ["Fields of Long Forgotten Battles: Święcki"]

  • Łatwo być bogiem (Poznań, Poland: Rebis, 2014) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Święcki: pb/]
    • Easy to Be a God (Honolulu: Royal Hawaiian Press, 2017) [trans by David French of the above: binding unknown/]
    • Easy to Be a God (Monument, Colorado: WordFire Press, 2022) [new trans by Ursula Gardner of the above: pb/]
  • Ucieczka z Raju (Poznań, Poland: Rebis, 2016) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Święcki: pb/]
    • Escape from Paradise (Monument, Colorado: WordFire Press, 2022) [trans by Ursula Gardner of the above: pb/]
  • Na krawędzi zagłady (Poznań, Poland: Rebis, 2017) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Święcki: pb/]
    • Edge of Extinction (Monument, Colorado: WordFire Press, 2023) [trans by Ursula Gardner of the above: pb/]
  • Zwycięstwo albo śmierć ["Victory of Death"] (Poznań, Poland: Rebis, 2018) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Święcki: pb/]
  • Ostatnia misja Asgarda ["Asard's Last Mission"] (Poznań: Rebis, 2019) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Święcki: pb/]

Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Bukowski ["Fields of Long Forgotten Battles: Bukowski"]

  • Per aspera ad astra (Poznań, Poland: Rebis, 2020) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Bukowski: pb/]
  • Uderzenie wyprzedzające ["Preemptive Strike"] (Poznań, Poland: Rebis, 2022) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Bukowski: pb/]
  • Do ostatniej kropli krwi ["Till the Last Drop of Blood"] (Poznań, Poland: Rebis, 2023) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Bukowski: pb/]
  • Wet za wet ["Tit for tat"] (Poznań, Poland: Rebis, 2025) [Pola dawno zapomnianych bitew: Bukowski: pb/]

Kroniki Jednorożca ["Unicorn Chronicles"]

Samotność Anioła Zagłady ["The Loneliness of the Angel of Destruction"]

Szczury Wrocławia ["The Rats of Wrocław"]

Metro

individual titles

collections

links

previous versions of this entry



x
This website uses cookies.  More information here. Accept Cookies