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Hawke, Simon
(1951- ) US author who first published under his birth name, Nicholas (Valentin) Yermakov, but has written as Hawke (now his legal name) since 1984. His career began with some sf adventure novels and the Boomerang series, all composed in a baroque idiom, but he soon settled into more settled pursuits, writing several unpretentious sf and fantasy series as Hawke and Military SF as by J D Masters. As Yermakov his most interesting work was probably in the Boomerang/Shade series – Last Communion (1981), Epiphany (1982) and Jehad (1984) – set on a planet inhabited by Aliens with a dangerously exploitable gift (exploited aliens have appeared more than once in Hawke's work): they are able to generate potent group-mind phenomena by absorbing the psyches of their own dead. Eventually this absorptive capacity upliftingly ensnares the intruding humans as well, and the sequence ends in Transcendence. In three singletons from this period – Journey from Flesh (1981), Fall into Darkness (1982) and Clique (1982) – slapdash execution tends to muffle the genuine sharpness of Hawke's mind. In collaboration with Glen A Larson he wrote two Battlestar Galactica Ties, The Living Legend (1981) and War of the Gods (1982). In 1984 he stopped writing as Yermakov.
From 1984, Hawke soon became a reliable and prolific author of adventure sf, best known for the Timewars sequence beginning with Timewars: The Ivanhoe Gambit (1984) and ending with Timewars #12: The Six-Gun Solution (1991), in which members of the Times Corps (see Time Police) make sorties into the past and into Alternate History in order to preserve the main timestream of the world from various Changewar assaults. Hawke still retains some of the muffling complexity of his earlier persona, but many of the individual Timewars tales are grippingly told. The Psychodrome sequence – Psychodrome (1987) and Psychodrome #2: The Shapechanger (1988) – is similarly crowded, but its Virtual-Reality idiom is relatively unfresh. Other series have been fantasy, like the Wizard of Fourth Street Alternate History sequence beginning with The Wizard of 4th Street (1987) and ending with The Last Wizard (1997), though the associated The 9 Lives of Catseye Gomez (1991 chap; exp 1992) posits a Post-Holocaust environment of some interest, featuring Magic-as-learnable-technology and an intelligent Cat who models his behaviour on the works of Mickey Spillane. A later sf novel, The Whims of Creation (1995), which is also smoothly written, may be the first comic Generation Starship novel. The nonfantastic Shakespeare & Smythe historical mysteries, beginning with A Mystery of Errors (2000), feature William Shakespeare as detective. [JC]
see also: Eschatology; Parasitism and Symbiosis; Time Paradoxes; Time Travel.
Simon Hawke
born New York: 30 September 1951
works
series
Boomerang/Shade
- Last Communion (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1981) as Nicholas Yermakov [Boomerang/Shade: pb/Jill Bauman]
- Epiphany (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1982) as Nicholas Yermakov [Boomerang/Shade: pb/Paul Alexander]
- Jehad (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1984) as Nicholas Yermakov [Boomerang/Shade: pb/Paul Alexander]
- The Shade Trilogy (Lexington, Kentucky: CreateSpace, 2014) [omni of the above three: pb/]
TimeWars
- Timewars: The Ivanhoe Gambit (New York: Ace Books, 1984) [TimeWars: pb/David B Mattingly]
- Timewars #2: The Timekeeper Conspiracy (New York: Ace Books, 1984) [TimeWars: pb/David B Mattingly]
- Timewars #3: The Pimpernel Plot (New York: Ace Books, 1984) [TimeWars: pb/David B Mattingly]
- Timewars #4: The Zenda Vendetta (New York: Ace Books, 1985) [TimeWars: pb/David B Mattingly]
- Timewars #5: The Nautilus Sanction (New York: Ace Books, 1985) [TimeWars: pb/David B Mattingly]
- Timewars #6: The Kyber Connection (New York: Ace Books, 1986) [TimeWars: pb/Jim Burns]
- Timewars #7: The Argonaut Affair (New York: Ace Books, 1987) [TimeWars: pb/Jim Gurney]
- Timewars #8: The Dracula Caper (New York: Ace Books, 1988) [TimeWars: pb/Neal McPheeters]
- Timewars #9: The Lilliput Legion (New York: Ace Books, 1989) [TimeWars: pb/Neal McPheeters]
- Timewars #10: The Hellfire Rebellion (New York: Ace Books, 1990) [TimeWars: pb/Michael Racz]
- Timewars #11: The Cleopatra Crisis (New York: Ace Books, 1990) [TimeWars: pb/Michael Racz]
- Timewars #12: The Six-Gun Solution (New York: Ace Books, 1991) [TimeWars: pb/Michael Racz]
Psychodrome
- Psychodrome (New York: Ace Books, 1987) [Psychodrome: pb/Neal McPheeters]
- Psychodrome #2: The Shapechanger Scenario (New York: Ace Books, 1988) [Psychodrome: pb/Neal McPheeters]
Wizard of 4th Street
- The Wizard of 4th Street (New York: Popular Library, 1987) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The Wizard of Whitechapel (New York: Popular Library, 1988) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The Wizard of Sunset Strip (New York: Popular Library, 1989) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The Wizard of Rue Morgue (New York: Popular Library, 1990) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The Samurai Wizard (New York: Warner Questar, 1991) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The Wizard of Santa Fe (New York: Warner Questar, 1991) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The 9 Lives of Catseye Gomez (Arvada, Colorado: Roadkill Press, 1991) [chap: Wizard of 4th Street: Catseye Gomez: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The 9 Lives of Catseye Gomez (New York: Warner Books, 1992) [exp of the above: Wizard of 4th Street: Catseye Gomez: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The Wizard of Camelot (New York: Warner Questar, 1993) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The Wizard of Lovecraft's Cafe (New York: Warner Questar, 1993) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/David B Mattingly]
- The Last Wizard (New York: Warner Aspect, 1997) [Wizard of 4th Street: pb/Donato Giancola]
Donovan Steele
- Steele (New York: Charter Books, 1989) as by J D Masters [Donovan Steele: pb/Joe DeVito]
- Cold Steele (New York: Charter Books, 1989) as by J D Masters [Donovan Steele: pb/Joe DeVito]
- Killer Steele (New York: Charter Books, 1990) as by J D Masters [Donovan Steele: pb/Joe DeVito]
- Jagged Steele (New York: Charter Books, 1990) as by J D Masters [Donovan Steele: pb/Joe DeVito]
- Renegade Steele (New York: Charter Books, 1990) as by J D Masters [Donovan Steele: pb/Joe DeVito]
- Target Steele (New York: Charter Books, 1990) as by J D Masters [Donovan Steele: pb/]
The Reluctant Sorcerer
- The Reluctant Sorcerer (New York: Warner Questar, 1992) [The Reluctant Sorcerer: pb/David Mattingly]
- The Inadequate Adept (New York: Warner Questar, 1993) [The Reluctant Sorcerer: pb/David Mattingly]
- The Ambivalent Magician (New York: Warner Questar, 1996) [The Reluctant Sorcerer: pb/Jody A Lee]
tied series
Battlestar Galactica
- The Living Legend (New York: Berkley Books, 1981) as Nicholas Yermakov, with Glen A Larson [tie to Battlestar Galactica: Battlestar Galactica: pb/David Schleinkofer]
- War of the Gods (New York: Berkley Books, 1982) as Nicholas Yermakov, with Glen A Larson [tie: Battlestar Galactica: pb/Mark Bright]
Friday the Thirteenth
- Friday the 13th, Part I (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1987) [tie to the film: Friday the Thirteenth: pb/]
- Friday the 13th Part II: A Novel (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1988) [tie to the film: Friday the Thirteenth: pb/]
- Friday the 13th Part 3: A Novel Based on the Motion Picture Friday the 13th, Part 3 (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1988) [tie to the film: Friday the Thirteenth: pb/]
Predator
- Predator 2: A Novel (New York: Jove Books, 1990) [tie: Predator: pb/]
Batman
- Batman: To Stalk a Specter (New York: Warner Books, 1991) [tie: Batman: pb/Dave Dorman]
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek
- Star Trek: The Patrian Transgression (New York: Pocket Books, 1994) [tie to Star Trek: pb/Keith Birdsong]
Dark Sun
- The Outcast (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, 1993) [tie: Dark Sun: Tribe of One: pb/Brom]
- The Seeker (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, 1994) [tie: Dark Sun: Tribe of One: pb/Brom]
- The Nomad (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, 1994) [tie: Dark Sun: Tribe of One: pb/Brom]
- The Broken Blade (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, 1993) [tie: Dark Sun: Chronicles of Athas: pb/Brom]
Birthright
- The Iron Throne (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, 1995) [tie: Birthright: pb/Tony Szczudlo]
- War (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, 1996) [tie: Birthright: pb/Tony Szczudlo]
Shakespeare & Smythe
- A Mystery of Errors (New York: Tor/Forge, 2000) [Shakespeare & Smythe: hb/David Gallo and Lauren Halpern]
- The Slaying of the Shrew (New York: Tor/Forge, 2001) [Shakespeare & Smythe: hb/]
- Much Ado About Murder (New York: Tor/Forge, 2002) [Shakespeare & Smythe: hb/]
- The Merchant of Vengeance (New York: Tor/Forge, 2003) [Shakespeare & Smythe: hb/David Gallo]
individual titles
- Journey from Flesh (New York: Berkley Books, 1981) as Nicholas Yermakov [pb/Jill Bauman]
- Fall into Darkness (New York: Berkley Books, 1982) as Nicholas Yermakov [pb/Jill Bauman]
- Clique (New York: Berkley Books, 1982) as Nicholas Yermakov [pb/Jill Bauman]
- Sons of Glory: Call to Battle (New York: Jove Books, 1993) [pb/]
- The Whims of Creation (New York: Warner Aspect, 1995) [pb/Pamela Lee]
links
Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 15:58 pm on 10 October 2026.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/hawke_simon>