With a career spanning two decades, British writer Peter F. Hamilton is one of today’s most prominent authors in the science fiction field. He is renowned worldwide for his production of complex and vibrant space opera novels, and with over a dozen acclaimed books under his belt, he’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Hamilton was born in 1960 in England, where he still lives, and sold his first story in 1988 to Fear Magazine. His debut novel Mindstar Rising was published five years later. He then went on to write A Quantum Murder and The Nano Flower.

The main protagonist in these three books is Greg Mandel, a detective with psychic powers. Filled with scientific inventions and strong political and social commentary, the novels (also known as the Greg Mandel Trilogy) received some criticism for their portrayal of a near-future Britain run by a left-wing authoritarian regime. Of course, these are far from the first novels to use such a background – for example, George Orwell’s famous novel 1984 as well as Alan Moore’s highly praised graphic novel V for Vendetta employ similar dystopic settings – and Hamilton explained in an interview with British SF magazine SFX that he chose the setting to make people question their presumptions, arguing that it would be simplistic to portray the former British government as authoritarian.

His next work could be viewed as his major breakthrough: a massive SF trilogy called The Night’s Dawn. Acted out in a universe where mankind has colonialised numerous planetary systems, the plot borders on the supernatural as people are possessed by “souls”, but the works are essentially a series of rich and well-planned SF novels. An addition to this series is The Confederation Handbook, which offers extensive and detailed background information on the setting.

Following The Night’s Dawn novels was Fallen Dragon, a stand-alone work that simultaneously deals with the protagonist’s failed love affair and the complications of privatised colonisation. This novel features space travel by much less advanced means than in many of his other works, depicting a situation where the spread of human civilisation is plagued by political instability and the actions of aggressive businesses.

Hamilton then went on to establish a new near-future universe in Misspent Youth. Here, the method of “rejuvenation” – a process to regain youth – is introduced, and the novel describes possible social results of such a procedure. This universe, often referred to as “The Commonwealth”, is also used in the following two novels, Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained, in which possible consequences of rejuvenation are further explored some three hundred years in the future. Featuring a host of colourful characters as well as complex, intertwining plots, ranging from tranquil and philosophical to suspenseful and violent, these novels also include a number of spacefaring alien races and their effect on human society. With the Commonwealth universe Hamilton has crafted a highly detailed and believable world that lingers in the reader’s mind.

Currently, Hamilton is working on the Void Trilogy, another series of novels set in the same universe as Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained. Set about 1300 years after the events in Judas Unchained, Hamilton has said that two major groups of different types of humans have emerged: the “Highers”, who use bionic upgrades; and the “Advancers”, who have turned to genetic modification. The first book in the trilogy, The Dreaming Void, was released in 2007, and the last book is scheduled for release in 2011.

Written by: Erik Boman, team member of CreativeWallpapers.com - the Internet’s best source of gothic, fantasy, tribal and SF mobile phone wallpapers and animations.