Vasily Vasilievich Golovachev was born on June 21, 1948, in the small Russian city of Zhukov. In 1972, he graduated from the Ryazan Institute of Radio Technology with a degree in Electronic Radio Equipment Engineering and was immediately drafted by the Soviet Armed Forces, serving two years in the Far East as a border patrol soldier.    When his tour of duty ended in 1974, Vasily moved to Dnepropetrovsk – a large industrial hub in the Ukraine – and began work as an engineer at the State-owned MetallurgAutomatika Design and Construction Institute. He rose through the ranks, serving first as a group leader and later as Head of Construction Department.    Throughout this time, Vasily was honing his writing talent. In 1983, while still working at MetallurgAutomatica, he received membership in the prestigious Writers’ Unions of Russia and the Ukraine. By the end of the decade, it was clear to him and to everyone else that his calling was not radio equipment, but literature – and in 1989, he left his post as Head of Department and started writing full-time.    Vasily has authored over 40 novels which have consistently set sales records in Russia and throughout Europe, selling more than 16 million copies. (His novel SMERSH-2 alone has reached 1.5 million copies.) Year after year, his novels have maintained their bestselling status. Many of them have been translated into other European languages. His unprecedented output and staggering sales numbers have placed him in the Russian Book of Records as the best-selling Russian author of all time – quite a feat in a country where reading remains a national pastime.    Vasily has continuously received critical acclaim in Russia and throughout Europe. He has been awarded four publishing prizes in 1992, 1995 and 2003, and was voted Science Fiction Author of the Year in 2003 and 2005. He has received more than a dozen Reader’s Choice, Critics’ Choice and other literary Awards. In 2003, he received the prestigious Order of the Knights of Science Fiction. This year, he received one of the highest Russian literary distinctions – The Suvorov Medal for the Literary and Cultural Contribution to the Heritage of Russia, and the Association of Russian Astronauts named him Science Fiction Writer #1.    In addition to holding the distinction as Russia’s most prolific and best-selling author, Vasily is an acclaimed painter and illustrator. He has received several artist awards, and has illustrated two of his own novels. His artworks, which have the same magical and otherworldly quality as his novels, were shown in several exhibits in Moscow and Dnepropetrovsk, and are published in a coffee table book of science fiction and fantasy paintings.    In Russia, his novels are published by EKSMO Publishing (http://www1.eksmo.ru/) as part of the Masterpieces of Russian Science Fiction series.