[citation needed] In 1985–1991 he wrote his first fantasy novel Нисхождение тьмы (Niskhozhdeniye t'my, "Descent of Darkness"), which consisted of two volumes: Эльфийский Клинок (El'fiyskiy Klinok, "Elven Blade") and Черное Копье (Chernoye Kop'ye, "Black Lance").

In 1993 the duology, re-edited and renamed Кольцо Тьмы (The Ring of Darkness) was published by Severo-Zapad, which paid Perumov a small sum of $300.

The Ring of Darkness, however, was one of a number of such projects, as several other 1990s Russian writers, including Natalia "Niennah" Vasilyeva and Kirill Yeskov, went on to publish unauthorized Middle-earth books that challenged Tolkien far more sharply.

[citation needed] Over 4 million copies of Perumov's books have been published, and his work has been translated into many languages, mostly in Northern and Eastern Europe.

[citation needed] During the 1998 Russian financial crisis, Perumov moved to the United States, where he works for North Carolina Research Campus as a microbiologist.

All this is set in an atmosphere of uprisings of a federation of colony worlds against the Empire and the invasion of human planets by mysterious alien creatures named "Biomorphs".

Техномагия (Technomagic) Семь зверей Райлега (Seven Beasts of Raileg) Я, Всеслав (Me, Vseslav) Out of Series Co-authored works Story collections Трилогия о Молли Блэкуотер (Molly Blackwater Trilogy)