Andrzej Ziemiański, also known as Patrick Shoughnessy (born 17 February 1960), is a Polish author of fantasy, science fiction, thriller and crime, who by 2012 have sold over 500,000 copies of his books. Ziemiański was educated as an architect and he holds a PhD in architecture. Ziemiański is best known for his epic fantasy/sci-fi series Achaia.
Biography
Andrzej Ziemiański was born in Wrocław, Poland, where he grew up and settled. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at Wroclaw University of Technology in 1983. Subsequently, he worked as a fellow researcher and professor in various institutions. In 1992, he acquired a PhD in technical sciences. Since 2010, the author teaches Creative Writing at the Faculty of Journalism at University of Wroclaw.
Ziemiański started publishing short stories and novels in 1978, at first in the sci-fi genre. At one time, Ziemiański would also publish using a pen name Patrick Shoughnessy (Przesiadka w piekle, 1991). Subsequently, he withdrew from having his work published and remained silent for a decade. Ziemiański returned to writing at the turn of the century, quickly becaming one of the most prominent Polish writers of fantastika. His short stories, such as Bomba Heisenberga, ' or ', would win first prize in popularity polls among readers, and two of them (Autobahn nach Poznań and Zapach szkła) won Janusz A. Zajdel Award. At the 2002 , four various Ziemiański’s short stories won subsequently: seventh, third, second and first prize. His Achaia series was deemed to be one of the most important novels in modern Polish fantasy. The trilogy strengthened the author's position by settling into the Polish canon of fantasy genre. The following Achaia volumes (as well as their continuation – Pomnik cesarzowej Achai [2012]) would top bestseller lists. Ziemiański's other novels were also well-received leading publishers' books rankings.
He has also written a more mainstream novel, such as Miecz Orientu, which was published in episodes in the Twórczość magazine. The novel was later published as a whole in 2006.