Introduction
PERRY RHODAN is the world’s greatest space opera, an ambitious future history of unparalleled scope with a print run of more than a billion copies to date. Since 1961, more than 2,900 short novels of 25,000 to 30,000 words each have been issued on a weekly basis in Germany alone.
Moreover, the German PERRY RHODAN hardcover edition has now reached 131 volumes in a span of 37 years. Containing between 135,000 and 145,000 words each, these hardcovers contain condensed versions of the weekly short novels.
Next to the two flagship publications, there is a wide selection of secondary products: spin-offs on the action and characters of the main series, comic books, merchandise, computer games, audiobooks, music CDs, role-playing games, fan-based products, and much more.
Successful international licenses for foreign language editions of PERRY RHODAN are already in place in several countries: The Netherlands, Czech Republic, France, Japan, and Brazil.
About Lucy Guth:
Tanja Bruske-Guth grew up in a village in Hesse, where she still lives with her family today. Even as a child, she was interested in fantastic literature – thanks to her mother, who had collected boxes of PERRY RHODAN pulp novels – and wrote her first short stories at primary school age.
Since 2017, she has been publishing novels in historical and fantasy environments. She has been writing for PERRY RHODAN NEO for several years. She chose Lucy Guth as her pseudonym. Her strengths include original characters and the depiction of strange scenarios
About Klaus N. Frick:
Klaus N. Frick, born in 1963, originally comes from the Black Forest, but now lives in Karlsruhe. He came into contact with science fiction as a teenager – he himself read the PERRY RHODAN series for years before joining it as an editor in 1992.
Today, Frick manages the teams of writers and designs the series content together with them. He occasionally publishes his own novels and short stories.
In the fall of 1960, K. H. Scheer and Clark Darlton, two of Germany’s most popular science fiction authors, meet in Munich to launch a new project: an epic space saga that describes mankind’s journey to the stars.
A year later, the first weekly PERRY RHODAN short novel hits the newsstands – marking the start of the world’s most successful science fiction series.
Enterprise Stardust narrates the journey of the rocketship STARDUST to the moon. On board are four American astronauts. Their commanding officer: Perry Rhodan.
Upon entering lunar orbit, they barely avoid a disaster. Despite severe equipment failure, the men are able to avert shipwreck in the nick of time, and they land on the lunar surface. Later, while exploring their surroundings, they make a discovery that will take mankind to new heights: an enormous extraterrestrial spaceship, measuring several hundred meters in diameter.
Perry Rhodan immediately grasps the significance of the moment. He makes contact with the Arkonides – as the aliens call themselves – and wins the trust of their leaders. With the help of the vastly superior Arkonide technology, Rhodan prevents nuclear Armageddon on Earth and unites mankind into a single nation: Terra.
The doorway to the stars is open …
Thorsten Schweikard
Thorsten Schweikard was born in 1972 in Wiesbaden, Hesse. At the age of 14, he came across the novels of two writers, both of whom also came from Hesse and whose work fascinates him to this day: They were the PERRY RHODAN authors William Voltz and Karl-Herbert Scheer, although he admires Scheer in particular to this day because of his action- and technology-packed novels.
His professional career led Schweikard, who now lives in a small village in the west of the Taunus, to the natural sciences: He is a trained chemical engineer and works full-time as a deputy shift supervisor in an international chemical company.
He combines professional and literary interests. In addition to PERRY RHODAN, the author appreciates political thrillers and suspense literature. Among his literary role models he counts Stephen King, Tom Clancy and Sebastian Fitzek.
He likes to use his knowledge in the natural sciences and technology for his own writing work. “Especially for the genre of science fiction, this knowledge is a gift that I can’t value highly enough,” says the author about himself.
By the way, he didn’t like writing at all at first. “I never thought I’d ever write anything myself,” he recalls. “The German lessons were a horror to me. I just couldn’t get my foot on the ground.”
A critical life situation in 2003 changed everything. “Writing served me as a distraction and to find strength during this time,” Schweikard admits. “I quickly realized that I also enjoy it very much.”
He developed his passion for writing; first publications in anthologies and con books followed. Schweikard expanded his contacts to the PERRY RHODAN universe; In 2022, his first short story for the STELLARIS series was published. The current highlight was the novel that Schweikard wrote in the summer of 2025 for the miniseries PERRY RHODAN-Kartanin.
When Schweikard is not working on lyrics, he likes to pedal one of his bicycles, some of which he has assembled himself. In addition, traveling all over the world is one of his passions.
As an author of historical novels, Richard Dübell has become internationally known to a large audience over the past twelve years. Now the writer is back with a guest novel for the PERRY RHODAN series in the genre he started decades ago: science fiction. As a teenager, Dübell, who was born in October 1962 in Lower Bavaria, was an enthusiastic science fiction fan: he wrote short stories for fan magazines and won two literary competitions.
“Perry Rhodan and his comrades-in-arms had me as firmly in their grip as a Halutian prize wrestler” – this is how the author puts it on his own homepage. During his school days, he not only wrote, he also gave free rein to his imagination through drawing. In the years that followed, the enthusiasm for writing his own texts declined: the start of professional life and the founding of his own family took their toll.
When Dübell began to write stories again in the mid-1990s, he specialized in the genre of the historical novel. The result is a novel that the author himself describes as a “historical crime novel of the Black Series”, but which he has not yet been able to publish.
His manuscript made him stand out positively with the publishers, and interest in him was aroused. His second and third historical novels were published by the renowned nymphenburger Verlag, the following titles were published by the Lübbe Publishing Group. There, Dübell has advanced to become an in-house author, who is supported by the publisher through a strong advertising and sales effort. The total circulation of his works has long since exceeded the mark of one million titles sold.
His trilogy about the “Devil’s Bible”, a mysterious artefact of medieval church history, became particularly popular. The trilogy has been translated into 14 languages, and it is also to be filmed and adapted for a game. His book »The Gates of Eternity«, which deals with the construction of a monastery in northern Bavaria, was voted »best historical novel of 2011« by the readers of »HistoCouch«.
In the meantime, Dübell is on the road as a “brand on its own behalf”. In his hometown of Landshut, he organises adventure city tours and medieval crime banquets, which are very popular: the author and his comrades-in-arms wear historically authentic robes. At his readings at home and abroad, which Dübell stages as media shows with the use of video and sound, he also likes to appear in historical clothing.
Dübell also leads a writing workshop, gives lectures on historical topics and the craft of writing, and is involved in schools to promote reading. He writes as a freelance journalist for the magazine “PM History” The city of Landshut awarded him the Cultural Promotion Prize in 2003.
With his novel »Toufec«, the successful writer returns to his roots. » Toufec« will be released on August 3, 2012, it is volume 2659 of the PERRY RHODAN series. About his return to the world’s biggest science fiction series, the author says: “It’s the fulfillment of a childhood dream.”
Klaus Scherwinski, who lives in Bielefeld, works mainly as an illustrator for role-playing games. Internationally, he works for products such as SHADOWRUN, BATTLETECH, WARHAMMER, to name just a few. It is worth mentioning that Scherwinski’s cover of »Europe in the Shadows« was nominated for the Kurd Laßwitz Prize 2005.
He is also in business nationally. He illustrates for games such as THE BLACK EYE or DEGENESIS. In addition, he makes illustrations for advertising, trading card games and comics – Kopeck, Heavy Metal magazine – and privately gives VHS courses in illustration in his hometown.
In all his activities, Scherwinski is still enthusiastic about the science fiction worlds. He knows PERRY RHODAN from his childhood. For this reason, it was a special pleasure for him to illustrate the ATLAN Darkstar covers 33-36.
Klaus Scherwinski currently gives workshops at various institutions and works as a visual development officer (creation of storyboards and concept art for computer games, trailers and cinematic sequences).
In the fall of 1960, K. H. Scheer and Clark Darlton, two of Germany’s most popular science fiction authors, meet in Munich to launch a new project: an epic space saga that describes mankind’s journey to the stars.
Literature Review
A year later, the first weekly PERRY RHODAN short novel hits the newsstands – marking the start of the world’s most successful science fiction series.
Enterprise Stardust narrates the journey of the rocketship STARDUST to the moon. On board are four American astronauts. Their commanding officer: Perry Rhodan.
Upon entering lunar orbit, they barely avoid a disaster. Despite severe equipment failure, the men are able to avert shipwreck in the nick of time, and they land on the lunar surface. Later, while exploring their surroundings, they make a discovery that will take mankind to new heights: an enormous extraterrestrial spaceship, measuring several hundred meters in diameter.
Perry Rhodan immediately grasps the significance of the moment. He makes contact with the Arkonides – as the aliens call themselves – and wins the trust of their leaders. With the help of the vastly superior Arkonide technology, Rhodan prevents nuclear Armageddon on Earth and unites mankind into a single nation: Terra.
The doorway to the stars is open …
Upon arrival, the Terrans discover a huge spherical ship that belongs to an alien race calling themselves Arkonians. They appear to be an interesting race. The leaders are intelligent, but the rest of the crew only seem interested in playing some sort of video games, and outside of that, would seem to be imbecilic. The main body of work is carried out by artificial intelligences in the form of robots. The commander of the alien ship is a female who is quite militant and has a great deal of disdain for the inhabitants of Earth, considering them to be low class of intelligence, at least by their standards. On the other hand, there is also an Arkonian scientist on board the alien craft that finds humanity quite fascinating, which saves Rhodan and his companions from being killed out of hand.
Perry notices that the Arkonian scientist is not well and Rhodan call us upon a doctor from the Stardust who examines the Arkonian. The doctor discovers that the scientist has leukemia and will die without treatment. After talking with the alien commander, Rhodan is able to convince her to allow him to take the scientist back to Earth to be cured of the blood disease. Perry and his crew travel back to the Earth knowing that if he lands at his base in Nevada, the military will take the Arkonian into custody. This will likely trigger a nuclear war between the superpowers on the planet, which appears to be imminent anyway. WIth the help of the Arkonians, the Stardust returns. Rhodan lands his ship in the middle of the Gobi desert where none of the Earth’s superpowers will have access to the alien scientist before he can devise a defense. Rhodan is very concerned that if the alien should fall into the custody of any one government, they would try to wring secrets out of him to gain an unfair advantage over their opponents. This is where the first story leaves off.
The second installment, The Radiant Dome, picks up where the first ends with Rhodan, his crew, and the Arkonian scientist in the Gobi. The ship is being protected by an invisible dome that is generated by a machine on board. Further, the Arkonian commander is also transmitting a field that renders nuclear weapons inert. The scientist is treated with a miracle medicine and is cured of leukemia, but remains in a coma while his body heals from the stresses that has been placed upon it. In the meantime, the superpowers all gather to try to convince Rhodan that he has to turn over the scientist and tell everything he and his crew has learned. Rhodan remains steadfast in that he is not going to cooperate and announces that he is setting up his own superpower to thwart the plans of the three existing powers, knowing that they will only exploit the Arkonian and his knowledge to further the cause of war among them.
When the commanders of the superpowers learn that they are being stopped by the Arkonians still on the moon, they launch three manned rockets to destroy the spacecraft on the moon. The rockets are armed with a type of weapon that cannot be affected by the Arkonian damping field At the same time, they begin a heavy bombardment on the dome that is protecting Rhodan’s ship in an attempt to overload the generator and take it out. The three ships make it to the moon and deliver their cargo of bombs, but not before the alien commander escapes to Earth, joining Rhodan and her fellow Arkonian. The dome generator is about to overload and burnout when the Arkonian scientist wakes from his coma and explains how to repair the machine.
Rhodan is accompanied by a few companions in these two novellas and they all look to his leadership and knowledge for guidance in nearly every situation. It is quite amusing how Rhodan remains in complete control of himself while everyone around him continually goes to pieces until the leader intervenes and brings everyone back to their senses.
Started in the 1960s, the Perry Rhodan series was created by K.H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting/Clark Darlton (and written by them and a cadre of authors) to be a series of some 30 works, but it continues to be published today, now over 2,700 novels, with spin-off series like “Atlan”, the “Planet Novels” and others, and most recently a new series, “Perry Rhodan Neo”, which reboots the series with the action starting in 2036.
The series centers on Perry Rhodan, an American astronaut who leads the first expedition to the moon in the future of 1971. There they find a spacecraft of the Arkonide race, a humanoid race that we much later learn is related to the human race (and that many other humanoid races of the universe are somehow interrelated).
The Arkonides are very advanced, but their empire is in decline, such that the empire is now ruled by a supercomputer, the Robot Regent. The main Arkonides, scientist Khrest and the female commander Thora (who would later become Rhodan’s first wife), seek Rhodan’s help. Rhodan sees this as an opportunity to unite humanity.
He soon takes the technology of the Arkonides back to Earth, lands in the Gobi Desert, and declares the “Third Power” (called “New Power” in the U.S. edition) preventing World War III that was brewing. Soon teaming up with a cadre of mutants (they have mental abilities like telepathy, teleportation, precognition and the like), he works to unite the world into one power, not an easy task.
Mankind is soon colonizing the rest of the solar system, becoming a growing power, and more. Perry and select others are even made immortal, thanks to a “superintelligence” known only as IT. And this all (and I left a lot out) in the first 50 or so works that form the first “cycle” of stories.
The next cycle skips ahead several decades, and Earth is now the Solar Imperium under the leadership of Rhodan, and Perry soon meets the near-immortal Atlan, an Arkonide from the distant past who is the founder of the Arkonide colony of Atlantis, and who had been in hibernation on Earth. He becomes a valued ally and soon the new ruler of the Arkonide Empire.
The overall series has arcs or cycles that can run 25 to 100 stories, with several such cycles making up “grand cycles.” In the U.S., the initial works got through (almost) three cycles. Since many of the main characters (Perry and many of his associates) are immortal, this allows the series to jump ahead several decades or more for the next cycle of stories, moving us hundreds or even thousands of years into the future.
The series would spawn comics, audio plays, even a movie in the 1960s called “Mission: Stardust.”
Started in the 1960s, the Perry Rhodan series was created by K.H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting/Clark Darlton (and written by them and a cadre of authors) to be a series of some 30 works, but it continues to be published today, now over 2,700 novels, with spin-off series like “Atlan”, the “Planet Novels” and others, and most recently a new series, “Perry Rhodan Neo”, which reboots the series with the action starting in 2036.
The series centers on Perry Rhodan, an American astronaut who leads the first expedition to the moon in the future of 1971. There they find a spacecraft of the Arkonide race, a humanoid race that we much later learn is related to the human race (and that many other humanoid races of the universe are somehow interrelated).
The Arkonides are very advanced, but their empire is in decline, such that the empire is now ruled by a supercomputer, the Robot Regent. The main Arkonides, scientist Khrest and the female commander Thora (who would later become Rhodan’s first wife), seek Rhodan’s help. Rhodan sees this as an opportunity to unite humanity.
He soon takes the technology of the Arkonides back to Earth, lands in the Gobi Desert, and declares the “Third Power” (called “New Power” in the U.S. edition) preventing World War III that was brewing. Soon teaming up with a cadre of mutants (they have mental abilities like telepathy, teleportation, precognition and the like), he works to unite the world into one power, not an easy task.
Mankind is soon colonizing the rest of the solar system, becoming a growing power, and more. Perry and select others are even made immortal, thanks to a “superintelligence” known only as IT. And this all (and I left a lot out) in the first 50 or so works that form the first “cycle” of stories.
The next cycle skips ahead several decades, and Earth is now the Solar Imperium under the leadership of Rhodan, and Perry soon meets the near-immortal Atlan, an Arkonide from the distant past who is the founder of the Arkonide colony of Atlantis, and who had been in hibernation on Earth. He becomes a valued ally and soon the new ruler of the Arkonide Empire.
The overall series has arcs or cycles that can run 25 to 100 stories, with several such cycles making up “grand cycles.” In the U.S., the initial works got through (almost) three cycles. Since many of the main characters (Perry and many of his associates) are immortal, this allows the series to jump ahead several decades or more for the next cycle of stories, moving us hundreds or even thousands of years into the future.