eschbach studied aerospace engineering at the university of stuttgart and later worked as a software engineer. he has been writing since he was 12 years old. his first professional publication was the short story "dolls", published in 1991 in german computing magazine "c't". his first novel was published in 1995. nine of his novels have won the kurd-laßwitz-preis, one of the most prestigious awards in the german sf scene. four of his novels have won the deutscher science fiction preis.