Hammerfall is a science fiction novel by American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It was first published in June 2001 in the United States by HarperCollins under its Eos Books imprint. It was also serialized in two parts as Ribelle Genetico and Il Pianeta del Deserto in the Italian science fiction magazine, Urania, published in issue 1425 in October 2001, and issue 1430 in January 2002, respectively.Hammerfall is the first of two novels set in Cherryh's Gene Wars universe, and concerns gene manipulation using nanotechnology, and contact with an alien race, the ondat. The second novel, Forge of Heaven was published in June 2004. Hammerfall was nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2002, and was a third-place runner-up. Source: Wikipedia (en)