Recently, I've been having trouble with a main character's journey in my second novel. He literally wasn't going anywhere fast. It …
Continue Reading about Ushkuiniki: the Last Pirates of Old Rus
Recently, I've been having trouble with a main character's journey in my second novel. He literally wasn't going anywhere fast. It …
Continue Reading about Ushkuiniki: the Last Pirates of Old Rus
Recently, my wife and I finished reading aloud the amazing new Russian novel Laurus by Evgenii Vodolazkin. I loved it. First of …
Continue Reading about How Alexander the Great Became Popular in Russia
Those of you who’ve been following me, especially on Pinterest, know that I love traditional Russian village windows, which …
Continue Reading about Russian Village Windows: the Eyes of the Russian Soul
In the 18th century, Russia entered the grand stage of European history. It threw aside its "primitive Easternness", and did …
Continue Reading about Slavic “fake-lore”: was Slavic mythology made up?
It is easy to become jaded, seeing all the horrors of war on our Facebook wall. It is easy to lose empathy with the suffering …
The Bright Seven Days The first week of Easter is like an extended single day of feasting. Joyful and bright. …
In my second novel (tentatively titled The Garden in the Heart of the World), one of the characters is given a …
As I’ve begun to delve deeply into my second novel, I’m considering using the time of the year as a contrast to the characters’ …
Continue Reading about Seven Ways Russians Used to Celebrate the Coming of Spring
A criticism of an early version of my first novel was that it was not grounded enough, too “out there,” too interested in the …
Continue Reading about Things you never knew about the Russian cradle
Although it might seem a bit strange at first, I take inspiration for my novels equally from Slavic mythology, sacred literature …
Continue Reading about Heroes from Slavic Mythology: Ilya Muromets
Something a little lighter this week. I generally like to have a vivid mental picture of events and places and people before I …
Continue Reading about Everything You Need to Know about the Russian Kaftan
Too often in modern fantasy fiction, the invented societies and characters are reflections of the failings of our world. There are …
Did you know that Columbus was looking for a mysterious Christian king of India when he stumbled upon the New World? Most people …
Continue Reading about How the Legend of Prester John Influenced Slavic Mythology
As I was doing research for my first series of novels, I came across a Russian article about the Cossacks and how much they …
About two years ago, my dear wife—then my fiancée—and I were preparing for the worst of all fates—a four-month-long separation …
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann My rating: 5 of 5 stars These last few months I've been glutted with bad fiction. Fiction so …
“Sit down, make yourself comfortable. Let me tell you a story.” This is what the paintings of Evgenii Mukovnin seem to say to …