Jeno Marz

Interview with Grigory Ryzhakov, Author of Made in Bionia

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Jeno Marz / 2 Comments

This month I’m starting to interview my fellow indie authors and today my guest is Grigory Ryzhakov. Like me, he also writes books in a language other than his native.

Grigory Ryzhakov is a Siberian explant living in the UK and doing biomedical research. When not puzzled by unexpected discoveries in the lab, he writes fiction and composes music.

Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest.

Amazon Author Profile
Author’s Blog/website

Let us begin then. 🙂

[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Grigory, you are a scientist in the fields of molecular and evolutionary biology. What are the areas of your research and what are you currently working on? In brief, can you paint us a picture of your scientific passions and science/tech areas where your research results could be and/or are implemented. If it is not a secret, of course.

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Originally trained as a virologist, I’ve worked within different fields of biomedical research. In the last decade I have been exploring molecular mechanisms underlying autoimmune disorders and immune responses to pathogens. I mostly work with proteins and study the way they interact and how their interactions and activities contribute to our immunity. In the long run, this is useful for designing new pharmaceuticals. Currently, I work in the lab studying inflammatory bowel disease, a group of disorders that affect millions of people worldwide. As you’ve mentioned, my other passion is evolutionary biology. I have done and published research in the past concerning evolution of molecules involved in our immunity. I am fascinated to learn how our immunity originated. It seems that it did so before organisms even became multicellular. It is hard to get grants to fund this research, as it is too distant from the applied biomedicine, so at the moment I only explore mammalian immunity, a topic directly linked to human disease.

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Ever since I remember myself I was interested in three things: books, music, and nature. Eventually my choice fell on biology, which I considered as more practical in comparison to my artistic passions. While studying in the university, I realized that I want to get to the core of things, the molecular level of life. I became interested in proteins, dazzled by their variety: our genome encodes over twenty thousand of different protein molecules. Structural biology has too much math and physics to my liking, so in the end I focused on biochemistry, where you study the behavior of molecules in connection to their cellular functions.

[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Going a little further into science-y part of your life, would you be interested in a job as an astrobiologist (this is a very broad field), if someone offered you to go on a mission to the stars? For example, to study alien biomes on a newly discovered earthlike world? If you can speculate further on this, what would be of particular interest for you in such science fiction scenario? Ocean life? Plants? Would you prefer a mission to an ocean planet (with marine life) and underwater dwellings, or a more earthlike one, filled with terrestrial animals and plants? Or would you prefer to study something of a sort safely from home?

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This would be amazing. I can definitely imagine myself exploring the biomes on Pandora (a planet in the Avatar film). I’ve always been interested in ecology, especially in tiny unicellular organisms like ciliates or sea algae. Yet, at the same time, I am very much a plant person, so forests are my favorite habitats. Apart from that, if I ever join a spaceship crew, I would be interested in creating self-sustainable ecosystems that would provide the air, food, and comfortable environment for the astronauts.

[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Delving into the realm of science fiction, what is story and ideas behind Made in Bionia? What led to this book? It is not purely genre fiction. What is it exactly? What was the goal?

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Made In Bionia (A William Carrot mystery Book 1) [Kindle Edition] — Made In Bionia [Kindle Edition]

For me, writing fiction is self-expression. I wanted to write a book about a man who is on a journey to discover himself. So, genre-wise it’s a metaphysical adventure. I was pushing off from Dante’s gem, The Divine Comedy, in terms of the overall book symbolic structure. The first part explores the human nature, the second – its limits, and the third – what’s beyond it. I think one can only grasp the human nature in its fullness when you become something more than a human. Dante went through Hell and Purgatory to reach the paradise and nearly lost his mind, enlightened with the essence of the divine nature. In Made In Bionia, my main protagonist William Carrot is on a similar path. He starts of as a very cerebral person, in control of his emotions, a true professional yet with a repressed inner world. He’s only starting to uncover his real nature. He fights to prevent an eco-terrorist plot, falls in love, but is mostly guided through it. Book One ends with his ‘awakening’. The book is a detective story, it explores many scientific themes, like eco-terrorism and genetic engineering, and so it could also be considered as a technothriller or science fiction. At the same time, I’ve put plenty of political satire and literary references into it. So this, overall, could be considered as a culture novel too. Are you confused yet?

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Book One had taken me five years from its concept to first draft. I was thinking well ahead, so the second book goes quicker. I plan to release a comedy next year, so the Bionia‘s part 2 is planned for early 2016.

[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Speaking of books and writing, how did you arrive to writing books in English? Have you been writing a lot in your native language, Russian? In brief, what is the history of your literary drive?

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As a kid, I used to compose poetry in my native Russian language; later on I did some blogging too. When I moved to live in the UK twelve years ago, I wanted to fully immerse in the British culture and started blogging and writing short pieces in English. Made In Bionia was originally written in Russian and I had translated it last year. So now I know what a hard job is to be a book translator. My other two published books I wrote straight in English. The thing about writing in non-native language is that you don’t take a single word for granted. One of my word-wielding idols is Vladimir Nabokov; I can only dream to write in Russian and English as brilliantly as he did.

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I like composing music, which is the most gratifying way of story-telling for me. I don’t do poems anymore, I do songs now. I am not an instrumentalist though. I have never had a passion and patience to master an instrument, including my own voice, despite me singing all the time. I play an electronic keyboard piano well enough to compose music yet not to the extent that I could play live music. This would require both more technical brilliance and bravery that I don’t yet possess.

[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: What influences your writing? Books, music, anything else. What inspires you to create? Do you enjoy creative experimentations with forms and genres and beyond? Why or why not?

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I think as writers we are influenced by so many things, it’s hard to dissect the importance of each of them. I am inspired by books with bold ideas, e.g. Dostoevsky’s novels, by talking to my friends about science, philosophy, politics, culture, by music ranging from Britpop to Borodin, by nature, especially when traveling to exotic places. Yes, I like doing experiments both in science and fiction, life would be boring if one just followed someone else’s blueprints.

[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: Being an indie author, how was your experience so far? Do you view your writing as a hobby or as another job besides the one you are doing in science? What were your biggest learning experiences and/or surprises along the writing and publishing journey?

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I consider my writing a hobby with a professional attitude. I don’t write for myself, I write to communicate my ideas to other people, to make people think about science, art, the big picture, to make them laugh, to surprise them. I like to entertain. Being a self-published author gives you a lot of freedom that you don’t have in academic publishing. I learn new things every day. My biggest surprise so far is that many books that I consider pretty bad do commercially well, while many brilliant books don’t sell. I’ve learned that my literary preferences don’t necessarily coincide with wider audiences. Yet I have also learned that even most bizarre book has its audience. And this is why I think there may be a book in everyone.

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I don’t particularly like descriptive books, to be honest. Multiple pages with no dialogue scare me sometimes. I like intelligent books, bold to explore new things, also the ones written passionately and with a bit of humour. My favorite genre is existential comedy. Making people laugh is very hard. Making them remember your writing is even harder.

[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#333333″ width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]Q: I know you are working on Reader’s Mini Guide to Modern Russian Books and the beta-version will be available this fall. How did you get the idea for this project? What are your plans regarding such broad introduction of modern Russian literature to the Western audience?

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I blog occasionally about Russian literature and constantly receive emails with questions about new Russian reads. I noticed that there’s a little information available on what’s been written in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. So, the plan is to provide an introduction to new Russian literature for readers, translators, and publishers. This will not be an academic read, it will hopefully be a simple and accessible genre-by-genre introduction. Meanwhile, I’ll keep blogging the bits and pieces from the book-in-progress to heat up the interest in this Guide. I’ll send my blog followers a free beta-version of the Guide once it’s done and maybe will get a feedback to improve it.

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I think literature will remain with us in many ways. In classical print form, in digital version, in transmedia forms (coupled to film, computer game or music). But, as a form of art and story-telling, it will keep evolving along with its other media cousins.

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I tend to plan short-term only, a couple of years ahead, so the Guide to Russian books, Bionia‘s part 2 and a new comedy next year are in the making.

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My personal website contains my blog and all the information and links to my creative and scientific outputs. Thank you very much, Jelena, for having me at your blog.

Thank you for participating, Grigory. 🙂

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Writer's Blog

{Blog Hop} Read Me a Story: Falaha’s Journey

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Jeno Marz / 4 Comments

ReadMeAStoryBlogHop — Click on the image for the blog hop party rules.

This popped up in my Facebook feed today, so I decided to join the fun. Hi there, whoever drops by to read some science fiction! 🙂

~~~

My head was still ringing. The enemy had gone but I was certain about one thing: though their Sangu wasn’t making any moves, the whole Enclave was on its feet by now. Shaamta made sure no escape from them was possible, so he could take his time catching Tagai, along with the ones who had commandeered him. He probably didn’t want anything unwelcome to get in as well. Something big was going on there.

Eyuran’s fingers freed my hair moistened in sweat from being stuck to my forehead. He and Baro were staring at me, their gazes heavy and concerned… I raised my eyebrows with a silent question, “What?” Ah, nose bleed! I took out a tissue and wiped my face and my suit more diligently this time.

“Did you get hit?” Eyuran asked.

“No.” I told them. “I’ll be fine. Got too excited.”

Eyuran shook his head, disagreeing. “People don’t bleed from excitement.” He glanced at my father, saying, “Seriously, what’s going on here?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” I replied.

Tagai let out a voiced sigh and started breathing.

A knock on Bradoh’s hull was followed by Father’s voice. “Leave the Baali kid inside and get down here, Falaha, Eyuran. Let him rest for a while. Baro, if you’re in for some trash climbing, come, too.” He was refilling his suit’s Life Support from the slot at the bottom of the machine. I peeked at the process controls. Had he been walking with an empty tank before?

I quickly checked my suit’s stats. Baro did the same, while Eyuran completed final biotelemetry checks on the Baal—his vitals improved faster than expected, and even the fall hadn’t affected that. In an hour or two he might be back to normal. Amazing!

It took me two days to reassemble—my brain was destroyed: I died, after all. My body is definitely weaker, but our soma could be of somewhat equal strength.

Finished, me and my spouse stood up, but Baro didn’t move.

If Eyuran was worried about me, the Medan was also uncertain about something else, watching us getting ready to leave Bradoh. Something disturbing was on his mind and on his tongue, and something equally strong hindered him from spilling it out. He looked at my father, then at me again, as if he didn’t know how to put his feelings or thoughts into words appropriately.

“Kieren-rjg, you’ve been on this ship before, haven’t you?” Baro’s sudden question didn’t make my father happy. He turned to look at the Medan with an unpleasant gleam in his eyes, then at me with mixed emotions. Baro probably expected a different reaction, but it still appeared that he’d just vocalized something Father didn’t want to discuss. Turned out it was something we all were thinking about, yet the Medan was the one who dared to scratch Father’s vulnerable side: for a tiniest moment there was a change in him. Baro’s words made Father remember something. He flinched. There existed something that made him shudder. Was I the only one who noticed a different side to him that briefly emerged from under his usual larger-than-life attitude?

“So what of it?” He shrugged. “That’s why I’m back to get the job done,” he replied.

“As usual, not overly wordy about anything in particular,” Eyuran whispered to me.

I sighed. “Wrong questions at the wrong time will get you nowhere.”

Surely, he walked the Enclave like he owned it, and we still didn’t know the answer to why and how he hadn’t got caught. Or what trick he’d used to make Tagai invisible to the Baali. And there was that bothersome question about how Father initially entered and got out of this place alive—something that no one had succeed in doing before, which raised Baro’s concerns and suspicions, undermining his ability to trust. An unstable situation if not handled quickly. I glanced at Father and turned to my men again.

“Baro, do you think taking Tagai with us was a mistake? Or worse, Father plans to get us all killed? You, Eyuran?”

My spouse shook his head in denial—he had no doubts regarding his uncle.

“I don’t know, rjgnis,” the Medan sincerely replied. “I brought him to you, but was it the right thing to do? Is he really the person I met on Quennah?”

I smirked. “If you tell me what happened between you two in greater detail, I might answer your question. Furthermore—is Eyuran the same person you met on Quennah? Am I the same person you met on Quennah? I wonder about that.” Both men’s faces made it clear none of them thought of this, and each found different meaning in my words. I bent over the edge of the cockpit. “Father, Baro wants to know when you will start eating us.”

A faint smile appeared on his weary face. “Does he also want a relaxing massage, a hot bath, and a tasty meal before that?” was the reply. Whatever he did to hide Tagai had taken its toll on him.

“Let’s get moving,” I said, turning to the Medan and breaking the uneasy moment. “He is not the enemy, he’s really my father. You can have my word on that. He does those weird things sometimes, so don’t get the wrong idea. I, too, got confused and intimidated at first, but it’s fine now. You understand what he is about to do, don’t you?”

“I hope so, rjgnis.”

“Then would you please put up with some strange stuff of kennar Fargann?” Even if I don’t really know what all that strange stuff is yet. I smiled. “It’s not like you are not welcome here.”

Eyuran nodded, confirming my words.

I took their hands into mine—Eyuran’s big hand into one, and Baro’s even bigger hand into another. So different, bronze and white.

“Sometimes, I am afraid,” I told them softly. “Of this ship, of its hungry darkness, of remaining here all alone. Yet you two are—” I watched their mouths slowly open, taken aback by my sudden confession of yet another unknown horror, their hands gripping mine tighter. “Worrywarts.”

Baro’s mouth closed in silent protest and Eyuran’s face changed as well.

From under long, thick eyelashes, unblinking grey eyes were staring sideway—Eyuran’s expression became almost menacing, following his imagination, focused to tear anything that came at me into pieces. Did he figure I spoke the truth? Just like his dad, he was slowly growing immune to my methods as our relationship progressed. Another tough sausage, eh?

Oh well, at least the snow on that mountain still appeared fresh and untouched.

I slipped out of their hold.

Eyuran was right; I had no phobia issues at Bradoh’s height. I could sit calmly at the cockpit’s edge, and probably could climb all over the machine without feeling sick or scared. Huge heights, high drops, deep, dark pits, on the other hand… Everything this Enclave was about. Ugh.

Before jumping off the machine, I switched on my nightlights and whispered, “I’m interested in meeting Shaamta.”

“What?!” exploded in a single burst. My words terrified them both, so I sent them air kisses, inflicting minor confusion, which lasted long enough for me to leave Bradoh freely and join Father in the field.

I turned to see their perplexed faces.

Two pairs of eyes were watching my every movement. So intense I could feel their eyeballs rolling on my skin… Oh, here we go again! Steady, men, steady! Don’t fall out of your shared high seat over there! I stuck out my tongue at them. Do not underestimate small people!

~~~

Thank you for reading and if you’d like to read the whole story, it is available in stores listed below:

For more information about the novel and other reading options, check out this page.
You can also add the book to your Goodreads list.

~~~

Check out other awesome entries here!

Writer's Blog

The Slippery Slope of Sexy

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Jeno Marz / 0 Comment

When I create characters and write something, I experience a kind of duality. A part of me is all sciency and everything, that can bring weeks of never-ending calculations and world-building, and I sometimes forget to eat during those brain marathons until my husband finds me in a state of depletion (he is my ray of hope during these days of hard work), while the other part is a shameless lover of sexy fun in many forms.

I also enjoy writing both.

There are people who enjoy their science fiction without anything that even vaguely resembles a romance, let alone full blown sex scenes. I understand this part of the population well, and so my works, unless labeled “erotica”, “romance”, or the two words combined, will be mild in depiction of this important aspect of human nature. Because those are not the focus of the said work.

I will not create another pen name for my erotic fiction, however graphic (and yes, there is a difference between erotica and porn; I like how it is defined here), because I want both aspects under my single entity. This is who I am. The reason I write erotica is simple: it’s not that I like sex as the act itself—as a human I do, of course; I like when people are being honest with themselves, and it shows when they are having sex. They are beautiful then. That fascinates me. As much as science in science fiction does.

Just like I don’t kill people in real life, if I write something, it doesn’t mean I’m in that lifestyle or practice something of a sort. It is what it is: fiction. I tend to couple my erotica with humorous streak, so don’t expect something too dark and/or depraved. I have my limits and standards (i.e. no dubcon, no mindfucks, and no bodily harm) and I write about relationships and people in relationships. Relationships is a big ground to play on and I’ll keep this in my focus unless I run out of ideas.

For those of my readers who are perfectly fine with high levels of heat and naked bodies, and the variety of couplings and ménages, I will continue to write the small specials, sexy stories, told from both female and male POVs, that would also include important plot points (all hail plot!) not mentioned anywhere else, tying these specials to larger works.

What else can I add here? Read book descriptions when you buy them and your comfort zone will be safe. 😉

Writer's Blog

Between the Reads

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Jeno Marz / 0 Comment

This week got really busy. I’m in the middle of beta reading a science fiction novel. I’m taking a thoughtful, thorough approach, so instead of quick read in a few days I’m moving slowly, marking up minor things as I go along, but focusing on the whole storyline and its arcs to soak in and remember everything well to think about it later. Then I will do the final mark-up and list suggestions.

It’s a good novel, I like it a lot. It is something that will stick with you one way or another.

I’m also close to finishing the second short story for the Pleasure project. This one’s different from the first episode, both in length and content, with only a couple of erotic scenes so far which aren’t exactly the focus. FJITP Episode #2, This Lonely, Lonely Spaceman, as well as the subsequent episodes, have plenty of things that took place somewhere between the last chapter (83) and the epilogue (and Episode #6 slightly after that) in the main book and were left unsaid. Today I wrote the ending scene for the story, which is a sure sign I’m on the right track, because I couldn’t put the whole behemoth together for a month or so (must have been the annoying heat wave.) I’m relaxed now — it is finally becoming what I want it to be.

I wrote brief outlines for next episodes in this collection. Though stand-alone, they are connected by the time line and some cross-references managed to slip in, adding coherence to whole book.

I admit I haven’t been focusing on the Rjg lately, though this novel would get a wider readership than anything else I’ve written so far. It is sitting at the back of my mind, but I just can’t go there before I finish my bunch of short stories.

Come to think of it, some month ago I felt like I couldn’t write anything anymore. I even feared to touch the new novel. Now I see that I was wrong. I would probably write it even faster than the first one. I hope so, at least.