The world is full of mysteries. After the rain, a rainbow shines in the sky. It mesmerizes and beckons over the horizon. How many colors are there in a rainbow? Some see three, others five, and some can count as many as seven. But some can see the shades between the colors and these are special people. The rainbow takes them to the uncharted expanse of the blue ocean and when they return, the light of the mystery they have seen sparkles in their eyes. They stay on the shore not for long and then go back over the horizon. Some of them never return…
People have legends about the sea. One of them says that the souls of sailors who do not return are transformed into sea birds. Soaring high in the sky, such a soul sees beyond the horizon what is inaccessible to those who live on land.
I have been a seaman for decades and have circumnavigated the globe on various types of ships, traveling from the sparkling waters of the tropics to the icy waters of Antarctica. I have had many adventures in my life and they continue.
And like many of you, I have hobbies, one of which is writing. In my youth, I wrote poetry, but now that I have become a man with experience of the world and knowledge of the people who live in it, I prefer to write in prose. I write in all categories of this genre: love stories and novels, adventures and essays, history and politics, journalism, and more. I don’t write fiction, leaving that category to those who know life from their parents or films. I write real-life stories that have happened to me and my friends. And I know that real life has many more colors than any Hollywood movie.
Books have been written about adventurers. I knew one such desperate daredevil, about his wanderings across seas and lands. It was as if he was playing a game with fate, and the more dangerous the game, the more exciting it became for him. And when I decided to write a story about his adventures, I had enough stories for a whole book. So I thought about which genre to choose. Judge for yourself: In a short story, for example, all the action revolves around one character or event. In a long story, called a novel, there’s a lot of room for fantasy, but I don’t write novels because they require a lot of characters and a lot of events. Nowadays, young people don’t read long stories; in fact, they disparagingly refer to such literature as ‘long reads’. Well, you have to take into account the trends of our time.
I like a short novel! A short adventure in which the characters of a few heroes meet, each with his intrigues, and life throws them all into a round dance, tearing off their masks and pulling up their skirts.
And then I thought I could write a collection of such short novels, with the main character appearing in each one. Even if he appeared under a different name, he would be recognizable by his passions and habits. I learned this from one of my favorite writers, O. Henry, in his collection of short stories ‘The Kings and the Cabbage’, which he called a ‘long novel’. Such a hero is also to be found in Remarque’s long novels. All his stories have their plots, but the main character is the same: he reveals himself by drinking calvados!
And I thought that in such a cocktail of life stories, it would be possible to hide behind the protagonist’s back and even give him adventures from his own life. Such a collection of short novels is much more interesting than a long story, where the ending is almost always predictable, or an impatient reader can find out by reading the last few pages. In a collection of short novels, each story has its plot and denouement, and the author may even invite a fictional character, called an ‘alter ego’, to co-write the story. This helper is particularly useful when the author is trying to find a way out of a particular situation in the story. He can then address his problem to the mysterious ‘alter ego’ to have it solved. This technique was perfectly mastered by everyone’s favorite writer, Ernest Hemingway.
After thinking about it, I realized with satisfaction that I had reached a compromise with myself. And now I know exactly what my work should be. In one of my books, almost all the stories that happen to my characters take place on the other side of the Bosphorus, and they are all more or less related to the sea, taking place on the islands and continents of the New World. That’s why I called this book “Beyond the Bosphorus”, where each short novel or adventure story has a different plot so that the book can be read by opening it on any page. There are stories of hidden historical facts, of sailors and pirates, of sunken treasure hunters, of love and betrayal. And I offer many of them here, on my website.
I have written six books and my main book is ‘History for Dummies’, which took me over 20 years to complete. My work is about the wars and revolutions of the 20th century. And the architects of those wars. The second book in the same category, ‘Hidden Traces of the Grey Wolf’, will reveal to many of you the truth about many distorted facts and events of the Second World War. This war is still called “The Unknown War”, thanks to the fabricators.
When I started thinking about the content of my site, I suddenly realized that I could present all my books on it! By offering my works in all categories of the “prose” genre, I will be able to satisfy even the most demanding reader.
I am bilingual in a few languages and have lived in several countries and political systems for decades of my life, so I know, can compare and describe the mentality and culture of people. I try to write more in English, but the political situation in the world suggests to me that Russian-speaking readers would benefit from discovering a source of information that no one else can offer them. Perhaps they will better understand the world in which they live.
Happy reading, friends! I look forward to your comments and remarks, they are very helpful to the author in his work.
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Excellent write-up