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Alexander ZorichScience fiction and fantasy writer
Date of Birth: 21.03.1973
Country:  Ukraine |
Content:
Biography of Alexander Zorich
Alexander Zorich is a writer of science fiction and fantasy, born out of the alchemical fusion of male and female components, Nigredo and Albedo, who happened to be born in the same year and in the same Zodiac group. It was the year 1973, the group was Signs of Fire, and the city was Kharkiv. Until 1979, Nigredo and Albedo had no knowledge of each other, until one day in Peregony Square, one of the components shifted and they discovered that they lived in the same neighborhood, same house, same entrance, and attended the same school. Together, they played with cats, drew runes on each other's doors, and covered each other with different words. By the end of the 80s, they realized that they had a wider range of common interests. They wandered with the youth around the district and the surrounding forests, singing bad songs with their hoarse voices during those hungry years. Nigredo, as the dark and destructive element, learned to distill moonshine, while Albedo, as the good and constructive element, learned the Japanese language. And then school was over, but there was still no Zorich. The explosive reaction in Peregony Square occurred in 1991 when it became clear that Nigredo and Albedo had aligned their tastes: they both read the same books and even wrote mutually satisfying texts. It was at that moment that Rubedo happened: Alexander Zorich was born. In 1995, Alexander Zorich completed two university degrees simultaneously, and in 1999 and 2000, he defended two doctoral dissertations. The first was on the aberration of Zen Buddhism and European culture, and the second was on the philosophy of heresy. He now teaches the history of religion, philosophy, and cultural theory at Kharkiv National University.
Writing Career
Alexander Zorich published his first book, a collection of poetic and prose miniatures titled "Heraldica," in Kharkiv in 1996. Later, this collection was printed in "Mitin Journal" (No. 56, 1999). In 1997, his novel "The Sign of Destruction" was published by the Moscow publishing house "EXMO," followed by "Seed of the Wind" in the same year, and "Paths of the Reflected" and "Love and Dominate" in the following years.
In 1999, Alexander Zorich delved into science and started the X Legio project, a unique military-historical resource dedicated to pre-firearm era warfare technology (http://xlegio.enjoy.ru). At the end of 2000, the St. Petersburg publishing house "Severo-Zapad Press" released his technofuturistic novels "Season of Weapons" and "The Last Avatar." At the same time, the Moscow publishing house "Centrpoligraf" fell deeply in love with Zorich's prose, releasing the reissue of "Love and Dominate" and "You Have Won," as well as acquiring the rights to all the books he had written by that time, and securing the "right of first night" for what would be written in the future.
Therefore, in the first half of 2001, the following books were immediately published: the reissue of "Season of Weapons" (combining both volumes of "Season of Weapons" and "The Last Avatar"), as well as the continuation of the Balance Vault series with the novels "Battle Machine of Love" and "Bright Time of Night." After that, "Centrpoligraf" finally had a revelation and decided not to publish their beloved novelist in mediocre series but to launch a proper author series called "Worlds of Alexander Zorich." In August 2001, this series reissued the novels "The Sign of Destruction," "Seed of the Wind," and "Paths of the Starborn" (formerly known as "Paths of the Reflected"). In October, the two books of "Karl, Duke" were finally published: "Karl, Duke" and "First Sword of Burgundy." In November, both books topped the Ex Libris rating (so-called "Bath List").
Apart from novels, Alexander Zorich has also authored a number of short stories, scientific and journalistic works. He collaborates with the Kharkiv Center for Gender Studies, the journal "Gender Studies" (sometimes jokingly referred to as GENIS, following the analogy with SOCIS), other publications, and international scientific organizations.
