Indie Author Interview | Yaroslav Barsukov
About the Author
After leaving his ball and chain at the workplace, Yaroslav Barsukov goes on to write stories that deal with things he himself, thankfully, doesn’t have to deal with. He’s a software engineer and a connoisseur of strong alcoholic beverages—but also, surprisingly, a member of SFWA and Codex (how did that happen?). At some point in his life, he’s left one former empire only to settle in another.
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Describe yourself in six words or fewer.
A machine for dreams and regrets!
Tell me about your book.
Tower of Mud and Straw has got some unique worldbuilding and characters—the novella is very eclectic in terms of culture and time periods, blending standard medieval elements with industrialization and late 19th century, and incorporating Russian and Austro-Hungarian influences. Also, when you drop a thousand foot-tall anti-airship tower into the middle of a fantasy book, all bets are off as to what will happen. Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio Forel in Game of Thrones), who’d recorded the audio version, said the novella would “surprise the readers”—I happen to totally agree.
What else? Three out of five principal characters are women, one of them the tower’s chief engineer. There’s a political émigré in the mix. Give it a try, it’s really something different.
What makes you and your books unique? Shine for me, you diamond.
Lots of introspection, lots of internal monologue, and a hard focus on human relationships—human condition fascinates me. I hope my prose accomplishes what science fiction and fantasy are there for, what Bradbury was so good at—taking real-world issues and putting them under the speculative element’s magnifying glass.
What are you working on now/any future projects you want to talk about?
I’ve got an outline for Tower’s sequel sitting on my lap, but we’ll have to see how this first one performs (sales-wise).
In parallel, I’m outlining a novel for which I’ve figured out the plot and the character arcs, but not the setting: it will either be Ancient Mesopotamia or early Imperial Russia. Quite a gymnastic split, isn’t it?
Let’s celebrate. What’s one of the best things that’s happened to you as an author? Don’t be shy.
When you accepted my book for review 
