I’m Michael,
hello and welcome!

I was first introduced to science fiction by my father when I was four or five. As an incentive to go to bed without fuss, he’d read me stories, translating them from Polish. I don’t remember much, but one name stuck in my mind—The Voyage of the Space Beagle by van Vogt. The books were all translated from English to Polish and then once more, by my dad, into Russian. He didn’t know the language too well, and I suspect that in places his narrative may have deviated from the original. I didn’t mind in the least. I just enjoyed the adventures of Dr. Grossvenor—the name I remember well, even many decades later—master of Nexialism, who saved the crew of his ship time and time again.   

When I was old enough to go to school, my parents sent me to one with advanced English classes—I’m very grateful for this. I read my first book in English for fun and not because it was assigned, right after graduating from the 10th grade, the last grade in Soviet schools. It was a slim Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. I was blown away and tried to explain to my bewildered friends what was so amazing about a seagull learning to fly. If you haven’t read Jonathan Livingston, try it, and you may forever see seagulls in a different light.     

Later that same year, now a freshly minted university student, I read my next book in English. It was Beyond this Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein. I finished it in a day. The third one completely derailed my university attendance. It was The Lord of the Rings. I would dutifully come to the lecture halls, get coffee, and then just sit somewhere out of the way, reading. Then I’d go home to read some more. I just couldn’t put the book down. It took ten days only because I had a class with mandatory attendance—miss it, and you risk cancelled enrollment. And if that happened, you’d lose your exemption from the mandatory draft. Even Tolkien wasn’t worth going to the army as a private.  

Skipping ahead, I graduated with my master’s in physics and was working on my PhD in biophysics while hunting for English-language books to read. Those were hard to come by, and I faced cut-throat competition from fellow fanatics. One of them, during a brief truce, asked me if I’d be interested in a translation gig. In the years that followed, I was a scientist bt day and a translator by night. Working with several publishing houses, I had the chance to translate into Russian the works of C. S. Lewis, Anne McCaffrey, Edmund Cooper, Christopher Rowley, Kevin Anderson, and others. I must admit that back then, translation paid much better than biophysics.    

After moving with my family to the United States, I continued working in science, first in academia, and then in my own biotech company. I wrote a dystopian novel about Russia, which I didn’t publish. It’s out of date now, as over the years, some of the things I wrote about moved from speculative fiction into harsh reality. I continued writing as time allowed, and played with several different ideas, but nothing truly engaged, until the Lord Dragon.  

It came from a thought about what story I myself would like to see—as a novel, manga, or even an anime. I cannot draw, so at first, a light novel seemed like a good choice. When that format proved uncomfortable, I realized it would have to be a regular novel instead. In fact, a series of novels, given all the ideas buzzing in my head. After that, the narrative took over, growing and branching as it pleased, with me hurrying to put it all down before the tale would run away, leaving me in the dust. In the end, some characters came out as expected, while others, completely ignoring my advice, acted nothing like I had planned. What can I say? It was their life, and as their author, I can only support whatever decisions they’d made.  

Together, we hope you enjoy reading our story as much as we enjoyed living it. I  cannot wait to see what happens next. I’m ready to be surprised, and I hope you’ll be too!    

Thank you for visiting. Whether you are new to Kalador or returning, I hope you’ll find something here that stays with you long after you turn the last page. Be sure to check out the world of Kalador and learn a bit about the countries surrounding it and those who rule them.