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Truth crawling back to her well 1890s vs now, Jean-Léon Gérôme's paintings of Truth coming out of her well, the naked truth in Democritus's well, the Dreyfus Affair, Impressionism, and why Truth might be crawling back down in the post-truth age

Utter Nonsense In Outer Space

Utter Nonsense In Outer Space Space explorers make stunning discovery of colossal cosmic frog — what happens next is chilling

Twisted Lullaby I-V palimpsest, cosmogony, other words (quite a few)

Of Love, Leisure, and Reality checks

Of Love, Leisure, and Reality checks a story

Alētheiosis Alētheiosis: a prose-poem in five movements — here to traumatise a generation of children

Quantum Crush What are the odds to find someone who gets it? A scientific approach.

Applied asymptotology

Applied asymptotology Tulubaikaporia, Episode One: a drunken reunion that may or may not go as intended, and the village that's about to vanish

Dream

Dream a short about the life of a sniper having recurring dreams of assassinating a dictator.

How to Be "Good" On the cost of passivity and justification of evil: lessons from history, literature, and life.

PfU I: Posts from Underground Posts from Underground: Part I, chapter I

Futzbuckers Forthcoming

Futzbuckers Forthcoming "My son, the day you were born, the very mountains whispered the name, Felix."

letters & dreams

letters & dreams Tulubaikaporia, Episode 5

James Joyce and the cinema of the future Translation of Sergei Eisenstein's collected writing on James Joyce (Part II, probably final)

Editorial Committee

Editorial Committee A bureaucratic preface: the Editorial Committee explains, with immaculate propriety, exactly why these scenes had to be excised from the utopian novel.

Vanka

Vanka Anton Chekhov's "Van'ka" (1886), translated into English. The story the schoolteacher praises in Episode 5 of Tulubaikaporia.

syllogismatics, briefly

syllogismatics, briefly Tulubaikaporia, Episode 6

What Dostoevsky and Turgenev promised each other Dostoevsky and Turgenev's rivalry, their debt, and the promise they made each other — a literary correspondence, 1864–1865

The only writing advice you need, Anton Chekhov edition rules for aspiring authors

The Debut Project

The Debut Project a novella

Reasoning With The Algorithm

Reasoning With The Algorithm "What good is a ginormous brain if it can’t even count?"

The Blue Pill Of Atlantis

The Blue Pill Of Atlantis A nostalgic merman's tale of a fading Atlantis, where the past and present collide in a sea of forgotten wisdom.

Some Theories of Awakening

Some Theories of Awakening as well as time, adulthood, resistance, and cosmic implications

Ванька

Ванька Антон Чехов, "Ванька" (1886) на русском. Anton Chekhov's "Van'ka" (1886) in the original Russian.

Where is that City N?

Where is that City N? City N in Russian literature — Gogol, Chekhov, and the unnamed provincial town that is everywhere and nowhere

Penumbra

Penumbra Dragging a suitcase through a frozen city where the clocks read 88:88, the dreamer rides a bus and turns over, again and again, the thing that was done.

Art as Technique an essay, a translation, and a personal manifesto of sorts

The Phenomenon of 'The Room'

The Phenomenon of 'The Room' A proper way of avoiding the middle

On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters a translation of Yevgeny Zamyatin's essay.

psychophysiological responses to bus time dilation

psychophysiological responses to bus time dilation Tulubaikaporia, Episode 7

The Debut Project: Chapter the first

The Debut Project: Chapter the first in which everyone has a lousy morning

The Mysterious Trip of Mark Markethrudder

The Mysterious Trip of Mark Markethrudder a short story about a little man fighting a universal entity

Sergei Eisenstein's memories of James Joyce Eisenstein on Joyce: their 1929 Paris meeting, the Ulysses film that never was, and what cinema owes to literature — translated from Russian (Part I)

The Art, The Tragedy, The Art of Tragedy, The Tragedy of Art Author suffers an attack of pure belletristics in real time

It's All Just An Old Videogame

It's All Just An Old Videogame “Your nostos cannot be done, for there’s no sea, no ship, your Ithaca has sunk, and you’re not even Ulysses.”

Nevédomosti №1

Nevédomosti №1 Deleted scenes, essays, updates, and plans, or a lack thereof

The Debut Project: Chapter the second

The Debut Project: Chapter the second in which we see the characters in City N and get some necessary exposition

The Void Between Us It's only safe to talk about the weather

An exercise in literary ventriloquism between Chekhov and Tolstoy Translation of memoirs, letters, diary entries: 99% organic, 1% apocryphal

Fluffislav the Fearsome

Fluffislav the Fearsome In a country where the Tsar has outlawed cats, a girl smuggles a forbidden black kitten home from a ruined factory — to her mother's horror.

When Hell freezes over and Tolstoy learns to skate a literary investigation

Schism

Schism Alone in a locked flat, a dreamer's thoughts take on faces and debate violence, pacifism and what's left of humanity — until even the thoughts are raided.

Embrasure

Embrasure The narrator lives under the watchful telly-head of TVR, who surveils, takes notes, and calmly teaches the finer points of dismembering a chicken.

Reviews

Reviews a short story about two misunderstood filmmakers

Traits of cultured people, by Anton Chekhov

Traits of cultured people, by Anton Chekhov “Chekhov's eight traits of cultured people — his 1886 letter to brother Nikolai, translated from Russian”

Was or Wasn't, Would've or Wouldn't've Been the numb conspiracy of the remembered (invented)

Contrast and Affinity in Visual Storytelling

Contrast and Affinity in Visual Storytelling Explore the cinematic alchemy of contrast and affinity with Ilia Bagaev's insightful dive into visual storytelling. Uncover the secrets behind iconic films and learn how masterful use of visual elemen

Life And Poetry Of James Clifford a story behind the legend

Welcome To The Wonderland

Welcome To The Wonderland a flash fiction fairground scene

Inside Felix Futzbucker: an Interview

Inside Felix Futzbucker: an Interview Exclusive: Tony Zentelis interviews Felix Futzbucker

Phantomic Rabbits

Phantomic Rabbits an audio story about one mysterious novelist giving his first podcast interview, read and played by Vladibear and Craig Burgess

Deleted Scenes from the Bestselling Utopian Novel "Deleted Scenes" is a surreal mosaic that transports readers into the heart of a dystopian world that is terrifyingly close to our own.

Stop Faecism?! Everybody's banned from eating shit and why we should care

Too Many Minus One

Too Many Minus One she hid so well that the only way to find her was to look everywhere at once

A Conversation Between A Drunken Man And A Sober Chort, by Chekhov

A Conversation Between A Drunken Man And A Sober Chort, by Chekhov another Chekhov translation

Starlings

Starlings Birds and flaunery

Beelzebufo, The Annihilator Of Dinosaurs

Beelzebufo, The Annihilator Of Dinosaurs When art meets prehistory: two filmmakers, one dinosaur, endless possibilities.

Chekhov's Romantic Escapades "Chekhov or Checking out?"

Nevédomosti №6 Substack to print: "paper is still a status symbol"

Brainlephant

Brainlephant a story about a guy obsessed with elephants and fortune cookies

When Nietzsche met Turgenev Literary, historical, and philosophical investigation.

PfU III: It’s So Over (The Wall) Posts from Underground: Part I, Chapter III

Rules For Aspiring Authors by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Rules For Aspiring Authors by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov The only writing advice you need.

Huxley Bupkins's Execution

Huxley Bupkins's Execution How to grow your social worth (or die trying)

Look At The Horizon

Look At The Horizon An encounter at the beach where the search for inspiration takes an unexpected turn.

Soon

Soon Eight-year-old Myra and her mother wait out a raid behind blacked-out windows, learning to cut onions — the only thing you're allowed to cry over.

Two Newspapermen, by Chekhov

Two Newspapermen, by Chekhov A translation of Anton Chekhov’s short story Two Newspapermen (1885)

literary essays, time, happiness & unhappiness

literary essays, time, happiness & unhappiness Tulubaikaporia, Episode 8

Luft

Luft The Tsar addresses Novo Tsarstvo, unveiling a weapon called 'The Peace Bringer' — a masterclass in the doublespeak that turns war into peacekeeping.

On generative art, authorship, personal assistants, and beauty (amongst other things) not an essay but a courtroom drama

PfU IX–XI: Show Your Arsehole at the Singularity

PfU IX–XI: Show Your Arsehole at the Singularity dostoevsky's notes from underground in contemporary english: on road-building, the singularity, and why the narrator posts on substack

Cynic

Cynic My translation of a short story by Anton Chekhov

Literature is pure metaphysics on books, reading, writing, and phenomenology of those (among other things or a lack thereof)

Lingus Venus

Lingus Venus Tulubaikaporia, Episode 2

Dragons in the Dungeons of Mind First we slay the dragon, then we heal the scars

Dostoevsking literary sports and misery porn

A Clockwork Human

A Clockwork Human a short story about one curious scientific experiment

The Void Travellers

The Void Travellers Alien philosophy over a couple of pints

Крыжовник

Крыжовник Антон Чехов, "Крыжовник" (1898) на русском. Anton Chekhov's "Gooseberries" (1898) in the original Russian.

Monsters

Monsters In a blanket-fort during the shelling, a small girl and her toy dinosaur wait out the dark while her father is away fighting the pig-faced monsters.

Deleted Scenes from the Bestselling Utopian Novel

Deleted Scenes from the Bestselling Utopian Novel My new book is now available in bookshops!

all the fuckery & beyond

all the fuckery & beyond Tulubaikaporia, Episode 3

Everyone’s eating shit now and it’s AI’s fault Nunc Est Cacandum

PfU II: How I wanted to become a bug Posts from Underground: Part I, Chapter II

The Testimony Of Sixth The Second

The Testimony Of Sixth The Second a short story about AI, Art and Beauty

The Debut Project: Chapter the last

The Debut Project: Chapter the last in which everyone has a lousy morning again

PfU IV-V: Performative moaning / Paingasm / Shitposting Posts from Underground: Part I, Chapters IV-V

Phobokenosis on stupour, fear and fearlessness, and collective rituals

How to enact generational betrayal Fathers and Sons, obscure translations, and primordial soup

Twisted Lullaby VI-VII jellyfish juice, bulletproof bubbles, other words

Traits of Cultured People, by Chekhov

Traits of Cultured People, by Chekhov “Your talent puts you in a special position: if you were a toad or a tarantula, even then you would be respected, as everything is forgiven to a talent.“

The Trumpet of the Martians

The Trumpet of the Martians The Trumpet of the Martians - A Relic from the Russian Avant-Garde

Rodin's Hands Through Rilke's Eyes Rilke on Rodin's hands — a translation of Rilke's poetic observations on Rodin's sculpture, with philosophical commentary

Dostoevsky on AI (probably) literature, time, masturbation, "Crime and Punishment"

The Debut Project: Chapter the third

The Debut Project: Chapter the third in which the conflict intensifies and measures grow desperate

Before The Big Bang

Before The Big Bang a story

PfU VI–VII: The Based and Meaningful Posts from Underground: Part I, Chapters VI-VII

Prophecy: Internet of The Future the spiritual sun of the world

Global Death Orgy draws near It is, in fact, imminent, and there's only one way to avoid it. We need an ancient spell, friends.

Hunters

Hunters a short story where two men sit, talk and drink vodka in an abandoned tavern

Why I don't go to Russia On writing, dissidence, and hypothetical real crimes and punishments

Drama, by Chekhov

Drama, by Chekhov Another Chekhov translation

Phantomic Rabbits a story about one mysterious novelist giving his first podcast interview

The Art of Chekhovian Eurotrip selected Anton Chekhov's letters from Europe, 1891

Word salad, with nettle leaves and rakes applied belletristics: a little on grasstouching, sober philosophising, and other matters

DaaS

DaaS When immortality loses its luster.

Vladimir Sorokin's AI Exhibition in London Field reporting: A few words on Vladimir Sorokin, his cult book "Day of the Oprichnik", and his new AI-assisted art project.

Gooseberries

Gooseberries Anton Chekhov's "Gooseberries" (Крыжовник, 1898), translated into English. The middle story of Chekhov's Little Trilogy.

The Eternal Midwit Teffi's 1911 essay that invented the midwit meme a century early — translated from Russian, with commentary

Training Memory

Training Memory On a troop train pulling away from his village, Gwyg sits beside his conscript father, aching with a nostalgia he's never felt, and asks which front.

Tulubaikaporia’s First Ever Book Club an epistolary play about a book club scam, counter-trolled by a fictional assistant, three intermediary banks, and a due diligence form

Microcosmos & microchaos

Microcosmos & microchaos Tulubaikaporia, Episode 4: between the village and the city

Eisenstein about Joyce

Eisenstein about Joyce a translation of a fragment from Sergei Eisenstein’s memoirs written about his encounters with James Joyce

Words Unspoken

Words Unspoken a bar scene

It's Beginning to Thaw

It's Beginning to Thaw A parable: gaunt pilgrims cross an endless frozen night toward Mother, a great warm statue, bound by a codex — no fire, no sound, no thought.

Matryoshka Theory

Matryoshka Theory Let's help Felix unravel the universe's mysteries hidden within the wooden bellies of matryoshkas!

"Deleted Scenes" Publisher Weekly review

"Deleted Scenes" Publisher Weekly review Clever, outraged novel of storytelling in a totalitarian state.

From An Idealist's Memoir, by Chekhov

From An Idealist's Memoir, by Chekhov A translation of Anton Chekhov’s short story ‘Из Воспоминаний Идеалиста’

PfU VIII: Optimising for vibes Posts from Underground: Part I, Chapters VIII

A Brief History of Russian Culture in states hardly compatible with the creative process

How Khorya and Borya Trafficked a Chort

How Khorya and Borya Trafficked a Chort a picaresque tale about trafficking a chort

Lacuna

Lacuna Behind the spyhole, a sleepless dreamer watches balaclava-clad police haul a neighbour onto the stairwell and beat him — for the wrong flat number.

The Unremitting Monedey monday at work, virtual gems, real dilemmas

Another Stitch On The Wall

Another Stitch On The Wall How I went vegan for one evening in Amsterdam

First Aid, by Chekhov

First Aid, by Chekhov The project announcement and a new Chekhov translation.

Creatures of Habit

Creatures of Habit Whiskers, wagging tails, and the weight of routine.

Transcendental Memes

Transcendental Memes “I am so fuckin’ transcended in my cognition as if I have lived for a hundred trillion of billions of fuckin’ years on trillions of trillions of fucking planets, like this Earth…”

On the Evasive Effectiveness of the Literary Novel a rant, completely unsolicited

The Doomsday Button If you press it — that's it, curtains, kaput, complete сorps de ballet, fiasco and tragedy

Just A Joke, by Chekhov

Just A Joke, by Chekhov another Chekhov translation

Adaptations of Lurid Dreams "A nightmare should be told aloud so that it doesn't come true"

Psychology of Creativity

Psychology of Creativity my translation of Zamyatin's lectures "How to Write Stories": Part I (not sure there're gonna be more parts, but let's be optimistic, shall we?)