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NEWS: SITE ARCHIVED

 17 February, 2023

 Dear readers,


Thank you for sticking with me all these years and visiting the site. I want to especially reach out to those of you who were the most invested: you know who you are.

It is with somewhat of a heavy heart but also joyous relief that I have finally decided to archive my beloved literary project.

The decision has been taken on the basis of the little time I have dedicated to it throughout its inception, as it coincided with an era of highly academic and professional obligations as a translator and interpreter. I would like to start over in ways that suit my current interests and skills better than this site.

Alexander Sylazhov has its genesis in 2013 as an established trademark and publishing service. This website was created mostly with the purpose in mind of promoting the publishing brand and my self-published books, the only one being SOVREV: The Faith Endeavor. Only revised versions of SOVREV were ever uploaded that improved upon the original story, a "deluxe" version if you will, integrating all three parts of the original planned trilogy plus the artwork, such as maps and certain graphics. I then released a shortened version, half its original length.

SOVREV: The Faith Endeavor was the culmination of my boyhood/teenage/young adult experiences reimagined as a love story-psychological thriller, a coming-of-age story about unrequited love, ideology, identity, geopolitics and human nature. It took place in the lavish Loynne's Island, a capitalist "paradise" of seemingly unreal perfection, but not to protagonist Sonny Zharostin, a communist youth from an unknown ex-communist country sent there on a special mission, who ends up falling in love irremediably with a girl from the US. It is currently being re-written, as the plot and prose style evolved and matured, and I believe I can finally give it its final form soon. The world had changed a lot since the time when I first conceived SOVREV, back in 2008, and the 2013 release really shows this, which is why it had to be updated.

The world of SOVREV as a franchise had quite a bit of lore to it. Its sequel, M. O. R. D. E. N., set in the same universe and continuity, is currently in the works. M. O. R. D. E. N. aims to expand greatly upon themes briefly touched upon in SOVREV, such as power, political violence, mental illness and fanaticism. The core theme of the book can be summed up in a quote misattributed to Abraham Lincoln, but still effective nonetheless: "Nearly all men can withstand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

The Red Flamingo, a sort of spin-off title set in the same universe, is mostly finished. The Red Flamingo never saw release, but rough drafts of it were sent to a literary contest. It is still not yet finished to the degree I'd like, but it's getting there. The Red Flamingo is the culmination of my experimentation with a genre I like to refer to as "Luxury Noir;" neo-noir thrillers of Lynchean, dream-like sequences, with bizarre, inexplicable events taking place in extreme luxury settings. Themes regarding the corrupting power of capitalism are also paramount in both aesthetic style and narrative. I wanted The Red Flamingo to be the culmination of this experimental literary genre, showcasing the mystery of the most opulent areas of Loynne's Island, following an amnesiac protagonist being stalked by his mysterious doppelgänger.

Other planned works included a collection of essays and short stories, most of which were used for literary contests instead of being published here. I had more books and articles planned throughout all these years; unfortunately, my studies and my professional life made releasing them impossible.

I tried to integrate my academic content into the website occassionally, but ultimately opted to take most of it out; I really did not want my real-life academic work to be displayed here as a portfolio, as it was not the original intention of the website. Thusly, all that academic content has been promptly removed, and will be available elsewhere eventually.

My most "prolific works," so to speak remain the articles published on Mr. Wolfe's META GEAR (metagearsolid.org), a website that is still up, but no longer seems to be active. Its creator, Terry Wolfe, has moved on to pursue other interests and projects, and I haven't heard from him since despite reaching out. But if Terry ever sees this, I'd like to thank him for his support, his promotion of my writings, and his belief in me. His platform to make me feel free to express opinions was indeed invaluable to me, and it's even more valuable considering the vastly different beliefs and opinions we shared.

The articles published on metagearsolid.org comprise: "Big Boss as Che Guevara," "Kojima and the USSR" and "The Ideology of Torture." I wrote those articles before attending university, and it shows. I probably could come up with better content now, better researched and with more professional format. But Terry liked it then and I guess they're still somewhat enjoyable, despite my own criticisms of them. As for the opinions expressed in them, I have changed some, retained others.

Without tooting my own horn too much, I am proud particularly of the Che Guevara article, as it created some discussion online and I still see it being passed around in forums occassionally when people analyze the Latin American political themes in Metal Gear. It is both praised or hated, and that is exactly what it was meant to do, to cause a stir and make people think and question more.

Some special thanks also to Ravi Singh of the The Snakes Soup, who wrote two headlines about my articles, "Big Boss as Che Guevara" and "The Ideology of Torture". We exchanged some emails and he was very engaging and courteous. I am also very grateful to Chris Hatala, with whom I also exchanged very fun and interesting emails, and who wrote about me in his own article, "6 Metal Gear Solid Reads That Will Change How You See the World". As far as I know regarding the impact of my articles, the Sylazhov name has also made the rounds on TV Tropes, Reddit  (here and here) and elsewhere on Twitter and gaming forums. I'm thankful for the impact they had and that they were sufficient to generate discussion online, which is all I ever wanted.

Another "major" event in this website which deserves special mention is the references made to my article "The Spanish Flag in Street Fighter II: Vexillological and Sociocultural Analysis" in a publication by Vandal, titled "Spain in Videogames: Homages and Stereotypes". I contacted the author of this article, if I remember correctly, to praise his piece but also remind him that Alexander Sylazhov is an established publishing trademark with copyright and that the least he could do was reference me properly, not just with a hyperlink. The staff at Vandal apparently didn't take it in stride, since they opted to eliminate all references to my own article in their piece and completely misunderstood the point I was trying to make about referencing sources and authors more respectfully. They issued a non-apology later and promptly removed the references. I reached out to them again to say I never requested for that in the first place and that they could put it back on if they wished, to no avail.

Another article which a great number of people seem to request reading is my piece on Call of Duty: Ghosts"The Federation Explained". For some reason, people kept requesting access to read this one, although anyone with the link can have access to it.

I invite you to follow me and my new on my new platforms, listed below:

1-My new website (ssantusky.com)

2-My social media (YouTubeTwitter)

Lastly, I would like to thank anyone who's ever enjoyed this small literary and creative space online, as well as to express my joy at having left some imprint of my writing drive online in others. That is all I set out to do with this website in the first place, and, no matter how small the contribution, I will always be grateful for everything this website meant to me all these years. I started this project approximately ten years ago, in August, and it is a touch nostalgic to revisit it and publish once again, even if it's just for the sad mission to archive it. Please feel free to revisit it at any time, like I am sure to do occassionally, if anything, for the memories.

To better illustrate my decision to bid this project of mine farewell, I'd like to leave you all with a quote from SOVREV, my favorite quote from the entire book, which serves also as an omen to us all in the turbulent times yet to come:


“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.”


-Isaac Asimov