It is infinite.
Alive.
Beyond time.
Of course, since this is the final author’s farewell address, I could try to anticipate the questions you might want to ask me. I’ll say this — everything is fine, I just want to take a little break, that’s all. And then I will continue working on the fifth volume, the sixth, the seventh. Maybe one day I will be granted a well-earned retirement when I finish this novel, but for now, I don’t see its end.
As for where I am and so on — right now, I’m literally packed and ready to go, just so you understand. In the next two weeks, I’ll be heading somewhere, then somewhere else, and where exactly — I don’t know, just like last year. No one knows where I’ll be for New Year’s — maybe in Russia, maybe in the States. Maybe... well, I won’t say. It’s being decided right now. I just want to rest, reset, process everything, and then, with renewed energy, I’ll start working on the fifth and sixth volumes at the end of January. As for other questions you might have... I’m not on social media. I’m in the books. Read the books. And for some reason, people always like to ask about health — my health is always fine. My mood, as you can see, is nothing to complain about either. Turns out, I have four of them now — these moods. And then there’s the fifth Sun. Mood-wise, everything is fine. Working on the mood.
What advice can I give you? Only one thing, based precisely on “Alternative History”, where this idea is consistently present. In the third, fourth, and fifth volumes, I advise the reader to take their time and be an observer. Whatever happens, do not rush to make hasty conclusions or actions. The position of the observer is the best one. Let me give you an example. There is a movie, “47 Ronin”, if I’m not mistaken, with Keanu Reeves, where they show a samurai going through a trial. He enters a place and is told not to unsheathe his sword under any circumstances. Suddenly, he sees what appears to be all his fellow samurai entering the room, and then they are all killed before his eyes. Naturally, he wants to save them and instinctively reaches for his sword, but in the end, he controls himself and does not draw it. Eventually, it turns out to be an illusion, and he has passed the test. Over the course of 2024, I went through a huge number of such trials, which became the foundation