Alexandr Korol

to reason with myself to do something, like, say, publishing a book. Before, I’d even be embarrassed to sell a book for money, and people would scold me for it: “Alex, are you crazy?” And I’d say, “But why? Why should I? I’m just happy people are reading — let them read.” And they’d tell me, “But they won’t value it. If it costs nothing at all, no one will read it.” And I’d say, “Okay.” They really had to beat that into my head. But see, that’s a different matter — that’s about money. There I was taught not to be ashamed of money. That I can set any price I want and that money is just a filter. Money is just a tool, and that’s true. You sell a book for a thousand rubles — one kind of people buy it; for five thousand — another kind buys it. You make the book look beautiful — one group buys it; you make it plain — another group buys it. Just because of the cover. If you write that the book is unique — one group buys it, and I’d say they’re not the best people. Because if they fall for the “unique” tag, that means they’re not pure in heart or soul, since they need those advertising slogans, those calls to action. But if you just put out a modest book and write nothing about it, then a different kind of people will read it. A whole different level of people who are so strong in spirit and have such virtues that they don’t need all those marketing tricks and descriptions. If they know I’m the author and they’ve read my previous books, they’ll read this one too. They don’t need to satisfy their mind in advance by wondering if the book is interesting. They don’t need to read reviews to decide whether it’s worth reading. Their opinion and their choice don’t depend on illusions, you see? And the point is that there are people whose entire lives are built on illusion, their choices depend on it. And the aliens tell me to do the same, but I don’t want to. I want to be read only by people who live without illusion, and they don’t need to be persuaded — they’ll read it themselves if they want to. If Thom Yorke releases an album now, or UNKLE, or Massive Attack, do I need to read how the music was made, how unique it is, and how it will make my ears dance? No. I already know the artist, and I love their work. I’ll get the album just to have it. Maybe I’ll like it more, maybe less — who knows — but I don’t want to hear other people’s opinions or comments. I’ll even say more: if I see that Thom Yorke or Massive Attack writes that they’ve released the most unique album ever, better than all others, then I’ll immediately start to doubt it. If I see such a call, such a slogan, I’ll think it’s off. So yes, the aliens, or whoever they are, they want me to write about each book saying that this book is