Alexey Kalugin is a Russian science fiction writer who began his creative career in 1996 with the publication of the novel Labyrinth. His life path to creativity was not thorny, but was rather long. As a result, we have the opportunity to read wonderful books in which amazing events develop and completely different worlds are revealed.
Children and teenagers. Early craving for reading
Alexey Kalugin was born in Moscow on June 11, 1963. He learned to read early and from that very moment absorbed those books that were available at home. Obviously, such a love of reading further defined his writer's beginning. What is remarkable, Alexey Kalugin selectively selected books. Reading was one of the most exciting activities, so it was necessary to approach it selectively.
According to the writer himself, the very first books to be remembered were Lermontov's Borodino, as well as Wells' Stories. When the relatives realized that it was impossible to change something in this child’s craving for reading, they gave him complete freedom in this matter. By the time he needed to go to school, the future writer had already mastered a number of volumes by Jack London, Arthur Doyle, Stefan Zweig, Alfons Daudet, Lope de Vega.
Perhaps the most impressive book was Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was a gift edition in large format and black binding. The letters in this book were blood red, and for children's perception it seemed that they were made of blood.
By the way, Alexey wrote his first story somewhere in six years. Of course, and his genre was appropriate - fantastic. According to the author himself, he does not even remember where he went, but he still knows the text. This story Alexei did not show anyone.
At one time, the boy went to a standard school and graduated from eight classes. After that, according to Alexei, his adult life began.
A long way to write your first serious book
Alexey Kalugin continued his studies at the medical school, which he graduated from. His specialty was a paramedic. The writer recalls the most interesting event that happened during three years of training. They became a sectional visit. After what he saw, Alexei somewhat rethought his life positions.
After receiving education, Kalugin repaid his homeland. He served in the Trans-Baikal Military District, in the construction battalion. Very close was the city of Ulan-Ude, which is considered the capital of Buddhism. The only familiarization with the ancient culture did not impress him at all.
In 1985, Alexei returned to Moscow and entered the Institute of Food Engineers, as he decided to graduate. He did not like his studies. In parallel, Alexey worked at the Institute of Biological and Medical Chemistry, and also wrote short stories.
Writing career
Many of Aleksey Kalugin’s first stories can be found in Do Not Make Your Enemy, published by Exmo Publishing House in 2000. However, at that time, texts that the future writer sent to magazines with a fantastic theme were not published. In the end, he stopped sending them.
The very first novel that Kalugin decided to take to the Armada Publishing House was his work Dark Reflections. The writer brought her to the contest, which was held for beginning authors. However, the novel was rejected for reasons that were incomprehensible to Kalugin. Obviously, the publisher had its own view on this.
However, he was still offered a job. The publishing house liked one of Alexey’s stories, which after processing turned into the novel “Labyrinth”. Subsequently, the author wrote a series of books of the same name ("Torn Time", "A World Without the Sun").
After two novels were written, Alexey Kalugin, whose books were more important, stopped his work in science. He refused the post of scientific researcher and did not defend a dissertation, which was already completely ready and approved. Armada Publishing House offered Alexei a long-term contract, and in 1997 his trilogy Reservation, Long Live the Reservation, and Forget the Reservation was released.
These are quite interesting novels that tell about what could happen to the world in the near future if we do not stop exploiting the Earth so mercilessly. Our descendants, in order to protect humanity from extinction as a result of a natural disaster, create a sphere of stability. A heavy-duty protective field is surrounded by a huge metropolis in which people live. But in the end, the same human problems begin there, which were once on the whole territory of our planet. All this almost led to a new disaster on Earth.
Work with the publishing house "Armada" lasted two years. In 1998, a crisis occurred in the country, which led to the writer rethinking his activities. He ceased to like the requirements that were put forward by the publishing house, so he left there.
In the same year, Kalugin began his collaboration with Eksmo. He began to write those texts that were of interest not only to the publisher, but also to himself. The advantage of cooperation was that the frames were less rigid, there was no need to adjust the text for them, and the editor was more important in what literary quality the work was written. The first book published by Eksmo Publishing House was The Substitute. He was the first in the trilogy. Then they wrote "The Mutiny of the Doomed" and "Shards of Reality". Let us now talk about the most remarkable works of Kalugin.
Series of novels "Labyrinth"
As it was written above, one of the first books that were published by a novice writer was the novel "Labyrinth". At that time, Kalugin had just begun cooperation with the Armada publishing house. The first part was released in 1996, the same year the second book of this series, "Torn Time," was released. The last part was released only in 2002 under the name "World without the Sun."
Alexey Kalugin "Labyrinth" wrote his own quite brightly. The plot is the following: people have long gone into space and on one of the planets discovered the Labyrinth, which is the fundamental principle and model of the Universe. The initial assumption of people that this is an artificial structure was not confirmed. The labyrinth is trying to destroy the researchers, and they decide to confront it.
The second part tells us that terrestrial civilization perished due to the invasion of the "mechanics". Those people who were in the Labyrinth survived, and fell into the past before the invasion began. They have to change the fate of the world.
In the last part, people again fight with the monstrous creatures of the ancient Labyrinth.
Book "Negotiator"
Another serious book that Alexey Kalugin wrote is Negotiator. It was written in 2015, and events take place in the distant future, on the planet Fortran-12. The plot is based on the formation of a diplomatic conflict, which appeared as a result of the shelling of one of the entertainment complexes. It brought together representatives of all galactic races, which led to the conflict. The main character is a doctor Alexey Buzin. He becomes a negotiator, and the fate of the Galaxy depends on his mission.
Book "House in the Swamp"
The author also wrote several books from the Stalker series. Alexey Kalugin “House in the Swamp” presented in 2007 is quite interesting and unusual. Here you will not find numerous shootings and evil creatures, but there is a pretty cute zombie Benito who is friends with the doctor.
At the center of history is the stalker Shtyr, who wants easy enrichment in the exclusion zone. But he does not want to bother searching for treasures or artifacts. He wants to rob and kill a doctor who treats stalkers for free. Of course, it doesn’t work out for him. But he cannot live further in the zone, because here everyone has their own path.
The book "Empty land"
Another Stalker book is the 2009 novel Deserted Lands. The plot tells the story of the stalker Jagger, who is chosen unscathed from any alterations. Alexey Kalugin "Empty land" wrote, thinking about the strength of the human spirit, that you can get out of absolutely any alterations. On his way the hero of the novel meets betrayal. This leads him to revenge on those who doomed him to such a life. But, going to his goal, he learns so much new that everything changes radically in him. Life is seen in a whole new light, and the misconduct of other people no longer seems serious.
What else did the reader remember Kalugin Aleksey?
The Beginning is the first book in the Quest 13 series, which is also part of the Disaster Season series. It was written in 2013. Other books of the author: "Web", "Golem", "Shaman", "Control".
This book tells about the expected disaster in 2012, which was postponed to 2015. To survive, humanity needs to understand why these events occur. For this, a number of events have been created.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be noted that Alexey Kalugin is a rather remarkable writer. Each of his books is written about what was important to him. Like any writer of the science fiction genre, in some of his works he draws the attention of readers to the possibility of developing our history, our life. However, it is written in such a style that almost every work that the writer Aleksey Kalugin creates becomes a bestseller.
Books, biography - all this is quite remarkable and deserves attention from admirers. That is why the writer has so many fans of his work, which continues today.