Fyodor Berezin

Fyodor Berezin
Born	February 7, 1960 Donetsk, USSR
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	Russian
Genre	Science fiction
Military career
Allegiance	Soviet Union  Donetsk People's Republic
Service/branch	Soviet Army Donbass People's Militia
Years of service	1981-1991 (Soviet Army), 2014-
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	Donbass War
Website
strannik.org.ua

Fyodor Dmitrievich Berezin (Russian: Фёдор Дмитриевич Березин, born February 7, 1960) is a Russian science fiction writer. In the War in Donbass he served as the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) for a period in 2014.^[1][2] In November 2014, he led an armed seizure of the Donetsk branch of the Writer's Union of Ukraine, declaring the establishment of a new union of writers of the DPR.^[3]

Biography

Fyodor Berezin was born in Donetsk.^[4] He lived there until 1977 when he joined the Engels anti-aircraft training school. He graduated in 1981 and served as an AA officer in Kazakhstan, then in the Far East.

In 1991, Berezin left the military at the rank of captain and currently lives in his hometown of Donetsk. He tried a multitude of various career choices: entrepreneur, mine construction, and others. Married, has a boy and a girl.

Currently, Berezin is a professional writer (beginning with 1998), a founder and chairman of "Strannik" (English: Wanderer), Donetsk club of science fiction fans.

He dreamed of writing science fiction novels since he was a young boy but only began to do this seriously at the age of 38. Berezin's novels work within the boundaries of hard science fiction and is labelled by some critics as a "turborealist". Calls his style of writing "science fictional/philosophical technothriller". Berezin's first published novel is the science fiction novel Ash (Russian: Пепел) in 2001. He recognize the influence of H. G. Wells, Kurt Vonnegut, Stanislaw Lem or Arkady and Boris Strugatsky in his work.^[5]

Awards

• 1st place - Golden Caduceus - International Science Fiction Festival "the Golden Bridge" in Kharkiv; nominated for the "Best Debut" award for the novel Ash (2001).
• 2nd place - Silver Caduceus - nominated for the "Series and Novels with Sequels" award for the novels Incoming Cataclysm and Parallel Cataclysm (2002).
• 3rd place - Bronze Caduceus - nominated for the "Series and Novels with Sequels" award for the novels War 2030: Red Dawn and War 2030: Metropolis on Fire (2005).
• 3rd place - Bronze Caduceus - nominated for the "Series and Novels with Sequels" award for the novel War 2030: Attack on the Rocky Mountains.

Novels

• Separate works:
  • Ash - War is the favorite hobby of generals; it is also very useful to politicians, especially when it does not take place on one's own territory but somewhere far away... say, in another star system. Those who start wars usually don't take part in them - there are soldiers for that. The soldiers themselves rarely think about the true goal of the war. This time, however, a bomber pilot decides to think about it... and to teach all of humanity a lesson.
  • The Lunar Option (Russian: Лунный вариант) - When the first Soviet lunokhod discovers a mysterious artifact on the Moon, this begins a race to between the two world superpowers to control it. At the time when the Cold War is taking place on Earth, dramatic battles take place in space, of which nobody knows. Many famous cosmonauts and astronauts take part in them, including those who are officially already dead.
• Series:
  • The Black Ship (Russian: Чёрный корабль)
    • The Huge Black Ship (Russian: Огромный чёрный корабль) - This planet is doomed. It stood on the bring of total war and easily entered it. Armored armadas come together on land and at sea, and ominous thermonuclear mushrooms begin to bloom above the peaceful cities. Then becomes the time for soldiers. Only those who come out of the hell that is battle know the true value of human life. Only true soldiers can save the little that is left in this crippled world.
    • The Crew of the Black Ship (Russian: Экипаж чёрного корабля) - "Life after a thermonuclear war is impossible." The inhabitants of planet Gaeia decide to prove that statement false. The bloody conflict between the Brashis and the Ararbacs leads to a global nuclear war, but not even the millions of casualties nor the nuclear winter are not enough to get the generals to stop the fighting. The million-ton megatanks continue to crush earth under their treads, the seas continue to be ruled by superbattleships, and the skies continue to light up with mushroom clouds. The war continues.
    • The Creator of the Black Ship (Russian: Создатель чёрного корабля)
  • Red Stars (Russian: Красные звёзды)
    • Incoming Cataclysm (Russian: Встречный катаклизм) - This happened in the Southwestern Pacific. Out of nowhere, an unidentified aircraft carrier battlegroup cripples the undefeated American fleet, erases from the face of the Earth an American military base, and... disappears in a white mist. Who dares to challenge the sole world superpower? The first to discover the answer to this question was pilot Richard Dane, who was shot down by the aggressive attackers. The wings of their aircraft bore the symbols of a nation that no longer exists. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
    • Parallel Cataclysm (Russian: Параллельный катаклизм) - The chance encounter between the US Navy and the beings from a parallel world had quite impressive consequences, including the loss of the newest aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and about a dozen smaller ships. The role of these creatures was played not by little green men but by a normal Earth battlegroup, although bearing the hammer-and-sickle flag of a long-gone country - USSR. The attackers disappeared just as mysteriously as they appeared, leaving the American and Russian intelligence agencies with a new task - finding a way to cross into the strange parallel reality. The first person to do this is agent Roman Panin of the FSB. He finds himself in a world where the top of the Eiffel Tower features a red flag, world superpowers exchange thermonuclear fire without a second thought, and June 22, 1941, was an uneventful Summer weekend...
  • War 2030 (Russian: Война 2030)
    • Red Dawn (Russian: Красный рассвет) - Year 30 of the new millennium, but the old jokers are still in play. The superarmadas of the US. Flying and floating arsenals. Mile-long aircraft carriers. They wish to cut up the entire world, but are currently on their way to the unimportant Africa. Unimportant? It appears that a welcome is being prepared for them. This is being done by the people from a country to the far North named Russia, who does not appears to have anything to do with Africa. But these people were preparing for a long time...
    • Metropolis on Fire (Russian: Пожар метрополии) - The battle is at its fiercest. A massive strike cripples the American superarmada. The indestructible aircraft carriers are at the bottom of the sea. It's not easy to cut up the world, when one is faced with soldiers in kevlar armor and Russian hackers. But they are people, and people can be captured. Then comes the standard package: torture, interrogation with the truth serum, promises of mountains of gold and sweet life in the prospering America, all one has to do is betray the far Russia. However, this is when chance strikes again - a rebellion being in the overfed USA, as blacks fight whites, Hispanics fight whites, and whites fight both of the above. In general, US is going to hell, but the Russian soldiers still fight...
    • Attack on the Rocky Mountains (Russian: Атака Скалистых гор) - The peripheral hegemony has collapsed. It's time to go for the "heart" - the command centers of the most powerful army in the world. Perhaps there lies the "death of Koschei". But one must hurry, for, if the tripped colossus rises again, everyone will be sorry. All that is required are a few "precise injections" to put the leviathan in a permanent catalepsy. Who is the most suited and trained for this task? Those who went through hell and back, of course - Russian commandos. Again their shoulders carry the heavy powered armor, their hands hold plasma rifles, and their fingers hover over virtual tablets. Before them awaits a real enemy, and it must be faced up-close-and-personal in a good-old-fashioned Russian melée.

External links

• Interview in 2005 (Russian)
• Letter from Fyodor Berezin to Maxim Kalashnikov (Russian)
• The Russian Tom Clancy Is on the Front Lines for Real

References

1. "Стрелков назначил писателя-фантаста Березина своим заместителем journal=Взгляд" (in Russian). June 4, 2014.
2. Dmitry Steshin (June 4, 2014). Замкомандующего обороны ДНР: "У нас тут Испания перед Второй мировой". Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian).
3. "Писатель-террорист Березин "отжал" здание Союза писателей в Донецке". 11 November 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
4. Fyodor Berezin at the Samizdat magazine
5. Фантастика спасёт мир от катастрофы, 2003 FantLab (Donetsk News), 13 February 2003 (Russian)