Welcome to my digital corner of the internet.  In this first blog post, I’m going to tell you a bit about myself and what my goals are.  It may start off as a bit of a retread from the short bit in the “About” section, but we’ll go deeper.

My name is Max Tarasov.  I’m a writer who works mostly within the realm of science fiction and fantasy.  Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a passion for telling stories.  In the third grade, I had a voracious appetite for all things astronomy-related.  My obsession was so great, my teacher called me “Carl Sagan Junior.”  I would blab about how neat it would be to go to space, and she encouraged me to write down my ideas.  They turned to stories, and she offered to read them.  She always told me how great they were, and ultimately, I think I probably owe my commitment to writing to her.

I wrote all the way through high school, but if we’re being truthful, it was all garbage.  Not that you’d expect much else from a 14 year old, but these formative years really locked down what my strongest ideas and concepts were.  I went through a break that lasted many years where I didn’t do much writing at all, and then, in 2008, I planned to sit down with a novel.  As a writing exercise, I came up with a short story about a young man and a faerie princess.  That idea ultimately became a novella of its own, and my zeal for writing was reborn.

My wife, whom I began dating in 2005, has always been a great encouragement for me.  She has been there to help me hammer out plans and ideas, and she tells me when something I’ve come up with is just plain dumb.  She’s been a great muse for me, and she has done well to push me.  She’s really help me set my goals.

And to that end, one of my personal goals is a diversification of my own rosters.  My first two projects are not particularly diverse, and that is something that frustrated me in hindsight.  Going forward, I want the characters to reflect a greater spectrum of humanity.  When you read the story, I want you to be able to say, “I identify with that character” somehow, and if you don’t, I want you to also know that character is in another story I wrote.

Because the books I read as a kid weren’t just words on the page – they fueled emotions and ideas.   That feeling is what I want to recreate for my readers.  I want them immersed in a story and enraptured by the characters.  When the characters cry, the readers cry, and when the hero is triumphant, the readers share in the glory.  I want it to be a community among the readers, and that is only possible when the readers are attached to the characters.

I’m planning to use this website as a catch-all.  There will be updates about my works and release schedule, and I will be posting blogs about various subjects related to my writing as well.  This may take the form of book and movie reviews, or you might find me blabbing on about Shadowrun.

I’m always open to constructive criticism and feedback on any subject so don’t be afraid to drop me a line somewhere.