I was born in the former Soviet Union, where the Communist Party maintained strict control over everything printed or shown in public since the Bolshevik Revolution. The "Khrushchev Thaw," beginning in 1953 with Stalin's death, brought some liberation of previously banned literature. The science-fiction genre got certain liberties as well, offering Soviet writers loopholes for free expression. I made several feeble attempts in writing of my own, but that didn't go anywhere. The energy of youth quickly dissipated in the daily routine of life in a society in which I believed less and less. Was it all a waste of time? I don't know. Could be. But on the plus side, I learned a lot about human beings-everything good and bad in all of us. In the early nineties, my wife and I moved to the United States. The need to settle in a new country also didn't leave much room for writing. Only after retirement, I seriously considered storytelling as something I would be doing to the end of my days. But even at that time, I decided to try something different, filmmaking. That's because I love everything visual, and I love visual storytelling. The idea of making movies has always been very appealing to me. Since the days when the trilogy plot stuck in my mind, I've been dreaming of shooting the full namesake feature consisting of three episodes a la Star Wars Trilogy, the original one. And that's where it got interesting. I knew that serious filmmaking required serious skills and skills. So I began practicing. I filmed several shorts, which turned rather successful; at least I received five awards. After my last film, Time Fuze, I decided that it was time to tackle The Midas Touch. I did so and wrote a script. I sent it to a former Hollywood executive and currently a well-known script consultant. Working with him turned out to be an eye-opening experience because I understood several things. They were all on the surface; still, I failed to see their importance. "Sergey, you've built a nice world, but where is the Death Star in your script?" I close my eyes right now, and I can see this line in one of his emails. Alas, I didn't have a death star in my Episode I. I tried to convince my script consultant that it would appear in Episode II. "Sergey, why don't you write a book first?" was his response. I talked to my wife, and she supported his idea. The next morning I started writing Fun and Games, the Book I of The Midas Touch trilogy.
