Max Fry is the protagonist of the popular book series. For a long time nothing was known about the author of the books, but in the early 2000s the writer himself revealed himself. Or rather, a writer. The article tells about her biography and literary career.
Svetlana Martynchik, or Max Fry
The mystery of the invisible virtual author of three popular series of stories âEcho Labyrinthsâ, âEcho Dreamsâ and âThe Echo Chroniclesâ, which had no gender and was hiding under the pseudonym of Max Fry, was discovered not so long ago - in the 2000s. They even turned out to be 2 people - Svetlana Yuryevna Martynchik, writer, and Igor Stepin, an artist and part-time husband, who in the early stages participated in the writing of some works.
The pseudonym Max appeared when the idea arose that the main character of the book and the author should have the same name. The surname Fry translates as âfreed fromâ, âwithoutâ (in this case, the combination âWithout Maxâ is obtained), which very eloquently shows the authorâs idea. An interesting idea turned out to be very popular, because it gathered around a large audience of connoisseurs of the work of this duet.
Already after the disclosure of the real name, Svetlana told me that such a âhoaxâ was not some kind of commercial move, but a purely personal, internal aspiration. And, perhaps, it turned out to be right that in such a pseudonym there is much more truth than in real names and surnames, which still hide their essence behind masks.
Children and youth
The future artist, writer and Internet project manager, Ukrainian by birth, was born in Odessa (then the USSR) on February 22, 1965 and lived a significant part of her childhood in Germany. It so happened that with her father, a military musician who was sent there to serve, she also had to move.
Memories of Berlin, where she lived until the age of 9, remained the warmest. Thanks to the kind and progressive people, the beautiful forest that surrounded their house, Martynchik Svetlana perceived this city as ideal. Therefore, it was so difficult to readjust and get used to other realities when she returned to Odessa. The hometown of the 70-80s was remembered as a place of cultural and social stagnation, hopelessness, where it was almost impossible to work fruitfully and develop creatively.
The desire for art manifested itself in Svetlana in childhood. Moreover, they were very diverse. An interest in literature was manifested in the fact that the girl was a lover of entertaining relatives and guests with terrible tales of her own composition. She took plots from many books that she brought from the library and read from cover to cover. Therefore, the logical decision was to get a job in the library after graduation. As a child, Svetlana begins to get involved in photography. Having received her first camera, which was a gift to her father as a veteran of World War II, she discovered the possibility of visual transmission of the world. This became a harbinger of self-expression in the visual arts.
Higher education Martynchik Svetlana did not receive. As a student of the philological faculty of Odessa State University, she left him in her third year. At this time, the girl begins to search for herself as an artist. And this search became possible after meeting in 1986 with his future neighbor, friend and subsequently husband Igor Stepin.
The beginning of the creative path
Svetlana Martynchik and Igor Stepin became a wonderful creative duet. They began with the unusual â the creation of a plasticine world, the âPlanet of Homan.â Such a hobby came from Igorâs childhood and was so fascinated by the couple that they managed to create not only the toy people themselves, buildings, but also their culture, describe the history, myths and even the calendar of these characters. Many years of work have borne fruit. It was presented first at an exhibition in Moscow under the name âPeople of Hoâ, then in Germany and the USA as a project, âThe World of Homanâ and, finally, was described in the âNests of Chimerasâ by Max Frey himself.
All this time, the couple is actively saving up for their own apartment, participating in many exhibitions, selling their work abroad. In 2004, they moved to Vilnius, where they now live. âFate is not a fool, she wonât reduce people in vain,â the words of Max Fry, which describe this productive creative and family union in the best possible way.
Max Fry and literary activities
Before this character appeared, Max Fry, Svetlana Martynchik, did not think about the career of a writer. Together with her husband, creating fictional worlds, they invented a story for them, and in the evenings told them to each other. Thus, in 1995, a story was created about the adventures of Sir Max in the United Kingdom with a capital called Echo. Svetlana began to describe the heroâs adventures, and her works gathered the best signs of parody, detective story and fantasy.
The very next year, the ABC publishing house began to issue one after another the story of the author Max Fry from the series âEcho Labyrinthsâ: âSimple Magic Newsâ, âObsessionsâ, âVolunteers of Eternityâ, âChatty Deadâ and others. This hero is also the main character in the works entitled âChimera Nestsâ, âMy Ragnarokâ, the actions of which take place in the world of Khoman.
The Dreams of the Echo and Chronicles of the Echo series were later. All these works became more and more popular among readers, and the figure of the mysterious Max Fry only warmed up interest and attracted attention. However, the disclosure of this authorship was not far off with the appearance in 2002 of the "Encyclopedia of Myths" and "The True Story of Max Fry, the author and the character" in it.
The reason for this exposure was the conflict between Svetlana Martynchik and the director of the ABC, who wanted to make the characterâs name the name of the brand and publish mass works of other authors under it. Disagreement with this led to the fact that the following stories of Svetlana began to be published in the publishing house "Amphora".
Other works and their features
Martynchik Svetlana, after switching to Amphora Publishing House, published more than 20 books in the literary world, including The Coffee Book, The Tea Book, and Russian Foreign Tales. Together with previous works, they can be independent stories from which the reader can begin acquaintance. The combination of different directions and genres - fantastic, heroic novels, a postmodern game, humorous and mystical stories - all this also combines the masculinity of the characterâs actions with the ease and softness of presentation.
Svetlana is the author of other works, such as âAn Ideal Novelâ (1999), âThe Book of Solitudeâ, âTales and Storiesâ (2004). Regardless of whether they were individual or co-authored, a woman never attributed them only to herself. This also applies to Max Fry - she considers it the result of a common work with Igor Stepin, who not only took part in illustrating books, but also appeared along with Svetlana as a copywriter.
Literary Merit
Martynchik Svetlana is a diversified personality. After all, she managed to become a publicist, prose writer, curator of book series in a publishing house, a radio presenter, artist and photographer. During this time she was awarded several awards, for example, the Prize of the World of Fantasy magazine for The Chronicles of Echo (2005), in the nomination for the best male image she received the Silver Arrow in 2008.
She says about herself that she loves nature (both plants and animals), travels around the cities of the world and good shoes.
Svetlana Martynchik herself, her biography and her work became a unique symbiosis that created, although fictional, but intriguing and unique story, capturing an increasing number of readers.