Ummm, am I supposed to pretend I didn’t live that life, Derek? Sorry for being interesting. While I was building companies, surviving mafia threats with a pizzeria I foolishly opened in 1996 in St. Petersburg, marrying 3 times, and just surviving Russia in general since 1990, what were you doing?

I am a very humble person. As a writer, I use the resource that my life has given me. I use the life that has been given me and make it a resource.

To whom am I promoting myself? The CIA? Come on. If you like my writing, as you say, then it’s because it is filled with reality — truth. NOTHING I write about is fiction unless I say it is in advance. I have only written about 7% of the shit I have done or lived through over in Russia since 1990. As for “everywhere” in the world, not sure what that means but yes when you learn to overcome the strictures that keep others in their place, you realize that anything is possible. It’s kind of like the hero from the story “Catch Me If You Can.” Confidence and a sense of you belong there can open a million doors. I won’t even get into my Bruce Springsteen, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Dave Letterman story from 1984 ))) So, I am not sure how much more humility I need to apply to anything. I have lost everything more than once thanks to Russia and here I am again, a refugee with my family somewhere in Europe.