Leopold Bushkin grew up reading fantasy, folklore, horror, and myth in both Russian and English. From Pushkin and Gogol to Tolkien and Le Guin, stories were his first map of the world—and eventually became a way of understanding it.

His fiction is driven by questions that have followed him throughout his life: How does memory shape identity? How do institutions change the people within them? Why do ordinary people participate in extraordinary acts of courage—or cruelty?

Influenced by history, psychology, music, science, and art, he writes character-driven epic fantasy that explores power, loss, restoration, and the fragile things worth preserving.

Memory and Stone is his debut novel.