Alzar Gjarszan
Alzar Gjarszan (27 September 1976 - 14 October 2042) was a science fiction writer most associated with the Blue Sky series of books, revolving around a lost space colony. He wrote and published a novella and several short stories before being commissioned by the Malaszec People’s Cultural Commission in 2001 to write what became the Irnaz (“Blue Sky”) series. He continued to write after the collapse of the Malaszec People’s Republic until the years of poor health leading up to his death in 2042.
The Irnaz series
In 2001, recognized by the
People’s Cultural Commission, Gjarszan was commissioned to write sci-fi
for the state. Inspired by recent developments in theoretical physics,
especially wormholes, Gjarszan imagined a future Malaszec People’s
Republic that developed the tech to create wormholes to faraway solar
systems. In his first novel “Into the Garden,” Malaszec has tamed the
Continental Heartland and used its wealth of mana to open a wormhole to
a habitable planet. Scientists, engineers, farmers, and all manner of
colonists enter the wormhole and colonize the new planet, creating a
colony in the MPR’s own image. But within a few months, right-wing
extremists sabotage the wormhole on both ends, collapsing the wormhole
and leaving the colony without contact with the homeland. The chaos
leads to the colonists splitting into various factions. The novel
centers around Olosijenos Irnaz (“the People’s Blue Sky”), the faction
carrying on the colony’s original vision, who must fight the
radical-right obstructionists in a series of events resembling the
Malaszec Revolution. Meanwhile, Olosijenos Irnaz must convince the
milder factions to rejoin their cause to build a communist utopia in a
world of unfamiliar flora and fauna.
Later works by Gjarszan revolve around Blue Sky reconstructing a weak form of the the lost wormhole technology with limited resources and visiting other worlds and building a communist federation with other worlds’ natives. After the collapse of the Malaszec People’s Republic in 2027 and the former communist publisher was bought by Serszec Olosron TZe, the series’ communist themes diminished significantly.