Roman Kireev

Roman Kireev is a recluse. An aesthete. A collector of dangerous ideas. Some consider him a threat to international stability. His essays are translated with caution, footnoted in diplomatic cables, and banned in at least two central banks.

Officially educated in Europe — though accounts diverge. Some claim he studied semiotics under an excommunicated structuralist in Paris; others suggest he lectured on economics in Austria under a false name before vanishing for three years. Only to resurface with a manuscript so volatile, three editors were hospitalized after reading it. One was permanently changed.

He is said to reside in a collapsing Palladian palazzo near Vicenza, lit by candelabras and shared with two retired Viennese opera singers. He writes in ink. Drinks absinthe. And has never once used a calculator.