Max Frei


Max Frei is the pen name of Svetlana Yuryevna Martynchik , a fantasy writer from Ukraine. She writes in Russian and mostly publishes in Russia while holding Ukrainian citizenship. She permanently resides in Vilnius, Lithuania. Martynchik has collaborated many years on her books with her spouse, artist Igor Steopin.

Biography

Martynchik studied philology at Odessa State University, but dropped out without graduating. From 1986 she collaborated with artist Igor Steopin, whom she later married. The couple moved to Moscow, Russia, in 1993, to work at Marat Gelman's gallery. There, Svetlana started writing fantasy books.
The pen name, Max Frei, was invented by Martynchik and Steopin for their works on comic fantasy series Labyrinths of Echo. The plot follows the eponymous narrator, sir Max, as he leaves our "real" world for phantasmagoric fantasy city of Echo. There, he becomes a member of special service that controls the use of magic. The books are written by Martynchik, while Steopin developed the Echo universe and illustrated the books. Along with her Echo books, Frei also participated in several literary projects. She compiled Fram, a series of short story anthologies by Amphora publishing house.
The couple moved to Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2004, out of their dislike of megapolises. There, Max Frei wrote four parts of magic realist Tales of the Old Vilnius.

Cycle of books "Labyrinths of Echo"