The Bookshelf

Three items here, not one.

World of Shit is finished — the account this archive exists to preserve. The Zavodsk Files came together afterward, out of material that already existed in pieces before I thought to collect it. World of Pain doesn't exist yet, not in any form I can hand over.

I didn't set out to build a shelf. The first book demanded finishing. The second was already scattered across formats and testimonies I'd have compiled anyway, book or no book. The third is still ahead of me.

People ask why I'm putting out the short pieces before the second book is done. The honest answer is that they were never waiting on it. Katya's testimony, Pavel's report, Sergei's interview — these existed before I had a shelf to put them on. I'm not manufacturing content. I'm finishing what they started.

— R. Patel