I. The Threshold

This cycle lives in the instant before the irreversible — reason has already lost its grip, the event hasn't happened yet, but there's no longer any way around it. Its 16 novellas inhabit that edge, where passion, absurdity, and inevitability aren't feelings the characters have, but the fabric of what's unfolding. Nothing here is settled for good — and therein lies its true unease.

MANIFESTO —
Did Not Write This for You. But If You're Here — It Was for You.
Author's Manifesto. Iskandar Kadyrov

I did not write "Incubator" to be understood.

I wrote it because I could not do otherwise. Because the questions it asks would fit no other format — not a column, not an essay, not a project, not the architecture of meaning I work with the rest of the time. They demanded a space with no rules. Where absurdity is not a system error, but its original condition. Where the character does not know the ending — and that is precisely why he is alive.

Literature dies when it stops asking uncomfortable questions. It dies quietly, politely, with good editing and a clear structure — and no one notices the moment of death, because the body is still warm and smells of printer's ink.

"Incubator" is an attempt to prevent that. At least in one specific place. At least in fifteen novellas.

What This Is Actually About
Not dystopia. Not science fiction. Not philosophy — though philosophy is present on every page.

It is about the gap that exists between birth and the first decision. About the time before a person became who they became. About the question each of us carries inside and almost never asks aloud: what if I had chosen differently?

Not "what would have been" — that is nostalgia, weakness. But "what is" — right now, at this point, where I stand and where I still have a choice, even though I have almost convinced myself that I don't.

That is what "Incubator" is about. This point. Always.

Why a Cycle — and Not a Novel
Because life is not a novel. Life is a cycle of novellas with different genres, different rhythms, different voices. Sometimes it's a detective story. Sometimes a parable. Sometimes a techno-thriller you didn't order and cannot exit.

A single novel implies a single meaning. I don't believe in a single meaning. I believe in a multiplicity of meanings that sometimes intersect — and at those points of intersection, something ignites. "Incubator" is built around those ignitions.

About the Reader I Have in Mind
I do not write for a broad audience. This is neither modesty nor snobbery — it is honesty.

I write for the person who cannot sleep at three in the morning not because they had too much coffee, but because they are thinking about something that has no name. For the person who reads a book and feels irritated when the author explains what should remain unexplained. For the person who cares not about "what is happening," but about "why this is happening to us at all."

If you recognise yourself — welcome. "Incubator" was written for you. Even if you have never heard my name. Even if you found this text by accident.

There are no accidents here. Every story begins before birth — including the story of your encounter with this cycle.

Position
I am not asking for the literary establishment's approval. I am not waiting for a publisher to decide my project is sufficiently commercially viable. I am not adapting texts to market trends.

"Incubator" exists as it is. 232,000 characters. Fifteen novellas. One metaphysical premise. Zero compromises with what I consider to be the truth.

This is not arrogance. It is the condition of the project's existence. Compromise would kill it faster than obscurity.

I choose obscurity with dignity — on the assumption that sooner or later those for whom this is written will find it. Algorithms are imperfect. People are too. But good texts are tenacious.

Iskandar Kadyrov
Founder of ISKA Creative House and VOYAGER
Author of the "Incubator" cycle
2026

The content of this column is the author's personal, research and philosophical perspective. It does not constitute scientific, medical, legal or any other professional advice. All interpretations and conclusions are offered within the framework of cultural and analytical inquiry.

All stories, characters and events are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, organizations or events is coincidental and unintentional.

Content is intended for readers aged 18 and over. 

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