About the site

Hello and welcome!
This is the place where I publish my stories.

My stories come primarily from two directions. It’s either something I notice and want to share, or it’s something I want to read about but can’t find in other books – so I just write it myself. A lot of the stories would loosely qualify as magical realism and modern mythology. Some are literary fiction (meaning, there’s no magic there, just life). Sometimes I accidentally write poetry.

All art, all photos used on the site were made by me. The site was made by the IWL team (the indie company I’m a part of, who also created the text editor I use.)

About the author

Alexandra Sarafidou is my pen name, but it is also a name that’s deeply connected to me in my real life. Thus, just like my stories, it’s both a reality and an invention. The idea that things change shape and shade depending on the angle is very appealing to me. To me, this is the closest it comes to truth: everything is an illusion, and all depends on how you look at it.

This site is new. If you are reading this, you are a pioneer. You are also one of my first readers. Up until recently, I had never published my stories. Whenever a suggestion came up, I brushed it off. Why would I need it? I was content with entertaining close friends and family with my writing. Also, humanity had lots of stories to read without me adding more.

Tectonic shifts in real life led me to look for a community of thinkers – I couldn’t find a better term for it. I ended up on Substack, and for a few months I had a blast. A lot of my writing was created as a byproduct of being in touch with that creative world. It all came to a painful end when I discovered Substack’s policy of approving Nazis on their platform. I knew leaving Substack wouldn’t be easy, neither technologically nor emotionally. But I still wasn’t ready for the mental agony that followed. Not only was I now cut off from the community I really needed and enjoyed, but I also felt like I had betrayed my stories and my writing self. So now that this site is ready it feels like taking the first breath after a very deep dive.

My stories are paper ships I send on their voyage. I don’t know where they will end up. I don’t know who will read them. I just know that it feels right. It’s fair to let them go, and to let others discover them. Maybe people will enjoy my stories as much as I have enjoyed them.

Contacts

Email: alex@iwl.me