by Alexander Iscenco, Moldova, ELP 2013 Written on September 13, 2014.   My name is Alexander, and I come from the small but cozy country of Moldova. Besides being a researcher, co-founder of MEGA, and an alumnus of Beahrs ELP in 2013, I am also a poet and writer. Last month I published my largest novel so far entitled The Monster: Blade of Darkness. It is a science fiction novel about the adventures of two Americans, a biologist and a hunter, on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There they attempt to solve the mystery of an unknown species of dinosaur-like animal that threatens the inhabitants of the island and researchers of a scientific laboratory located there. Besides the adventurous plot with the spice of a romantic story, the novel contains a number of powerful messages, the core one being about the interrelations between Human and Nature and how they might develop in the future. I had been writing The Monster: Blade of Darkness since 2000. It is then I decided to turn my ideas into a book… in fact, three books, as I decided to make The Monster a trilogy in order to lead readers to the core messages step-by-step in a logical manner. The text of the first book in the trilogy entitled The Monster: Blade of Darkness was finished in July – August 2013, which means that the final chapters had been written and shaped up during my time in California, US, at Beahrs ELP. Indeed, a small room at Foothill Student Residence within the UC Berkeley campus is where I wrote the concluding chapters of my most elaborate novel so far. The description of the final battle among the tall trees of the distant island and of its outcome was thus laid down on paper and then transferred to a Word document under the warm Californian sun shining through the window of my room there. There were also some take-aways from the ELP that were integrated in The Monster: Blade of Darkness. For instance, the structure of global environmental governance envisioned in the novel was based on the learning points from some of the ELP sessions. And the trip to the Muir Woods National Monument during the program allowed me to imagine and actually experience the forest described in the book. All in all, the time spent in California during Beahrs ELP now has its small footprint in my newly published book The Monster: Blade of Darkness. The book can now be found at the online bookstore on its official website, as well as in the major web bookstores and book clubs worldwide, such as Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Goodreads, etc. So, you can get it there and join Jessie and Jack in their sci-fi adventures of uncovering the mystery of the Monster. Nowadays the novel is available in Russian and English. The Polish and Ukrainian translations are already in progress. And one day perhaps you will see The Monster: Blade of Darkness in your own language. For that I suggest you to follow the updates on the novel’s official blog. So, dear friend, enjoy the book! And I am looking forward to see your creative masterpiece one day!