Mark Budman is the author of the new novel The Lives and Deaths of Vladimir Lenin. His other books include The Shapeshifter's Guide to Time Travel. He lives in Boston.
Q: What inspired you to write The Lives and Deaths of Vladimir Lenin?
A: I was born and raised in the long-gone Soviet Union, where the long-undead, everyone’s hero (or everyone’s villain) “Sweet Grandfather Lenin” was the staple of everyday lives. What I mean by “undead” is the way he was interred. Not buried, not cremated, not even shot into space on a rocket, but mummified and left for public display.
So, I thought what would be the most absurd, the most Kafkaesque scenario of his bizarre resurrection in our times? Obviously, he would leave modern Russia, immigrate to America, find sponsors, find a way around Article II, Section 1, Clause 5, the “natural born Citizen” requirement, and run for POTUS.
What I intended to write as dark comedy or satire has become an almost-reality in 2026.
Q: The author Bill Burkland said of the book, “With a pinch of Bulgakov, and a dash of Gogol, Budman pulls off, in high style, a classic piece of Russian (and American) satire.” What do you think of that description?
A: That’s a pitch-perfect description from another dark comedy author.
Q: Did you need to do any research to write the book, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: I grew up in the shadow of Lenin, and I knew more about him than most, but I did do some research on his interment, on the Mausoleum where he was and still is displayed, subject to agnostic reverence, and on the US Constitutional requirements concerning POTUS election.
As for surprise, it was how misunderstood Lenin is outside Russia, and how he is still being loved inside it.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: The current election process has become so absurd, so cynical, so laughable, and so sad that nothing would surprise the citizens and the foreign observers anymore.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I have several WIPs [works in progress]:
A YA fantasy novel. A budding young wizard from the planet Rassvet, populated by human immigrants, and his psychic friend from Earth fight to save both planets from the evil Rassvet Council and its underlings.
An adult speculative fiction. Two accidental amortals fleeing the dying Earth with their family, but the refugees are rejected by every planet at the local equivalent of gunpoint.
Three children’s picture books.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Well, I am a refugee, and I write about immigration, aging, immortality, and chronic pain. They often go hand-in-hand. Grok once mistook me for Kafka, but it was probably distracted by X denizens' infighting.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
Thank you, Deborah.
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