She was supposed to report the truth.
Instead, she became the nightmare.
THE DEBUT NOVEL BY YAVOR SMIRNOV
BIO
Yavor Smirnov was born in the historic town of Tryavna, Bulgaria—an artistic center known for its painters, writers, and master craftsmen. Growing up in a family of writers, he was surrounded from an early age by stories, manuscripts, and the quiet discipline of the literary world. This creative environment shaped his early voice and sparked a lifelong fascination with character, psychology, and human motivation.
After moving to the United States, Yavor gained a unique outsider’s perspective on American culture. The contrast between the two worlds deepened his understanding of society, identity, and the subtle pressures of modern life. These experiences would later become the foundation for the complex social themes explored in his work.
The Incident is Yavor Smirnov’s debut novel—a bold and fearless first step into the literary world. Blending psychological tension with sharp social insight, the book showcases his ability to explore the darker corners of the human mind while reflecting on larger cultural forces. His storytelling is marked by imagination, introspection, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths.
With The Incident, Yavor introduces himself as a new and compelling voice in contemporary fiction, offering readers a gripping narrative that lingers long after the final page.
Author Q&A:
Yavor Smirnov on"The Incident"
1. The Incident is your debut novel — what inspired you to write this story, and why start with such a bold dystopian thriller?
"'The Incident” got inspired from the news I watch every day - pretty much what’s been happening in today’s world, in my life, and the rest of the things I have consumed media-wise and still continue to consume. I love dystopias - in every media sort, and psychological, crime and in general, thriller stories and news.
2. Michelle Raya Heddy is a complex and unsettling protagonist. How did you develop her character, and does she represent something larger about society today?
She’s a representation of what’s been hidden from us ordinary folk and visible only to the higher-ups in society — the essence of human nature as it shows itself in nations, whether poor, mid, or even wealthy ones, notably the USA. I started from scratch: I took a rough, messy draft of a future, back-then “book,” and with time I expanded and expanded upon the narrative and the character of not only Heddy, but the rest of the crew as well.
3. The book is set in 2040, in a world that feels disturbingly plausible. Why choose that year, and do you see parallels with our current reality?
I wanted to warn about the ever-changing notion that the future doesn’t always seem pleasant, since we humans always mess things up — both between ourselves, with things like violence, and to the environment. Haven’t you heard of climate change? I think that, in and of itself, foretells a potentially troubling future.
4. Your background is unique — born in Bulgaria and later living in Los Angeles. How did these different cultural perspectives shape "The Incident"?
5. The story explores madness, media, justice, and societal collapse. What do you hope readers take away from it?
I hope readers accept that: Life is a twist-and-turn concept. If you twist, and if you continue to twist, it will open up like a book. But if you twist again, you could end up at the start.
6. Writing a dystopian psychological thriller is intense. What was the biggest challenge you faced while creating "The Incident"?
The biggest challenge? Well, it was the fact that the knitting of the yarn of the characters’ motives, personalities and the digging-up of their non-visible-to-naked-eye-of-the-reader backgrounds was like trying to learn how to speak for the first time again - difficult, but in the end - relentlessly rewarding.
7. This is your first professional book. What surprised you most about writing it and bringing it to publication?
The process of writing it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be - yes, it took time from my day which I could have used if it weren’t for that, for something equally important, but in the end, I judge it was brightly-golden special for what it’s worth - sculpting an easily-done-forever-lasting-unless-mismanaged masterpiece that could yield immense reward - both emotional and daily-bread-earning. Bringing it to publication was time-consuming, but like I said earlier - potentially excruciatingly-rewarding.
8. Looking ahead, is "The Incident" a standalone story, or could this world grow into more books?
It will be a standalone, at least for now.
“The Incident” contains characters that, in many ways, connect to different sides of my own character. I don’t want to spoil anything, but all I’ll say is that the book is a mix of realism and invention. My upbringing was both normal (that’s the “realism”) and a dreamer’s heaven — I write poems, and in my past I’ve always aspired beyond the shackles of the norms in the small, secluded town of Tryavna, Bulgaria. I looked to the West long before I ever imagined I’d come to the States. In other words, “The Incident” is a child of my strive — my desire to push beyond the normalcy that’s currently accepted among young people, both in Bulgaria and in the US.