Book origins

Russell Ragsdale travels to Kazakhstan right after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Within months of his arrival in an unusual place in Central Asia, he finds friendship in a struggling, Russian speaking world. The poet in him reawakens and he learns things about himself, both good and not so good, that change his life forever. Read Book of Aliases, a collection combining published and early poems written while living abroad. He also completed a chap book of new and original poetry written while living in Kazakhstan (2013) called Dragon Scales and Fireflies in which he explores his thoughts about safety and protecting oneself while living abroad as he now has for the last 21 years.