ALEX BUDAY
Stories, Essays & Satire
Between Memory and Illusion
Literary fiction, reflective essays and quiet satire about history, private lives, and the illusions we learn to live with.
I’m Alex Buday, a writer of fiction, essays and quiet satire.
For me, writing is both memory and discovery. My stories are born where personal lives meet history — in the shadow of Chernobyl, in the silence of borders, and in those fragile moments when freedom reveals how many illusions it carries.
My fiction often returns to Central Europe, to private memories shaped by public events, and to people who rarely stand at the centre of history but still feel its pressure in their rooms, relationships and choices.
As the creator of Illusions Not Included, I also write essays and satire about politics, culture, history and the myths we inherit. I am interested in what lies beneath the surface: the narratives we cling to, the comfortable phrases we repeat, and the fragile truths we often overlook.
This website brings together my stories, essays, reflections and audio work — a space where history, humanity and illusion meet, and where writing still tries to look at the world without shortcuts and without slogans.
My stories begin where private lives meet public history.
They return to Central Europe, to the echoes of the twentieth century, to Chernobyl, borders, political silence, national mourning, velvet revolutions, and the uneasy freedom that followed the collapse of old systems.
These are not stories about history as monument. They are stories about memory — about ordinary people who lived through extraordinary times, carrying the pressure of public events into their rooms, families, relationships and choices.
In my short stories and novellas, history is not a distant background. It enters through small gestures, silences, journeys, conversations, and the moments when a private life suddenly becomes part of something larger.
This is the literary side of Alex Buday: stories about transformation, illusion, loss, memory, and the private cost of public events.
Illusions Not Included
Essays, satire and reflections for a world that keeps confusing slogans with truth.
Illusions Not Included
Essays, satire and reflections for a world that keeps confusing slogans with truth. Illusions Not Included is the essay and satire side of my writing — a space for politics, culture, history, economics, language, power, memory, and the small absurdities that reveal larger truths. These texts do not offer easy answers. They are written against noise, against fashionable certainty, and against the comforting habit of pretending that complex things are simple. The tone is literary, ironic, sometimes sharp, sometimes quiet, but always interested in what lies beneath the surface: the myths we inherit, the narratives we repeat, and the illusions we are asked to accept as reality. You can read, listen to and support Illusions Not Included across several platforms. Each one offers a different doorway into the same world — essays, notes, satire, audio reflections, archives and ongoing work.
Illúziók nélkül a Patreonon
Illúziók nélkül – de annál több történettel. Ez egy tér, ahol az irodalom, a politika, a kultúra és a történelem találkozik. Esszék, novellák és szatírák, amelyek nem a felszínt kapargatják, hanem mélyebbre ásnak: feltárják a mindennapok mögötti illúziókat, a társadalmi színjáték díszleteit és a valóság árnyalatait. Nem ígérünk könnyű válaszokat. Inkább kérdéseket teszünk fel, tükröt tartunk, és arra hívunk, hogy együtt gondolkodjunk. 👉 Csatlakozz, és olvasd az Illúziók nélkül esszéit és történeteit – minden nap új tartalommal.
Illúziók nélkülPodcasts
🎧 Illusions Not Included
Welcome to Illusions Not Included — where satire meets reflection, and irony wears a tailored suit. Each episode peels back the glossy surface of politics, culture, and modern life to reveal what lies beneath: the illusions we live by, and the ones we can’t live without. Written and narrated by Alex Buday, these audio essays blend wit, insight, and a touch of rebellion. They invite you to think — not just listen. From the absurdities of the digital age to the quiet tragedies of power and faith, every story carries a question that lingers long after the final line. Available exclusively on Patreon, and streaming for subscribers on Spotify and all major RSS podcast platforms.
Illusions Not Included
🎧 Voices Without Illusions
Where words dare to speak what headlines won’t. Welcome to Voices Without Illusions — a podcast where irony meets introspection, and silence finally gets a microphone. Each episode is a monologue, part satire, part confession — exploring the strange, brilliant, and occasionally absurd theatre of modern life. From burnout to politics, from mindfulness to madness, these are stories of our time — told with wit, empathy, and a touch of rebellion. Because sometimes, the only way to stay sane is to talk about the insanity itself. Available exclusively on Patreon — and for subscribers on Spotify and RSS.
Voices without IllusionsMy Books
Hostages of Stupidity
Hostages of Stupidity is a sharp, satirical reflection on the age we live in — an age in which noise often replaces thought, slogans replace responsibility, and collective stupidity is no longer an accident, but almost a political system. With irony, literary distance, and uncomfortable clarity, the book explores how societies become trapped by their own illusions, fears, conveniences, and beautifully packaged nonsense. It is not a manual for escape. It is a mirror.
Discover the Book
1984: A Summer on the Other Side of the Wall
A lyrical, intimate novella set during the final years of the Cold War. 1984: A Summer on the Other Side of the Wall follows a young man's journey across borders—both real and internal—as he leaves behind a crumbling world in search of something more. A story of silence, memory, and quiet defiance.
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The border
"The border wasn't just a line between countries; it severed the past from the present, a line where memories ended, and the unknown future began."
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"Velvet"
"The Velvet Revolution wasn’t just about tearing down walls between nations—it was about dismantling the walls within ourselves. Freedom isn’t born of force but of courage, unity, and the willingness to face the unknown."
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"The Wall"
„As I watched the joyous people on the television screen and the Wall collapsing, I felt something changing within me as well. This wasn’t just about history—it was about us. The walls that had confined our world for decades were collapsing brick by brick—not only in Berlin but within the very fabric of who we were.”
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"National Mourning"
„As the soldiers’ boisterous laughter filled the pub, Péter softly commented, ‘Look at them. The whole country is mourning, yet here they are… drinking vodka and laughing. It’s as if the system means nothing to them now.’ He paused for a moment before adding bitterly, ‘Perhaps it truly doesn’t.’”
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"Chernobyl"
„As I looked at the images of the reactor, I found myself wondering: what matters more? An individual’s personal loss, like Nat’s theft, or a catastrophe that shook an entire nation? I couldn’t find an answer, but I felt that both were part of the same larger picture. A system, represented by those officers—cold, impersonal, where tragedies and everyday grievances alike hit the same unyielding wall.”
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