S.F. MASTERWORKS

5 total works

Roadside Picnic

by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky

Published 13 April 1978

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those strange misfits who are compelled by some unknown force to venture illegally into the Zone and, in spite of the extreme danger, collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the Zone and...Read more

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those strange misfits who are compelled by some unknown force to venture illegally into the Zone and, in spite of the extreme danger, collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the Zone and the thriving black market in the alien products. Even the nature of his daughter has been determined by the Zone. And it is for her that Red makes his last, tragic foray into the hazardous and hostile depths.

Hard to Be a God

by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, and Hari Kunzru

Published 3 April 1975

Don Rumata has been sent from Earth to the medieval kingdom of Arkanar with instructions to observe and to save what he can. Masquerading as an arrogant nobleman, a dueler, and a brawler, he is never defeated, but yet he can never kill. With his doubt and compassion, and...Read more

Don Rumata has been sent from Earth to the medieval kingdom of Arkanar with instructions to observe and to save what he can. Masquerading as an arrogant nobleman, a dueler, and a brawler, he is never defeated, but yet he can never kill. With his doubt and compassion, and his deep love for a local girl named Kira, Rumata wants to save the kingdom from the machinations of Don Reba, the first minister to the king. But given his orders, what role can he play? This long overdue translation will reintroduce one of the most profound Soviet-era novels to an eager audience.

Monday Starts on Saturday

by Boris Strugatsky

Published 7 July 2005

When young programmer Alexander Ivanovich Privalov picks up two hitchhikers while driving in Karelia, he is drawn into the mysterious world of the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy, where research into magic is serious business.

And where science, sorcery and socialism meet, can chaos be...

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When young programmer Alexander Ivanovich Privalov picks up two hitchhikers while driving in Karelia, he is drawn into the mysterious world of the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy, where research into magic is serious business.

And where science, sorcery and socialism meet, can chaos be far behind?

The Doomed City

by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky

Published 1 July 2016

It is a mysterious city whose sun is switched on in the morning and switched off at night, bordered by an abyss on one side and an impossibly high wall on the other. Its inhabitants are people who were plucked from twentieth-century history at various times and places and...

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It is a mysterious city whose sun is switched on in the morning and switched off at night, bordered by an abyss on one side and an impossibly high wall on the other. Its inhabitants are people who were plucked from twentieth-century history at various times and places and left to govern themselves, advised by Mentors whose purpose seems inscrutable. This is life in the Experiment.

Andrei Voronin, a young astronomer plucked from Leningrad in the 1950s, is a die-hard believer in the Experiment, even though his first job in the city is as a garbage collector. As increasinbly nightmarish scenarios begin to affect the city, he rises through the political hierarchy, with devastating effect.

The Snail on the Slope

by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky

Published June 1980

The Snail on the Slope consists of the two largely independent stories of Pepper and Kandid, which are nevertheless brought together by the forest, their continentwide silent antagonist.
Pepper, is afraid to resist the Directorate but yearns to do so. He yearns to enter a mystic forest but...Read more

The Snail on the Slope consists of the two largely independent stories of Pepper and Kandid, which are nevertheless brought together by the forest, their continentwide silent antagonist.
Pepper, is afraid to resist the Directorate but yearns to do so. He yearns to enter a mystic forest but is trapped on a cliff top where he can only glimpse it. He toes the line and inspite of his yearning does nothing more than watch.
Kandid manages to understand the reality when he ends up in the forest. After encountering mysteries of the forest and the unexpected forces therein. Kandid decides not to surrender under any circumstances. He is the proactive one either marooned or blessed to be in a forest of untold truths made of magic and wonder. His suffering includes the fact that the forest is ruled by a race of ruthless parthenogenic amazons that tolerate his male presence but offer little else. He can see the beauty within but not partake of it, could a man imagine a more frustrating torture.