Yelena Voronchikhina

The aftermath of a shocking explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station made hundreds of people sacrifice their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. This is their story.

Peace and tranquility have set in Belogorie. The evil was defeated and Ivan is now enjoying his well-deserved fame. He is surrounded by his family, friends and small wonders from the modern world that help him lead a comfortable life. Luckily, he has his Magic Sword to cut a gap between the worlds to get some supplies quite regularly. But when an ancient evil rises and the existence of the magic world is put to danger, Ivan has to team up with his old friends and his new rivals. They will set out on a long journey beyond the known world to find a way to defeat the enemies and to return peace to Belogorie.

The story of the growing up of Lyosha, who turned 18 years old. Life asks him more and more difficult questions about love, family, duty and his path than it did at 14. And he, just as then, must answer them himself.

The life of nine-year-old Vera, a gifted pianist, becomes extremely difficult on the eve of a music competition. Her mother expects great things from Vera, pressuring her to practice constantly, while showing nothing but sternness and coldness toward her daughter. The music teacher generously slaps Vera and tries to make money by offering private lessons. The girl can barely endure the hated lessons. But how can she cope with her mother's aloofness and unkindness?

The student, Rifle, has managed to seduce his professor's wife, Bomber, an average working guy, has bought a factory and Bullet, the casino lover, is hiding from creditors. They all share a common path and conscription. In the army they teach you that everything must be smart and in order - cockades, straps and all, otherwise you're not fit to call yourself a person, you're a maggot. For a real man, there's no better place than the army.

Egor Korshunov (40) is a Siberian forest guard who works in a local environmental company, fighting fearlessly against poachers in taiga. Egor is a great family man, respected by his fellow villagers. He and his wife Natalia are expecting a second child. Unexpectedly, Egor finds out that he has terminal cancer and has only two months left to live. No traditional medicine or shamanic magic can save Egor. Finally, left with no other options, he decides to take the last desperate step. He attempts to completely change his identity in order to fool the oncoming death, just like Zhamba the drake, the hero of a legendary ancient Siberian epos, did.

This is a collection of portraits: 23 short stories about the Mari women, a sort of Decameron suspended between magic and realism, in which the Autonomous Republic of the Marij El serves as a backdrop for the collective history of a people of ancient tradition. A journey into a mysterious and unknown part of the world.

In a nostalgic Moscow of 1976, an unlucky actor meets a charismatic writer, a living classic of Soviet literature, who turns his life into a tragicomic farce with the artistic bohemia, foreign-currency prostitutes, the KGB staff and agents of the CIA.