Slava Kurilov – Alone in the Ocean

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50th anniversary of a famous escape from Russia

The Soviet Union had imposed an exit ban on Slava Kurilov but this was not something he was able to come to terms with. In December 1974 he jumped overboard from a Soviet tourist steamship near the Philippines. Without food, drink or diving equipment, just goggles, a snorkel and flippers, he swam some 100 kilometers to the Philippine coast, spending three whole days ALONE IN THE OCEAN.

A book version of this historical narrative non-fiction about his famous escape from Russia came out in Hebrew and in Ukrainian. A much shortened adaptation as a children’s book was published in France.

Aleksei Ivanov – The Fighting Rivers

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the tragedy of Russia’s river fleet during the Revolution

Aleksei Ivanov’s new Siberian novel THE FIGHTING RIVERS shows Russia at the beginning of the 20th century as a rapidly developing country with a huge advanced river fleet, almost entirely in private hands. This entire complex economic massif was practically blown up by the tragedy of 1917. The main plot happens within one and a half years only, during the odyssey of the smuggler „Levshino“, who in the battles on the Kama River in 1918-1919 has enough time to fight for the Reds, the Whites, the Greens and for himself.

A novel about a seemingly distant war. But under the magnifying glass of Ivanov‘s prose we see a truth hidden deep within that extends to contemporary Russia.

Andrei Rubanov – The Wooden People

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contemporary horror on historical Russian background

Andrei Rubanov‘s novel THE WOODEN PEOPLE is one of the few in the horror genre where a (wooden) “homunculus” him- self tells the story of his life. In a kind of magical realism, we learn from his three hundred years of life, built as flashbacks within the action in the present and now, in which all the evil that weighs on him, as well as the new love that uplifts him, is approaching an inevitable culmination point.

The facts: After the christianization of Russia, the Orthodox Church banned all old Russian wooden sculptures of saints. During the Petrine period, almost all wooden figures were removed from the churches and destroyed: chopped up or burned.

The fiction: some statues, hidden by fanatical followers, escaped this „genocide“ and either came to life independently or were breathed into life by others in a secret ritual. These wooden people do not get sick, can see well in the dark, do not grow old and do not die, they can only burn or die of an unhealed crack.

Best of «The Most Scary Book»

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a best-of-selection from the finest Russian horror

A selection from the entire «THE MOST SCARY BOOK» series which has been developed by M.S. Parfenov, the „godfather“ of Russian horror. «The Most Scary Book» is the face of Russian horror today. A number of books from the series have won literary awards. Individual works by these and other authors have been filmed, the film rights have been sold by others. Authors and publishers hold their own annual convention.

«Here, at last, is a collection of new voices, telling stories of horrors unleashed by monsters we have never encountered before. It is a long time since i felt authors inviting me to wallow in their perversities as these writers do. Who could resist? The forbidden beckons to is from terra incognita. Let us meet where the river runs red and the fish have human faces.» CLIVE BARKER

Darya Bobyleva – The Courtyard

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Moscow urban horror

In Darya Bobyleva’s second horror novel THE COURTYARD ON THE BRINK OF MIDNIGHT the author moves the plot from the countryside to an anonymous city courtyard somewhere in Moscow’s old town center – a space that is both open and separated from the outside world by a clear natural boundary. A bakery in the courtyard above, a river below, the garages in the middle and next to them a bird cemetery where the children bury pigeons, rats, hamsters and, with a bit of luck, even a cat. There is a dangerous balance between these neighborhoods, thanks to an all-female family of fortune tellers living in the corner house.

«There are no limits to despair and death… Impossible to tear yourself away from the book.» DARK

Denis Puzyrev – A Recent History of Russia in 14 Bottles of Vodka

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How the Number One Russian Drink Draws Together Business, Corruption and Crime

Denis Puzyrev’s non-fiction title A RECENT HISTORY OF RUSSIA IN 14 BOTTLES OF VODKA is a research within the incredibly profitable Vodka business. Where there is money, there is blood, power, dizzying ups and downs and, of course, silence. This book speaks up about these super-lucrative assets and universally known brands, opens the public‘s eyes to the events of the past thirty years and shows them from an unexpected and thrilling point of view.

Dmitri Danilov – Sasha, hello!

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Spanish translation rights sold to Entorno Grafico

Dmitri Danilov’s double award winning novel SASHA, HELLO! is welcoming us to the new Russia. Prisons are now called Combinat, you live like in a luxury hotel. Executions are no longer carried out by executioners. Instead, a warden takes you out for a walk every day through the same hallway, where one fine day you will be torn to pieces by a salvo of an algorithm controlled machine gun. This can happen in three days or in thirty years. As luck would have it. All humane, because you actually don‘t notice anything and can go on living your life as before.

The main character of the book is reminiscent of all the key figures of the most famous anti-utopias at once, from D-503 to Josef K., but the conditions in which he is placed have never been told in such a way. This novel moves right on the edge of the real.

John Lough – Germany’s Russia Problem

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UK political expert about Germany’s Russia Problem

John Lough is an Associate Fellow of the Russia & Eurasia Programme at Chatham House (since 2009) and a regular commentator on Russian and Ukrainian affairs. He spent six years with NATO managing information programmes aimed at Central and Eastern Europe, including a posting to Moscow, where he set up NATO’s Information Office in Russia and was the first Alliance official to be permanently based in the country.

In this bold and original analysis, John Lough explains the scale of the challenge facing Germany as it strives to design policies for managing its relations with a changing Russia. GERMANY’S RUSSIA PROBLEM looks at the role of German business interests and Germany’s vulne- rability to Russian interference, including misinformation and cyber attacks. It concludes by considering how Germany can strengthen its position against Russian influence in the future.

”I have found John Lough‘s Germany‘s Russia Problem an ideal book as we contemplate the source of energy we will draw on for heat and light in the decades ahead.” TLS

”The title of John Lough‘s book itself makes clear that this is not another academic sand box exercise. He wants to make things better.” DIE WELT

”John Lough has written a stimulating book rich in knowledge.” FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE

Marina Aromshtam – Little Suitcase Travel

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Children’s book for Refugees

Marina Aromshtam wrote her recent book LITTLE SUITCASE TRAVEL during Covid to comfort children (from age 4) with the prospect of freedom to travel again soon. After she herself had to flee from Russia into exile and after so many mothers and families have to flee from danger to other safer countries, this book took on a completely different, deeper meaning.

The book with illustrations by Vera Korotaeva has been awarded the Russian Kornei Chukovsky Prize in 2020. Only two years later, the author would be considered an enemy of Russia.

Full English sample translation available.

Zaza Burchuladze – Zoorama

Book of the Year / Book of the Century

Georgian press about ZOORAMA

On two Georgian TV shows the new novel ZOORAMA (Scent of a Rose) by Zaza Burchuladze was praised as BOOK OF THE YEAR.
Radio Liberty dedicated a 2-hour broadcast to the book, celebrating it as the BOOK OF THE CENTURY.

There is an animal in each of us, they say. But is there also a human being in each of us?

Everything gets out of hand. Especially if you live in isolation with your family. First you lose the words. Then the sex. And you end up living in a high-rise that is hermetically sealed off, has a café, cinema and anti-aircraft defenses, and that houses fugitive generals, armed civilians and escaped zoo animals alike. Zoorama is the venomous mixture of an insane world.

“Many Eastern Europeans today have to flee to the West again out of fear, into exile. One of these refugees is Zaza Burchuladze… The country that you bring with you into exile is only as big as the soles of your feet and the sadness in your head. And only the homesickness we brought with us is as big as the country on the map.“ HERTA MÜLLER

After agressive press, a severe insult on the radio by former president Saakashvili, physical attacks on the street of Tiflis and ultraorthodox publicly burning his books, he had to flee to Germany with his family. Today he lives and works in Berlin.