7 ms·

The only Russian Sci-Fi I have read was Roadside Picnic. I REALLY enjoyed it in multiple of different layers. Was nice to read a book fromt he cold war on the "

by baldfat 12y ago

The only Russian Sci-Fi I have read was Roadside Picnic. I REALLY enjoyed it in multiple of different layers. Was nice to read a book fromt he cold war on the "other side" from where I grew up. I need toadd this title to my list.

joshuapants 12y ago
Roadside Picnic was really chilling. I'll definitely add this to my list as well. Do you know of any recommended reading lists for Soviet/Eastern Bloc scifi?
- vbezhenar 12y ago
  I would recommend to read almost all of Strugatsky brothers books (which were translated to your language). They are all very interesting in different aspects. E.g. "Monday starts at Saturday" is a humorous story about programmer. Though they dreamed of communistic future, keep that in mind. Their worlds probably will look foreign to the western reader. And there are some references to the russian culture. But translations probably should take that in mind.
  - trhway 12y ago
    >Though they dreamed of communistic future, keep that in mind. Their worlds probably will look foreign to the western reader. except for may be the earliest works, their communist future isn't that different from for example the "self-betterment" world of StarTrek, and serves basically as just a setting.
- detaro 12y ago
  Stanislaw Lem
  - huhtenberg 12y ago
    Lem is excellent. GP, start with "Tales of Pirx the Pilot". Short stories with a great mix of interesting story lines, pragmatic view of the world and dry humor.
    - detaro 12y ago
      Or with "The Star Diaries". A bit more silly, but also a great read. (Also a collection of short stories)
      - iSnow 12y ago
        I like Lem's more serious books way more. "The Astronauts", his first SciFi is one of my favorites, because it starts out with a completely naive description of a happy communist world and gradually turns darker. It's an old book (and was probably written for adolescents), so the narrative style is pretty conventional, but I like how it causes chills in the second half. Also "Solaris", although the descriptions of the various phenomenons on Solaris get a bit tedious over time. And finally "The Invincible" if you like dystopian tales of artificial intelligence swarms going bad.
        cben 12y ago
        Of the serious ones "Fiasco" made a deep impression on me. The alien contact mystery is not bad, but the main theme is certainly human behavior and decision making.
- bastionride 12y ago
  As a Russian myself, I recommend Strugatsky brothers "The Doomed City", because firstly: it's a damn good book. Secondly, I think it gives great, subtle and wild representation of soviet people minds. Also, this book is full of awesome philosophical ideas, for which it was hidden from general public for a lot of years.
  - myth_drannon 12y ago
    Too bad there is no English translation, it's a gem that is often overlooked over more mainstream sci-fi like "Roadside picnic"
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- jakobdabo 12y ago
  Some recent works: "Metro 2033" by Dmitry Glukhovsky - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_2033 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_2033 "Night Watch" by Sergei Lukyanenko - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_%28Lukyanenko_novel%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_%28Lukyanenko_nove...
  - geoka9 12y ago
    Lukyanenko is hardly "Soviet/Eastern Bloc". He's more of a "present-day Russia" author.
  - PerfectDlite 12y ago
    Both of them are pulp-fiction and a pale reflection of works of modern US and UK authors. I can recommend them only if you need to compare queality of mass-produced fiction across several countries.
- hellbanner 12y ago
  Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky "Written in Soviet Moscow in the 1920s—but considered too subversive even to show to a publisher—the seven tales included here attest to Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky’s boundless imagination, black humor, and breathtaking irony: a man loses his way in the vast black waste of his own small room; the Eiffel Tower runs amok; a kind soul dreams of selling “everything you need for suicide”; an absentminded passenger boards the wrong train, winding up in a place where night is day, nightmares are the reality, and the backs of all facts have been broken; a man out looking for work comes across a line for logic but doesn’t join it as there’s no guarantee the logic will last; a sociable corpse misses his own funeral; an inventor gets a glimpse of the far-from-radiant communist future." http://www.amazon.com/Memories-Future-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590173198/ http://www.amazon.com/Memories-Future-Review-Books-Classics/...
- thesz 12y ago
  Early Strugatskies, "Noon, 21st century". A look into how communism would like. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon_Universe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon_Universe Efremov: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Yefremov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Yefremov Golovachev: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Golovachov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Golovachov Especially early works - how clash of civilizations would look and live like. Alexander Belyaev: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Belyaev http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Belyaev A classic sci-fi writer, very grounded though. And for pure aesthetic pleasure - Vadim Shefner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadim_Shefner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadim_Shefner His writings are so poetic, kind, ironic and alive. I still reread some of his works, despite not reading much those days.
amk_ 12y ago
Definitely check out the Andrei Tarkovsky film adaptation of "Roadside Picnic", called "Stalker." He also adapted Stanislaw Lem's "Solaris," which was mentioned below.
- tome 12y ago
  I very much loved the book but wish I hadn't watched the film. It was only tangentially related to the book.
- kiiski 12y ago
  There is also a Finnish indie movie based on (or inspired by) it, called Vyöhyke (the zone) [1]. Nowhere near as good as Stalker, but it was published on Youtube [2], so it's easy&free to watch if you have the time to spare. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2627842/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2627842/ [2] http://youtube.com/watch?v=EwkIaJX3hmg http://youtube.com/watch?v=EwkIaJX3hmg
- kbenson 12y ago
  The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of video games are supposedly based or (or at least heavily influenced) by this book. It's an interesting setting.
  - trhway 12y ago
    my understanding that basic setting of Stalker was influenced by the massive WWII Japan Army fortifications in the Far East where Arcady Strugatsky served right after WWII.
- ultrasandwich 12y ago
  "Stalker" is free on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYEfJhkPK7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYEfJhkPK7o and will likely leave you speechless.
  - hyperion2010 12y ago
    I had a chance to see this in all of its 35mm glory a couple of years ago. It is an absolutely stunning film.

by baldfat 12y ago

joshuapants 12y ago

Roadside Picnic was really chilling. I'll definitely add this to my list as well. Do you know of any recommended reading lists for Soviet/Eastern Bloc scifi?

vbezhenar 12y ago
I would recommend to read almost all of Strugatsky brothers books (which were translated to your language). They are all very interesting in different aspects. E.g. "Monday starts at Saturday" is a humorous story about programmer. Though they dreamed of communistic future, keep that in mind. Their worlds probably will look foreign to the western reader. And there are some references to the russian culture. But translations probably should take that in mind.
- trhway 12y ago
  >Though they dreamed of communistic future, keep that in mind. Their worlds probably will look foreign to the western reader. except for may be the earliest works, their communist future isn't that different from for example the "self-betterment" world of StarTrek, and serves basically as just a setting.
detaro 12y ago
Stanislaw Lem
- huhtenberg 12y ago
  Lem is excellent. GP, start with "Tales of Pirx the Pilot". Short stories with a great mix of interesting story lines, pragmatic view of the world and dry humor.
  - detaro 12y ago
    Or with "The Star Diaries". A bit more silly, but also a great read. (Also a collection of short stories)
    - iSnow 12y ago
      I like Lem's more serious books way more. "The Astronauts", his first SciFi is one of my favorites, because it starts out with a completely naive description of a happy communist world and gradually turns darker. It's an old book (and was probably written for adolescents), so the narrative style is pretty conventional, but I like how it causes chills in the second half. Also "Solaris", although the descriptions of the various phenomenons on Solaris get a bit tedious over time. And finally "The Invincible" if you like dystopian tales of artificial intelligence swarms going bad.
      - cben 12y ago
        Of the serious ones "Fiasco" made a deep impression on me. The alien contact mystery is not bad, but the main theme is certainly human behavior and decision making.
bastionride 12y ago
As a Russian myself, I recommend Strugatsky brothers "The Doomed City", because firstly: it's a damn good book. Secondly, I think it gives great, subtle and wild representation of soviet people minds. Also, this book is full of awesome philosophical ideas, for which it was hidden from general public for a lot of years.
- myth_drannon 12y ago
  Too bad there is no English translation, it's a gem that is often overlooked over more mainstream sci-fi like "Roadside picnic"
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
jakobdabo 12y ago
Some recent works: "Metro 2033" by Dmitry Glukhovsky - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_2033 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_2033 "Night Watch" by Sergei Lukyanenko - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_%28Lukyanenko_novel%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_%28Lukyanenko_nove...
- geoka9 12y ago
  Lukyanenko is hardly "Soviet/Eastern Bloc". He's more of a "present-day Russia" author.
- PerfectDlite 12y ago
  Both of them are pulp-fiction and a pale reflection of works of modern US and UK authors. I can recommend them only if you need to compare queality of mass-produced fiction across several countries.
hellbanner 12y ago
Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky "Written in Soviet Moscow in the 1920s—but considered too subversive even to show to a publisher—the seven tales included here attest to Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky’s boundless imagination, black humor, and breathtaking irony: a man loses his way in the vast black waste of his own small room; the Eiffel Tower runs amok; a kind soul dreams of selling “everything you need for suicide”; an absentminded passenger boards the wrong train, winding up in a place where night is day, nightmares are the reality, and the backs of all facts have been broken; a man out looking for work comes across a line for logic but doesn’t join it as there’s no guarantee the logic will last; a sociable corpse misses his own funeral; an inventor gets a glimpse of the far-from-radiant communist future." http://www.amazon.com/Memories-Future-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590173198/ http://www.amazon.com/Memories-Future-Review-Books-Classics/...
thesz 12y ago
Early Strugatskies, "Noon, 21st century". A look into how communism would like. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon_Universe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noon_Universe Efremov: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Yefremov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Yefremov Golovachev: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Golovachov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Golovachov Especially early works - how clash of civilizations would look and live like. Alexander Belyaev: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Belyaev http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Belyaev A classic sci-fi writer, very grounded though. And for pure aesthetic pleasure - Vadim Shefner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadim_Shefner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadim_Shefner His writings are so poetic, kind, ironic and alive. I still reread some of his works, despite not reading much those days.

amk_ 12y ago

Definitely check out the Andrei Tarkovsky film adaptation of "Roadside Picnic", called "Stalker." He also adapted Stanislaw Lem's "Solaris," which was mentioned below.

tome 12y ago
I very much loved the book but wish I hadn't watched the film. It was only tangentially related to the book.
kiiski 12y ago
There is also a Finnish indie movie based on (or inspired by) it, called Vyöhyke (the zone) [1]. Nowhere near as good as Stalker, but it was published on Youtube [2], so it's easy&free to watch if you have the time to spare. [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2627842/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2627842/ [2] http://youtube.com/watch?v=EwkIaJX3hmg http://youtube.com/watch?v=EwkIaJX3hmg
kbenson 12y ago
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of video games are supposedly based or (or at least heavily influenced) by this book. It's an interesting setting.
- trhway 12y ago
  my understanding that basic setting of Stalker was influenced by the massive WWII Japan Army fortifications in the Far East where Arcady Strugatsky served right after WWII.
ultrasandwich 12y ago
"Stalker" is free on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYEfJhkPK7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYEfJhkPK7o and will likely leave you speechless.
- hyperion2010 12y ago
  I had a chance to see this in all of its 35mm glory a couple of years ago. It is an absolutely stunning film.