City of Strange Swords

Novaya's columnist Boris Vishnevsky talks about why the dictatorship doesn't know how to deal with crises

medical workers have died in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (*according to the “Memory List”)

There are different types of science fiction writers: classic ones - like Robert Sheckley, and not so much - like Milorad Pavic. Prizes for science fiction writers also vary: from the “Bronze Snail”, which Boris Strugatsky gives in accordance with his tastes, to the slightly more objective assessment of “Aelita”. However, the city of St. Petersburg is closest to its own award, awarded by the Congress of Science Fiction Writers of Russia - “The Wanderer”. On Saturday, the tenth anniversary ceremony of presenting “The Wanderer” was held at the House of Composers.

Oh, this Robert!

“Novaya Gazeta” could not miss the current congress: it seemed to be its own. Last Saturday, regular NG columnist Boris Vishnevsky presented the city and the world with a book of his own composition, “Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Double star." “No, of course, I won’t write about this in the newspaper,” he modestly admitted. The first book in Russia about favorite writers, a book “written by a grateful reader for other grateful readers,” is swallowed in one breath.
In theory, this review of the congress could be completed. But for the sake of decency, it must be said that Friday and Saturday were remembered by science fiction fans for other events. Let's skip the details and move on to the main event of Friday - the presentation of the "Swords" - an award that evaluates the popularity of a work. In order of priority: The Sword of Rumata (heroic-romantic work): Elena Khaetskaya “Bertrand of Langedot”; Sword in the Mirror (in the genre of alternative history): Yuri Brider, Nikolai Chatovich “Pain in the Head”; Moon Sword (mysticism, horror): Marina and Sergey Dyachenko “Valley of Conscience”; Sword in the Stone (fantasy): Olga Eliseeva “Falcon on the wrist.”
Saturday began at the Rodina cinema center with the exhibition “The Most Fantastic Artists of the World.” Book illustrations changed format and became self-sufficient... or did not. At least, not all works are understandable if you have not had time to read this or that creation of Nikitin or Stolyarov. On the other hand, it’s hard to deny the lack of imagination to Andrey Karapetyan, a designer of rental equipment, or Leo Hao (Alexey Shamrovsky), a marketer, restorer and undertaker. In general, it begins to seem that the most talented animators are dying within these walls...
However, let's turn this amateurish glance to the next event of the congress - the discussion between Robert Sheckley and Milorad Pavic, which, unfortunately, St. Petersburg did not see. Pavich fell ill, and therefore the Italian publisher and writer Roberto Quaglia had to represent Europe in the “America versus Europe” debate.
Sheckley immediately tried to set the tone for the meeting by declaring that America was sorely lacking in the kind of ruins that abounded in Europe. And he complained: instead of conquering Italy and France and supplying works of art to the States, America is busy seizing Afghanistan and Iraq, from which there is nothing to take. And Quaglia seemed to support his opponent... However, the Russian public was not very happy with this course of events and continued to attack the writers with questions about the future of the world and the confrontation between Christianity and Islam. Sheckley did not give up and said that he should probably stay awake at night, thinking about the fate of the planet, but for some reason he was thinking more and more about what would be for breakfast, lunch, dinner... As a result, the talents and fans parted ways.
And that same Saturday evening, leading Russian science fiction writers found themselves with their “Wanderers.” Svyatoslav Loginov received a major prize for his novel “The Light in the Window”, Elena Khaetskaya was awarded for the story “Ashes”, and the small prize was won by Leonid Kaganov and his story “The Epic of the Predator”. In the genre of criticism, Gennady Prashkevich and his “Small Baedeker in SF” were recognized as the best, and Andrei Lazarchuk won laurels for translating Heinlein’s novel “Passing through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.” In general, everything turned out to be more or less predictable. But the rain disrupted the science fiction writers' Sunday walk along the rivers and canals.

A.K.