*************************** PO Box 153 ****************************
OROYKHON, WHICH BUILT ILBECH
FROM THE EDITOR: This letter came to one of the St. Petersburg magazines
fishing, which is where it came to the editors of Two Hundred. We contacted the auto-
ramie, and they allowed us to publish it, omitting the introductory
paragraph and putting the title suggested by I. Shishin.
As you know, children do not know how to spend money. In this we are the odd one out
Once we were convinced when the eldest son, having snatched away all his pocket money at once -
gi, I bought Svyatoslav Loginov’s novel “The Many-Armed God Yes-
line". It would be more accurate to say that he didn’t buy it, but bought it by falling for
another figure of a sorcerer covered with the lights of St. Elmo. Adult
a person would not make such a mistake - in recent years we have seen
there were these doubles of the star emperor. However, let’s leave the sorcerer
on the conscience of the artist and take a closer look at the text. First, having seen the book,
gu, they were even pleased: finally there is a domestic one on the cover
surname, which means one can hope that the author writes in Russian, and
not in pidgin Russian, which is practiced by translators from the American
Kansky
Grandmother, acting as home censor, said,
that there are no noticeable obscenities in the book, although she (the grandmother)
which I didn’t understand. As a result, the novel was given to children. Very soon
we discovered that our sons' language had strangely enriched
Xia. The following have come into usewords like “lousy taiza”, “zhirkh stink-
"chiy" and other equally euphonious terms. Parental bewilderment
The confusion dissipated when we took up the novel.
Alas, all our hopes for the Russian language disappeared like smoke,
because it turned out to be easy to read “The Many-Armed God” without a dictionary
impossible. And a considerable vocabulary is required: avar, avhai, barged, bower,
van, gwaaranz, dalain... and further down the alphabet. True, the "E" word
It wasn’t found, but there’s a whole menagerie of “E” ones. You read and want
say something energetic starting with the same letter. Andrey Balabukha -
the author of the afterword - kindly explained to us the reason for this strange
tee. We are not against copyright complexes, but why print
their circulation is twenty-five thousand copies and distributed throughout
country?
The list of verbal monsters is completed by yamkh, which is used to measure the character
wakh, which is used by the uher, which is used to defend the oroikhon, which
built by Ilbech. What's it like? For what offenses did the author bite him?
si, makes us read this? And why are they trying to convince us that
Is the novel written in Russian? However, conscientious Andrei Balabukha
reports that all these Uulguis and Zhuzhigchins come from Mongolia. In that
In any case, perhaps the novel should have been published not on the banks of the Volga.
gi, and somewhere closer to the blue Kerulen? Just how to relate-
Do the descendants of Genghis Khan resort to such treatment of their language?
In the meantime (a bad example is contagious) our sons are talking in
wildpseudo-Mongolian jargon:
- You little zogg, crawl into your shawar!
- I'll make you get drunk!
Great is the mighty Russian language.
I. and I. Shishin
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Sergey SOBOLEV (Lipetsk):
VS FANTASY
In the glorious time of Change, when the swallow-up communists are no longer
could steal like Brezhnev, and the democrats haven’t started everything yet
Chubaitize privately, among fans who are pretty tortured by the “youth”
pre-Guards science fiction, there was a wave of interest in the Nevedo-
my fantasy genre, which flourished wildly in the West, and here we have a well-known
only according to the incomplete Tolkien (excellent!), and the same incomplete
full Stewart (wonderful!). The rest is hidden, they do not give pleasure -
give readers magnificent tales. So we were waiting for a meeting with
Unknown, but domestic science fiction writers slightly
pushing the boundaries of SF, they were immediately and bluntly called fantasy.
This word, as linguists say, has become very “noisy” - that is,
used excessively often; it turns into a parasitic word,
and soon they will sculpt him anywhere - just to sell the book.
(See, for example, the preface to V. Pelevin’s stories in “Independence”
my newspaper" dated January 24, 1993.).
However, everything was pretty spoiled by the “North-West”, this Stakhanov
from book publishing, having issued dozens of volumes inpoisonous yellow
spoons of very unreadable products: if the author is decent-
If the translation is smooth, then the translator will overdo it, and if the translation is smooth, then
The author is not memorable. Now, having become disillusioned with the Unknown,
which did not bring other subjects into Russian science fiction, including
other than imitations, our beloved writers are very concerned about the future
the ultimate fate of a small fantasy child. Otherwise how to explain
selection in "TWO HUNDRED-V"?
In the "Open Letter..." D. Gromov and O. Ladyzhensky did not openly
call for the triumph of fantasy over all other literature, but
everyone knows their stories, written not without paradoxes, but devoid of
any kind of entertainment. The writer's credo is new
the revealed Kharkov school is stated in the motto of the new almanac
"The Master's Library" - "Not a word about politics!" It's like throwing it away
politics, life will bloom with cornflowers and daisies. Are they no longer
remember that the set of blinders on the eyes includes a whip and a shroud
ry?
I also have several comments regarding N. Romanetsky’s article.
The fact that Soviet science fiction “turned out to be less interesting” is
This is a matter of personal taste. For me, Pokrovsky’s volume is better,
than the collected works of Foster or Norton. Attempts to withdraw
analogies with the development of SF and the victory of “physicists” over “lyricists” and warriors
all are inappropriate - do we see bourgeois in the “Young Guard” school?
a line of scientific discoveries and a cascade of fantasticinventions? No
this. And the comparison with a turner, like any other comparison, is lame -
etc. And on both legs at once. Firstly, N. Romanetsky does not like
It’s true that some writers spend a long time polishing their works. What
to do - Leo Tolstoy rewrote "War and Peace" eight times, himself
I saw different versions in the old PSS. From domestic "grinding-
phrase makers" let me remind you of S. Dovlatov and B. Stern, M. Weller and M. Uspe-
nsky.
"Poetry -
the same radium mining,
Per gram production,
per year labor.
You exhaust one word for the sake of
Thousands of tons
verbal ore.
But how
witheringly
these words burn
Nearby
with smoldering
raw words"
Or is Mayakovsky no longer an authority?
And secondly, according to N. Romanetsky, it turns out that the Real Scripture is
he must find the right word right away... And what do we get?
is it expected? Another idea in a not-so-pretty wafer from the literature
ry stamps and hackneyed clichés. Wasn’t the author against this?
a few paragraphs above?
It is in vain that S. Loginov so categorically rejects the place of pornography in
Great Literature. One can name one of the translated authors G. Miller
and W. Burroughs, partly D. Fowles and D. Joyce. Another thing is that it’s unlikely
Will anyone in our editorial office bear such revelations...Most of all, I agree with N. Perumov - regarding the
definitions of fantasy as a genre describing the Middle Ages, but neither
in no way with far-reaching conclusions. And here's why. Fiction
describes more and more new models of societies on populated planets -
tah or in different eras (preferring, of course, the whole palette of worlds
The future - from ashen post-nuclear ones to milky-jelly commu-
nistic). Heroes of different SF stories, coexisting under one
cover of some anthology, they are unlikely to be able to adapt to
dwelling in the space of neighboring works of the same
my hypothetical collection, and here's why:
a) different technical levels of civilizations:
b) different habitats on the planets (write a fantasy about
silicone spiders breathing ammonia!);
c) incompatible ethical and social norms.
And fantasy is a haven of medieval mentality. Witches
E. Norton will not disappear in the worlds of Moorcock, the demon Aahz will deceive someone
whatever you want, Conan will make his way in any series. People of one
world. No matter how much science fiction writers agree on a single con-
concept and chronological table of the Future, even Heinlein’s
This system is sometimes disrupted; the more attractive it is, the Future
for an uninhibited, liberated mind - an incredible number of variations -
ants! Fantasy - thrown back into the past, and, no matter how you vary it, the average
centuries are more or less reflected inhistorical works and works of modern
mennikov. Fantasy is a test for the author on the topic: "Presentation
urbanized man of technogenic civilization industrial-
of the world about the life, morals and mythological consciousness of the Middle-aged man
non-century (V-XV centuries)".
Professor J.R.R. I've been studying my subject all my life, and you want
swoop in?
The arsenal of problems, types and plots in fantasy is huge. Well then
use it, as Zelazny, Stol-
Rov, Uspensky, Loginov and many others! There's nothing left to fight for
"pure genre" Any “pure genre” - be it fantasy, space
opera, disaster novels or romance novels - are likened to TV-se-
rials, and their fans just really want it again and again
press your favorite buttons.
If we imagine fantasy as part of science fiction - a sphere within a sphere
re - how can one assert its superiority over SF? Clean
joke about how our Earth contains within itself another plane-
no, but a much larger diameter?
Doesn’t it seem to dear readers that a collection of short stories could
by the great writer from Smolensk Isaac Osimov “I, Slave” is a typical
the ultimate fantasy? The invention of the famous alchemist Susan Kelvin
new Three Spells for the slave-homunculus - for a long time -
popular among Russian writers!
* * *
This, so to speak, is my reaction to the notes in The Eternal Thinker.Regarding the nominees for Interpresscon-95, my version is this:
1. Kazmenko S. “Lord of the Puppets”;
2. Uspensky M. “Dear Comrade King”;
3. Pelevin V. “Ivan Kublakhanov”;
4. Rybakov V. “Spinning in search of meaning.”
However, eighteen sources - magazines and books, unfortunately for me,
not available. I haven’t seen “MiF”, “Worlds” at all.
I read with pleasure the dialogue between A. Chertkov and V. Rybakov -
Once again I was convinced that tolerance, that is, “powerful ethics”, is not enough
then in the world.
The article "How Hedgehogs Die" is excellent. Commenting experience
texts are generally a curiosity, except for the French structure -
sheets like R. Barth, and when applied to science fiction such experience
very interesting. Moreover, the theme - Death - is quite eternal.
Keep it up! Why hide behind Yashka Skitsin, I’m not completely
I understand.
Best regards,
Sergey Sobolev 28.3.1995
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Alexander LYUTIKOV (St. Petersburg):
I liked the room. Very informative, interesting, varied
zen In the future, if you continue like this, I'm going to
Don't skimp on reading magazine issues...
The only "empty space" in the room, in my opinion, is this
called "letter to publishers". Why? Firstly, because
it is simply outdated. More precisely, not it itself, but information
(about the non-publication of domesticscience fiction writers), on which the idea is based
letters. As proof of my point of view, I will give the following:
The following two facts from the same, discussed issue of the magazine TWO HUNDRED:
list of nominees for the Bronze Snail Award, which is absolutely
no less than its last year brother, and, it seems to me, even
more than one and a half to two times, and the “News” section. Last year
Russian science fiction was published by only three publishing houses: "Terra
Fiction", "Phlox" and "Text". The last two continue this de-
even now, I can’t say anything about the first one, but how much
publishing houses added to the list?
Secondly... Is “secondly” necessary? As they say: "More
You don't have to continue." But still...About the writing style: it told me right away
recalled numerous appeals from various publishing houses, associations
ations etc. to the government, president, etc. about the disaster
provisions of domestic book publishing (see "Book Review"
over the past two to three years - in one out of every five issues there is
you find what you are looking for). Well, of course, from the outside you can see better than who is better
engage...
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Alexey SVIRIDOV (Moscow):
I am grateful to you in every possible way for the very fact of the existence of “Two-
stay" until now, and for that, "Two Hundred" regularly hit
are given into my hands, stained with the blood and tears of Arbitman, whom
During interrogations I sadistically tortured...The first words are just about him: the naughty “laugh” showed
I felt like I had crossed a certain border. If he has anything from me -
to answer to the point - so let him answer. And about sending out books, and
about annoying advertising. But stooping to bad-smelling
names - fe. Why am I expressing this to you and not to him: every
he is free to write what he wants, but whether to publish it or not is up to the editor.
tora. In this sense it is much easier for me.
The second words are on approximately the same topic. Madame under the pseudonym Li-
xo went through the “biased fan press”. Andrey Nikola-
Ev, a request to you: I regularly supply you with FGDs. Give it to you
give her a kit on occasion, and let her find at least one mention of Shchego-
left And then he writes about engagement.
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