The Great Guslyar

Kir Bulichev is the second most significant figure in domestic science fiction of the 20th century after the Strugatsky brothers. Several generations of readers grew up with his books, and the first reading love is enduring and does not fade over time. The founder of the Great Guslyar, the godfather of Alisa Seleznyova, a girl from the future Earth, the chronicler of the labors and days of Doctor Pavlysh and his friends from the crew of the interplanetary starship "Segiezha", the pilot on the river Chronos, connecting different shores of Russia in time — Kir Bulichev is multidimensional, like life itself; in his literary universe, there is a place for both playful pranks and biting, merciless irony, as well as the wisdom of a scholar and a seer. There is everything except boredom. The fantastic stories and tales about the city of the Great Guslyar, which stands on the Gusy River in the Vologda region, are one of the indisputable successes of the master (the collection includes the best, most famous works from this cycle). The city is famous for being located on the "earth bulge", and thus is seen by aliens from space better than any other city in the world. That is why they are frequent guests in this Russian northern city. The individual representatives of the population of the Great Guslyar should not be underestimated. Among them is Nikolai Ivanovich Lozhkin, a pensioner who wears special watches that provoke sharp dislike in those around him. And some others. But mostly, the people here are responsive, good-hearted, although they have character. For example, the resident of Great Guslyar, Korneliy Udalov. Whatever happens in his life — aliens abduct him one moment, scientists conduct their next crazy experiment on him the next. But he takes it all in stride... The name of the artist Yevgeny Migunov resonated brightly in the mid-1960s when the story-fairytale for younger scientific workers "Monday Begins on Saturday" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky was published. The image of Sasha Privalov became so familiar to all readers that we can no longer imagine another Privalov. And the illustrations for Kir Bulichev's cycles of works about the adventures of Alisa Seleznyova and the Great Guslyar (the latter represented in this book) are direct proof of this. Some of the illustrations for the collection were made by artist Viktor Mineev, who took up the baton and worthily continued the Master's work.