All Able to Hold Arms... Stormbird

Many authors have marked the genre of alternative history—both domestic and foreign. Let's recall at least Ray Bradbury with his classic story “A Sound of Thunder” about a butterfly that changed the fate of humanity. But the Second World War holds particular allure among writers who have turned to this theme. This is understandable. It left too deep an imprint in the memory and hearts of people. Among Western authors, Philip K. Dick immediately comes to mind with his “The Man in the High Castle,” Robert Harris's “Fatherland”… From our side—Sever Gansovsky, Sergey Abramov, Vyacheslav Rybakov… Andrey Lazarchuk stands out in this row. His novel “All Able to Hold Arms…” is a convincing confirmation of this. “Stormbird,” the second novel included in this book, is mysticism based on scientific principles. A morning of magicians, transitioning into noon and threatening a terrible evening. A secret history of the Second World War. The upper and lower worlds. Earth and Salem. People and non-people. The multilayeredness of the mystery—Lazarchuk always masters this. Layer by layer, shell by shell, he removes the veils from the mystery, and still something remains, inaccessible to our understanding, left for the reader for later.