In the stories and tales of Anna Starobinets, the ordinary life of completely ordinary people unexpectedly turns to the reader with its mystical, frightening side.
Parallel worlds, terrible secrets, house spirits - everything is intertwined and leaves a feeling of some kind of incompleteness.
Anna Starobinets can boldly be called the domestic Stephen King.
"Homebody"
The story is told from the perspective of a house spirit who observes the life of a Moscow apartment where an old owner is dying. The house spirit keeps the family's secrets, experiences loneliness and loss - and into this process weaves his own inner life and metamorphoses.
"Awkward Ones"
A tale about unnamed creatures or “outsiders” inhabiting human space - an ongoing terrorist attack in the metro becomes an expression of their hatred for people.
"Straight and Left"
A story about a man whose reality and consciousness are torn apart: sick, he feels déjà vu as if he lives in parallel worlds, and cannot hold onto his memory - words fly out of his head, and he tries to understand where is “straight” and where is “left”, in which world he lives.
"Sharp Cooling"
The central story: about a girl who is bullied at school and lacks her father's love. She believes in a witch, sends her letters with wishes - and magic may fulfill them. But her wishes are not always bright, and her faith can lead to terrible consequences.
"In Hell"
A story about an interrogation: “Santa Claus,” who is being interrogated by an investigator, may not be who he seems. The whole story is a play of reality and memories, where one cannot be sure whether his words are true or just fantasy.
- 1. From the master of Russian horror, deftly combining the mundane with the alarming and magical. The writer's prose is compared to the works of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Franz Kafka.
- 2. Five atmospheric stories with a winter mood: “Homebody,” “Awkward Ones,” “Straight and Left,” “Sharp Cooling,” “In Hell.”
- 3. Anna Starobinets is a laureate of the “Best Writer in Europe” award from the Congress of the European Society of Science Fiction, as well as several other international literary awards.