Sharp Cooling

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.