The Ugly Swans

The Ugly Swans Paperbackby Arkady Strugatsky (Author), Boris Strugatsky (Author)

Arkady, Strugatsky

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Collier MacMillan Ltd.

Originally published in Russian as Obitaemyi ostrov, translated into English by Helen Saltz Jacobson. First in series, followed by Beetle in the Anthill (original title: Zhuk v Muraveinike), and The Time Wanderers (original title: Volny Gasyat Veter).

Prisoners of Power (Best of Soviet SF)

Science Fiction

MacMillan Publishing Company

Definitely Maybe is a slightly alcohol tinged story of conflict between a group of Soviet scientists who are all working on pet projects to different ends, and some unknown enemy who wants to stop them from making further scientific discoveries in any field. The main character, Malianov, is a physicist who is working on a paper concerning the effect of stellar bodies on near by gas clouds, and though we are never told this, it seems that he is on the verge of making an enormous discovery that could change the way we use physics. Malianov works out of an apartment he shares with his wife and son who have both gone off on a vacation to his mother-in-law's home in the South. As Malianov sets down to working, which seems difficult to do because of the incredible heat wave that has struck the city, he is set upon by one distraction after another. First a merchant accidentally delivers boxes and boxes of food and alcohol. Then a stunning looking woman shows up who claims to be a long-lost friend of his wife's. Then neighbors begin visiting randomly. Eventually one of his neighbors is found dead in a way that is suggestive of suicide, though because of some signs of foul play, and the police begin to investigate Malianov as a suspect. During brief bouts of sobriety Malianov discusses what is going on in his life with friends of his who are scientists too, and learns that some experiencing the same phenomena. Some even have been visited by a mysterious red-haired man, very similar to the investigator who has been hounding Malianov over the murder. The red haired man tries to strong arm them to stop working on their various scientific projects.

Definitely Maybe

Collier

Summary (From the publisher):\nThe 22nd Century. Mankind is free from the age-old misery and poverty that have kept it in bondage, free to create a new world, to explore the universe, to confront the mysteries of human existence. Russia's greatest S-F writeres, Arkday and Boris Strugatsky, have produced a futuristic masterpiece of epic proportions and breathtaking vision.\nTwo interplanetary adventurers hurtle through space at a speed faster than light, and are flung a hundred years into the 22nd century. They find themselves on a planet both like and unlike the earth they abandoned so very long ago--and so recently.\nIt is a planet ruled by wisdom, where automated farms feed tens million inhabitants, where a complete system of moving roads brings the farthest outposts into close communion, where an advanced science in mechanization approaches the mysterious complexity of life itself. Here all effort is bound to the exhilarating art if discovery--way below the planet's waters, deep into the endless reaches of space and far beyond the boundless zones of the human mind.\nNight on Mars 
Almost the Same 
Old-timer 
The Conspirators 
Chronicle 
Two from the Taimyr 
The Moving Roads 
Cornucopia 
Homecoming 
Langour of the Spirit 
The Assaultmen 
Deep Search 
The Mystery of the Hind Leg 
Candles Before the Control Board 
Natural Science in the Spirit World ilgrims and Wayfarers 
The Planet with all the Conveniences 
Defeat 
The Meeting 
What You Will Be Like

Noon, 22nd Century

Boris, Strugatsky

Collier/Macmillan Publishing Co.

Far Rainbow / The Second Invasion from Mars

Maxim Kammerer is given a high-priority assignment as a security officer: track down Lev Abalkin, whose unorthodox, individualistic way of living threatens the status quo

Beetle in the Anthill (BEST OF SOVIET SCIENCE FICTION) (English and Russian Edition)

Macmillan Pub. Co.

Evgeny Slavin, the first human born on Mars and the first faster-than-light traveler, is propelled one hundred years into the future in company with four futuristic musketeers

Noon: 22nd Century (Macmillan's Best of Soviet science fiction) (English and Russian Edition)

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Macmillan

Prisoners of Power (Best of Soviet Science Fiction) (English and Russian Edition)

Macmillan Publishing Co.

When his ship crashes on an unknown planet, a young man from Earth finds himself stranded in a polluted world whose inhabitants are controlled by powerful doses of radiation.

Roadside Picnic / Tale Of The Troika

These three short novels, filled with philosophical and political overtones, explore man's role in observing and interfering with alien civilizations

Escape Attempt (Macmillan's Best of Soviet Science Fiction) (English and Russian Edition)

Macmillan Pub Co., NY & Collier Macmillan, London

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