World's Spring

by Vladimir Gakov

Recent Soviet science-fiction stories display a variety of views of alien and parallel worlds, space and time, and man's fears and hopes for the future

324 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I try to read EVERYTHING in the realm of Soviet SF so this is relevant to the rest of the catalog. I was left flat by this collection of short stories sometimes not even finishing one before moving to the next. My thoughts? There are some authors here I have wanted to read and hadn't before based on reputation but if this is there best then... I thinka contributing issue is the translation. The book was just too flat from beginning to end and I can't readily believe all the chosen stories would be that way. Maybe they read better in their original Russian - i hope so!

If you collect Soviet SF this needs to be on your shelf, If you want to experience great Soviet Sf though, look elsewhere. It is out there to be had but not here.

[Stevie Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did it take me three separate tries to get into this bad boy? Yes, yes it did. But it was worth it. I’m not a big Russian lit buff, and this might be the first Russian book--anthology or otherwise--in translation I've ever read. It was excellent. The stories, while written almost exclusively by men, were funny and haunting and enchanting in equal measure. I really appreciated the section divisions as well; it added to my experience knowing what vibe each story in each section would take on.

My favorite short stories in this anthology were the following:
- City and Wolf by Dmitri Bilenkin
- An Ugly Bioform by Kirill Bulychev
- Day of Wrath by Sever Gansovsky
- Coincidence by Alexander Gorbovsky