The stories listed here are glimpses into the life of the characters in the Crater Series before the USSR dissolved in 1991, and the world they were used to disappeared forever. The smithereens of that lost world still sparkle in the dirt that absorbed it. I will dig them up one by one and recall the images of our life before 1992.
The working title of the collection – Before Unexpected Trouble – reflects our state of mind at that time. Many of us hoped that our life would become better. Some of us were afraid that it would not end well. But nobody expected the catastrophe that actually happened. We lived assuming that our world would remain basically the same for the rest of our days and did not expect such big trouble.
In the story “Silence” I tried to capture the first impression from Kazakhstan steppe, experienced when I first time – after my first year in the university – decided to join those who were going to earn some money by building a house in Kazakhstan. It was many years ago, but still fresh in my memory.
“Monologue of a humble man” is the material that did not make it into Crater. It is Oleg’s inner monologue that reveals his thinking and attitude towards his friends and the world as a whole.
“Pigsty” is a true story of a building project we did with my friends in Siberia.
“Clean water” is memories about another working summer in Siberia, this time in Kamchatka.
“Encounter” is a story of Anatoly (nickname Chuchuna) – another character from the series Crater. It relates his experience of being lost in the Altai mountains and the unusual encounter he had with an unusual person.
“Climbing Morcheka” is a story about two friends who decided to climb a moderate route on the famous rock Morcheka in Crimea. The circumstances though forced them to change their plan and turned the seemingly benign ascent into a test of not just their climbing skills but also their endurance and their character. The time is the early 1980s – the height of the Era of Stagnation. The story closely follows the real events, but the names and facts have been slightly changed in order to provide for more creative freedom.
“Paul” describes one small rescue mission, in the center of which happened to be Paul – an extraordinary person – one of several with whom I was lucky to climb the mountains.
The story “My friend Sashka” follows closely real events that happened in the mountains with Sasha Petrov in the middle of it. It brought up and showed his character and personality, and, I hope, I managed to present it well enough.
“Ascent to Sisters” is an attempt to show how unpredictable events in mountains (and in life) can be. Here how Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev expressed it (translation by Evgenia Sarkisyants):
The echo of the word we place
Escapes our best anticipation,
And we receive appreciation
As we receive the blessed Grace.
“Three Days in August” captures my experience of the historic event – the attempt to reverse the political course of the USSR in 1991. I happened to get in the middle of it accidentally in Leningrad.
“Merry Christmas!” reflects the changes that started happening in the mountains after the USSR was dissolved. The traditional rules of behavior still exist, but new elements – foreigners and private guides – appear to stay.
“Roland’s business ideas” is actually not a standalone story, but just an episode that was written for Center, but was not included as lacking action. Yet, it provides some insight into the thinking of former-Soviet persons at the moment of their first encounter with the western worldview.
“Carbine” is another episode that was written for Center and then removed in order to add tension to the return of the group from the crater. Without carbine, Hitler (nickname of the small guy) would not pose as much potential danger.
“Within your soul a world” is also just a scene written for Diamonds, but cut out later. It is a dialog between Alexey and Oleg about the significance of poetry and art in general.