Vortex
★★★★★
Apart from the Russian names, these stories don’t strike me as particularly Russian. They also don’t seem to have anything much to say, though it’s possible something was lost in translation. Unless you’re a Strugatskii collector, an anthology to skip.
The Time Scale, Aleksander and Sergei Abramov ⭐⭐⭐
A stranger in a bar demonstrates a device which allows the experience of living the most intense versions of all the multiversal possibilities for the next half hour. A mosaic tale of gangster shenanigans ensues.
Futility, Andrei Gorbovskii ⭐⭐
Alien traders come to Earth to trade, but are water dwellers, so they miss humanity. Too reliant on the final page aha, and frankly unbelievable.
The Test, Artur Mirer ⭐
A man is requested to visit an automated factory run by a superbrain. Poorly written with no story.
The Old Road, Artur Mirer ⭐
A woman gives birth in the aforementioned factory as it’s bombed. Pretty incomprehensible with confusing dialogue.
The Silent Procession, Boris Smagin ⭐
A time machine is created with a painting, and nothing much happens.
He Will Wake in Two Hundred Years, Andrei Gorbovskii ⭐⭐⭐
A man freezes himself to go 200 years into the future. Builds a nice sense of tension and then flops.
The Second Martian Invasion, Arkadii & Boris Strugatskii ⭐⭐
I think this is deliberate banality with a dash of the surreal. While the Martians take over our protagonist is worrying about his pension and fretting about stamp swaps. The diary format endlessly repeats his provincial and parochial daily life, while just out of view, the more interesting SF happens. We never find out why the Martians want gastric juices, or what has happened in the capital, instead, we’re presented with the capitulation of a rural prolatariat who cares little who’s in charge.
