SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I'm looking for good, new-ish science fiction or fantasy in Russian. Ideally something fairly easy - in the Isaac Asimov line. (If only Isaac Asimov had been Russian! :-) )

Physical book recommendations would be best this week - my wife's in Russia. ebook recommendations any time.

No objection to people promoting their own work.

ebook recommendations in Romanian would be nice too.

Have you read through Lukjanenko's work? Not just the Watch series, but his space operas and cyberpunk. He's pretty good, and I don't think the language is extremely difficult (hard for me to tell, though - native speaker bias(.

Genia wrote: "Have you read through Lukjanenko's work? "

I haven't tried him. I considered it, but all I know of him are the movies, and SF movies are anybody's guess. I'll ask my wife to pick something up. Thanks!

Well, Strugatsky brothers have cult following on the territory of the former Soviet Union and these are the first names that come to mind as soon as somebody mentions Russian sci-fi, but they are not exactly new. Still if you have not read anything from them, I highly recommend their works starting with Roadside Picnic.

I love the Strugatskys to death but if I were asked to compare the level of their language vis-a-vis, say, the Prince from Planet Earth trilogy, I'd say that for someone whose Russian may not be amazing the latter is the better choice.

The OP also asked for sci-fi that is new-ish, and when factoring these two criteria, I had to forego recommending the Strugatskys.

In terms of quality, indubitably, the Strugatskys are much, much better.

As the OP - let's say that Gogol and Tolstoy are feasible, but slow going for me. I thought I'd try something a little more up to date. Sounds like the Strugatskys might be more in the Vance line than the Asimovian, but I'll recommend them to my wife.

The Strugatskys are hard SF. I haven't read Vance, but they are definitely not science-fantasy. In a lot of ways, the Strugatskys are unique in what they do, but i would say they're more in the Bradbury style. Things can be a little weird, but it's still hard Sci-fi.

Try to begin with Hard to be a God, Roadside Picnic, and the Inhabited Island trilogy.

B, I have to add my endorsement for Roadside Picnic. It's not new, and I only discovered it recently, but what a great find.

Thanks. My wife's in Russia now, and has picked up several of these recommendations. I think Picnic is one.

Did you read Henry Lion Oldie? They are one from the best russian writers i think.
Путь меча or Герой должен быть один aren't very difficult IMHO.

Also I like Олег Дивов very much. Храбр'll be good if you like non-typical fantasy.

May be Евгений Лукин - Портрет кудесника в юности - cycle of short funny stories

PS (If only Isaac Asimov had been Russian! :-) )
He was born in Petrovichi in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (near the modern border with Belarus) )))

Thanks. I've started a couple of books, but I'll take a look at these as well.

(If only Isaac Asimov had been Russian! :-) Joke!

I liked Roadside Picnic too ( though I read an English translation). But my favorite Strugatsky book is probably The Snail On the Slope. I wrote a paper on it in college, which I recently found. I'll have to re type it or scan it (it was written on an electric typewriter) and post it somewhere on Goodreads.

I really liked Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, and there is a sequel that I haven't read yet, but has pretty high ratings. Depends how much fantasy/post-apocalyptic dystopia you like in your Sci-Fi though, so ymmv. But it's certainly pretty current :)

I should add, if she reads them in Russian, picking up a lot of Strugatsky material would be a good idea, since translations in English, other than Roadside Picnic, are extremely pricey these days.

They're for me - I'm the only one needing the Russian to be simple. But I've discovered litres.ru, which as far as I can tell offers legitimate ebooks. Now if I could just get a functional Russian dictionary on my nook...

When you buy books on litres do not forget - they are guys who tried to ban MoonReader from google's PlayMarket in the favor of their own reader and also make other nice things