A music journalist and columnist writing about provincial Belarus suddenly decides to write a novel — and that novel is just as suddenly published and attracts a fair amount of attention. That’s Alexander Chernukho. I had never read his work before: I’ve almost never been interested in music criticism, and Belarusian online media had long since dropped out of my field of view altogether — especially after 2020, when many outlets simply ceased to exist.
As for what the state calls “official media,” it’s hard to describe that as journalism at all. In fact, according to the author himself, those very official outlets became one of the triggers that pushed him to write his satirical novel Pigs. Because how can you not laugh at what they print and broadcast? Though at its core, the book is first and foremost a response to Alexander’s own emotional experience of the events of 2020 in Belarus — just expressed in the form of a comic-satirical novel. After all, it’s well known that the best remedy for anger, bitterness, and melancholy is laughter.
So the As*trobiologists series has hit a kind of anniversary, because Cyber Vacation is already the tenth (!!!) book in the series. And the further it goes, the more Olga Gromyko focuses on characters who, in the earlier books, only flickered in the background. Though you can’t really call Roger Sakai—now a police officer, formerly a buccaneer of the space seas—a truly second-rate character.
No, Roger was practically the main antagonist at the very beginning of the whole story. And after becoming a cop (well, who can catch pirates better than an ex-pirate?), he also popped up in the adventures that followed.
The new book is, on the one hand, a collection of novellas, each with its own small story—and on the other hand, one investigation that our dashing Roger has to carry out.
In fact, he came to the planet Cassandra—populated mostly by sentient cyborgs—not for work at all. He was planning to spend a pre-wedding vacation here, but at the last moment his fiancée couldn’t make it. So Roger goes looking for something to do, so he doesn’t just sit around twiddling his thumbs out of boredom.
Swedish writers have been pleasantly surprising me lately. Not that I’ve read a lot of them, but first Fredrik Backman became an insanely “tasty” discovery for me a few years ago, and now Jonas Jonasson. There’s something about these Swedes. They seem to write about life, yet they do it lightly, beautifully, and with touches of humor.
For many years Jonas Jonasson worked as a journalist and television producer (just like my wife), and then suddenly decided to drastically change his life and write a book. And that book sold like crazy—first in Sweden, and then around the world.
The book titled The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared really does begin with the main character, the old man Allan—whose 100th birthday is literally minutes away from being celebrated at the retirement home—deciding to escape through the window. And to get far away before anyone notices he’s gone. What follows is a chain of unforeseen events, in which the old man almost immediately finds himself in possession of a suitcase with a million, a whole group of companions, and a small trail of bodies behind him.
I feel like by the ninth book in the “As*troheds” series by Olga Gromyko, I’m starting to repeat myself in my reviews. Yes, Karma is the ninth installment of the series that Olga Gromyko began with Andrei Ulanov 11 years ago. Though Ulanov co-wrote only the first novel with Olga, the rest of the series has been written by her alone.
In short, the series takes place in the not-too-distant future, where humanity has ventured into space, colonized numerous planets, established diplomatic and trade relations with other races, and — importantly for the series — started producing cyborgs by growing living bodies and implanting them with electronics and cybernetic enhancements.
Essentially, the entire series revolves around the theme of sentient cyborgs — their plight running like a white thread through the otherwise reckless and humorous adventures of the book’s characters.
The earlier books told the story of the crew of the starship The Space Brain-Eater, although at times separate stories and novellas featured different protagonists. Eventually, Olga stepped away from the original crew and focused more on parallel events. The result, in my opinion, was mixed. The Cyborg and His Forester was interesting, but I liked it less than the others. The follow-up, See You on Cassandra!, was much more enjoyable, largely thanks to the colorful avshur character, Sarah.
Where the previous book was a sort of ensemble piece, bringing together heroes from various novels, novellas, and stories, the new novel titled Karma sees Olga Gromyko once again focusing on a small group. The main character is the cyborg Kai, who was “adopted” by a former soldier nicknamed Shooter — a story told in one of the cycle’s short stories. Kai has grown up (by cyborg standards) and no longer sees himself as a child. He’s left Cassandra and works as a mercenary. However, he does this with a measure of contempt for regular humans, who still see cyborgs as soulless machines, despite the ongoing movement for cyborg rights. Slowly, though, Kai begins to change his attitude toward the team that hired him — especially as his childhood friend (and secret love) joins the mission. Especially since her father’s life is at stake.
Let’s set aside the serious topics for now and talk about something even more serious—have you mastered driving in Cyprus or not?
You’ve probably become a full-fledged Cypriot driver if the following statements apply to you.
You never use your indicator—unless you accidentally hit the lever.
The “Stop” sign is just a variation of a “Yield” sign to you.
You’re convinced the stop line at intersections is supposed to be behind your car.
You’re convinced that you’ve done ‘everything possible’ to give way to the car on the main road if you pull out directly in front of it, blocking at least half of the lane, but most importantly — you STOPPED to let it pass (even though it’s now impossible for anyone to get through because of you).
You never slow down or check for other vehicles when entering a main road.
When turning right from a side road, you calmly pull out into the center, blocking the way for everyone coming from the right (remember — it’s LEFT-HAND driving, like in the UK). And those who had to stop because of you DON’T GET ANNOYED!
You know for sure that a red traffic light means “you can go if you really need to.” Even if the police are nearby.
You calmly drive through a red pedestrian light (not at an intersection, but specifically for pedestrian crossings) if the pedestrian has already crossed or there’s no one at all. Just like the previous situation — even if the police are nearby.
You park your car in any available space, whether it’s a street corner, a sidewalk, the opposite lane, or two spaces at once — after all, your car just looks better taking up both spots.
You feel entirely entitled to stop right in the middle of the road if you spot a friend driving toward you. Of course, you’ll chat through the open windows for a good 5-10 minutes. The cars behind you? Well, meeting a friend is far more important!
Double solid line? What’s that? You can’t cross it? Oh, come on! See, even the police officer stopped to let me through!
You’re sure that moving at 5 cm per second at an intersection doesn’t count as actual movement, and therefore allows you to turn even on a red light.
You can comfortably block someone else’s car without leaving your phone number. And if someone blocks your car, you would never bother calling the large number displayed under their windshield.
You never pay at a paid parking spot using a parking meter.
You consider it normal to leave your car parked all day during summer with the windows open for ventilation. Sometimes, you even leave the keys in the ignition, just in case your car might block someone from exiting.
If you need to get out of your car, you abruptly swing open the door without checking the mirrors to see if someone is coming from behind.
In heavy rain on the highway, you turn on your hazard lights, drastically reduce your speed, or even stop completely by the side of the road.
You don’t care about scratches and dents on your car. And if you happened to bump or scratch someone else’s car? Well, even less so!
You have a perfect sense of timing and confidently maintain the necessary 0.1-second interval before honking at the car in front of you, signaling that the light turned green 0.1 seconds ago.
You know that if you honk long enough at cars stuck in traffic or behind an obstacle, either the obstacle will magically vanish, or the cars in front will disappear into thin air.
You always talk on the phone while driving. Always! Without it, the car just doesn’t run as smoothly.
If you ever get the feeling that you might be doing something wrong (whether while driving or parking), simply turning on your hazard lights instantly absolves you of all responsibility.
I’m sure there’s more to add… I’ll keep working on it myself, or maybe I’ll update it with suggestions from the comments.
It’s not often that you start reading a book after hearing it advertised on the radio. That’s exactly what happened with Olivia Judson’s Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation. While driving to work, I heard it being praised in a morning show, where they essentially read out the book’s synopsis. I fell for it right away.
Strangely enough, the book is indeed about sex. But not about family life problems and how to overcome them (the ever-popular topic), but about how it all works among different species that inhabit our planet.
The book is a popular science work, but it’s different from others in that it’s structured as answers from the fictional Dr. Tatiana to readers of her column. And the readers are not humans.
