Short stories by the Strugatsky brothers

Lore & Background

The Strugatsky brothers, Arkady and Boris, began their literary collaboration around 1955, developing a technique for working together that resulted in the short story 'Sand Fever,' first published in 1990. Their first published short story, 'From Beyond,' was written in 1957 and printed in 1958 in the magazine Tekhnika Molodezhi; it was later incorporated as a chapter in the novel 'Noon: 22nd Century.' Some short-form works from 1959 to 1961 formed the novel 'Noon: 22nd Century' (1962). By 1963, the co-authors realized that writing short stories was 'no longer interesting' to them and never returned to the genre.

Arkady Strugatsky's earliest preserved work is the unfinished early work or fragment 'How Kang Died,' written in 1946 when he was a 20-year-old cadet. The story, about a deep-sea predator compelled to intervene in a battle between a submarine and a destroyer, remained in the archive until 2001. Boris Strugatsky's first literary experiments date to the mid-1950s. The brothers typically developed plot ideas individually, with joint work occurring at the final stage. Many archival texts not intended for publication appeared in collected works in the 1990s–2000s.

Reader's Guide

The Strugatsky brothers' short stories, though a relatively brief phase of their career, are significant for documenting the origins of their collaborative method and thematic preoccupations. Their early works, such as 'How Kang Died' and 'The Fourth Kingdom,' show a blend of science fiction with adventure and patriotic elements, while stories like 'Six Matches' achieved popularity and translation. The brothers' abandonment of the short story form in 1963 marked a shift toward longer works, but their early fiction continued to be reprinted irregularly in the 1970s–1980s and more systematically in later collected editions. The autobiographical novel 'Lame Fate' presents these early stories with extreme self-criticism, and Boris Strugatsky's 'Comments on the Past' describes their creation. The legacy of their short fiction lies in its reflection of the Strugatskys' evolving craft and the historical context of Soviet science fiction, though critical examination of works like 'The Fourth Kingdom' remains limited.

Did You Know?

• The Strugatsky brothers wrote approximately 20–25 short stories and other short-form works between 1955 and 1963.
• Arkady Strugatsky's earliest preserved work, 'How Kang Died,' is an unfinished early work or fragment written in 1946 and first published in 2001.
• The short story 'Sand Fever,' written around 1955, was first published in 1990.