Klondike southern limit map. The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. Why Annihilation is a movie of complex fate

Consolidation

Jeff VanderMeer Science fiction Misterium

In the mysterious Zone X, mutants and hunters for profit do not roam, and amazing artifacts are not brought from there. There they simply disappear forever - or return, but strangely and terribly changed. During another fruitless expedition, the director of the Southern Reach, a secret government organization studying the Zone, disappeared.

Now the new director will have to understand the legacy of the missing woman. The problem is that for an outsider, this organization turns out to be a mystery no less confusing than the Zone itself. Where are the research results? Why is the staff behaving so strangely? What are they really doing here? Penetrating the secrets of the Southern Reach, new director approaching a terrifying discovery...

Valentino Bontempi Cooking Cook and scullion

Each region of Italy is famous for its signature dishes, but whatever the region - northern Emilia-Romagna or southern Puglia - the main dish has been and will be pasta. There is no limit to the variety of pasta dishes. But in order to try real Italian pasta, you don’t have to wait for a vacation; you can cook at home penguine with artichokes, flounder, spaghetti carbona, “cockscombs” with citrus fruits and vegetables, rice fusilli with shrimp and much more.

What is needed for this? Nothing at all: high-quality ingredients, sunny mood and recipes from Valentino Bontempi, the guru of Italian cuisine.

Icelandic map

Alexander Gromov Historical fiction Icelandic map

The new action-packed novel by the popular science fiction writer Alexander Gromov is written in the genre alternative history and "alternative geography". By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Imperial Russia, a prosperous patriarchal state, occupies a leading place in world politics, vying for global influence with Great Britain, France, Germany and other developed European powers.

But there is simply no America - neither North nor South: from the western to the eastern borders of Eurasia one huge ocean stretches... Count Nikolai Nikolaevich Lopukhin, a secret agent of the Third Section, receives a personal order from the emperor to accompany the heir to the throne, heading on an official visit to Japan.

During the voyage, Lopukhin manages to uncover an international conspiracy to eliminate the heir. Now all that remains is to thwart the plans of the attackers - on the high seas, without the support of the Russian fleet, under the guns of the Icelandic pirates, who have the latest invulnerable super battleship...

Almanac “Russian bell” No. 1 2017

Almanac Poetry Literary almanac “Russian Bell” 2017

I prepare each issue of the Russian Bell almanac with great pleasure. I am always happy when regular authors publish their works on its pages from issue to issue. But I am most interested in new talented participants.

Their “test of the pen” on the pages of the almanac makes the issue cheerful and decisive, like everything new! In tandem with more experienced writers who masterfully master words, rhyme, and thought, each issue turns out to be solid and strong! And what a geography of talents in the Russian Bell almanac! From Far East to Kaliningrad, from the northern shores of the country to its southern borders.

What about the borders of Russia? Each issue we erase them and go beyond: we go on a creative journey and find Russian-speaking authors abroad. And we are pleased that our publication unites and inspires all authors.

The latest general geography. Part 2

William Guthrie Nonfiction Absent

Full title: “The latest general geography. or Description of all parts of the world Europe, Asia, Africa, America and South India; with the history of peoples and all states from the beginning to our times, with a new addition to Russian geography in its current state, with a description of the Bialystok region and Finland, with Russian history from the beginning of the origin of the Russians, to the days of the now reigning Emperor Alexander I: Part I, II and III.

Contains: a detailed description of each land such as: government, state revenues, limits, ancient and new names, division, climate, quality of land, mountains, forests, rivers, islands, bays, canals, lakes, mineral waters, metals and minerals , plants, animals, number of inhabitants, morals, customs and folk amusements, clothing, faith, language, scientists, writers and artists, universities and academies, antiquities, manufactories, trade, colonies, land and sea forces, topography, coins of the cavalry order, coat of arms , history of states, etc.

Antarctica section: are we ready?

Alexey Nast Journalism

F-22 Raptor. The predator is afraid of moisture. Kitty-kitty..."

Wedge. Part one (of three stories)

Roman Kinyev Historical fiction Missing No data

This story originates in the 80th year of the last century. IN southern city 12-year-old teenager Grisha Chanturia is moving to Teplogorsk with his family. Here he meets his peer Eric Klin. The boys become close friends. From now on, they share all failures or successes between two.

The fate of the guys is going well, until some fatal limit that will cross out their lives. (But this will be discussed in the second part, the work on which I am finishing). There are elements of mysticism.

Predator. Official novelization

Mark Morris Space fiction Alien vs Predator

For centuries, warlike aliens have been visiting Earth and hunting down humanity's best warriors. Their goals remain unknown. Having stalked and killed their prey, these deadly hunters disappear as quietly as they arrived, leaving no trace except their dead bodies.

In Shane Black's explosive reboot of the franchise, hunting returns from the far reaches of space back to Earth, in the woods of southern Georgia. Now the universe's most ruthless hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before. And only a motley team of former soldiers and a professor evolutionary biology can prevent the end human race…

If it doesn’t turn out alive, then present it in parts suitable for identification. The information obtained during the last raid puts the experienced mercenary on the trail of his blood enemy. And without that difficult task threatens to become completely impossible. To achieve the desired result, you will have to overcome hundreds of kilometers of sandy plains of Southern Kazakhstan... Contains obscene language.

An entertaining, although in many ways very tedious read. Those who are looking for entertainment in the spirit of combat science fiction, which is so popular today, don’t have to bother - this is not for you. Those who are tired of thoughtless adventures and don’t mind flexing their brains are welcome!

Yes, this is real SF. For raising serious questions, the trilogy, or rather its first part, received the Nebula Award.

What kind of questions? Meeting of brothers in mind, reaction modern society to the unknown, global development trends - in fact, everything. But this is enough to make the roof go crazy.

Now, who said that brothers in mind are really brothers? Not in the sense of kinship and friendship, but from the point of view of the criteria of that reasonableness? Who assigned these criteria? Another mind - another world. What will happen upon contact and in what form is this contact possible? Are we and they ready for that contact?

The splendor of “Heart of the Serpent” by I. Efremov and “The Kid” by the Strugatsky brothers and the fears of “War of the Worlds” by H. Wells and “Andromeda” by F. Hoyle and J. Elliot are a thing of the past. It's too simple, although with the right skill it's quite exciting. The reality will, rather, be closer to the “Roadside Picnic” of the same Strugatskys, where another mind simply screwed up on our territory and moved on without noticing its relatives.

However, mind is life, and life is prone to expansion. This is her immanent property. And here, for an unbiased look, it turns out to be a natural horror.

Something happened somewhere in the southern regions. Several thousand people went missing and, in fact, died. Something was destroyed. Strange things began to happen. Then a border arose - some territory fell out of our world. But there were passages along the border. And they began to study the zone.

But all this is in the past. Now the Zone is occupied by a special institute - the Southern Reach.

The first part, “Annihilation”, is a trip to the Zone of the next expedition. Something between “Roadside Picnic” and “Snail on the Slope” by the Strugatskys. Not as exciting as the Strugatskys, but quite readable.

“Annihilation” is a code word that triggers a self-destruction mindset implanted under hypnosis. Due to some peculiarities of crossing the border and the reaction of the Zone to visitors, expedition members are subjected to hypnotic treatment. But, as always, something goes wrong.

The second part, “Consolidation,” is an attempt to revive the Southern Reach after many years of marking time in an attempt to achieve at least some reproducible reaction from the Zone. Well, just like in “Snail on the Slope” by the Strugatskys or “Solaris” by S. Lem. It is unlikely that they will give another Nebula for it - the hero’s reasoning for the most part transforms into an uncontrollable painful stream of consciousness, although this part is the most interesting intellectually.

“Consolidation of power” is another code phrase for hypnotized visitors to the Zone. She launches the installation of peremptory subordination to the head of the expedition. Well, for the Southern Reach, deciding who really rules it and establishing unity of command is the primary task. What if the Zone itself? This will be the number!

The third part, “Assimilation,” is where everything is explained. However, in fact, all these are just assumptions, one of many, and the ending remains open.

Why "Assimilation"? The zone is beginning to expand. Now the question is who will digest whom: the zone - our world or our world - the zone? Or will there be some kind of symbiosis? And most importantly, what is there at the end of the tunnel?

Everyday life of the pre-apocalyptic world...

Yes, it takes place in America. This is not stated directly, but according to indirect signs - yes. Even, not so much in the USA, but in North America at all. But this is not the United States, in the sense that the state and society of the United States have been greatly transformed.

Now the Center is in charge. The Center is both a super intelligence service and scientific organization, and the state as an institution. Spies, conspirators, rebels, terrorists and violators of environmental laws - there are many points to apply forces. And life ordinary people continues to go its own way, not depending on the government in any way. Until it intersects with his interests.

LGBT adherents should like it: homosexuals prevail. Two of the three main characters are lesbians, one of the two main characters is gay. And not a single normal happy family - neither in the current action, nor in retrospect. Plot-driven? Not at all! Deflection to liberal principles? Maybe. On the other hand, if you look more broadly - from the point of view of the pre-apocalyptic world, its total decomposition, then why not? A kind of sophisticated author's trolling.

So what's the result?

We are looking for brothers in mind by scanning the universe in the narrow ranges of hydrogen and hydroxyl. We look through telescopes. Preparing the red carpet for the front door. And those brothers may well come in from the back door - through the world of spirits, for example. For us this is an unscientific heresy. But how does it follow that our view is correct? A couple of magical passes in in the right place- and please: meet the Martians! Funny...

However, it may not be brothers who appear - their ecosystem may appear. Or maybe not theirs - maybe just someone else's. This will be even more fun.

Genre: wyrd, mysticism

Publishing house: Eksmo

Series: Misterium

Year of publication: 2016 (original - 2014)

Translation: Natalia Rein

Similar books:

• Arkady and Boris Strugatsky “Roadside Picnic” (story)
• Inter-author cycle “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.”

This book is not for you.

We live in the era of MSG. Nowadays, a rare successful product cannot do without the notorious flavoring additives. If you don't plunge the hero into adventure, the reader will be bored. If you don’t create intrigue with the obligatory “that twist” at the end, the reader will unravel the author’s intention and, again, lose interest. Only action, only hardcore - everything so that they buy the book, get to the final and like it.

All of the above also applies to the vird, a genre that is still unfamiliar and poorly understood in Russia. “New Strangers” are represented here mainly by China Miéville, whose novels (except for “Embassy City”) are full of dynamics: characters are saved, search, fight. The eminent Briton does not disdain bright colors: this is the case when it is more interesting to read HOW it is written rather than WHAT it is written about.

Jeff Vandermeer, another ideologist of “strange literature”, compiler of the anthologies “The Weird: A Compendium of Strange & Dark Stories”, “The New Weird”, “Steampunk” and many others, writes in a completely different manner. In our country he is known from the collection “City of Saints and Madmen” - a witty literary hoax that received high marks readers, as well as based on the novel “Underground Veniss”. Both works are pure weirdness, with its experiments in form, psychedelicity and absolute non-formatism. The Southern Reach Trilogy, published by Eksmo, received the Shirley Jackson Award, and all three books became New York Times bestsellers.

The first book, Annihilations, tells the story of four women - an anthropologist, a psychologist, a topographer and a biologist. They go to "Area X", a place in North Florida where strange things happen. No, this is not Harmont, although VanderMeer admits that he was inspired by the Strugatskys’ “Picnic”. Zone X - natural anomaly, which is being studied to understand whether it poses a danger, and if so, how to deal with it.

The first expeditions end disastrously: some participants go crazy and die in shootouts, others disappear without a trace, others return back and die of cancer after a few months. Biologist, narrator, participates in the twelfth trip to the Zone. Inexplicable events begin immediately: the women stumble upon a topographical anomaly - a dungeon, into the depths of which a spiral staircase goes, and strange messages are inscribed on the walls, reminiscent of excerpts from the Bible. Further oddities make the biologist doubt whether they will return.

“Consolidation” is in no hurry to return the reader to the events of the previous book. Vandermeer moves the action to the Southern Reach, an organization located not far from the Zone. The main character is John Rodriguez, nicknamed "Control". John is a hereditary manager, whose mother and grandfather were also somehow connected with the activities of the Southern Reach. Control takes the place of the previous headmistress, who inexplicably disappeared (as it turns out later, she took part in that very twelfth expedition). For Rodriguez, strange things begin with the return of the biologist. He soon realizes that he is unable to control the Southern Reach, because the Zone has sprouted here too...

...and then “Assimilation” begins. Spoiler warning.

This time the book has several heroes. One of them is Saul Evans, a lighthouse keeper whose storyline is connected with the events of thirty years ago, when neither the Zone nor the Southern Limit existed. Saul spends his days repairing the lighthouse, talking to the neighbor girl Gloria, observing nature, sleeping with his lover named Charlie. From time to time, Susan and Henry, researchers from the “Knowledge and Insight Brigade,” come to the caretaker. For some reason, they surrendered to the Evans lighthouse, or rather, something located on top of it. The couple's visits become more frequent and intrusive, but this is not the only thing that worries Saul. His body begins to change...

The headmistress talks about the more recent past, and in the second person (“ An ordinary day in Area X, the day of your death, and you are sitting with your back to a pile of sand."). Cynthia, who was once called by a different name, will tell you about the behind the scenes of the Southern Reach. And with Control and Cuckoo, who remained in the Zone after the events of “Consolidation,” the events after “Consolidation” are connected.

Four characters, three timelines, one big book, completing the trilogy. Numbers sufficient to tear back the curtain of secrecy and answer all the questions that arose in the first two parts. Readers are already quite rubbing their hands. However, the cunning author, having hung many guns, does not allow almost any of them to fire.

This is not to say that there are no answers at all. We learn about the fate of the biologist from the twelfth expedition, about the ancestors of Control, about the childhood of the headmistress. But Area X remains a mystery. What is she like? How did it come about? What are its goals? What will happen to the characters? You can come up with the answers yourself, because Area X itself is “a riddle wrapped in a secret.” It is home to living creatures from all over the world, in its different territories time flows at different paces, and some people who have been there are irreversibly changed. But why? The author says it straight: The Zone does not like answers.

Another reason to dislike this series is the slowness of the narrative. You shouldn't compare the Southern Reach trilogy with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. or even the famous “Picnic”. “Annihilation” and its sequels are most similar to “Snail on the Slope” by the same Strugatskys. It has its own Candide and Pepper, representing wild nature and civilization. But, unlike famous science fiction writers, Vandermeer does not rush things; the main thing for him is to talk about his feelings from the Zone, compare them with childhood memories and draw conclusions. Compared to plot-driven fiction, VanderMeer's trilogy looks like a black sheep. Does this mean the books are bad? Not at all. It’s just that “Assimilation” is devoid of the flavors characteristic of modern literature - a twisted plot, vivid events and characters. This is a meditative wyrd that doesn't have to answer the only question: "What the hell is going on here?"

At first glance, Area X looks like a huge, neglected nature reserve. Forests, fields, swamps, seaside, animals running, dolphins frolicking... But why, for thirty years, none of the research expeditions could obtain any reliable information about this secluded deserted corner?

JeffVanderMeer
Annihilation
Novel
Genre: symbolism, science fiction
Original output: 2014
Translator: M. Molchanov
Publisher: " E", 2018
256 pp., 5000 copies.
Series:"World-class film premiere"
"Southern Reach", part 1
Similar to:
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky “Snail on the Slope”
Andrey Bely "Petersburg"

Jeff VanderMeer is the troublemaker who, in the late 1990s, along with China Mieville, coined the New Weird movement and once again disturbed the "fantasy ghetto." True, such a noise as in the case of cyberpunks did not happen: firstly, too little time had passed since the previous “genre” revolution, and secondly, new era I was no longer inclined to make such sharp turns. “Our hearts demand change!” - all this revolutionary romance is a thing of the past. But “new strangers” often took part in local breakthroughs. Annihilation, VanderMeer's novel that opens The Southern Reach Trilogy, was released in the West in 2014, without genre tags, and unexpectedly broke the bank. The book not only received excellent press, but also sold over one hundred and fifty thousand copies - not Fifty Shades of Gray, of course, but not bad either. Russian publishers, it seems, decided to adhere to the same “non-fantastic” strategy - and released “Annihilation” in the Misterium series, tailored for detectives and thrillers. To put it mildly, it’s not quite the same as presenting a novel as a work of the “main stream,” but oh well. Strange marketing decisions for “strange” authors: whatever you call the yacht, that’s how it will sail.

If Vandermeer lived in late XIX century, after “Annihilation” he could easily claim a place among the Symbolists

If Jeff VanderMeer had lived at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, after Annihilation he could easily claim a place among the symbolist writers. And to a well-deserved and honorable place. From the first to the last line, the novel is built on the interweaving of symbols, on the subtle interaction of metaphors. A research expedition consisting of four female scientists is sent to Area X, which thirty years ago became the center of strange, mysterious, unexplained phenomena and events. Of course, with the word “Zone”, the domestic reader immediately recalls “Roadside Picnic”, and then “Snail on the Slope” by the Strugatsky brothers, but Vandermeer is even less inclined to explain his lush metaphors - even in the form of hypotheses. He prefers to observe and painstakingly record events. An inverted tower made of flesh goes deep underground, and along its walls there are living writings in a language unfamiliar, but intuitively understandable to the heroes. Mysterious monsters emerge from the sea and time after time storm an abandoned lighthouse, one of the rooms of which is filled to capacity with old expedition journals. Doubles of participants from previous expeditions roam the fields, some moan and wail at night in the dense undergrowth, and the animals of Zone X, as tests show, are carriers of human DNA. And with the researchers themselves, not everything is so simple. Why were only women selected for the expedition? How did they cross the border between Area X and the everyday world? Why are they forbidden to call each other by name? What is the head of the expedition hiding from her subordinates? How many times have people actually entered the Zone - and has anyone ever managed to return from this psychedelic journey? Finally, what changes are happening to the main character, an introverted biologist, and her companions? Alas, “no one has yet managed to penetrate into the essence of the Zone’s plan, much less prevent its implementation.”

As the poet Rene Gil, one of the founders of the movement, wrote, “the imagination that creates analogies or correspondences and conveys them to images is the formula of symbolism.” Well, Jeff Vandermeer can be presented with exactly the same claims as the symbolists of the beginning of the last century with their “blue roses” and “beautiful ladies.” There are too many symbols that mean anything but themselves. The world is melting, thinning to the weightlessness of a dream, losing color and smell, flesh and blood. To get to the finale and finally find out that Annihilation is a novel about love, about isolation and about understanding loved one, which comes too late, we will have to cut many circles through the intricate labyrinths of the monstrously distorted “inner space.” There is too much freedom for interpretation here. Interpret it either according to Joseph Campbell or according to old Freud: it’s not without reason that the characters rush between two reference points, between the lighthouse and the underground tower! It is all the more interesting to watch how the main character looks for meanings that are close to her in what is happening - or, perhaps, simply reads them.

Bottom line: the most accurate description of this book is given by its main character: “Looking for hidden meaning in these papers is like looking for it in the world around us: even if it exists, it’s different for everyone.” Die, there's no better way to say it!

Nebula nominee

Despite all its informality, in 2015 “Annihilation” was shortlisted for the Nebula, one of the most authoritative genre awards in the world. VanderMeer's competition included Sarah Monnet, Charles Gannon, Anne Leckie, Jack McDevitt and Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin.

Zone X arose 30 years ago after some unexplained “Phenomenon”, as a result of which this piece of wildlife near a military base, he found himself cut off from the outside world and subjected to all sorts of inexplicable changes.<…>The appearance of the Zone caused shock and confusion. It should be noted that to this day, few people know about its existence. According to the official government version, there was a local natural disaster caused by military experiments. This story was fed piecemeal to the media for several months - so smoothly that for the population it became part of the general hype about environmental problems. Just two years later, only conspiracy theorists and other fringe elements remembered Area X.