Arkady & Boris Strugatsky Books In Order

Publication Order of The Noon Universe Books

Publication Order of Arkady & Boris Strugatsky Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Arkady & Boris Strugatsky Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were Soviet Russian science fiction writers that collaborated throughout most of their careers.

Their early work was influenced by Stanislaw Lem and Ivan Yefremov, but later would develop their own, unique style of science fiction writing.

Their best known novel was translated into English as “Roadside Picnic”. Andrei Tarkovsky adapted the book for the screen into a movie called “Stalker”, released in 1979.

Other adaptations of their work include “Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel” (1979), “The Sorcerers” (1982, and based off “Monday Begins on Saturday”), and “The Ugly Swans (2006).“Hard to Be a God” was adapted twice, once in 1989 and again in 2013.

Arkady was born August 25, 1925 in Batumi to a Jewish art critic father and a Russian Orthodox teacher mom, but the family would later move to Leningrad. In January of 1942, Arkady and his dad were evacuated from the Siege of Leningrad, however Arkady was the sole survivor in his train car, since his dad died upon reaching Vologda.

In 1943, he was drafted into the Soviet Army, training first at the artillery school in Aktyubinsk and later at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, which he graduated from in 1949 as an interpreter of Japanese and English. Until 1955, he worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military. Starting that year, he started working as a writer and editor.

Starting in 1958, he began collaborating with his brother Boris, which lasted until October 12, 1991 when Arkady died at the age of 66.

In 1964 Arkady became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers. Besides his own writing, he translated Japanese novels and short stories, as well as some English works with Boris.

Boris was born April 14, 1933, and stayed with his mom in Leningrad during the siege of the city during World War II. In 1950, he graduated from high school and applied to the physics department at Leningrad State University, however studied astronomy instead. After he graduated in the year 1955, he worked as a computer engineer and astronomer at the Pulkovo Observatory.

In 1960 he took part in an astronomical and geodetic expedition in the Caucasus. In 1964, Boris became a member of the writers’ union of the USSR, and became a full time writer in 1966. Starting in 1972, he acted as the head of the Leningrad seminar for young speculative fiction writers, which would subsequently become known as the “Boris Strugatsky Seminar”. Boris also established the “Bronze Snail” literary prize.

After Arkady’s death, Boris penned two novels and published them under a pseudonym.

He died in St. Petersburg on November 19, 2012 at the age of 79. He was an agnostic.

“Hard to Be a God” is a novel set in the “Noon Universe” and was released in the year 1973. This novel follows Anton, who is an undercover operative from the future planet Earth, during his mission on some alien planet, which is inhabited by human beings, whose society has yet to advance beyond the Middle Ages. The core idea of the novel is that human progress through the centuries is usually bloody and cruel, and that blind faith and religion could just be an effective tool of oppression, working to destroy each of the emerging scientific disciplines and enlightenment.

Don Rumata was sent from Earth and on to the medieval kingdom of Arkanar with instructions to just observe and try saving whatever he’s able to. Masquerading as a brawler, a dueler, and an arrogant nobleman, he never gets defeated, yet can never kill either. With his own compassion and doubt, and a deep love for Kira (a local girl), he wants to save the kingdom from the machinations of Don Reba, who is the first minister to be king. However given his orders, what possible role could he play?

“Roadside Picnic” is a stand alone novel that was released in the year 1978. Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of the young rebels that is compelled to venture illegally into the Zone in order to collect the mysterious artifacts which the alien visitors left scattered. Red’s life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products.

However when he and his buddy Kirill head into the Zone together to grab a “full empty”, something goes wrong. And the news that he gets from his girlfriend when he returns makes it inevitable that he is going to keep heading on back to the Zone, more and more, until he can find the answer to all of his problems.

“The Dead Mountaineer’s Inn” is a stand alone novel that was released in the year 2015. Inspector Peter Glebsky shows up at the isolated remote ski chalet on her vacation, the very last thing that he intends to do is get involved in police work of any kind. He is just there to ski, loaf around in blissful solitude, and drink some brandy.

However he had not counted on the other vacationers, which are an eccentric bunch that include a famous hypnotist, a sulky teen of indeterminate gender, a physicist with a penchant for gymnastic feats, and the mysterious Mr. and Mrs. Moses. While the chalet begins filling up, some odd things begin happening, things which appear to indicate the presence of another, unseen guest. Could there be a ghost on the premises? Or just a prankster? Something much more sinister? And then there’s an avalanche which blocks the mountain pass, and they get stuck.

Which is right about the time they discover the corpse. Meaning that Glebsky’s vacation has ended and he has started the strangest investigation that he has ever been involved with. The further he looks into it, the more that he realizes this victim might not even be a human.

The Strugatskys gleefully upend the plot of several Poirot mysteries, which results in a funnier and much stranger, than anything Agatha Christie ever wrote. There are odd twists of character and plot that give the novel some delicate humor, which made some laugh and smile through much of the novel.