Henry Lion Oldie. Books written by Henry Lion Oldie, Abstracts
(Dmitry Gromov and Oleg Ladyzhensky). Abstracts
Here we propose to Your attention a set of abstracts describing fantasy novels and stories written by two authors working in collaboration — D. E. Gromov and O. S. Ladyzhensky (they are known under the pen-name of Henry Lion Oldie). Their stories, long and short, are rather various in style, but all their novels belong to a very specific kind of "fantasy": the authors themselves define it as "philosophical fantasy hit" while the literary critics call it "mythological realism of the postmodern period". In any way these works overstep the frames of usual fantasy.
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"ABYSS OF HUNGRY EYES": A Cycle
1. "WAITING AT CROSSROADS" (short novel, about 42.000 words, 1992-1993.)
An alternate world. Early Middle Ages. A special kind of wizards and priests, the so-called "Precursors" exists in this world. They feed on the human beliefs in various Gods, myths, legends and supernatural things in general. But all of these Precursors compete with each other for the human faith. And the moment comes when the five strongest among them decide to unite their strength and to build a specific "HOUSE-AT- CROSSROAD" intended for accumulating the energy of human faith. But soon the House-at-Crossroad acquires a kind of conscience of its own and begins to accumulate human faith actively giving nothing in exchange.
Thus the balance of faith in the world was broken, and the spiritual degeneration began. Supernatural things vanish one by one, taking with them myths and legends, fairy-tales and songs; the life becomes grey and dull. And so the assistants of the Precursors, the "Myth Creators", broke their usual obedience and rebelled against the Precursors and the House- at-Crossroad.
The heroes of the story go through many mystical and real adventures, they lose their friends, but finally the House-at-Crossroad is destroyed... Besides very dynamic action, the novel contains the philosophical basis explaining the existence of supernatural things.
This novel got the 2nd place at the Fantasy Competition dedicated to Howard Phillips Lovecraft in Ekaterinburg (Russia) in 1994. It was also nominated for the "Interpresscon" (third place according the results of voting) and "Bronze snail" prizes in 1996. The novel was published in Ukraine in 1995 and in 1996 and three times in Russia: twice in 1996 and one time in 1999.
2. "THE WAY" (short novel, about 52.000 words, 1991-1992.)
The scene of this novel is the Earth (in present and future times) and an alternative parallel world.
The technotronic civilization has resulted in a kind of a dead, mechanical life completely alien to human beings. There was no robot revolts, no supercomputers usurping the power — simply the things which became alive began gradually to force the people out from Earth. The so- called "Voiders" (a kind of people with strong extrasensual abilities) tried to save the dramatically decreasing population of the Earth. They began to convey them into the parallel world. But soon they learn that in this world people lose their memory although they grow immortal. Still some specific particles of human souls, called "necroids", "responsible" for the death of physical bodies, remain on the Earth. And soon these particles form a "Necrosphere" — the embryo of the Hell on Earth. The Necrosphere begins to change the surrounding reality destroying both time and space with the intention to gain superiority over Earth forever.
The principal hero of the novel, an immortal gladiator Marcell, suceeds in regaining his memory. He learns that he is a former Voider and with the help of his reincarnations he tries to change the destiny of Earth...
This novel was published in 1994 and in 1996 in Ukraine and in 1995, 1996 an 1999 in Russia.
Extracts from this novel were included to the "Master-Radio" show (Kharkov, Ukraine, 1994).
3. "THE TWILIGHT OF THE WORLD" (short novel, about, 59.000 words, 1992.)
The alternative world which is inhabited, apart from ordinary people by werwolves, vampires and Ninefold-Living people (descendants of the Immortals). The Ninefold-Living were trying to defend ordinary people from werwolves. But in the course of time it appeared that the situation is not so simple: often the Ninefold-Living themselves provoke the werevolves to attack and the latter must defend themselves. Because of mutual envy, fear and misunderstanding a real bloody war expands in this world. And only after the appearance of the new general enemy, the vampires (so-called "Varks") ordinary people and werwolves find it possible to forget the strife and unite in order to fight them.
Against the background of the changing fates of the whole world unfolds the romantic story of a young werewolf's love to a Ninefold- Living girl; the irreconsilable enemies become friends, but the ominous eyes of a "vark" search them in the night... The dynamic plot of the novel is combined with a deep humanistic idea.
This novel was published in Ukraine in 1993, 1995 and twice in Russia in 1996 and one time in 1999. It was listed in "The Best 10 SF and Fantasy Novels of the former USSR" "The Great Ring" in 1993 (# 4).
In 1994 a Role-Play Game based on this novel was carried out near Kharkov (Ukraine).
4. "LIVE FOR THE LAST TIME" (short novel, about 25.000 words, 1991.)
The action of the novel unfolds in the world inhabited by the Ninefold-Living people and the vampires ("varks"). The principal hero is a boy who was born "a cripple" (from the point of view of people surrounding him) — he lives only once ("for the last time"), which means that he can't return to life after death. But the boy (later the young man) wants to prove both to himself and to all the people that he is normal and manly. So he becomes a warrior. Some time later he met a beauty from a famous family and fell in love with her. But soon it turned out that the girl is a vampire! She loves him sincerely and doesn't want to bite him and thus make him a vampire too, but Senior Vampires consider this to be a treason and put an invocation on her. So she cannot rise from her grave any more. Only human blood can break the invocation. And the hero comes to her grave and allows her to "kiss" his neck. And he becomes a "vark" himself.
Still something human has remained in the souls of the vampire-hero and his vampire-girl; they began to search for the special invocation ("The Word of the Last Ones") which turns a vampire back into normal man. After many morbid adventures they found the "Word of the Last Ones", but it turns out that it can be applied only to the Senior Vampires ("High Varks"). They cannot use the "Word of the Last Ones" till they become High Varks, but then they'll become completely unhuman and would never want to return into their human image!
The solving of this problem was long and hard; at the end of the novel the hero and his girl succeded to acquire human features again; but other vampires found the opened door to Earth...
This novel was published in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999 in Russia, in 1996 and 1998 in Ukraine. It was listed in "The Best 10 SF and Fantasy Novels of the former USSR" "The Great Ring" in 1992 (#6).
In 1994 a Role-Play Game based on this novel was carried out near St. Petersburg (Russia).
5. "FEAR" (long story, about 17.000 words, 1991.)
The late Middle Ages on the Earth. A strange Asiatic town. In this town people begin to die for no reason, but each time the inexpressible horror is reflected in the eyes of the dead. The town physician Yakub decides to find the reason of these awful cases. The search leads him to a deserted and gloomy old temple in the mountains. An idol standing there becomes alive in the night, and it tells Yakub who kills the inhabitants of the town. It is an old priest who lives in the town and puts people to death by fear in order to feed himself upon their life forces. Neither poison nor steel can do any harm to this monster. Then Yakub brings his newly-born son to the house of the old priest. And the priest dies trying in vain to scare and thus to kill the boy, because the baby has no fear...
This story was published in Ukraine three times: in 1994, 1995 and in 1996 and in Russia in 1996 and 1999. It got the 1st place at the Fantasy Competition dedicated to Howard Phillips Lovecraft in Ekaterinburg (Russia) in 1994. "Fear" was nominated for the "Interpresscon" and "Bronze snail" prizes. This story won the second place in the "Horror Fantasy" nomination of the "Stranger" prize. It is also listed in the "Great Ring" list of the most popular fantasy novels and stories of the former USSR in 1994 (second place according the results of voting).
6. "THE STAIN-GLASSES OF PATRIARCHS" (long story, about 10.000 words, 1990-1991.)
An alternative world. The world where the word is a force. Verses act as invocations. And the man from Earth gets into this world...
This is a romantic story of magic and verses, friendship and treason, love and cruel fighting.
This story was published in Russia in 1992, 1996, 1997 and in 1999 and in Ukraine in 1994 and in 1996.
7. "TO ENTER INTO IMAGE" (novel, about 39.000 words, 1991.)
Another strange world without any religion and any arts. Spiritual progress is almost impossible, and this world gradually plunges in primitivity. But a talented actor happens to arrive from Earthjust to this world. He cannot live without acting. And the religion begins to build up very quickly around him.
But who had conveyed the actor into this world? What was the purpose? For religion gives not only spiritual culture but, especially at early stages, severe conflicts and wars as well...
And then comes the moment when two great armies of religious fanatic confront each other, directed by supernatural forces. The Hell forces incarnated in blood-thirsty human beings were nearly ready to break through, BUT...
This novel was published in Ukraine in 1994 and in 1996 and in Russia in 1996, 1997 and in 1999.
Listed in "The Best 10 SF & Fantasy Novels And Stories" of the former USSR in 1994.
8. "ARISEN FROM THE PARADISE" (novel, about 69.000 words, 1993.)
Three men, just ordinary ones, meet a witch and casually acquire from her some supernatural ability which conveys them to a parallel world. There they become ghosts. From their new friends they learn that this is a very strange and cruel world. There rules the mysterious Beast- Book. Under its influence almost all the people living in this world lost their freedom of will; they turned into letters, words, phrases, lines and pages of the Beast-Book.
Captivating adventures, severe fighting, both mystical and real, against the Beast-Book, all this combined with philosophical ideas concerning the place of a human being in the world, his responsibility for all his doings — such is the contents of the novel.
This novel was published in Ukraine in 1996 and three times in Russia: in 1996, 1997 and 1999.
All these 8 novels and long stories are separate pieces. But they form a big cycle telling about the destinies of three worlds and many people. The authors' style may be determined as "science fantasy", but the authors prefer to call it "philosophical fantasy hit" — it's the original H. L. Oldie's style in Fantasy.
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"THE WAY OF THE SWORD" (novel; not integrated to the cycle; about 165.000 words, 1994.)
An alternative world very like the Earth in Middle Ages, but here all swords, spears and other arms have a mind of their own. The living swords call themself "Brilliants", and they consider the human beings to be but their "Carriers" and don't even suppose that they are intelligent too. And the people in their turn have not the slightest idea about the way things are: they don't feel that many of their doings are determined not by their own will but by the mind of their arms. Thanks to this the world becomes very peaceful: the skill of fencing became a kind of high art and only sportive duels are known: no blood, no murders; it is a highly aesthetic and rather stable world. But there is almost no progress there, only fencing and forgering being developped, because people are unaware that they often are acting under the influence of their swords... But then in this beautiful and stable world something goes wrong. Mysterious and bloody murders began to happen in a number of towns. Both people and swords are deeply troubled with that. Such things have not happened here for almost eight centuries! The main hero of the novel Chan Unkor is given the task to investigate those murders. As the result he gets his right hand cut away. But instead he got an iron hand and thanks to this learned how to contact with his own sword Unicorn. Both of them have now to learn killing people — but by the way they found new, formerly unknown capabilities of both men and swords...
The adventures of the main heroes unfold on the background of the crucial changing of the whole world's destinies. The battle episodes follow philosophical discourses, Chan Unkor leaves his native town for the wild deserts of Shulma. And there...
The novel is written on the merge of "fantasy" and "alternative history". It combines dynamic plot with deep philosophical and psychological problems, in particular with moral aspects of fighting arts.
This novel was published three times in Russia in 1996 and one time in 1999.
The novel "The Way of the Sword" got "The Great Zilant" prize at "ZilantCon" SF & Fantasy Festival in Kazan (Russia) in 1999.
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"THE HERO MUST BE ALONE" (novel in two parts, the whole volume is about 148.000 words, 1995.)
First part: "THE SACRIFICES".
The first novel (written in the style that can be named "mythological realism") tells about a scarcely known period in the life of Hercules, the greatest hero of Ancient Greece: from his conceivement to the beginning of his famous deeds. The young Alcydes (such is the real name of Hercules) becomes the point where different interests are clashed: those of the Olympic family, of the Tytans overthrown into the Tartar and the mysterious Fallen that shared the fate of the older generation of the Immortal as well as of many people. As the result the future hero and his twin brother Iphycles (whom Pindar, Homer and Appolodor remembered but the later authors have forgotten) become the hostages of alien intrigues. Attempt upon the life of Alkmene, the last beloved of Zeus the Thunderer even before she gave birth to the twins, ominous fits of madness that pursue the young hero from his childhood, the altars of the Obsessed by Tartar smoking with the blood of human sacrifices, a deadly dangerous secret that the earthly father of Alcydes, Amphitrion the grandson of Perseus, must keep all his life and even after his death; and all this accompanied with concrete, specific details of the period that later on the scientists will call the XIII century B. C.
The Amphitriad brothers, their mother Alkmene and father Amphitrion, Olympic gods, satyres and centaurs are shown as live beings, without the conventional features well-known to everybody who is acquainted with adapted editions of Greek myths. The events and characters that are mentioned in the books only in passing come unexpectedly to the scene, and the pretty fairy-tale becomes a stern reality. The gods are tormented with doubts, the heroes shed tears, and the inexorable shadow of the Iron Age, cold and strange, hangs over the sunny Hellas.
Second part: "THE PRIESTS".
The second book tells about the events that took place after Hercules (with the help of his twin brother) fulfilled his famous twelve deeds (the deeds as such are but briefly mentioned).
Now Hercules must perform the most difficult deed: to overcome his own madness. Even the almighty gods cannot help him (indeed they are not too eager to help him). The gods need Hercules only as a weapon for the future apocalyptic battle with the tribe of Giants, unassailable for the Olympians but assailable for the mortal warriors.
And the hour of the decisive battle comes, and Hercules sees in reality the nightmares that pursued him during many years.
The brothers together with the gods win the battle. But after it the gods betray their saviours because their strength frightens them. And they begin to persecute the heroes systematically throughout Hellas.
This novel was published in Russia twice in 1996 and one time in 1997.
The novel "The Hero Must Be Alone" got the Prize of the Writers' Association of Moldavian Pridnestrovyan Republic in 1997.
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"STEPCHILDREN OF THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT" (novel, about 63.000 words, 1996.)
In a distant village Shaflary in the lower part of Tatra mountains lives an old man Samuel-batsa; his adopted children are strangely gifted: they seem to be like all other people, but they can do such things that ordinary people shouldn't be able to do. They are thieves, all of them, but not those who rob somebody's money or break into the houses; they take only the other people's thoughts, hopes, abilities and knowledge and they use all this for themselves. And those whom they robbed forget completely all that had been taken from them and even ignore that they have been robbed at all. Samuel's children live rather well: Jan is the abbot in a Benedictine monastery, and he's soon to become a bishop, for many people believe him to be a saint, because they feel relieved of all sins and fears after they confessed to the reverend Jan; Teresa is the wife of a rich merchant and her husband owes much of his success to her. Michal is the voivode in a noble lord's castle, he married a girl whom he loved, and not without profit; such luck is a rare thing, and besides he's a skilled master of fencing and in XVII century such skills are very good payed for. Only the youngest sister Martha was unlucky: she had been the companion and the best friend of the Baroness von Eisendorf who introduced her to the high society in Vienna, but she had lost her place because she fell in love with a common thieve, the merry Joseph. And when she got seriously ill and was at the verge of dying Joseph payed the price of her life to the Death by selling his own soul to the Devil. They agreed that in an appointed moment Joseph should commit the suicide. But when the moment comes Martha succeeds to take the soul of her beloved from the One who had the right to possess it. But a human soul is heavy, heavier than petty thoughts or knowledge, it's difficult to carry it, and Martha failed to retain Joseph's soul; it entered the body of his dog that was sitting and vailing at his master's body... And the lovers flee from the Devil, they cross many countries until they come to Martha's native land and ask her borther Jan the abbot for help. But even within the walls of his monastery evil people and strange creatures lie in wait for Martha. When the news comes that the old Samuel had died in some strange way all his adopted children come together. Short was their travel to Shaflary, but full of dangers and adventures. There at last they learn everything. The end is rather unexpected and almost happy...
This novel is written in a style usual for H. L. Oldie, that of "philosophical fantasy hit", but this time it is more like a classical historical novel and contains accordingly a good deal of romance, jealousy, happy and unhappy love, duels, misticism and so on. The plot is as complicated as it should be in the violent XVIIth century.
The novel was twice published in Russia: in 1996 and in 2000.
The novel "Stepchildren of the Eighth Commandment" was awarded in 1997 with the "MoonSword" prize as "the best mistic and horror novel"; some parts of it were used for a radio show.
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"MESSIAH CLEANS THE DISK" (novel, about 133.000 words, 1996.)
The Shaolin monastery is famous in the Chinese Empire in the enlightened XVth century. There live the monks highly skilled in the arts of fighting and the Emperor himself regards them with favour. The reverend Chzhan Vo belonging to the highest rank of the monastery administration is at the same time the chief of the Emperor's secret police; the Shaolin treasury is full ofprecious things, thousands of peasants work in the fields belonging to the monastery. It is not strang because about half a century ago the warriors clad in yellow attires оказали услуги to the leader of the uprising of "red bandages" assisting him to drive the Mongol invaders back to the northern steppes and helped him, a simple peasant Chzhu Younchzhan, to ascend the throne of the Emperors of China. The policy of the Middle Empire is silently and inevitably directed by the invisible hands bearing the signs of the dragon and tiger. But strange things do happen in this world of vanity... In one of the towns of China an esteemed merchant all of a sudden came secretly to the house of an eminent dignitary and tore to pieces a rare flower and then pierced his own heart with a knife; then the Eighth Aunt, the wife of a humble dyer, attacked the bodyguards of the Emperor's brother and killed half of them, after which she broke the spine of the favourite little dog of the concubine Suan and cut her own throat with the governor's sword. Never before had the esteemed merchant attempted to be a thieve, never had the Eighth Aunt been skilled in any fighting arts, but on the third day after the death of both criminals very strange spot appeared on their bodies: the signs of the dragon and tiger.
And it is not by chance that the monk with shaven head advised the judge Bao who was appointed to investigate these strange cases to be not too diligent in his enquiries. What in fact is going on in the famous monastery, why the грозный shadow of the patriarch Damo haunts it? It is he, the Bearded Barbarian, who long ago founded the monastery, but his goal had been neither the hoarding of gold nor the political games... Why were the Laws of Karma broken, where did the epidemic of the Buddah Madness come from, why are the dead rising from their graves and how could enter the monastery the strange boy now and then employing in his speech the hackers' slang of the end of the XXth century? The answers to all these questions the reader is to find together with the judge Bao, the Daosian wizard Lan Daosin and other personnages of this novel combining several genre of fiction: mistical fantasy, cyberpunk, alternative history and, of course, the "philosophical thriller", which still is the favourite style of Henry Lion Oldie.
The novel was published twice in Russia (in 1997 and 1999) and in Lithuania in 1998.
The novel "Messiah Cleans the Disk" was admitted to the list of the Moscow bestsellers (9th place in the general rating).
In 1997 it was given the prize of the Association of Russian- Language Writers of Israel "For an outstanding contribution in the development of modern Russian litterature".
In 1999, at "Star Bridge" SF & Fantasy Festival in Kharkov (Ukraine) H. L. Oldie received "The Black Belt" (1-st dergee) as a "Fan-Do Master" — for some fighting fragments from the novel "Messiah Cleans the Disk".
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"LET THEM DIE" (novel, about 72.000 words, 1996.)
This is the world described in the novel "The Way of the Sword", but now about three or four hundred years have passed there. The few "Brilliants" (cold arms having the mind of their own) that survived dwell in "prisons" and "almhouse", i.e. in museums and private collections. Human civilisation went completely out of their influence, and intelligent swords and halberds remain only in the fairy-tales or in endless TV "fantasy" serials like the famous "Chan-with-the-Iron-Hand". The progress had been developing fast and wide during all these centuries, and the former world of Chan Unkor his sword Unicorn became almost similar the one familiar to us: skyscraper buildings, telephones, television, automobiles, computers, fire arms and the regional conflicts between the countries that appeared after the splitting of the Kabirean Emirate... In short, the world becomes simple and comprehencive. But... In this "simple and comprehencive" world very unusual things happen. Almost for a month an epidemic of sleepiness rages throughout the whole country which nobody can explain, people perish by tens because of a mysterious and also unexplained "self-shooting" disease; it is manifested in the sudden explosions of the fire arms held by one's hand or in the arms beginning to shoot all by themselves; sometimes one and the same nightmare haunts hundreds of people until, being not able to support it any longer, they kill themselves...
In this novel the reader gets acquainted with a strange little girl hiding beneath her old shawl a dozen of missile knives and killing with them four heavily armed terrorists, with a historian Rashid-al-Shinby who sees wonderful dreams, with the doctor Cadal Khanuman who tries to cure people suffering from the schysoid nightmares and many others. Troubles happened within the criminal klan "Alamut"; policemen began secret investigation. And they found that all ways are leading to the priveleged mekhteb (colledge) "Star hour" where all members of administration are a bit too fond of astrology. When comes the night of Nauruse, the New Year, all of the main heroes gather inside the colledge fence. What will be the price that they'll have to pay in order to go out, to remain humans, not to fall to the abyss of fear, растерянности and inevitable tragedy? Is it easy to be human when one can't discern visions from reality, when former friends become enemies, the pistols fail to shoot but the knives don't miss their targets as usual. Soon the atmosphere becomes tense, the "spiders in the glass" are ready to fight for their lives, and the first blood has been already spilled... What will be the end of this crazy night of Nauruse? What will the coming year bring to the people locked in the mekhteb — and not only to them but to the whole Mankind?
This novel is not directly (by its plot) connected with "The Way of the Sword" although the action takes place in the same world. Both books can be read separately. But together they form a kind of dilogy.
The novel was published in Russia in 1997 and 1999. The book "Let Them Die" was admitted to the list of the Moscow bestsellers (3rd place in the general rating).
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"TO PUT THE SOUL IN" (a long story, about 11.000 words, 1996.)
The troubles began in the fishermen settlement at the little Stream Island near the South Carolina shores when the white shark had been caught whose belly was ornamented with the blue patterns highly reminding the tattooing. The McEvans brothers who caught the rare fish wanted to sell it to the scientists, but nobody wanted to buy it. Then the brothers got enraged and decided to kill the useless creature. But they failed to do that because the net with which the bay was fenced turned out to be broken and the shark had disappeared through a big hole. The following day the sea became empty: the fishermen could catch not a single fish and returned home empty-handed. Only the ominous triangular could be seen at the sea surface around the unlucky island. So what had happened? Did the shark itself broke the net or somebody helped it? How is related to these dark events the mysterious death of an emigrant youth who at the beginning asked himself for the permission to feed the keen-toothed prisoner? The death of one of the McEvans brothers seems not very decent too... All this story unfolds in the presence of a learned ichtiologist Dr Alexander Flaxman who in his turn arrived to the Stream Island in rather an unusual way. The tensions between people in the local bar grow quickly for while the eye-witnesses are telling what they have seen still new and new details come to the light, and in the end the last and bloody act of the tragedy which began a fortnight ago was played. But only the old priest Mbete Lakemba who once lived in the Fiji Isles seems to be aware of the real state of affairs: the white people have awakened the mighty spirit N'daku-Wanga and now are reaping the fruits of their own imprudence...
The long story was published two times in Ukraine in 1997, one time in Russia and one time in Israel the same year.
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"THE BLACK TROUBLE-MAKER" (novel in three volumes: "Thunderstorm In Beznalya" (about 106.000 words), "Net For World Lords" (about 124.000 words) and "Go Where You Want" (about 111.000 words); 1996-1997.)
Our world stands on the verge of Kali-Youga, the Era of Darkness. The lightnings of the heavenly weapons sparkle over the Fields of Kuru, which became the scene of the greatest of battles. Great heroes and ordinary warriors perish one after another and even Gods themselves are now unable to stop this slaughter. The world approaches its end, daemons penetrate to the gardens of Paradise, the souls of the dead refuse to go to the Blissful halls and to the Hell, and a shadow of the future rises over the ashes of past: it is the Lord Krishna, the Black Trouble-Maker with his favourite flute in hand. Who is he in fact, a rebellious avatar of divine entity, what does he want? But the Era of Darkness wasn't finished after the world's end, it just began, as well as the stories of the terrible god Indra the Thunderer the bull among the followers of Rama-with-an-Axe, and three of his disciples who perished at the Fields of Kuru. After you have read the book it is impossible to forget the images of the giant Gangea the Terrible, or the priest-homunculus Brahman-of-the-Casket, both passionate and passionless, or the merry Karna-Long Ears who gave his invulnerability and the divine rank for the possibility to live and to die by his own choice. In this book each personnage has the personality of his own easily discernible from the others.
"The Black Trouble-Maker" is a grandiose epopee in three volumes based on the "Mahabharata", one of the greatest books of Mankind, but it is not a retelling but a specific, individual approach to the destinies of the Three worlds which became our reality, to the origins of the Universe and the place of the Man in it. This is the book which is worth reading many times.
The novel was published in Russia in 1997-1998.
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"WE ARE TO LIVE HERE" (novel in two volumes: volume 1 — "Armageddon Happened Yesterday", volume 2 — "To Drink Blood by Handfuls", written in collaboration with A. Valentinov, each volume about 100.000 words, 1995- 1998.)
Amazing collaboration of the two authors differing so much from each other could not but result in an interesting book. This novel was begun as far as in 1995 and the last words were written in the summer of 1998. And here it is: white letters run across the blue screen, offerings to the gods of water-pipes and repairs are reeking at the "altars" made of the household gas-stoves; centaurs on two wheels bring to the heart attack the militia-men on duty at the roads, and the City is slowly rehabilitating itself after the cataclism of the Great Toy War... But soon the tanks get immersed into the asphalt pavement, the motorized infantry shoots the inoffencive Minotaurus clad in jeans, and the radio casts a desperate cry: "To all who hear us! We are the City, we perish!" This cry for help will be heard.
The main heroes of the novel are: the writer Alik Zalessky, the detective Era Giselo, the city centaur Faul and the corned Minnie in jeans... human beings all of them. They don't know that the world has changed without asking their permission; they want to live but they're not allowed to. And so comes the day when the sons of the Yellow Serpent Keynary come on the wings of a great storm and they dance over the perishing City and transmute the elements one into another, taking under their control the things created. "We are to live here!" — and the sky splitted forever is smiling with a precious smile. Fine humour and tragic catharsis, conflicts of modernity and sparkles of mythology, dynamic plot and philosophical view on the reality — all this provides real pleasure even to the most exigent readers.
The novel was published in Russia in 1999.
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"THE BORDER" (novel in two volumes: volume 1 — "Orphans Cost Much in Winter" (about 100.000 words), volume 2 — "The Time to Break a Bans" (about 112.000 words); the novel is written in collaboration with Andrey Valentinov and Marina & Sergey Dyachenko, 1998-1999.)
Beginning from the first pages of this novel the reader becomes highly delighted and cannot stop until the whole book is read. We enter a world which is divided by many borders and consists of a number of separate worlds-containers. The Malakh angels have been guarding those borders prohibiting the worlds to contact each other. The containers perish one by one like the members of a body where the blood does not circulate. And once a strange meeting took place: the two-souled hero, the Wild Lord, the courageous captain's daughter Yaryna, the murderous wizard Yehuda-ben-Joseph, the wise bee-master Rudy Panko and the enchantress Salle Keval who is a kind of conductor between the worlds. Among them is also a strange baby, the newly-born "devil's son", the future Saviour, or may be the Antichrist? They met at their ultimate border, and the majestic Malakhs shivered, those whose flesh is made of light and the soul... but they have got no soul at all. Ukraine of the Gogol times, ancient Judaic mistical theories of Kabbala, exotic lands of fantasy and realistic village huts near Poltava; and among all this there is a man, an ordinary man who strives to find his own personality, and his fate and his dignity. This wonderful novel combines the features of philosophical discourse, historical novel, thriller and melodrama. The collective project of the writers widely known in the former USSR and abroad is a success, and it's no wonder because Marina and Sergey Dyachenko from Kiev and H. L. Oldie (Dmitry Gromov and Oleg Ladyzhensky) and Andrey Valentinov from Kharkov are the laureats of most prestigeous prizes in the field of fantasy in Ukraine, Russia, Moldavia in Europe and in Israel. Each of their novels was successfully published and republished. In general the volume of their work during last years amounts to almost a million copies! The book written by such a team thanks to its high level will be enjoyed both by most refined experts and by ordinary reader.
This novel was published in Russia in 1999 as a Club (Collector's) Edition and the same year as an ordinary edition in hard cover.
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"I'LL TAKE IT MYSELF" (novel, about 125.000 words, 1998.)
Although this novel has a real historical background it is closely connected with the worlds of the "ABYSS OF HUNGRY EYES" and "THE WAY OF THE SWORD". It's plot is quite separate but to a certain extent this book is the first part of the cycle "THE WAY OF THE SWORD" because its action begins some centuries earlier. The Arabian poet of the Xth century al- Mutanabbi is the man of the sword and the man of the word and... simply a man in the full meaning of this word. But in the first place he's a poet although he can wield his sword skillfully. And the life of a poet is his song. "I'll take it myself" is a brilliant allegoric poem about the fate of Mutanabbi who had been an emir if not even a shakh-in-shakh but rejected the sword and entered the history as a poet. And this fate was not at all easy... At the beginning of the book he succeded to survive in a duel with a wild nomad, but very soon he failed to withstand a samoum — and got to another world where he became not only a shakh but a carrier of the "farre". This world is for him a hell (although for somebody else it could be like a paradise), but thanks to the "farre" everyone becomes obedient to his wishes. And, what is more, they're sincerely obedient, people render their services with joy, their souls are changed as the pictures at the computer display. The former rival becomes a devoted friend, women are ready to come to him and even a night brigand attacks the shakh only because the latter yearns for battle. Such a life is in fact real torment for a poet who used to deal with a word which had been cruel — but real. And the war victories over Kabir cannot change the situation because the trouble is rooted in his own soul. He refuses to accept life as alms and shouts desperately: "I'll take it myself!" What is life and death, honour and dishonour, power and responsibility — all of these great questions are raised in this novel, and there can hardly be a reader who'd remain indifferent to it.
The novel was published in Russia in 1998.
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"NOPERAPON OR IN IMAGE" (novel, about 100.000 words, 1998.)
Japan of the XVth century and Kharkov of the XXth. Legendary actors of the "No" theatre and our contemporaries, the art of ancient actors and modern karate schools, curved streets of Kyoto and avenues lit with bright neon lights, the meeting at the cimetery with a night creature without face and an advertisment with an amazing slogan: "Your task is to survive". It seems that there is nothing in common between all these things. But there is a man, an ordinary man who was driven out of the frames of time and space in order to win or to perish. When the young actor Motoyoshi killed a "noperapon"-thieve with a wooden sword, when one man became a mirror and the other a weapon; when Death was approaching the Temple of Clear Waters, and the young postgraduate girl-student sent to the hospital one after another six violators — it means that the times meet, their edges coincide and it becomes impossible to define who had been living yesterday and who is living now, if everyone cherishes deep in soul the wish to possess everything at a time and free of charge... But since we get what we have wanted we cease to be human... Try to take the place of the heroes of the new novel by H.L.Oldie, and the dull reality of our usual world would seem not so dull to you... and not so real at all.
The novel was published in Russia in 1999.
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A lot of short stories also can be proposed for publishing. Some of them are:
HUMOROUS FANTASY:
1. "Collapse" (Published in Ukraine three times: in 1994, 1995 and 1996 and one time in Russia in 1999). Included to the "Master-Radio" show (Kharkov, Ukraine, 1994).
2. "The Hidden Wiring" (Published in Ukraine in 1994, 1996 and in Russia in 1999).
3. "The Lacking Ingredient" (Published in Ukraine in 1994, 1996 and in Russia in 1999).
4. "Happiness in the Written Form" (Published three times in Russia, in 1991, 1992 and 1999 and in Ukraine: twice in 1994 and one time in 1996).
5. "The Cassandre Syndrome" (Published in Ukraine in 1994, 1996 and in Russia in 1999).
6. "Mythurg" (Published in Ukraine in 1992, 1994, twice in 1996 and in Kazakhstan in 1993 and one time in Russia in 1999).
7. "The Nightmares of Pavel Lavrentievich" (Published in Ukraine in 1994, 1996 and in Russia in 1999). Included to the "Master-Radio" show (Kharkov, Ukraine, 1994).
8. "How the Atlantis Fell" (Published in Ukraine in 1993, 1994 and 1996 and one time in Russia in 1999). Included to the "Master-Radio" show (Kharkov, Ukraine, 1994). Listed in "The Best 10 SF & Fantasy Short Stories" of the former USSR in 1994. (1-st place)
9. "The Second Day of Abundance" (Published in Ukraine in 1994, 1996 and in Russia in 1999).
10. "The Cinema until Coffin And..." (Published twice in Ukraine in 1994 and three times in Russia: in 1996, 1997 and 2000).
11. "The Grandfather Vampire Tales" (Published in Ukraine in 1993 and three times in 1994 and five times (1996, 1997, 1997, 1999, 2000) in Russia). Included to the "Master-Radio" show (Kharkov, Ukraine, 1994).
12. "The Report" (Published in Ukraine in 1994 and in Russia in 2000).
13. "The Last God's Assumption" (Piblished in Ukraine in 1993 and in 1994 and in Russia in 1997 and in 2000).
14. "Khipesh-Town" (By Dmitry Gromov, Oleg Ladyzhensky, Andrey Valentinov and Alexander Krasovitzky. Published in Ukraine in 1998 and in Russia in 2000).
THRILLERS:
1. "Nevermore" (Publised in Ukraine in 1993 and in Russia in 1997 and in 2000).
2. "Nobody's Home" (This story was listed in "The Best 10 SF Stories" at International SF Authors Meeting in Biysk (former USSR) in 1990 (#7). Published in Russia in 1996).
3. "Monster" (Published in Ukraine in 1992).
4. "The Eighth Circle of the Underground" (Published in Ukraine in 1992 and in 1994 and in Russia in 1994 and twice in 1996). Included to the "Master-Radio" radio show (Kharkov, Ukraine, 1994).
5. "The Prophet" (Published in Ukraine in 1995 and in Russia in 1997 and in 2000).
6. "Requiem to the Dream" (Published in Bielorussia in 1992 and in Russia in 1993 and 1996).
PHILOSOPHICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND LYRIC FANTASY:
1. "Master" (Published in Ukraine in 1993, 1994 and 1997). Included to the "Master-Radio" show (Kharkov, Ukraine, 1994). This short story got in 1995 the "FANCON-95" Prize as "the best 1994-95 SF & Fantasy short story".
2. "Tiger" (Published in Ukraine in 1994 and in 1996 and in Russia in 1996).
3. "A Discount For The Talent".
4. "5 Minutes To Lend" (Published in Russia in 1996).
5. "Annabel-Lea" (Published in Russia in 1996 and in Ukraine in 1997).
6. "The Laughter Of Dionys".
7. "The Last".
8. "A Broken Circle".
9. "Hoanga" (Published in Ukraine in 1998 and in Russia in 1999).
10. "The Missed Life" (Published in Ukraine twice in 1999 and one time in Russia in 1999).
Some of these short stories were integrated as parts into the novels "To Enter into Image" and "The Way".
All these short stories are (c) H. L. Oldie, 1990-1998.
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The abstracts given above are very brief and simplified; they don't even follow all plot lines.
If You are interested in these novels and stories, You can translate them from Russian for publishing.
All texts are availible as text files, in Russian. The texts can be also translated from Russian to English (or some other languages) by our translators.
HENRY LION OLDIE is a joint pen-name of two authors: GROMOV DMITRY and LADYZHENSKY OLEG.
ADDRESSES:
Mr. D. E. Gromov: Pushkinsky entry, # 10, apt. 28, Kharkov-24, 61024, Ukraine. tel.(home): (0572) 472991.
Mr. O. S. Ladyzhensky: Pushkinsky entry, # 10, apt. 30, Kharkov-24, 61024, Ukraine. tel.(home): (0572) 474830.
E-Mail: (Internet): oldie@kharkov.com NetMail (FidoNet): 2:461/76.2 Dmitriy Gromov
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