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''Roadside Picnic'' (, ) is a
philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
by the
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
authors
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky The brothers Arkady Strugatsky (28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Strugatsky (14 April 1933 – 19 November 2012) were Soviet and Russian science-fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers. Their notable works in ...
that was written in 1971 and published in 1972. It is their most popular and most widely translated novel outside the former Soviet Union. As of 2003, Boris Strugatsky counted 55 publications of ''Roadside Picnic'' in 22 countries. The story was published in English in a translation by Antonina W. Bouis. A preface to the first American edition was written by
Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American author of primarily fantasy fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and Horror fiction, horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 ...
.
Stanisław Lem Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer. He was the author of many novels, short stories, and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fi ...
wrote an afterword to the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
edition of 1977. Another English translation by Olena Bormashenko was published in 2012, with a foreword by
Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...
and an afterword by Boris Strugatsky. The book has been the source of many adaptations and other inspired works in a variety of media, including stage plays, video games, and television series. The 1979 film ''
Stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring t ...
'', directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...
, is loosely based on the novel, with a screenplay written by the Strugatsky brothers. Later, in 2007, '' S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl'', the first installment of a video game franchise taking inspiration from both the book and the film, was released as well. The term ''stalker'' (сталкер) became a part of the
Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
and, according to the authors, became the most popular of their
neologisms In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
. In the book, stalkers are people who trespass into the forbidden area known as the Zone and steal its valuable extraterrestrial artifacts, which they later sell. In Russian, after Tarkovsky's film, the term acquired the meaning of a guide who navigates forbidden or uncharted territories; later on, urbexers and fans of industrial tourism, especially those visiting abandoned sites and
ghost towns A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
, were also called stalkers.


Setting

''Roadside Picnic'' is set in the aftermath of an extraterrestrial event, the Visitation, which occurred simultaneously in several locations around the
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
over a two-day period. Neither the Visitors themselves nor their means of arrival or departure were ever seen by the local populations, who lived inside the relatively small areas, each a few square kilometers, of the six Visitation Zones. The Zones exhibit strange and dangerous phenomena that are not understood by humans and contain artifacts with inexplicable properties. The title of the novel derives from an
analogy Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share. In logic, it is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as oppose ...
that is proposed by the character Dr. Valentine Pilman, who compares the Visitation to a
picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event su ...
: In this analogy, the nervous animals are the humans who venture forth after the Visitors have left, discovering items and anomalies that are ordinary to those who have discarded them, but incomprehensible or deadly to the earthlings. The explanation implies that the Visitors may not have paid any attention to or even noticed Earth's inhabitants during their visit, just as many humans do not notice or pay attention to insects and wildlife during a picnic. The artifacts and phenomena that are left behind by the Visitors in the Zones were garbage, which are discarded and forgotten without any intentions to advance or damage humanity. There is little chance that the Visitors will return again because for them it was a brief stop, for reasons unknown, on the way to their actual destination.


Plot


Background

The novel is set in a post-Visitation world in which there are now six zones that are known on Earth to be full of unexplained phenomena with strange happenings having briefly occurred. They are assumed to have been Visitations by aliens. Governments and the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, fearful of unforeseen consequences, try to keep tight control over them to prevent leakage of artifacts from the Zones. A subculture of ''stalkers'', scavengers who go into the zones to steal the artifacts for profit, has evolved around the zones. The novel is set in and around a specific zone in Harmont, a fictitious town in an unspecified English-speaking country, and follows the protagonist over the course of eight years.


Introduction

The introduction is a live radio interview with Dr. Pilman, who is credited with the discovery that the six Visitation Zones' locations were not random. He explains it so: "Imagine that you spin a huge globe and you start firing bullets into it. The bullet holes would lie on the surface in a smooth curve. The whole point (is that) all six Visitation Zones are situated on the surface of our planet as though someone had taken shots at
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
from a pistol located somewhere along the Earth–Deneb line.
Deneb Deneb () is a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Cygnus. It is the brightest star in the constellation and the 19th brightest in the night sky, with an apparent magnitude slightly varying between +1.21 and +1.29. Deneb is one ...
is the main star in Cygnus."


Section 1

The story revolves around Redrick "Red" Schuhart, a brutal and experienced young stalker who regularly enters the Zone illegally at night in search of valuable artifacts for profit. Trying to clean up his act, he becomes employed as a lab assistant at the International Institute, which studies the Zone. To help the career of his boss, whom he considers a friend, he goes into the Zone with him on an official expedition to recover a unique artifact (a full "empty"), which later leads to his friend's death. That comes as a great shock when the news reaches Redrick, who is drunk in a bar, and he blames himself for his friend's fate. While Redrick is at the bar, a police force enters looking for stalkers. Redrick is forced to use a "shrieker" to make a hasty getaway. Red's girlfriend, Guta, is pregnant and decides to keep the baby no matter what. It is widely rumored that incursions into the Zone by stalkers carry high risk of mutations in their children even though no radiation or other
mutagens In genetics, a mutagen is a physical or chemical agent that permanently changes genetic material, usually DNA, in an organism and thus increases the frequency of mutations above the natural background level. As many mutations can cause cancer in ...
have been detected in the area. They decide to marry.


Section 2

Disillusioned, Redrick returns to stalking. In the course of his joint expedition into the Zone with a fellow stalker, named Burbridge (a.k.a. "The Vulture"), the latter steps into a substance known as "hell slime" (“witches jelly” in the older English translation), which slowly dissolves his leg bones. Amputation must be urgently performed to avoid Burbridge losing his legs entirely. Redrick pulls Burbridge out of the Zone, avoids the patrols, and drops him off at a surgeon. Later, Redrick is confronted by Burbridge's daughter, who gets angry with him for saving her father. Guta has given birth to a happy and intelligent daughter, who is fully normal but for having long, light full body hair and black eyes. They lovingly call her the "Monkey," Redrick meets with his clients in a posh hotel and sells them a fresh portion of the Zone artifacts, but what they are really after is "hell slime". It is hinted that they want it for military research. Redrick claims not to have it yet and leaves. Shortly afterward, Redrick is arrested but escapes. He then contacts his clients and tells them where he hid the "slime" sample that he had smuggled out. Redrick insists for all proceeds from the sale to be sent to Guta. He realizes that the "slime" will be used for some kind of
weapon of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures ( ...
but decides that he has to provide for his family. He then gives himself up to the police.


Section 3

Redrick's old friend Richard Noonan, a supply contractor with offices inside the institute, is revealed as a covert operative of an unnamed presumably-governmental, secret organization working to stop the contraband outflow of artifacts from the Zone. Believing that he is nearing the successful completion of his multi-year assignment, he is confronted and scolded by his boss, who reveals to him that the flow is stronger than ever, and he is tasked with finding who is responsible and how they operate. It is revealed that the stalkers are now organized under the cover of the "weekend picnics-for-tourists" business set up by Burbridge. They jokingly refer to the setup as "Sunday school". Noonan meets with Dr. Valentine Pilman for lunch, and they have an in-depth discussion of the Visitation and humanity in general in which the idea of "Visitation as a roadside picnic" is articulated. Redrick is home again and has served his time. Burbridge visits him regularly and tries to entice him into some secret project, but Redrick declines. Guta is depressed because their daughter has nearly lost her humanity and ability to speak and more and more resembles an actual monkey. Redrick's dead father is also present and came home from the cemetery inside the Zone, as other very slow-moving (and completely harmless) reanimated dead are now returning to their homes all around town. They are usually destroyed by the authorities as soon as they are discovered. Redrick, however, had forcibly managed to defend his father from being taken away.


Section 4

Redrick goes into the Zone one last time to reach the wish-granting "Golden Sphere". He has a map that was given to him by Burbridge, whose son, Arthur, joins him on the expedition. Redrick knows one of them has to die in order to temporarily deactivate an invisible phenomenon known as the "meatgrinder" for the other to reach the Sphere, but he keeps that a secret from Arthur, whom he intends to sacrifice to it to make a wish to turn his daughter back to normal. After they get to the location and survive many obstacles, Arthur rushes towards the Sphere and shouts out selfless wishes for a better world, only to be savagely dispatched by the meatgrinder. With the Sphere in front of him, an exhausted Redrick looks back in confusion and bitterness on his whole life of desperate survival in a harsh world, his servitude, and his lack of free will, and he finds that he cannot articulate what he actually wants from the Sphere. After much unaccustomed introspection, Red at first leaves it to the Sphere to look into his untainted soul "to figure out" his wish because "it can't be bad" and effectively makes his wish that there is something left in him that would wish for good. In irony, he winds up obsessing in the same way the boy had. "HAPPINESS FOR EVERYBODY, FREE OF CHARGE, AND MAY NO ONE BE LEFT BEHIND!"


History

The story was written by the Strugatsky brothers in 1971. The first outlines were written January 18–27 in
Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, and the final version was completed between October 28 and November 3 in Komarovo. It was first published in the literary magazine ''Avrora'' in 1972, issues 7–10. Parts of it (Section 1) were published in Volume 25 of the ''Library of Modern Science Fiction'' in 1973. A Russian-language version endorsed by the Strugatsky brothers as the original was published in the 1970s. By 1998, 38 editions of the novel had been published in 20 countries.СТРУГАЦКИЙ АРКАДИЙ НАТАНОВИЧ (28.08.1925–12.10.1991)
Life and Work of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (in Russian)
The novel was first translated into English by Antonina W. Bouis. The preface to the first American edition of the novel ( Macmillan, New York, 1977) was written by
Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American author of primarily fantasy fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and Horror fiction, horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 ...
. In 2012, the novel was re-released in English. It was re-translated but also based on a version that was restored by Boris Strugatsky to the original state before the Soviet censors had made their alterations.


Awards and nominations

*The novel was nominated for a John W. Campbell Award for best science fiction novel of 1978 and won second place. *In 1978, the Strugatsky brothers were accepted as honorary members of the Mark Twain Society for their "outstanding contribution to world science fiction literature". *A 1979
Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
n congress on science fiction literature awarded the Swedish translation the Jules Verne Prize for best novel of the year published in Swedish. *In 1981, at the sixth
Festival du Science Fiction A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...
in
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, the novel won the award for best foreign book of the year.


Adaptations and cultural influence

* A 1977 Czechoslovak TV miniseries ''Návštěva z Vesmíru'' (Visit from Space). After its TV premiere, all copies were destroyed by censors. * A 1979 science fiction film, ''Stalker'', directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...
, with a screenplay written by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, is loosely based on the novel. * Legendary 80s Argentine post-punk band Don Cornelio y la Zona takes its name from "The Zone". * While not a direct adaptation, the video game series ''
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' is a first-person shooter survival horror video game franchise developed by Ukrainian game developer GSC Game World. The series is set in an Parallel universe (fiction), alternate version of the present-day Chernobyl Exclusio ...
'' is heavily influenced by ''Roadside Picnic''. The first game in the series, '' S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl'', references many important plot points from the book, such as the wish granter and the unknown force blocking the path to the center of the zone. It also contains elements such as anomalies and artifacts that are similar to those described in the book, but that are created by a supernatural ecological disaster, not by alien visitors. *The book is referenced in the post-apocalyptic video game '' Metro 2033''. A character shuffles through a shelf of books in a ruined library and finds ''Roadside Picnic'', he states that it is "something familiar". ''Metro 2033'' was created by individuals who had worked on ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' before founding their own video game development company. The game was based on a novel of the same name which also took influence from ''Roadside Picnic''. * The 1992 video game ''
Star Control II ''Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters'' is a 1992 adventure shoot 'em up video game developed by Toys for Bob ( Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III) and originally published by Accolade in 1992 for MS-DOS. The game is a direct sequel to ''Star Contr ...
'' references alien visitations with mysterious effects and the ''mosquito mange'' regarding the disappearance of the Androsynth. * In 2003, the Finnish theater company Circus Maximus produced a stage version of ''Roadside Picnic'', called ''Stalker''. Authorship of the play was credited to the Strugatskys and to Mikko Viljanen and Mikko Kanninen. * In the penultimate chapter of ''Red Plenty'' (2010),
Francis Spufford Francis Spufford FRSL (born 1964) is an English author and teacher of writing whose career has shifted gradually from non-fiction to fiction. His first novel '' Golden Hill'' received critical acclaim and numerous prizes including the Costa Bo ...
's novelized history of Soviet economic ambitions in the 1960s, a character who has been reading ''Roadside Picnic'' sees it as a metaphor for the effort. * A
tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants d ...
in 2012 titled ''Stalker'' was developed by Ville Vuorela of Burger Games. * M. John Harrison's novel ''Nova Swing'' (2007), which features a location called the 'Event Zone' where reality is skewed in various ways, can be seen to be influenced by ''Roadside Picnic''. * A Finnish low-budget indie film ''Vyöhyke'' (''Zone''), directed by Esa Luttinen, was released in 2012. The film is set in a Finnish visitation zone, and refers to material in the novel as well as the Tarkovsky film. * British progressive rock band Guapo's 2013 album ''History of the Visitation'', is based on the novel. * The original Chinese title of the 2015 film '' Kaili Blues'' by director
Bi Gan Prince Bigan (), surnamed " Zi" (子), was a prominent Chinese figure during the Shang dynasty. He was a son of King Wen Ding, and an uncle of King Zhou, and served as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Shang. He was later worshipped as th ...
literally translates to "Roadside Picnic", which is the name of a book of poems written by Chen Sheng, one of the characters in the film. Bi Gan is heavily influenced by
Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...
, especially his film ''
Stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring t ...
''. * In 2016, the US TV channel
WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-T ...
ordered a pilot for a TV adaptation, starring
Matthew Goode Matthew William Goode (born 3 April 1978) is an English actor. He made his screen debut in 2002 with ABC's television film '' Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister''. His breakthrough role was in the romantic comedy '' Chasing Liberty'' (2004), f ...
and directed by Alan Taylor, but did not proceed to a series order. * The 2016 video game '' The Final Station'' is partly based on the book, in which an alien "Visitation" occurred across several countries in the game. The Visitation devastated human society but also left some advanced technology to humanity. * The documentary '' HyperNormalisation'' by Adam Curtis discusses the book and its role in questioning the realism of Soviet society. * Japanese writer Iori Miyazawa's 2017 ''
Otherside Picnic is a Japanese '' yuri'' science fiction novel series written by Iori Miyazawa and illustrated by shirakaba, inspired by the novel '' Roadside Picnic'' by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Hayakawa Publishing have released ten volumes of the seri ...
'' is a Yuri novel, manga and anime series in which two girls explore the "Otherside", a world of urban legend populated by ghosts of folklore. * ''
Annihilation In particle physics, annihilation is the process that occurs when a subatomic particle collides with its respective antiparticle to produce other particles, such as an electron colliding with a positron to produce two photons. The total energy a ...
'', a 2018 science fiction psychological horror film, written and directed by
Alex Garland Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English author, screenwriter, and director. He rose to prominence with his novel '' The Beach'' (1996). He received praise for writing the Danny Boyle films '' 28 Days Later'' (2002) and '' Sun ...
, though based on the novel of the same name by
Jeff VanderMeer Jeff VanderMeer (born July 7, 1968) is an American author, editor, and literary critic. Initially associated with the New Weird literary genre, VanderMeer crossed over into mainstream success with his bestselling Southern Reach Series. The se ...
, for some critics betrays obvious similarities to ''Roadside Picnic'' and ''Stalker''. * A skirmish wargame published in 2020 titled ''Zona Alfa'' featuring "skirmish rules for scavenging, exploring, and surviving in a near-future, post-apocalyptic Eastern European setting" in which players can "take on the role of bandits, mercenaries, and military units fighting over the blasted Exclusion Zone and its abandoned artefacts" was developed by Patrick Todoroff for
Osprey Publishing Osprey Publishing is a British publishing company specializing in military history formerly based in Oxford. Predominantly an illustrated publisher, many of their books contain full-colour artwork plates, maps and photographs, and the company p ...
. *A VR game called ''Into The Radius'' is often compared to the VR equivalent of the ''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' series and is heavily influenced by the book. * The Amazon Prime series '' Tales from the Loop'', based on the book of the same title by Simon Stålenhag, is based on a similar premise to ''Roadside Picnic''. In the series, there are many artefacts and phenomena scattered across the rural area surrounding the fictional town of Mercer, Ohio, which serve as critical plot devices. Abandoned metal spheres exhibiting strange effects lie abandoned in the woods; forest streams become inexplicably frozen or unfrozen, with time-altering effects; inter-dimensional rifts open and close; and an otherworldly, floating sphere, pulsing with seismic energy, is the target of scientific scrutiny. Each of these creates challenges for the characters, who seem at once bemused at, and accepting of, their existence. * The British-American 2021 science fiction television series ''
Debris Debris (, ) is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded waste, garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, as in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier, etc. Depending on context, ''debris'' can ref ...
'' explores a similar premise. * The Brazilian-American 2024 video game '' Atomic Picnic'' draws inspiration from the tale, featuring elements like The Zone and scavenging referred to as Picnic. * The internet webseries ''Parties are for Losers'' draws significant inspiration from ''Roadside Picnic'' in terms of premise. * The 2024 video game '' Pacific Drive'' is set in the fictional Olympic Exclusion Zone, a Zone with similar anomalies to the ones in the novel. * The 2024 video game ''
Zenless Zone Zero ''Zenless Zone Zero'' is a free-to-play action role-playing game developed and published by miHoYo (with publishing outside mainland China under HoYoverse, Cognosphere, d/b/a ''HoYoverse''). The game was released on Windows, iOS, Android (oper ...
'' includes exploring "Zones" with monsters and anomalies reminiscent of the novel. * The 2025 video game Atomfall includes exploring maps in an exclusion zone, fighting the military, looters, robots, and monsters resulting from the nuclear incident.


References


External links


''Roadside Picnic''
full English text (Antonina W. Bouis translation), archive at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
''Roadside Picnic''
parallel text in Russian and English
''Roadside Picnic''
2012 translation by Olena Bormashenko at
WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

Review of the ''Roadside Picnic''
on the Infinity Plus website



{{S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series 1972 novels 20th-century Russian novels 1972 science fiction novels 1972 in the Soviet Union Russian science fiction novels Russian post-apocalyptic novels Russian philosophical novels Soviet novels Dystopian novels Novels set in the future Novels about alien visitations Fiction set around Deneb Russian novels adapted into films Science fiction novels adapted into films Russian novels adapted into television shows Russian novels adapted into plays Novels adapted into video games Books with cover art by Richard M. Powers Novels by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky