''The Wish Machine'' (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Маши́на жела́ний, ''Mashína zhelániy'', literally "Machine of wishes"), also called ''Stalker'', is a screenplay by

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 ...

for the 1979 movie ''

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 ...

'' that in turn is based on the fourth chapter of their 1972 novel ''

Roadside Picnic ''Roadside Picnic'' (, ) is a philosophical science fiction novel by the Soviet authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky that was written in 1971 and published in 1972. It is their most popular and most widely translated novel outside the former Sovie ...

'', published in ''Avrora'' issues 7–9. Tarkovsky's volunteer secretary Marianna Chugunova claimed that in total 12 or 13 variants of the screenplay were considered. Two versions of the story were published: an early draft, printed by Text Publishers; and a later version published in issue 25 of ''Сборник научной фантастики'' (1981), which was also translated and published abroad: * In French: ''Stalker. Pique-nique au bord du chemin'' (1981) by Svetlana Delmotte * In Polish: ''Maszyna życzeń'', by Paweł Porwit in: Kwazar 01 (13) 1983Аркадий и Борис Стругацкие «Машина желаний»
at fantlab.ru * In Hungarian: ''Stalker'' (1984) by Iván Földeák * In Swedish: ''Stalker'' (1987) by Kjell Rehnström and Sam J. LundwallLibris: Stalker

References

1979 novels Novels by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Novels based on films {{1970s-sf-novel-stub