M.S. Parfenov and others

Samoe luchee iz «Samaya strashnaya kniga»

Best of «The Most Scary Book» Horror short stories. AST 2014-2022. 300 pages

„Forever“ - Alexander Matyukhin
Natasha and Stas were once like brimstone. And the video store in the shed next to the school was more beautiful to them than any paradise. And then Stas went away to the big city, leaving Natasha in the outback of the Russian North, along with her loneliness and unhappy family. But many years later, a letter from his youth reaches him, and now he will definitely return. After all, it is not for nothing that one says „forever“ when one loves.

„Tsap-Tsap“ - Evgeny Shikov
Many rumors circulate about this swamp. Some speak of devils, others of witches. A little boy who made it back from there keeps tal- king about the Tsap. And went insane about it. But as always, there is a daredevil who wants to know more.

„Dribeis“ - Dmitry Kostyukevich
A Russian polar station drifting with an iceberg. Hydrologists studying the subglacial relief. A typical day at the North Pole. Diver Sergei Ivin descends into the ice hole for a dive and, hovering over the abyss of the ocean, begins to check the set steel markers. He is surrounded by a cold majestic landscape, myriads of ice crystals, the omnipresent mud, when suddenly something grabs him from behind.

„Beloved“ - Daria Bobyleva
The story about the unenviable fate of the boy Sanya, who at the age of seventeen chose his fateful path. He too had believed that witches did not exist, but life proved him wrong.

„America“ - Anatoly Umansky
Alaska during the war of Russians against native tribes. The inhabitants of a small fort can hardly repel the attacks of the Tlingit. Yet in these harsh latitudes lives something far more terrible than the savage tribes. And this creature intends to use the enmity between the Russians and the natives for its own ends.

“The Glacier” - Oleg Kozhin
In a secret glacial cave used as a food storage facility, a researcher at a semi-abandoned polar station discovers not only missing rein- deer carcasses, but also the body of an aborigine. It all looks like a black market where the recipient and supplier have not come to an agreement on how to share the loot. But then things happen on the station that don‘t quite fit with this simple version.

“Mummer“ - Dmitry Tikhonov
During a church festival with a masked procession, two village boys encounter an unusual creature. One of the boys survives, but for how much longer?

„My Mother‘s Hands“ - Mikhail Pavlov
Ilya is a cheerful, sociable guy who comes from a large family. But suddenly a nightmarish witch creature appears, chasing him. Is it real? Where does it come from? Why did it choose him?

„Land of Cockroaches“ - Parfenov M.S.
Kostya has always struggled with complexes due to his provincial origins. Especially now that he is taking an apartment on the outskirts of Moscow. Nevertheless, he dreams of moving to the center one day. But the dream turns into a nightmare when an army of man-ea- ting insects attacks the tenement.

„The Bridge“ - Parfenov M.S.
To find out what happened to his younger sister, who disappeared twenty years ago, Pasha returns to the old bridge not far from where he spent his childhood and where his sister was last seen.

„Snowballs“ - Parfenov M.S.
Alyosha is sad. His friends throw snowballs in the yard. Even fat Edik. Only Alyosha’s grandmother strictly forbids him to go out on the street. Maybe steal the key to the locked apartment door and run to the boys? But where did grandma hide them? Also, she should finally turn off that stupid radio on which some liars have been warning non-stop for the last few weeks: „Beware...Potentially dange- rous contacts...Dangerous...Dangerous...Wait for help...“

„The Gift of the Tsar“ - Elena Shchetinina
The coronation of Nicholas II is a real holiday. On this occasion, don‘t miss the distribution of royal gifts. That‘s what the people think as they flock to the Khodynka field and push their way forward more and more impatiently. But instead of gifts, many find a horrible death in the field.