Sergei Pavlov. Lunar Rainbow

This book is about people of the future. This theme is nothing new in science fiction. That's what science fiction is all about: anticipating tomorrow's people—their thoughts, deeds, and plans. Some science fiction writers reimagine people. Others, and these are the majority, take our contemporary and, through the power of their imagination, transport them to the World of Noon, if it's a utopia, or to the World of Night, if it's a dystopia—that is, in Blok's words, to "the cold and darkness of the days to come." Sergei Pavlov, like the Strugatsky brothers, like many other science fiction writers, is one of many. But among these many, he, like the Strugatskys themselves, is unique in his talent.

The theme of Sergei Pavlov's novels, novellas, and short stories is how a person changes when confronted with the Unknown, and how it, the Unknown, influences them. Whether this occurs in the writer's fictional Outer World ("Moon Rainbow," "Amazonia, Eastern Yardang," "The Attic of the Universe," "The Elusive Pride") or in the ocean depths ("Aquanauts"), the author always poses the pressing question: will a person remain human when confronted with something incompatible with human nature?