Oh, Those Russians! by Ruby Barnes #ASMSG
The Chernobyl
disaster of 26 April 1986 is imprinted on the memory of everyone who lived
through that time and continues to be known as one of the World's worst nuclear
accidents. The Cold War had long threatened the planet with a nuclear cataclysm
but Chernobyl
surprised and appalled the population of Earth.
An author with a knack for prophesy had written a novel based around a nuclear power accident in Russia several months before the Chernobyl disaster occurred. Farewell to Russia by Richard Hugo (a.k.a. Jim Williams) described a technically very different scenario to Chernobyl, with an even more disastrous potential outcome. But the point Williams made was poignant:
"...there remains a fundamental similarity in that both disasters have their origins in the way that the communist system operated. The Soviet Union was a rickety slovenly place behind its sinister façade and the circumstances of the imaginary disaster at Sokolskoye and the real disaster at Chernobyl stand as a metaphor for the weaknesses that would bring the whole system down."
As a fan of Jim Williams I had a battered second-hand copy of Farewell to Russia in my bookcase and resolved to read it sometime. Last summer I finally got around to the task and was very surprised by this out-of-print novel. The author soon transported me into a dark Soviet Era world in which a KGB detective became embroiled in a nuclear incident and attempted to smuggle embargoed USA technology to solve the threat to the Russian nation. The retro feel was authentic, the prose timeless, the detective Kirov a dark master of manipulation and interrogation. Psychological thrills, action, a love interest, it had everything. Critics of the time had praised the work but it seemed to have lapsed into obscurity. I spoke to Jim about it and he suggested I read the sequel A Conspiracy of Mirrors / The Gorbachev Version. For several days I lived for that book, entangled in a mix of James Bond, Nordic noir and The Americans. Jim's flair for languages and research combined to build an authentic and troublesome world for KGB Major Pyotr Kirov. Jim was finally persuaded to re-release both books under his real name with our publisher Marble City Publishing, renaming the sequel Anti-Soviet Activities. The original paper copies were digitized and reformatted for the modern world by Marble City, and new covers created by JD Smith Design.
Both books are now available from Marble City in e-book and paperback format. Farewell to Russia will be free on Amazon from 28 December 2014 to 1 January 2015. If you enjoy a good thriller then click the above link, head on over to Amazon and grab a copy!
An author with a knack for prophesy had written a novel based around a nuclear power accident in Russia several months before the Chernobyl disaster occurred. Farewell to Russia by Richard Hugo (a.k.a. Jim Williams) described a technically very different scenario to Chernobyl, with an even more disastrous potential outcome. But the point Williams made was poignant:
"...there remains a fundamental similarity in that both disasters have their origins in the way that the communist system operated. The Soviet Union was a rickety slovenly place behind its sinister façade and the circumstances of the imaginary disaster at Sokolskoye and the real disaster at Chernobyl stand as a metaphor for the weaknesses that would bring the whole system down."
As a fan of Jim Williams I had a battered second-hand copy of Farewell to Russia in my bookcase and resolved to read it sometime. Last summer I finally got around to the task and was very surprised by this out-of-print novel. The author soon transported me into a dark Soviet Era world in which a KGB detective became embroiled in a nuclear incident and attempted to smuggle embargoed USA technology to solve the threat to the Russian nation. The retro feel was authentic, the prose timeless, the detective Kirov a dark master of manipulation and interrogation. Psychological thrills, action, a love interest, it had everything. Critics of the time had praised the work but it seemed to have lapsed into obscurity. I spoke to Jim about it and he suggested I read the sequel A Conspiracy of Mirrors / The Gorbachev Version. For several days I lived for that book, entangled in a mix of James Bond, Nordic noir and The Americans. Jim's flair for languages and research combined to build an authentic and troublesome world for KGB Major Pyotr Kirov. Jim was finally persuaded to re-release both books under his real name with our publisher Marble City Publishing, renaming the sequel Anti-Soviet Activities. The original paper copies were digitized and reformatted for the modern world by Marble City, and new covers created by JD Smith Design.
 |
| The First Pyotr Kirov Detective Novel |
Both books are now available from Marble City in e-book and paperback format. Farewell to Russia will be free on Amazon from 28 December 2014 to 1 January 2015. If you enjoy a good thriller then click the above link, head on over to Amazon and grab a copy!
 |
| The Second Pyotr Kirov Detective Novel |
Comments