Novels and short stories by Mark Perakh

NOVELS

1. THE FATE OF PEOPLE LIKE US.

This novel was written in Russian in 1946. As it did not conform to the strict requirements of the official Communist Party line in regard to literature, it could not be published. In 1958 the manuscript was confiscated by the KGB and the author was arrested (and spent 27 months in a Siberian prison camp). Of course there is hardly a way to retrieve it from the KGB archives.

2. TRAIN IN A WIRE CAGE.

This novel was written in English in 1984-85. In 1988 it was published by Lorevan Publishers . The publisher had arbitrarily changed the title from "Train in a Wire Cage (this title was linked to some essential elements of the story) to a much more trivial "Man in a Wire Cage." Moreover, the book's editor, without consulting with the writer, performed a hatchet job, having crudely mutilated the book. In 1989, this novel was published the second time (in the same mutilated form) by "Guild Press."

3. THE RUSSIAN STUNT (The TELENKIN INHERITANCE)

This novel was written in English in 1987. The unexpected revolutionary changes on the former USSR allegedly made the story's plot somehow obsolete. Therefore the publisher reneged on his initial offer to publish the novel.

4. THE ROMAN RUSE.

This novel was written in English in 1989, but its fate was the same as of the previous one, for the same reason: the publishers believed that because of the rapid sequence of revolutionary changes both in Russia and in the Middle East, readers would not be interested in a novel about Russia and Middle East where the action takes place in 1989.

SHORT STORIES

1. COLONEL AT THE GATE. Written in 1984 in English, this story was published in 1986 in a New York based journal named "Present Tense"(not existing any longer).

2.ANTS. Written in 1987 in English, this story was published twice. The first publication was in 1988. in the literary magazine of Cal. State University, Fullerton, "Algonquin West*". The second publication was in 1989, in "Present Tense".

3. In 1950-1955, nearly 20 short stories about mountain climbing, written in Russian, were published by various Russian newspapers and magazines. None of them are available now.

4. A series of four short stories was printed in Russian in the Kontinent journal (No 102, Nov-Dec 1999) which is published in Moscow. The stories' titles are (1) Ne boiss, Barakhokhlo; (2) Kusok Rzhavoi Truby; (3) Polkovnik u Vorot; (4) Murav'i.

Back to Perakh's homepage