Fantastically bad plots and where they live. Review of the book "Dead Man's Chest" by Max Fry

From the book titled "Dead Man's Chest" you expect stories about sea voyages, pirates and rum. Resurrecting the good old "Treasure Island" in the subconscious, Fry's new novel begins to delight almost immediately. However, this joy quickly passes. Especially when you remember that Fry cannot write about anything but the adventures of the infantile and slightly feminine Sir Max.

“Dead Man's Chest” refers to the “Echo Dreams” cycle. Svetlana Martynchik, hiding under the pseudonym Max Fry, is not the only one in this cycle. Before him there were "Chronicles of Ex" and "Labyrinths of Exo". Each of them has several novels and all about the same hero in the same world. Other projects of Svetlana, with the exception of "Tales of Old Vilnius", did not gain the same wide popularity and therefore have sunk into oblivion.

The first book of the series was published in 1996. That is, for more than 20 years, Fry has been developing one universe. And judging by the ratings, it develops it successfully. Svetlana has her own circle of loyal readers and is even gradually expanding. Fortunately, Fry never ceases to delight fans and almost every year he publishes a book, and sometimes more than one. For the past 2016, Svetlana sent to the bookshelves the fifth series of "Fairy Tales", "I'm Going to Look for", "Cards on the Table" and "Blue Thorns". That is, in something, but you cannot deny it performance.

"Fry never ceases to delight fans, and almost every year he publishes a book, and sometimes more than one." Photo: taken from the site Colta.ru

What then is in the chest?

But let's go directly to the "Chest". Fry's early work had a slightly Castaneda flavor (which Svetlana, by the way, often talked about in her blog). The new ones are more distinctive. A seamless world with its own mythology and rules is quite reader friendly. Even the mass of unfamiliar words invented by the author does not repel. Only the setting is somehow desperately lacking, because the whole narrative is built on the stories of the characters and their witty dialogues.

But what about the description? They are clearly not in honor in the Echo world. Fry spends most of his time idly chatting heroes. According to Svetlana, only the heroes' food intake deserves descriptions. At the same time, the heroes eat so often that you start to fear for the world of Echo. Obesity, you know, does not lead to good.

All these snacks and get-togethers revolve around a simple detective story. Although rather the opposite - the plot revolves around snacks, because it fits into three or four lines. Tayyara Kata, Basilio's math tutor, dies. After her, other people begin to die. Sir Max understands everything in desperate attempts to find the killer. It turns out that some ancient order, a special curse and much more are involved in what is happening.

"Fry spends most of his time idly chatting heroes."Photo: taken from the portal samolit.com

It is difficult to write anything else about the plot, because it is as simple as possible. But wrapped up in thousands of dialogues, monologues and meaningless scenes. At the same time, Sir Max says about anything, just not about the case. For example about this: “Sleeping on the move with open eyes, maintaining a more or less meaningful dialogue, turned out to be much more difficult. I'm not doing it yet. "Yes, it's definitely funny. But not when it makes up the bulk of the book.

But reading "The Chest" is pleasant. Svetlana's light style remains the most significant plus of all her works. As if chatting carelessly with the reader, she inserts a lot of funny phrases into the text on behalf of the main character. In some places they turn out to be very philosophical. In the style: " When the truth looks suspiciously like inept consolation, it is best to keep it to yourself.". Separately, I am glad that Fry does not look like a snob, even when he inserts some little-known words. Perhaps because he does it unobtrusively and in a comic context. For example, talking about the fact that "Life in the magical world will not lead to such a zugunder yet"

The dark side of the coin

It would seem that everything is fine. But as always, there is one "but". Martnychik's books resemble a beautifully served table with silver cutlery and lace napkins, to which pretentious waiters in tailcoats carry a multitude of porcelain plates. And in each of them ... buckwheat. Why not? Tasty and nutritious, but sophistication and monotony are not needed.

Cover of Max Frye's Echo Labyrinths.

Fry throws the same mental gum to his readers over and over again. A beautiful cover and a famous name hide the monotonous adventures of similar characters with the same manner of speech. You don't have to look for a good story here - the detective itself is extremely primitive. But complex, as if taken from Ikea names, in the world of Echo in abundance. Unlike the plot, Martynchik regularly lacks imagination for them. This is true for the "Dead Man's Chest".

This position also has every right to life. Yes, the author's style remains pleasant, the adventures of the protagonist arouse interest, and there are enough successful techniques. "Chest" is easy to read, taking 3-4 hours of your time with you. The only problem is that from the outside it seems like something more than purely entertaining fantasy. And this is typical for all of Fry's works. But sooner or later the sweet fog in the head dissipates and you realize that the characters' speech is almost identical, and their development is banal and simulated. Then the flair fades, revealing a banal and absolutely artless fantasy.

The phantasmagoric puppet show from Svetlana Martynchik has already dragged on. Twenty years later, she still continues to pull the strings of the puppets, ventriloquism the thousandth time. Of course, this one has as many haters as many fans. But it is not important. The only important thing is that this performance still finds its audience. And that means it makes some sense. Probably.

The long-awaited continuation of the collection of stories "Coffee Book" is published in ACT: fascinating stories and new recipes for making coffee ...

“Coffee as a drink is a luxury for many, but“ I live on coffee ”or“ work on coffee ”is a harsh reality. Complex recipes, expensive varieties, espresso from selected beans - this is how an insignificant part is consumed. Instant, at a gas station or from fast food, from a vending machine - this is how coffee is actually drunk in the world. Whether you're looking for exploration, night work - or daytime work after a sleepless night - there is often no choice; unfortunately, there are many urban legends, superstitions and just lies around coffee and caffeine; let's try to stick to dry and boring facts.

Everyone is drinking coffee. You are not alone - caffeine is regularly consumed, in one form or another, by 80% of the world's population; When it comes to coffee, Finns drink it the most - 9.6 kilograms per year per capita. For the most part, people drink cheap, bad coffee, its share (there are different estimates) is about 70%. For fanatics, there are caffeinated soap and shampoo, caffeinated bacon, balm, and caffeinated toothpaste.

... Caffeine is the official drug on the main list of the World Health Organization. It increases efficiency, helps to endure pain, increases endurance ... "

The New Coffee Book, compiled by the cult author Max Fry, is an opportunity to stroll along the streets of Jaffa, the alleys of St. Petersburg, the squares of Warsaw and other cozy corners of the world in the company of talented contemporary prose writers, including Max Fry, Laura Beloivan, Anna Likhtikman, Alexander Shuisky, Katie Trend, Konstantin Naumov, Ksenia Agalli, Ilya Danishevsky, etc. Each story in one way or another tells about the amazing properties of coffee and is accompanied by a recipe and comments by Max Fry.

Here's how the compiler describes his new book:

“Once Marusya Vul invited us to collect“ Coffee Book ”- a collection of stories, the characters of which drink coffee, and the authors tell readers the recipes for its preparation. And so we did. Many years have passed since then, and it's scary even to think how much coffee we all drank during this time, bitter black and diluted with milk. And how many new stories they managed to listen to and tell. It's time to collect the "New Coffee Book" with new stories and new recipes. And eternal bitterness, which, as you know, invigorates.
There she is".

It only remains to warn you - in the process of reading this book, you will simply need a cup or two of your favorite coffee! Therefore, it is better to prepare it in advance, because it is simply impossible to tear yourself away from the charming stories collected under the cover of The New Coffee Book.

Max Fry 2019

A book for people like me

Prose , Journalism

This book contains texts written in the nineties of the last century for various Internet projects: the Macht Frei heading in the legendary Gazeta.ru; a toy book "Ideal Novel", consisting of the last paragraphs of fictional books, eager to tell in simple words about very complex phenomena. In this book, Max Fry appears before us not so much as a writer, but as a passionate reader, a person who liked to play literary games. And generally play.

Anthology , Max Fry 2019

Nada (compilation)

Fantastic , Fantasy , Present time

Translated from Spanish “Nada” means “nothing”, “nothing”: translated from the personal internal language of the compiler of this collection, “Nada” is a part of the spell “mnenada”, so powerful that it is better not to mess with the one who uttered it. If he really needs it, so be it.

Max Fry , Olga Nedorubova 2018

This whole kitchen

Prose , Cooking. Beverages. , Russian literature , Humorous




Max Fry , Olga Nedorubova 2018

This whole kitchen

Prose , Cooking. Beverages. , Russian literature , Humorous

Cheese mother's boob, double Gilgamesh in the supermarket, wizard hat chopper, Cthulhu divination, developing mayonnaise, daring reality, brutal mugs, fried Martians in spacesuits, magic capitalism, mom's armpit, dad's socks, torment of chocolate hares, devil in a mortar, Pharaoh Djoser in Razliv and other horrors of our kitchen.

Max Fry 2018

Tales of Old Vilnius VII

Fantasy , Present time , Russian literature , Fantastic

In the Old Town of Vilnius, as it turned out, there are one hundred and forty-seven streets, lanes, squares, markets and bridges; Knowing the nature of our city, we have no doubt that this number will change more than once, here we have something appearing and disappearing almost every day, and it seems to everyone that it has always been so - this is one of the rules of our secret daily game. Nevertheless, this is the last, seventh volume of "Tales of Old Vilnius"; Let's consider that in the big heavenly lottery, the city and I got a random number of one hundred and forty-seven, and we, of course, hit the jackpot. And they are determined to have fun.

Max Fry 2018

Complete NyapiZding (compilation)

Prose

One thing can be said with certainty about the content of this book: Zarathustra said nothing of the kind. But I probably thought about all this more than once. Because the questions are more and more simple and obvious. Exciting chases of the mind for an elusive thought, forcible use of letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, cruel transformation of meanings, a coffin on wheels of samsara, bloody traces of midnight insights, a dazzling radiance of human stupidity - all this, incomprehensible and indefinite

Max Fry 2017

Second line (collection)

Fantasy , Present time , Mystic

The author himself does not really know what these lines are, what are they all about? Subject? Behavior? Protection? Life lines on two hands, left and right? Or is it in honor of the streets of St. Petersburg on Vasilievsky Island? That is unlikely. Most likely just lines. Perhaps even straight lines. And now you are holding one of these lines, undoubtedly parallel. In some places, however, they intersect. And in the rest, according to the axiom from the school geometry textbook, no. Both are true, since a universe in which there is only one truth is no longer a universe, but some kind of foolishness.

Collection of Japanese Medieval Legends , Max Fry 2017

This [does not] happen

Prose , Mystic , Fantasy , Russian literature

There is not a single fantasy story in this book; fairy tales and without us there is someone to compose. The authors of this collection are serious realists, they write the truth and only the truth, nothing but the truth. However, our truth is usually such that, knowing it, readers usually shake their heads, reproachfully say: "This does not happen," and go home, where a black hand awaits someone, someone is the ghost of a great-grandmother in a linen closet, whom some - a friendly party that took place four years ago, some - the north wind, peeking into the light and already had time to put on the kettle. But they will not tell anyone about this, because who wants to hear in response: "This does not happen."

Max Fry 2017

Tales of Old Vilnius VI

Fantasy , Present time , Fantastic , Russian literature

It should be admitted that no one knows the exact number of streets in the Old Town of Vilnius. There is no more hope even for the geniuses of the place - they said, one hundred and eight, then corrected themselves: oh, no, excuse me, one hundred and thirty-one! And while we made a round of new unfamiliar quarters and wrote down the stories that were included in the sixth volume of fairy tales, the streets were recounted, and there were one hundred and forty-six of them. This means that instead of the planned five volumes, we will have as many as seven. Which, on the one hand, is good news. On the other hand, there is anarchy and a mess, we will complain.

Max Fry 2017

Fairy tales and stories

Prose , Essay , Fantasy , Russian literature

This book is the very first collection of short prose by Max Fry. In addition to the actual fairy tales and stories, it included literary games, essays, notes, memoirs, practical advice to novice demiurges and so outrageous obscenities that it is time to put a note about the age limit of 300+. But while no one has thought to put it, it is quite possible to have time to quickly read it.




Max Fry 2017

It doesn't happen

Fantastic , Russian literature

There is not a single fantasy story in this book; fairy tales and without us there is someone to compose. The authors of this collection are serious realists, they write the truth and only the truth, nothing but the truth. However, our truth is usually such that, knowing it, readers usually shake their heads, reproachfully say: "This does not happen," and go home, where a black hand is waiting for someone, someone is the ghost of a great-grandmother in a linen closet, whom some - a friendly party that took place four years ago, some - the north wind, peeking into the light and already had time to put on the kettle. But they will not tell anyone about this, because who wants to hear in response: "This does not happen." But we do not care




Max Fry 2017

Tales of Old Vilnius II

Fantastic , Russian literature , Fantasy , Present time

There are 108 streets in the Old Town of Vilnius, and on each of them something happens. Here toy dogs come to life and planes made of plywood take off, artists paint reality to their liking, the foxtrot cancels death, amazing creatures play happy destinies either at cards or in a lottery, you never know who is lucky and when, and fictional trams take guests to a fun fair, from where, however, you can always return to those who love and wait for us.




Max Fry 2017

Tales of Old Vilnius VI

Fantastic , Russian literature

It should be admitted that no one knows the exact number of streets in the Old Town of Vilnius. There is no more hope even for the geniuses of the place - they said, one hundred and eight, then corrected themselves: oh, no, excuse me, one hundred and thirty-one! In the meantime, we made a round of new unfamiliar quarters and wrote down the stories included in the sixth volume of fairy tales, the streets were recounted, and there were one hundred forty-six of them. This means that instead of the planned five volumes, we will have as many as seven. Which, on the one hand, is good news. On the other hand, there is anarchy and chaos, we will complain. Otherwise, life in our city is calm and measured: policemen make regular raids to catch especially evil demons, city spirits bake cookies, and ordinary Vilna inhabitants drink cherry beer, have a heart-to-heart conversation with the abyss, they dream and conquer death - everything is as always.




Max Fry 2017

The same book

Fantastic , Russian literature

"Life and dreams are pages of the same book," the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once wrote, and I am fascinatedly repeating after him, because it looks like the truth more than itself. And here are a couple of hundred pages for you, ripped out of my personal, endless (hopefully) book - at random, blindly - mixed and stitched together years ago. This book includes stories, essays and just working notes made in different years, where and when it is necessary: \u200b\u200bon napkins in a cafe, in a computer and in a notebook, on the sand, in the margins of other people's books, with a chemical pencil on the wrist, with a razor blade on the heels running, in reality and in a dream.