Abramov, Aleksandr

Entry updated 15 April 2024. Tagged: Author.

(1900-1985) Russian author, screenwriter, theatre critic and journalist who began to publish work of genre interest with Gibel' Shakhmat ["The Death of Chess"] (1926 chap), featuring a Chess-playing Machine that defeats the finest human players. Several decades passed before he returned to sf, invariably in collaboration with his son Sergei Abramov (1944-2024), who is not always credited. The novel-length "Hozhdenie za Tri Mira" (1966 Mir Priklyucheniy: Almanah #12) became the title story for their Journey across Three Worlds: Science Fiction Stories (coll trans Gladys Evans from various sources 1973); it is sf. Their sf novel Vsadniki Niotkuda (1967 Smena nrs 7-13; 1968; trans George Yankovsky as Horsemen from Nowhere 1969; vt Riders from Nowhere 1991) sees Earth visited by enigmatic Alien "clouds" which create Doppelganger-like "counterparts" of the human cast which turn out to be Communications devices constructed to facilitate meaningful First Contact between their makers and the human race. They can only be distinguished from the humans they have been modelled upon through their powers of Memory, for (unlike humans) they remember everything. Two sequels followed [see Checklist below].

One of the Abramovs' short stories, "Gamma vremeni" (in Ten Imperatora, anth 1967), appears as "The Time Scale", trans D Matias, in Vortex: New Soviet Science Fiction (anth 1970) edited by C G Bearne. The Aleksandr and Sergei Abramov collaborations should not be confused with the five further sf novels published 2000-2002 as by A and S Abramov, where the A is now Sergei's son Artem. [PN/DRL/A]

Aleksandr Ivanovich Abramov

born Moscow: 1 December 1900

died Moscow: 4 March 1985

Sergei Alexandrovich Abramov

born Moscow: 10 April 1944

works

series

Horsemen from Nowhere

Vsadniki Niotkuda (Moscow: Detskaia literatura, 1968) with Sergei Abramov [first appeared 1967 Smena #7-#13: Horsemen from Nowhere: hb/]
- Horsemen from Nowhere (Moscow: Mir Publishers, 1969) with Sergei Abramov [trans by George Yankovsky of the above: hb/uncredited]
  - Riders from Nowhere (Moscow: Raduga Publishers, 1991) with Sergei Abramov [vt of the above trans: pb/]
Ray bez pamyati ["Paradise without Memory"] (Moscow: Detskaia literatura, 1969) with Sergei Abramov [Horsemen from Nowhere: hb/]
Serebryanyy variant ["The Silver Version"] (Moscow: Detskaia literatura, 1980) with Sergei Abramov [Horsemen from Nowhere: hb/]

collections and stories

Gibel' Shakhmat ["The Death of Chess"] (publisher not traced: 1926) [story: chap: binding unknown/]
Journey across Three Worlds (Moscow: Mir, 1973) [coll: trans by Gladys Evans from various sources: hb/uncredited]

links

previous versions of this entry

Internet Archive