Mexico City Science Fiction Book Club - Roadside Picnic

Mexico City Science Fiction Book Club

Roadside Picnic is a short but influential science-fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, first written in 1971 and published in 1972 in the Soviet Union, though often in a heavily censored form. The uncensored version translated by Olena Bormashenkos is about 245 pages and that’s the one we should read.

The story is set several years after an event known as the Visitation, when mysterious extraterrestrial forces briefly appeared on Earth and left behind six “Zones” filled with strange, hazardous phenomena and valuable alien artifacts. The novel follows the people whose lives revolve around these forbidden areas—especially the “stalkers,” illegal scavengers who risk their lives entering the Zones to retrieve alien objects that defy scientific explanation.

Without giving away plot turns, Roadside Picnic explores themes of human curiosity, exploitation, and the impact of the unknown on ordinary lives. It’s philosophical, atmospheric, and surprisingly grounded, blending gritty realism with unsettling speculation about humanity’s place in the universe.

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Host or Publisher Mexico City Science Fiction Book Club