On the pages of this issue you will find your first meeting with the heroes of Jeffrey Konwitz's famous duology "The Guardian" and a continuation of your acquaintance with the bloody world of man-made Evil in John Russo's thriller "Midnight". The sharp detective-mystical plot of "The Guardian" revolves around the apocalyptic story of the changing of sentries at the gates of Hell. On the brink of a universal catastrophe, in the monstrous whirlpool of human destinies, despair and deep faith, hope and heroic self-sacrifice are intertwined. But with a novel full of drama, the author does not just tickle the nerves of the reader greedy for entertainment; the intense narrative once again reminds us of the role and responsibility of man in the eternal struggle between the forces of Light and Darkness. True to his favorite theme of exploring the many faces of earthly Evil, John Russo in “Midnight” introduces us to another of its varieties. “In the name of religion or in reference to it, a person is capable of the most cruel and reckless actions,” says one of the heroes of the story, and his words sound like a gloomy prophecy: for religious fanatics from West Virginia, the path from innocent witchcraft experiments to sophisticated ritual murders is short. . The panorama of bloody obscurantism keeps the reader in constant suspense from the first pages and, even without the author's commentary, leaves no doubt about the ways of the true salvation of the human soul.