NIKOLOV Lyubomir (10.01.1950)

...Genuine fame came to the author after the publication of the story “The Worm in the Autumn Wind” (Chervey pod Yesenen Vyatar, 1986; Russian - 1989), which brought the author the European Prize Congress of Science Fiction Writers (EUROCON, 1987). Exploring the phenomenon of mass culture and its influence on human consciousness, the author makes the hero of the story a character from an “advanced” type of computer video game, who realized himself as a self-sufficient person and rebelled against the “demiurge” creators. The author’s attempt to use the linguistic and narrative spaces of “space opera” (in the 1st part) and socio-psychological prose within one text looks original; allusions to the story “Onirofilm” by Lino Aldani are obvious. Ultimately, “The Worm...” is one of the most sophisticated parables about the responsibility of a creator (be it a writer, artist or director) for his creation. Evgeniy V. KHARITONOV