Dear potential reader! The collection of small but dynamic stories proposed by the author has one general idea. They describe the fates of people who were broken, crushed, and wounded by the wild changes of the 90s. These are stories about ordinary people, mortals, so to speak, about teenagers and young people from the working-class neighborhoods of the cities of our country. Unfortunately, the villainous Fate has destined for many of them the role of anti-heroes, a life with unfulfilled dreams and inner potential. Whether the heroes are personally to blame for this or whether it is worth cursing the circumstances of life, whether they are worthy of condemnation or understanding, let everyone decide for themselves. The title “Not the Don Stories or the Time of Bells” was not taken by chance; the author wanted to contrast the fates of the heroes of his stories with the destinies of the heroes of M. Sholokhov’s stories “Don Stories”, in which, despite all the drama, a perspective was felt that the heroes of the proposed stories of the “saints of the 90s” did not have ". Well, let’s just say: “If we haven’t cast a bell, then it’s time for bells.” A. Bashlachev