Igor Heinrich Schestkow began writing prose in Russian in 2003, after he stopped painting and exhibiting and moved from Chemnitz, Saxony, to Berlin. In the first years, he, like many other emigrant writers, recalled and processed in prose the life experiences gained in his homeland. These stories by Igor Shestkov were included in the book "Bacchanalia" (Aletheia, St. Petersburg, 2009). This collection of "scary stories" also contains several texts ("Obsession", "Princess", "Carbuncle", "Oort Cloud", "On the boatswain's neck", "Laboratory"), the action of which takes place as if in the USSR, but they have already lost their true realistic basis, and, masquerading as memories, are fantasies turned to the past. In the remaining stories, the author processes “Western” life experience, consistently creates his own version of “magical realism,” without hesitating, sends his heroes to post-apocalyptic, surreal, posthumous worlds, observes them, writes down and turns these notes into short stories. Grotesque and exaggeration here do not lead the reader into the jungle of meaningless fantasies, but, on the contrary, allow one to get closer to the real reality of new times and the worldview of a new person.