The wonderful Russian prose writer Alexander Pokrovsky does not need any special introductions. He is the author of many books that have gained well-deserved success. The title of this collection is given by the story of the same name, which tells about the extreme existence of a handful of sailors who “do not lose despair” in a sunken submarine, in complete darkness, “at the edge of the abyss.” It was as if the writer foresaw future catastrophes. A film of the same name was made based on this intense dramatic plot. The widest range of human relationships - from comic absurdity to the fatal impending death - determines the structure and poetics of Alexander Pokrovsky’s unique language. Eroticism, refined humor, sharp satire, sitcom, salty the sailor's words are conveyed by the author with the precision and responsibility of a cartographer who presented the new landscape of our long-suffering, beloved and untrodden fatherland.