The book by Irkutsk writer Ivan Vasilyevich Fetisov (1926–2013) includes works of different genres. In the confession “Cross on the Black Edge,” two extraordinary people who showed themselves to be brave defenders of the Fatherland during the First World War came face to face on Siberian soil. Then they were in a single formation, but the October whirlwind scattered them in different directions. The brave Ivan Strodov fights the enemies of the new Russia, Fyodor Gradov chose the peasant freemen. But the peasant did not receive what the Marxists promised... This publication also includes the story “The Spike of Life and Anxiety” and selected stories. Ivan Vasilyevich Fetisov was born on January 9, 1926 in the village of Evseevo, Bokhansky district, Irkutsk region. He has dozens of years of journalistic activity behind him - working as a staff correspondent for East Siberian Pravda, editing regional newspapers, and longest of all - Zalarinskaya Selskaya Novi. Author of several books of essays, stories, stories.