Eduard Verkin is one of the brightest contemporary Russian authors, a laureate of prestigious literary awards, a true heir to the traditions of Chekhov, Platonov, Lem, the Strugatsky brothers, Dick, Bradbury. In 2012, Verkin’s novel “April Friend” was included in the “White Crows” list of outstanding books in the world, compiled by the Munich International Children’s Library. In his books, E. Verkin, with extraordinary attention to detail, shows the formation of personality, the characters’ experience of first love, stubborn struggle with circumstances and “immutable laws”, the absurdity and fragility of life. He speaks to the reader in his own unique, recognizable language. The book consists of two parts, “A Starship with a Broken Wing” and “A Vacation That’s Right,” and is being published in this form for the first time. This is very important, because in the first part we see one world, in the second another, but only reading the entire story allows the reader to see the third world, deliberately hidden by the author.