The books of Volkovs's Magic Land.

   In this section, you'll learn about all of the Russian "Magic Land" books. The first of these books were written by Alexander Melentyevich VOLKOV. Later, Sergei Stefanovich SUKHINOV penned a major series of his own. You'll find all of them here, along with those of the other authors who also wrote about Magic Land.

  Click on the name of an author, and you'll be taken to a page devoted to the series of books by that author. On that page, you'll see the cover of each book, along with a brief description of it. In the "Links" section, you'll find links to other Internet resources where you can actually read some of the books (in Russian)!

BOOKS BY LEONID VLADIMIRSKY

Buratino in the Emerald City
(1996)

  [A NOTE ON BURATINO: In 1935, Russian writer Alexei Tolstoy (1882-1945) published his version of Carlo Collodi’s famous story “The Adventures of Pinocchio,” about a live puppet. He called it “The Little Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino.” As Volkov was to do with Baum, he renamed the characters, and he totally rewrote the second half of the story, tightening the plot considerably. This story has likewise been very popular in Russia, and a few other writers, including our artist-turned-storyteller Leonid Vladimirsky, have written their own sequels. He uses the following tale to bring the two themes together, making it essentially “Pinocchio in Oz!” In our description, Collodi’s original names for the characters are given in parentheses.]
  It is Papa Carlo’s (Geppetto’s) birthday. Preparations are under way for a special performance by his puppets at his “Lightning” Theater in the city of Tarabarsk, to celebrate that event. But Carabas Barabas (Fire-Eater the puppeteer), Duremar, Alisa (the Fox) and Basilio (the Cat) hope to wreck the performance. They secretly send five pastries, each drugged with sleeping powder, to Papa Carlo’s little room. But Buration (Pinocchio) eats all five of the pastries and... he goes to sleep. Papa Carlo and his friends can not awaken him, and they are frantic. At that moment, a balloon alights on Seaside Square. The newcomer turns out to be none other than James Goodwin, and he tells them of a far-off land where there’s a magical powder of life that might save Buratino. He provides them with a means of getting to Magic Land: his balloon.
  Meanwhile, the indefatigable Urfin Jus and the Ogre have seized power in the Emerald City. Papa Carlo and the puppets, unaware of all this, walk into Strasheela’s palace, where the Ogre is now seated on the throne. The Ogre is smitten with Malvina (one of the puppets), but Papa Carlo ends up in a dungeon. Imprisoned there with him are Faramant and Din Gior, but they soon escape. With the help of his new friends, Papa Carlo finds Urfin’s old workship, along with some of the powder of life, and he revives Buratino. Together, they liberate the other puppets and Strasheela, and they oust the Ogre and Urfin Jus, with the help of giantess-witch Arachna (who has miraculously survived her fall off a cliff in “The Yellow Fog”). The kind Stella helps Buratino and his friends return home, using the magical Silver Shoes, and once there, they make short work of their foes.

BOOKS BY YURI KUZNETZOV

The Emerald Rain

     (This story is a direct sequel to Volkov’s “The Mystery of the Deserted Castle.”)
     Nine years have passed since the departure of the spaceship “Diavona” for its home planet of Rameria. Christopher Tall, the young son of Elizabeth (better known as the fairy Ellie), is eagerly awaiting his mother’s return home so that the two of them can finally travel together to Magic Land. But some tidings from that country arrive first, as Din Gior and Kaggi-Karr the Crow fly to the Smith farm on dragonback. They tell him that the radio transmitter left behind by the Arzaks before their departure, has come to life. Using it, Ilsor (the chief Arzak) has reported that the Soporific Water has had no effect on the Menvits and that there are not enough emeralds for all the Arzaks... Chris sets out for Magic Land in order to participate in their council of war. But along the way, a gust of wind blows the lad off the dragon’s back, and he falls down onto one of the sinister Black Rocks. Within the Rock, as it turns out, there is a “tunnel” leading to the planet of the Arzaks and the Menvits -- Rameria.
     On Rameria, Chris falls into the hands of the Menvit police, and finds himself in a dungeon. But some strange creatures, the Fluffies (also called ranveeshes, or elusive ones) lead him away from there. They take the boy to a cave where the ancient books of the Arzaks’ distant ancestors, books that hold many secrets within them, are preserved. With the Fluffies’ help, Chris establishes contact with Ilsor and Kau-Ruk (the one good Menvit), and they all return to the cave. There, the three friends work out a plan to liberate the Arzaks: they will launch a spray of emeralds into the air in the form of minute particles. Then the Arzaks will no longer have to submit to hypnosis, and the Menvits will turn good! After some brilliant maneuvers, during which the friends must bring marvels of courage and resourcefulness to bear, the plan is carried through to fruition. Then Chris’s new friends assist him in returning home through the mysterious tunnel. It is explained that it is another creation of Hurricap, who used it long ago to depart from his native Rameria to Earth, brtinging some remarkable animals with him.

The Abalone Pearl

        Russian schoolboy Kostya Talkin, who can also be nicknamed Chris Tall, chances to fall into a “tunnel” leading to an anti-world. Kostya splits up into something like two simultaneous states of existence: one of him has gone on to the anti-world as something like a ghost, or, more exactly, an invisible phantom, while his other half is trapped in a sort of semi-zone between the two worlds, and is made up of waves. There are a number of residents in that zone, both accidental and not so accidental. Among them are: Preem the Octopus, whose talisman is an abalone shell with a pearl inside it; Victor Stepanovich, a scientist; Kuzmych, his guide; and a little girl named Viola, from Irena, that anti-world itself. Viola tells him that the civilization of the Irenians is considerably more advanced than that of the Earth, and how, fearful of degeneration, it has decided to mingle with the civilization of the earthlings. But one group of Irenians (the Vitants) sees this as a means of blending in with those on our planet, while another group (the Massars) wants to enslave the Earth! Viola and her parents belong to the Vitants. Even there in the semi-zone, the new friends are called upon to foil the machinations of some Massar spies. They are helped in this by Kau-Ruk and Ilsor, who are traveling through the tunnel from Rameria to Earth and just happen to have found the appropriate side tunnel. In the end, Victor Stepanovich comes up with a plan that they carry out using the pearl, as well as the hypnotic powers of the Octopus and Kau-Ruk. As a result, Kostya and Viola are able, as it were, to change places and return to their respective planets. But their adventures are far from over.

The Apparitions from Elming

The events of this story play out concurrently with those of the last one. Viola’s parents, Ol and Vi, after being urgently recalled from their base on Earth back to their home planet of Irena, encounter some apparitions in their house. These are the “other halves” of Kostya, Preem, Victor Stepanovich, and Kuzmych. After causing a bit of commotion among the Massars, the phantoms, following the advice of their new friends, take refuge in Elming -- the place where all the tunnels between Irena and the Earth converge. There, they meet two Atlantean youths and Grau the Cave Lion. All three of them have been stuck there already for many ages. At that moment, Charlie Black (Ellie’s uncle) suddenly finds himself in Elming, after suffering a shipwreck in the Caribbean. Being now in a wave state, the sailor has the opportunity to get his missing leg back. Then Kostya suddenly disappears -- he has returned to Earth, and his two halves have merged again. At the same time, Viola reappears on Irena. Her father, Ol, makes haste to construct the “Timestreamer” apparatus for whose sake he had been recalled from Earth in the first place, but he uses it to dupe the Massars. Then he successfully returns the earthlings to Earth (except for the two Atlanteans, whose homeland had perished long ago -- Ol takes them under his protection on Irena). The Lion, for his part, goes to Rameria, which is where he was originally from.

Prisoners of the Coral Reef

Grau the Lion arrives on Rameria and, with the help of the Fluffies, he passes on to Ilsor and Kau-Ruk the coordinates of the reef, to which Charlie Black has returned and where is he now suffering privation. Kau-Ruk, a young Arzak named Zor, and the Lion pass through the tunnel to Earth. (Ilsor has to remain behind.) The Lion takes up residence in Magic Land, where he helps the Courageous Lion (Ellie’s old friend) tackle the remaining Saber-Toothed Tigers. The Ramerians construct a remarkable vessel, using a lid, with its repelling force, that once covered the entrance to Hurricap’s tunnel. Then they pick up Chris Tall at the Smith farm, and together they hasten to Charlie’s aid. The latter is living a Robinson Crusoe existence, and with him is Kostya Talkin, who had been returned, not to his home in Russia, but to the place where Viola had been, which is to say, the Irenian base. (The atoll where Charlie’s ship crashed just happens to be that base.) Now, however, not even the rescue expedition can escape from it. It is Ol, Viola’s father, who finally comes to their rescue, and, after they all part company as firm friends, each of them returns to his respective home.

The artwork on this site, unless otherwise noted, is by Leonid Vladimirsky.