The Year of Porn

Being young in Yoshkar-Ola isn’t easy. Especially if you’re indifferent to hookah, read Thomas Wolfe in the original, are friends with a homeless artist, and you even sleep in your car at night. Mark graduated from university, quarreled with his father, and left home. Now he works as a barista and translates porn films, and at night he daydreams about his ex. Mark is ashamed of his Mari eye slant. Wherever and with whoever he is, he feels like an outsider. While exploring his roots, Mark learns the truth about crimes from the Soviet era—they must not be repeated. The new summer will bring forest fires—they’ll have to be put out by twenty-year-olds.

Publishers Polyandria NoAge and “There Is Meaning” in cooperation release prose by young Russian authors who are searching for new ways to make sense of our reality. The joint book series is devoted to bridging generational and ideological gaps, and to overcoming silence and misunderstanding within society. Part of the proceeds will go to the “Need Help” foundation for the development of socially significant projects.