Black and White Book of Mysticism

We all fear the dark. When the lights suddenly go out, some give a slight start, others scream in panic. Darkness leaves no one indifferent, because everyone knows: no matter how many candles you light, sooner or later, when the last flame goes out, we will all end up in pitch-black darkness. That’s why, from ancient times, people have been used to calling anything bad, frightening, and deadly “black.” Though… sometimes “white” is just as bad.

This collection contains an equal number of stories about black and white. Russian writers will prove that any of these colors can be truly terrifying. And the fact that there are exactly thirteen stories is nothing more than coincidence. Why make these wonderful mystical plots worse with such primitive superstitions?! Among the heroes of these stories, you’ll want to single out the Siberian cat Vasya, created by Alexander Grin. Some critics once guessed that he was the prototype of Bulgakov’s cat Behemoth (though we all remember what happens to such critics). You’ll also meet a sinister snowman who brings incurable illnesses; a mysterious lady in a veil who killed more than a dozen passersby on Nevsky Prospect; the eternal night watcher doomed to keep an eye on shadows breaking out of the other world; and a few ghosts and apparitions that mystical tales rarely do without. In some of the stories, amazing and frightening events are explained through logic, but more often common sense loses when confronted with the face of unknown horror.