Kontorovich Alexander – Scorched Earth 1-4, Ashen Sky, Ashen Earth, Ashen Dawn, Ash on Green Grass

Ashen Sky: When instead of a gentle rain, ash falls from the sky… when the wind brings not the freshness of forest scents, but the stench of burning ruins… then ordinary things, once commonplace, become an unimaginable value. A piece of bread, a can of canned food, and simple human warmth. How to survive in a time when it seems that everything has fallen apart and the most base instincts of the crazed people are unleashed? There is only one way out—to remain human and unite around yourself with people like you.

Ashen Land: If some corrupt officials REALLY want to make money, then no interests of their native country can stand in their way. If they can profit by selling strategic supplies abroad, then no special services will stop them. And anyone who dares to put a spoke in the wheel of that business will get time for “incompetent” patriotism. But who would have thought that one day smoke columns from explosions would appear on the horizon—and the entire familiar world would suddenly collapse? And now we have to somehow survive. But how? By gathering into a beast-like pack and looting the surroundings—or by shouldering an unbearable burden of saving all the survivors? Which path to choose: personal well-being or help for the surviving people? Major Ryzhov has the answer…

Ashen Dawn: The hardest thing after a nuclear catastrophe is not shootouts with bands of marauders and not searching for artifacts. It’s ordinary work: restoring everything that was destroyed and destroyed—farms, industry, and people’s belief in themselves. But even this peaceful task is not always understood on the outside. There are always those who gape at someone else’s share. And now again troops of invasion are boarding ships. Again airplanes lift into the air carrying weapons and paratroopers. Nothing is over yet—everything is just beginning. And old tanks roll out of the hangars once more, to defend the independence of their Motherland again.

Ash on Green Grass: It seemed that the most difficult period of recovery and fighting an external enemy had already passed. Everyone showed what they could do and took their rightful place. But nearby, among their own, an enemy lurks. Who directs his thoughts and his hand? Those who command the remaining remnants of the invaders’ army hiding close by—or one’s own corrupt politicians who set up a paradise corner away from the big disaster? Either way, the hero and his faithful comrades will have to go through yet another test: for endurance, and for humanity.