The Silver Axolotl

Xolotl is a demon with a dog’s head from Aztec mythology. He is the patron of the ugly and monsters, as well as a guide into the world of the dead. According to one legend, he fathered an immortal child with an Ice Salamander and a Fiery Fish, and when the child dies, it is reborn in a new form. According to the beliefs, if this child gets hungry, it will devour the entire world, and the end of times will come. In the ancient Aztec calendar, the end of times will occur this year.

Anna Starobinets is known as the queen of horror because of her dark adult dystopias. Her work is familiar to fans of magical realism and valued by them, and some critics believe she laid the foundations for a new kind of Russian horror. The writer herself claims that she uses fantasy to describe more accurately the terrors hidden inside us.