Chicago Review Press has been publishing new translations of old Arkady and Boris Strugatsky novels, this is great, some of them even include a forward from Boris. The cover's themselves I have issues with. A lot of them use stock art and are generally uninspired. The Strugatsky brothers have a weird relationship with English translations, a lot of them where censored by the Soviet Union, so these new translations and a lot more faithful to the originals.
Roadside Picnic
Roadside Picnic / Take of Troika
Roadside Picnic
1977
2012
Macmillan Publisher Co.
Chicago Review Press
Antonia W. Boris (1977)
Olen Bormashenki (2012)
Roadside Picnic was originally released with Tale of Troika, a sequel to Monday Begins on Saturday which has not been retranslated or re-released. The cover art of the Chicago Review Press copy uses a screenshot taken from the Andrei Tarkovsky movie, Stalker. The cover mentions the text is the inspiration for the movie and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game series by GSC Game World.
Hard to Be a God
Hard to Be a God
Hard to Be a God
Hard to Be a God
Hard to Be a God
1973
1974
2014
2015
Seabury Press
DAW
Chicago Review Press
Gollancz
Wendayne Ackerman (1973)
Wendayne Ackerman (1973)
Olena Bormashenko (2014)
Olena Bormashenko (2014)
Аркадий can be translated phonetically a few ways, this was done as "Arkadi" for a few publications in the 70s, all new editions and English material uses "Arkaday". The Chicago Press Review cover is taken from a film adaptation directed by Aleksei German in 2013.
The Doomed City
The Doomed City
The Doomed City
2016
2017
Chicago Review Press
Gollancz
Andrew Bromfield (2016)
Andrew Bromfield (2016)
Monday Begins on Saturday
Monday Begins on Saturday
Monday Starts on Saturday
Monday Starts on Saturday
Monday Starts on Saturday
1977
2005
2014
2017
DAW
Seagull Publishing
Chicago Review Press
Gollancz
Unknown
Unknown
Andrew Bromfield (2014)
Andrew Bromfield (2014)
The 2005 Seagull Publishing features the original cover from the Russian text, it also includes illustrations that were present in the original but absent from the 1977 DAW publication. The Chicago Press Review cover art is one of the worst covers I have seen, and certainly the worst cover for a book I own. However, in today's age of AI generated slop, this stock art image is somewhat refreshing.
The Snail on the Slope
The Snail on the Slope
The Snail on the Slope
The Snail on the Slope
The Snail on the Slope
1980
1989
2014
2019
Gollancz
Batam Books
Chicago Review Press
Gollancz
Alan Myers (1980)
Alan Myers (1980)
Olena Bormashenko (2018)
Olena Bormashenko (2018)
Prisoners of Power
Prisoners of Power
The Inhabited Island
the Inhabited Island
1978
2020
2021
Collier Books
Chicago Review Press
Gollancz
Helen Saltz Jacobson (1978)
Andrew Bromfield (2020)
Andrew Bromfield (2020)
The Inhabited Island is a direct translation from the original title Обитаемый остров.
