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In his first fiction, Patrick Zelinski introduces us to his sometimes bizarre and always intriguing world.
There is the Center, and there is that which is outside the Center.
Everything in the latter is wholly dependent on the former, except the town of Kirvost, where this short (~55 page) book takes place. Kirvost is an odd town, its not on any of the Center's maps, and most people in the Center don't know about it. The town manages to be almost entirely self-sufficient while existing in a climate almost entirely inhospitable to most forms of life. Despite the grim realities of a near-perpetual snowstorm, or perhaps because of them, the town is also jovial. Every character encountered is odd, as well as oddly happy.
Our protagonist, Artyom Platonov, was sent to Kirvost in an official capacity, as a medical expert investigating reports of a new plague.
Confusion and misdirection are central components of this work, and readers should expect to feel uneasy, cold, and suspicious, yet simultaneously untroubled and content.
