Alexei Tolstoy's Aelita was written in the 1920s and imagines the first breakneck human flight to Mars. The action starts in the Soviet Union after the Russian Civil War. The old engineer Los and his companion Gusev, a Red Army soldier and true Bolshevik firebrand, fly to Mars in a rickety, egg-shaped craft. There they encounter an ancient civilisation, which actually originated on the long-lost continent of Atlantis on Earth. While Los is attracted...

A reminder from Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy that one might take great caution when pursuing hidden treasure.

When a young man goes from the demands and rigors of the army to a luxurious and serene country living, his mind is bound to wander where it should not. Such is the fate of Alexei Alexeyevich Fedyashev, who becomes so absorbed in his newfound idleness that he falls in love with an old portrait. When the famous conjurer and medium Count Cagliostro accidentally ends up at Fedyashev's estate, the young man begs him to bring his dream to reality. "Be...