Two historical novellas set between the 9th and 13th centuries: "The devil's spittle" -- political games at the court of Yaroslav the Wise in 1050, and "Prince Cranberry" -- about a young ruler of a tiny duchy, located dangerously close to the Wild Steppe, in 1205.

"V ėtot samyĭ mig s grokhotom raspakhnulasʹ dverʹ. Seĭchas sudʹba podkhvatit meni︠a︡ i poneset na svoikh burnykh volnakh, ne davai︠a︡ opomnitʹsi︠a︡..." Ne zri︠a︡ kriminalist Vasiliĭ Gusev pytalsi︠a︡ peredatʹ delo "tachno-spichechnoĭ korolevy" glave chastnogo detektivnogo agentstva. Rassledovanie, na pervyĭ vzgli︠a︡d kasai︠u︡shcheesi︠a︡ tolʹko odnoĭ semʹi, vskore vyĭdet na sovsem drugoĭ urovenʹ i zatronet...

Ėtot roman, napisannyĭ v dukhe avanti︠u︡rno-filosofskikh romanov XVIII stoletii︠a︡, opisyvaet zakhvatyvai︠u︡shchui︠u︡ ėpokhu, kogda chelovechestvo uchilosʹ obustraivatʹ obshchestvo, myslitʹ i li︠u︡bitʹ po-novomu. Chto-to poluchalosʹ, chto-to net, no skuchno ne bylo!

"The eighth volume of the project "History of the Russian State" could be called "Zigzags", because the policy of the described period (1855-1894) makes sharp turns. The collapse of the empire and the civil war are still far away, but the lightning of a future thunderstorm is already sparkling in the Russian sky and the first violence. The era of Alexander II and Alexander III gives an answer to the question: why everything turned out the way it did."...

""Ėpokha t︠s︡arit︠s︡", to estʹ sobytii︠a︡ russkogo XVIII stoletii︠a︡, -- porazitelʹno interesnyĭ period otechestvennoĭ istorii, kogda Rossii︠a︡ prevratilasʹ v evraziĭskui︠u︡ imperii︠u︡, rasshiri︠a︡i︠u︡shchui︠u︡si︠a︡ na zapad, i︠u︡g i vostok. Ėto vremi︠a︡ prepodaet nam neskolʹko vazhnykh urokov: ob ogranichennosti neogranichennoĭ vlasti, o neobkhodimosti i riskovannosti reform, o tom, kak...