Bewildering Stories welcomes...

Tatyana Yankovskaya

Tatyana is a native of the Soviet Union and moved to the U.S. in 1981. Her prose fiction and essays have been published widely in Russian-language journals in many countries. Her short fiction and novels have been greeted with critical acclaim.

“If It Weren’t for the Knitting” introduces Ksenia, who worries mightily about her husband Sasha’s occasional unexplained disappearances. Sasha always comes home the next day, later than he might normally do so, but his excuses for failing to call Ksenia and let her know where he is and what he’s doing are flimsy, and they arouse suspicion.

Since Sasha doesn’t seem to be fooling around with other women, Ksenia may well be justified in fearing that he might have met with an accident. Or, readers may surmise, foul play while engaged in illegal activities. But he’s a “New Russian” man, and Ksenia concludes she may as well tend to her knitting and get used to it.

The story will give Western readers a glimpse of a contemporary world that is in some ways oddly familiar but at the same time rather strange.

Tatyana Yankovskaya’s bio sketch can be found here.

Welcome to Bewildering Stories, Tatyana. We hope to hear from you again soon and often!