New Romantic

Selin belongs to that rare type of writer who tells a story not straightforwardly but through a series of carefully chosen and cleverly arranged vivid details. Many of his stories resemble video-clips-visual, sparkling with humor, aphoristic comparisons, apt observations, and ready wit. He often employs fantastic plots involving unexpected metamorphoses to convey his wonder at life's inscrutable mysteries and inimitable beauty.
In the long story "The Parachutist," Death offers the hero, a champion parachutist, to fulfill his last wish as he is falling to earth with his defective parachute. The clever man asks for a spare parachute and Death automatically fulfills his wish realizing only too late that he has saved his life instead of killing him. Death starts pursuing the hero only to be outwitted every time in a series of harrowing and hilarious adventures.
In "Alpatovka," the crafty villagers openly steal from one another while pretending that it's the surrounding magic forest that swallows up their property and people. "It's simply not proper in Alpat