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Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are widely considered the greatest of Russian science fiction masters, and their most famous work, Roadside Picnic, has enjoyed great popularity worldwide. Yet the novel they worked hardest on, the one that was their own favorite and that readers worldwide have acclaimed as their magnum opus, has never before been published in English. The Doomed City was so politically risky that the Strugatsky brothers kept its existence a complete secret even from their closest friends for sixteen years after its completion in 1972. It was only published in Russia during perestroika in the late 1980s, the last of their works to see publication. Having been translated into a host of European languages, it now appears in English for the first time in a major new effort by acclaimed translator Andrew Bromfield.

The Doomed City is set in an experimental city whose sun gets switched on in the morning and switched off at night, a city bordered by an abyss on one side and an impossibly high wall on the other. Its inhabitants are people who were plucked from twentieth-century history at various times and places and left to govern themselves under conditions established by Mentors whose purpose seems inscrutable.

Andrei Voronin, a young astronomer taken from Leningrad in the 1950s, is a die-hard believer in the Experiment, even though his first job in the city is as a garbage collector. As increasingly nightmarish scenarios begin to affect the city, Voronin rises through the political hierarchy, with devastating effect.

Arkady Strugatsky (1925-1991) was drafted into the Soviet army and trained at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1949 as an interpreter of English and Japanese. He worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military until 1955, when he began to work as an editor and writer. In 1958 he began to collaborate with his brother, Boris. Along with his brother, he is one of the most famous and popular Russian writers of science fiction. Together they wrote twenty-five novels and novellas, and their books have been widely translated and made into a number of films.

Dmitry Glukhovsky is the author of Metro 2033. He lives in Moscow.

Andrew Bromfield was born in Hull in Yorkshire, England, and for long periods has lived in Moscow, where he cofounded and edited the literary journal Glas. He now lives and works in rural Surrey. Bromfield has translated into English works by Boris Akunin, Sergei Lukyanenko, Mikhail Bulgakov, Daniil Kharms, Leo Tolstoy, and the Strugatsky brothers, but is perhaps best known for his acclaimed translations of the stories and novels of Victor Pelevin, including The Life of Insects, Buddha's Little Finger, and Homo Zapiens.

Boris Strugatsky (1933-2012) worked as an astronomer and computer engineer until 1966, when he became a full-time writer. Along with his brother, Arkady, he is one of the most famous and popular Russian writers of science fiction. Together they wrote twenty-five novels and novellas, and their books have been widely translated and made into a number of films.

Chris Andrew Ciulla, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, is a credited actor, host, voice actor, producer, boxing commentator/analyst, and radio personality. In addition to frequent film, television, and on-camera commercial work, he has voiced characters for the popular video game titles Fallout 4 and Mafia III and can be heard in national commercial campaigns. A versatile performer with over fifteen years of experience, he has dedicated his life to entertaining people.