Origins of a book are vague and mysterious and hardly can be pinned to a single evening when the author was like, uh-huh, now I have this wonderful idea for the book the whole narrative of which is totally in my head, I just need to sit down and type it all. On the contrary, there are multiple origins, and now, retrospectively, the two most important ones are a story about waiting for the bus to Tulubaika (that is now Episode 7), and a collab with my brother, series of comedic picaresque misadventures of Khorya and Borya where they’re going back to Tulubaika to achieve happiness (get some lucres, famous Tulubaikan samogon, busty women, etc. by their account). They cycle there and on the way meet various creatures from Eurasian folklore under rather postmodern circumstances. This was supposed to be an important part of the book originally spanning multiple episodes, which would have made the book more comedic. Despite having quite a few ideas, we ended up writing only two. So, technically, the first one — the one that aligns with Tulubaikan mythos the most, the one that I like the most — can be named the very origin of the book, and it would be only right for me to pay regards to it, to my brother, and, even though it didn’t get to the book, which ended up being a different beast altogether, include it in the extras as a bonus story.
And here it is — How Khorya and Borya Trafficked a Chort.