"While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous consequences. He rewards her effort with a strange golden coin. As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennikov. As summer ends, her domineering mentor directs her to move to a remote village and use her gold to enter the Institute of Special Technologies. Though she does not want to go to this unknown town or school, she also feels it's the only place she should be. Against her mother's wishes, Sasha leaves behind all that is familiar and begins her education. As she quickly discovers, the institute's "special technologies" are unlike anything she has ever encountered. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, their families pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want" -- Front jacket flap.
"While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous consequences. He rewards her effort with a strange golden coin. As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennikov. As summer ends, her domineering mentor directs her to move to a remote village and use her gold to enter the Institute of Special Technologies. Though she does not want to go to this unknown town or school, she also feels it's the only place she should be. Against her mother's wishes, Sasha leaves behind all that is familiar and begins her education. As she quickly discovers, the institute's "special technologies" are unlike anything she has ever encountered. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, their families pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want" -- Front jacket flap.
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Find Vita Nostra Marina Dyachenko in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find Vita Nostra Marina Dyachenko in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
1 books in catalog
Speculative fiction exploring metaphysical transformation, moral dilemma, and language-based magic reached international audiences through dark academia and psychological fantasy literature co-authored across several decades. Writing primarily in Russian alongside her late husband Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko created complex fantasy worlds that earned widespread recognition, highlighted in English translation by the novel Vita Nostra.
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 23, 1968, Marina Dyachenko worked as an actress before forming a literary partnership with her husband, former psychiatrist Sergey Dyachenko. The duo published their debut novel, The Gate-Keeper (Privratnik), in 1994, which earned the Crystal Table Award and was named best debut at Eurocon 1996. Based in Ukraine and later Russia, they produced dozens of speculative novels, plays, screenplays, and short story collections. Their early catalog included the novel Ritual, as well as Skrut, Witch's Age (Ved'min Vek), The Cave (Peshera), Execution (Kazn'), and the Wanderers (Skital'tsy) trilogy comprising The Gate-Keeper, The Scar (Shram), and The Successor (Preyemnik).
The co-authors received the Aelita Prize in 2001 and were named the best science fiction writers in Europe at the 2005 Eurocon in Glasgow. In 2013, Dyachenko and her husband relocated to California. Following Sergey's death in May 2022, Dyachenko continued to see their joint catalog published internationally, including translated releases such as School of Shards, translated into English by Julia Meitov Hersey.
Works by the Dyachenkos combine rigorous dark academia structures, psychological tension, and speculative rules that test character ethics under extreme pressure. Drawing on theatre and psychiatric perspectives, their narratives often feature rigorous training environments where students or protagonists—such as Sasha Samokh in Vita Nostra—must navigate surreal authority figures, physical metamorphosis, and power over reality itself.
1 books in catalog
Speculative fiction exploring metaphysical transformation, moral dilemma, and language-based magic reached international audiences through dark academia and psychological fantasy literature co-authored across several decades. Writing primarily in Russian alongside her late husband Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko created complex fantasy worlds that earned widespread recognition, highlighted in English translation by the novel Vita Nostra.
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 23, 1968, Marina Dyachenko worked as an actress before forming a literary partnership with her husband, former psychiatrist Sergey Dyachenko. The duo published their debut novel, The Gate-Keeper (Privratnik), in 1994, which earned the Crystal Table Award and was named best debut at Eurocon 1996. Based in Ukraine and later Russia, they produced dozens of speculative novels, plays, screenplays, and short story collections. Their early catalog included the novel Ritual, as well as Skrut, Witch's Age (Ved'min Vek), The Cave (Peshera), Execution (Kazn'), and the Wanderers (Skital'tsy) trilogy comprising The Gate-Keeper, The Scar (Shram), and The Successor (Preyemnik).
The co-authors received the Aelita Prize in 2001 and were named the best science fiction writers in Europe at the 2005 Eurocon in Glasgow. In 2013, Dyachenko and her husband relocated to California. Following Sergey's death in May 2022, Dyachenko continued to see their joint catalog published internationally, including translated releases such as School of Shards, translated into English by Julia Meitov Hersey.
Works by the Dyachenkos combine rigorous dark academia structures, psychological tension, and speculative rules that test character ethics under extreme pressure. Drawing on theatre and psychiatric perspectives, their narratives often feature rigorous training environments where students or protagonists—such as Sasha Samokh in Vita Nostra—must navigate surreal authority figures, physical metamorphosis, and power over reality itself.
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