Description: Yefremov's interest in far-away countries goes back to his childhood dreams and is reflected in all his stories. These countries may or may not have a scientifically substantiated history; sometimes he turns to the mysterious depths of time out of mind. His "far-away countries" are also new roads still to be trodden; only a few milestones are visible as they vanish in to the dim vistas of the future. To try to lift the curtain of mystery over these road, to speak of scientific achievements yet to come as of realities, and in this way to lead the reader to the most advanced outposts of science -- such are the tasks of science-fiction. But they do not exhaust the aims of Soviet science-fiction: its philosophy is to serve the development of the imaginative and creative faculty of our people as an asset in the study of social life; and its chief aim is to search for the new, and through this search to gain an insight into the future. I.A. Efremov (Yefremov) (1905-1972) was an outstanding Russian writer, paleontologist by education and profession. He founded the Science of Taphonomy and wrote Taphonomy and The Geological Chronicles. In 1952 Yefremov received the USSR State Award for his work. He was the author of science fiction, adventure, and socio-philosophical novels that strive to foresee and analyze the way of the human society of the future and the problems and challenges that its members would face.

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