Fans of the science fiction genre know the writer Kira Bulychev well, because it was based on his book that the series “Guest from the Future” was created, which was a huge success in the mid-1980s. The same author wrote the script for the animated series "The Secret of the Third Planet" and the sci-fi film "Through Thorns to the Stars." The writer gained fame outside the USSR, but even many Russian readers do not know that the scientist, orientalist and historian Igor Vsevolodovich Mozheiko was hiding behind the name of Kira Bulychev.
Writer's Family
Vsevolod Nikolaevich Mozheiko - the father of the writer - was of noble origin. At a young age, leaving his native home, he began to work in a factory. Later he moved to Petrograd and, after working there for some time as a locksmith, began his studies at the preparatory department of the university. Then he entered the faculty of law while working in a union. While inspecting the pencil factory, Mozheiko met Maria Bulycheva, who worked there, with whom she later married.
The writer's mother studied at the Institute for Noble Maidens - this institution was the first in Russia to initiate female education. Bulycheva's father was an officer, and also taught fencing in the Cadet Corps. After acquiring a working specialty, Maria Mikhailovna studied at the Road Institute. Later, she was in the airborne school as the chief, and also took the place of commandant in the Shlisselburg fortress. When the father left the family, the mother remarried to Jacob Bokinik, who later died at the front.
Education and work
Igor Vsevolodovich Mozheiko was born in Moscow in 1934. After graduation, he was educated at Moscow State Linguistic University. Then he went to Burma, where for several years he worked as a translator and journalist for a Soviet news agency, after which he returned home. Mozheiko graduated from graduate school and started working at the Institute of Oriental Studies. He often sent geographic and historical essays to magazines, which were usually accepted for publication. Considering the topic of Buddhism in Burma, Igor Mozheiko defended his candidate and doctoral dissertations. In the scientific community, he gained fame thanks to his work on the history of Southeast Asia.
Aliases of Igor Mozheiko
The writer’s first published story, “Maung Joe Will Live,” described Myanmar’s training in modern technology. Igor Mozheiko did not disclose his identity, and the story “The Duty of Hospitality” was published as a translation of the work of the Burmese author. The writer kept his real name in secret for a long time, fearing possible dismissal from work, since writing fiction was not considered a serious matter.
Later, the pseudonyms of Igor Mozheiko changed more than once, but most of his books were published under the authorship of Kirill Bulychev. This combination came from a generalization of the maiden name of the writer’s mother and the name of his wife. Over time, publishers began to reduce the author's pseudonym to Cyrus. Bulychev, and then even removed the point, and so all the now familiar Kir Bulychev appeared.
The writer used many names. Lev Khristoforovich Mints, Igor Vsevolodovich Vsevolodov, Nikolai Lozhkin - this is only part of the pseudonyms that hide Igor Mozheiko.
Alice's Adventures
Alisa Selezneva is a schoolgirl of the 21st century, who got her name in honor of the daughter of Cyrus Bulychev. A girl from the future is often compared with her namesake from Lewis Carroll’s books “Alice through the Looking Glass”, as both of them explore new worlds without any fear and notice what adults do not see.
Alice happens to be in various places, but adventures find her everywhere: space, the bottom of the ocean, mysterious planets, modern Earth of the 21st century. Once in the past with the help of a time machine, the girl travels through the Legendary era, in which there are magic and living characters of fairy tales.
The very first stories about little Alice were written on behalf of her father, Igor Seleznev, who studies cosmobiology and is looking for new species of animals. In the subsequent books, the adventures of the mature schoolgirl and her friends are presented in the third person. This is the study of new planets, interesting excursions of modern schoolchildren and true friendship. All this happens on another Earth, which readers need to get used to: these are home robots, unprecedented animals, schoolchildren who make new discoveries and conquer space.
Books about Alice Selezneva
“Alice's Journey” is one of the most popular stories of Cyrus Bulychev from a series of books about a girl from the future. This work was translated into different languages; a cartoon, a computer game, and even a comic book were created based on it. The book describes the space expedition of Professor Seleznev with a team to search for rare alien animals. Captain Poloskov, flight mechanic Zeleny and Alice with his father explore a variety of planets, find animals and plants unprecedented on Earth, and also fight with real space pirates.
In the book “Alice's Journey”, the expedition gets acquainted with the history of the Three Captains - these are great heroes who plowed through space. They found a way to create heavy-duty fuel for ships, but because of this knowledge they began to pursue. The first Captain is captured by the pirates, and the Second has to barricade himself on his own ship, so as not to fall into their hands. Only thanks to the efforts of the members of the expedition from Earth, the enemies were defeated, and the Three Captains finally met.
Also, the most widely read stories about Alice’s adventures remain such as “The Purple Ball”, “The Reserve of Fairy Tales”, “The End of Atlantis” and “Rusty Field Marshal”.
Criticism of the writer's works
A series of books about Alice Selezneva has become the most popular and controversial. Critics noted that the author's early work on the adventures of a schoolgirl from the future was much stronger than all subsequent ones. In new tales, plot moves are often repeated, “seriality” of works appears, as if the writer is now more interested in the number of the cycle, rather than its quality. Igor Mozheiko, whose books were criticized, repeatedly said in an interview that for forty years he was tired of talking about the same heroes and, perhaps, this was what influenced the writing level. Kir Bulychev continued to create stories about Alice, regularly returning to this hero.
The series "Guest from the Future"
In 1985, the film “Guest from the Future” was released, which instantly won the hearts of both children and adolescents. The screen version of the story “A Hundred Years Ahead” showed the adventures of the Soviet schoolboy Kolya in the 21st century, where he could get using the time machine. During the day he manages to visit the Cosmodrome, build a real house, see fantastic animals and save an important device from theft. By chance, he takes the myelophone in due time, where Alice Selezneva falls. She must find valuable equipment and return to the future, but her search is difficult, because she is looking for a person whom she did not even see. She comes to Kolya’s class as a new student, but cannot understand who he is, because there are three boys with that name in the class. Alice’s searches are also hampered by the intervention of space pirates, who also managed to penetrate the past.
Natasha Guseva, who starred in the title role, became adored by thousands of boys all over the country. The Soviet science-fiction writer Kir Bulychev, who created the script for the film “A Guest from the Future”, was pleased to tell the children's audience of readers about his acquaintance with the actress and about the large number of messages that came to him. Boys from all over the country wrote to the author, admiring his work and asking to give them the address of Natasha Guseva.
The cycle of books "The Great Guslyar"
In the town invented by the author with the name Guslyar, many strange events take place, it is inhabited by the most unusual people, aliens fly there. But ordinary residents are also there, and it is they who solve problems that arise due to the characteristics in their environment, and even in difficult situations remain people. The books of the cycle are written with humor, they are easy to read, despite the serious issues that are periodically addressed in the work.
Once, the author saw a road sign warning of repair, and it seemed to him that the worker had three legs there. And so the first story “Personal Relations” appeared, which was published in a Bulgarian magazine. The fictional town was growing, and Igor Mozheiko continued to describe it.
The cycle includes approximately seventy works. Seven of them are stories, and the rest are stories. These works were created over a long period, so there are many one-day heroes in the book, and the characters often leave the city forever, but still come back.
Andrey Bruce
The main character of the works is Cosmoflot agent Andrei Bruce. He performs tasks on behalf of the space agency and, during his adventures, finds himself in a situation where he has to show courage and courage. The first novel, Agent KF, tells of a conspiracy on the planet Pe-W that the protagonist is faced with. The second book, The Witches Dungeon, is dedicated to the consequences of experiments conducted by representatives of another civilization. These were attempts to accelerate the social development of people, as well as the evolution of the plant and animal world. Both novels address serious moral and social issues and are written in a very authentic manner.
Screen versions of the author’s books
Filmmakers singled out the works of Cyrus Bulychev from all the works of Russian and Soviet science fiction writers. Thus, more than 20 films were shot in his books, TV shows and episodes for television plays were created. For most of his adaptations, Igor Mozheiko independently wrote the scripts.
The greatest popularity was received by such feature films: “The Witches Dungeon” and “Through Thorns to the Stars”, the television science fiction series “Guest from the Future”, animated films “Alice's Birthday” and “The Secret of the Third Planet”.
Facts from the biography
In 1982, the writer received the USSR State Prize for his scripts. It was then that the secret of his pseudonym was revealed, people learned who Kir Bulychev was. Igor Mozheiko expected to be fired, but this did not happen. Its employees were indignant that a serious scientist was engaged in "frivolous writing", but the director took it calmly, knowing that the plan was carried out by the employee without complaints.
Bulychev not only wrote his books, but also was engaged in the translation of fantastic works by foreign authors. While still studying at the university, he and his friend took up the translation of "Alice in Wonderland", not knowing that the book had already been translated. Kir Bulychev also edited several science fiction magazines. The writer drew well, often making cartoons on famous people of art.
The writer’s wife, Kira Alekseevna Soshinskaya, wrote fiction and illustrated books. Daughter - Alisa Lutomskaya - an architect by education, she has a son Timothy.
Igor Mozheiko died in 2003 after a serious cancer disease. The writer was 68 years old.
Books of Cyrus Bulychev have been translated into different languages of the world and published in huge print runs. And his works about Alice from the 21st century are read with pleasure by new generations of schoolchildren.