The brothers Arkady Strugatsky (28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Strugatsky (14 April 1933 – 19 November 2012) were Soviet and Russian science-fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers. In the second half of the 1950s, military translator A. N. Strugatsky, with the assistance of journalist Lev Petrov and writer and intelligence officer Roman Kim, published the documentary novella Ashes of Bikini (journal versions in 1956 and 1957, book edition in 1958) and secured a position as an editor at Goslitizdat. B. N. Strugatsky, who worked at the Pulkovo Observatory, also harbored literary ambitions; according to legend, the brothers decided to write together on a bet. Between 1957 and 1959, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky wrote the novella The Land of Crimson Clouds and several short stories, which immediately attracted the attention of critics. In 1964, the Strugatskys were admitted to the Union of Writers of the RSFSR. After years of experimentation, they developed a working method that involved not only joint discussion of ideas but also the oral rehearsal of every sentence.
