Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko


Spouses Maryna Yuryevna Dyachenko and Serhiy Serhievich Dyachenko are Ukrainian co-authors of fantasy literature. They write in Russian, but also often first publish their books in Ukrainian. The Dyachenkos hail from Kiev and currently reside in California.

Work

Self-description

The Dyanchenkos describe their work as M-realism, without explaining the meaning of the "M".

Novels

The Gate-Keeper, their first novel, was published in 1994. It received the Crystal Table prize at the book festival Zoryany Schlyach, the novel was awarded the title "Best Debut Work" during EuroCon competition in 1995. The Gate-keeper became the first novel in Dyachenko's fantasy tetralogy Wanderers. With publishing of The Scar , the sequel of The Gate-Keeper, Dyachenko established themselves as masters of psychological fantastic fiction. The Scar has received "Sword in the Stone" award for best fantasy novel in 1997.
The Ritual concerns a princess and a dragon, the latter half-human. The novel received little attention and was not awarded any prizes.
Age of the Witch involves characters from a number of mythologies, most prominently Slavonic. It received a literature award from the magazine Rainbow in 1997 and the "Zilantkon" - prize in Kazan in 1998.
The Cave was awarded prize in 1999 for the best work of "mystical literature" published between 1997 and 1999.
Burned Tower received a prize at Interpresscon competition in 1999.
The Frontier , written with A. Valentinov and H. L. Oldie, was awarded the Golden Caduceus prize at the festival "Star Bridge - 2000".
The Execution received award in 2000 and the Reader Appreciation award in 2000 as the Novel of the Year.
Armaged-Home , a work social science fiction, takes place over a number of periods encompassing the life of its heroine and the society in which she lives. In the opinion of many critics and readers, it is one of the best of their novels.
The Green Card , later adapted into a screenplay, is a work of realistic fiction concerning residents of Kiev who have received an opportunity to immigrate to the United States.
Magicians Can Do Anything was awarded the "Golden Caduceus" award at the 2001 Golden Bridge festival.
Valley of the Conscience was awarded the , , and the Golden Caduceus award at the Golden Bridge 2002 festival.
Pandem took the Silver Caduceus prize at the 2003 Star Bridge 2003 festival.
Varan was awarded the "Bronze Caduceus" prize at the 2004 Star Bridge festival.
The Copper King, a fantasy novel loosely connected to it, was published in 2008.
The Pentacle, co-written A. Valentinov and G. L. Oldi, was awarded the Golden Caduceus prize at the 2005 Star Bridge festival.
Wild Energy. Lana is a fairy tale influenced by the music of the Ukrainian singer Ruslana, to whom the authors dedicated the work. It was awarded the "Bronze Caduceus" prize at the 2006 Star Bridgefestival.
The Key of the Kingdom and its sequel Oberon's Word appeared in 2006. The trilogy was concluded with Evil Has No Power .
Alena and Aspirin, an unrelated psychological fantastic novel was published in 2006. Published in 2020 by HarperCollins as "Daughter from the Dark".
Vita Nostra was published in 2007. It was the first novel of the thematically-related Metamorphosis cycle. The book collected dozen of awards from readers and professionals. Julia Meitov Hersey's translation of Vita Nostra published by HarperCollins Publishers in November 2018. Digital, or Brevis Est, and Migrant, or Brevi Finietur, a work of science fiction, continued the cycle.
Possessed, an urban fantasy, was published in 2011.

Novellas

'Last Don Quixote'' , a variation on Miguel de Cervantes' novel, became a base for a theatrical play. The novel was awarded the "Bronze Snail" .

Awards

In 2001 Marina and Sergey Dyachenko were awarded the "Aelita" prize.

Literary awards

Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko are recipients of the most prestigious literary awards in the science fiction in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Practically every novel they have written, in addition to several short stories, have received various awards.
They were honored as the ESFS's Best Writers of Europe in Eurocon 2005.

Novels

This section lists unique objects and creatures, which were never used in any other works, or in very obscure works, such as "Chugaister".