About the book: 2021 / All these stories took place on a real or fictional Earth, existing in parallel with ours. In them, like a flower at dawn, the human soul reveals itself: changeable, but unchanging, beautiful, but sometimes ugly black. They happened to people and among people, and if we needed a reference book for aliens who arrived on Earth, they would describe us in the best possible way. This is a collection of stories about different times, places and destinies. Here you will find a fairy tale about an immortal being exiled to Earth as punishment for crimes. You will read about a former thief who became an executioner for his own friends, and about a French rich man who took a cruel peasant woman like himself as his mistress. The pages will bring to life the owner of a gift shop, who chose them better than the visitors, and the architect, who cursed his creation before his death. The heroes will reveal to you the secret sides of their characters - and who knows, maybe they will make you take a fresh look at humanity.