‘IT WAS LIKE GETTING ON A PLANE TO THE TWILIGHT ZONE'
Never mind the Bolsheviks
When DANIEL KALDER visited Russia’s most bizarre spots, he realised there was a book in it. He tells Brian Donaldson about pagans, paranoia and pickled babies.
n his introduction to Lost ('nsmmmut. I’il‘e‘s Daniel
Kalder marks out his vievvs on travel. With the
global village getting a little overcrowded and the world‘s tourist hotspots over-familiar (either from the rail of guide books or holiday programmes). the only way to travel is to venture into the planet’s nether regions. Subtitled “Travels to the Republics that Tourism Forgot’. Kttltlc‘t“s hook begins with a list of rules for anti-tourism: ‘vvhatever travel does. it rarely broadens the mind‘: ‘embrace hunger and hallucinations and shit hotels'; ‘travel at the vvrong time of year‘. And above all ‘the anti-tourist loves truth. bttt is also partial to lies. Iispecially his ovvn.‘
So. when you read a letter sent to him from the guy who invented the AK-47 (one Mikhail 'l'imol‘eevich Kalashnikov) declining Kalder’s request for an interview with this charming PS: ‘yvord on the street is that you‘re a cunt'. or when you hear talk ol‘ a boy with no arms asking for cocaine outside a marriage agency. yoti have to start wondering how much of what you‘re reading is actually true. And vvhat ol' the story concerning Peter the (ireat collecting mutant babies in jars for personal amusement“? Well. that one‘s l()l)‘} genuine and you can visit them in St Petersburg. should you so wish. “The actual reality vvas so strange and almost hallucinogenic that I thought I’d throw in some little lies to add to the strange atmosphere] admits Kalder. no foreigner to the vveird and \vonderl‘ul. Alter completing his degree in Iinglish Lit. he worked at the Scottish Office in the Mad (‘ovv Disease crisis unit for
28 THE LIST 19 .Jan 9 lot) 900‘}
tvvo months. ‘lt vvas excruciatingly boring and I got tired ol' sending out packages to liarmcrs telling them hovv to kill covvs. Having lived in Dunl‘ermline lor 22 years I knew it was time to get otit and seek adventurcf
So. in the early part of Zillll. he made tor the corruption-tilled 'l'atarstan and to the bi/arre Kalmykia
which has an entire tovvn dedicated to the game ol
chess: 'lt vvas like getting on a plane to the 'l'vvilight 7.one.' Having initially gone there lor the hell ol it. he realised that he shotild vvritc a book on those experiences. So. he added to his accounts ol hanging around those bleak hellholes vsith jaunts around the miserable environs ol’ Mari lil (with its pagan rituals) and l'dmurtia lvvhose cultural identity is almost being submerged by Rtissia).
‘You alvvays have a healthy dose ol paranoia \vhen you travel arottnd Russia. especially on your ovvnf Kalder recalls. ‘ln Mari lil. l was starving and couldn‘t buy any food bttt I never really leared for my lil'e. Russia has this reptttation but I don‘t actually think it‘s that danger'otis and that was something I wanted to get over in the book.‘ Kalder steered away from taking much inspiration l‘rom ‘tcdious' modern travel \vriting. ‘Sonte writers will say. "()h. I had toothache and had to go to a dentist in Tibet." and they act as though they almost died. I knovv that things are really not like that at all.‘
Lost Cosmonaut is published by Faber on Thu 2 Feb.
3% Daniel Kalder This Duntermline-born writer has travelled to some of the dreariest places in and around Russia and merrily retells his vivid experiences. See preview. Faber. =3: Shalom Auslander Visualising the Almighty as a farm animal and sending up the rise of antiSemitism in the Peanuts style, Beware of God is this guy’s debut collection of short tales. See review. Picador
ti: Chuck Klosterman Killing Yourself to Live is an extraordinary true tale of the music industry as seen through the speccy eyes of the Spin journo with the reek of Kerouac and Hunter 8 right there on the page. See review. Faber.
3%: Alan Moore, Steve Parkhouse and others It may be among the clumsiest titles you‘ll have heard in a while. but A7 Bo/effries Terror Tome No 1 is an entertaining anthology. See review. Alomeka.
ti: In Flagrant Delicht Literature and song merge in pertecto harmonium as Celtic Connections brings Michael Marra and Liz Lochhead together. Tron Theatre, Glasgow. Sat 27 8 Sun 22 Jan.
3i: Tess Gerritsen For bone— crushing crime entertainment. the author of Vanish will fill all of those desires. Ottakar's, Glasgow. Mon 23 Jan.
tr: Rick Moody Having made his name with The Ice Storm. Moody (pictured) will be chatting about his new one The Divine/“S. a scissor-sharp satire on the media. Borders. Glasgow. Thu 26 Jan.
it: Kate Grenville The Orange Prize winner lets her words flow wrth The Secret River, the story of a 18003 London couple who are forcibly sent to Oz and try to adapt the best they can. BlackweI/s, Edinburgh, Thu 26 Jan.