‘'Things and Ears' was my first book of prose. I hope it has drive and compassion. At first, I was going to call it 'Tales for the Nuts,' then 'To Ash,' and the third version became the final one—'Things and Ears.' But 'Tales for the Nuts' is undoubtedly its important hypostasis and designation of the target audience, and 'To Ash' is from my story about a man who wore dark glasses in winter because he didn't want to see the world to ashes—to look at it and incinerate it with the very act of seeing. These are the two secret layers, the two secret titles of 'Things and Ears,' I've told you about, but what these things are, what these ears are—figure it out for yourself.’ Alla Gorbunova