Roadside Picnic (Пикник на обочине, Piknik na obochine in Russian) is science fiction novel written in 1972 by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. It become one of classical pieces of science fiction.

The movie Stalker directed by Andrei Tarkovsky is based loosely on the novel.

Aliens have visited the Earth, leaving behind the "zones", places of immense danger where incomprehensible technological artifacts can be found. A frontier culture has developed around these areas, where stalkers risk their lives in illegal expeditions to extract alien items. These items do not obey known physical laws; the most sought one, golden sphere, is able to fulfill deepest human wishes.

The name of the novel comes from a metaphor given by a character of the novel, Dr. Valentin Pilman: the Visit is compared with a picnic on a lawn by a road. When tourists depart, frightened forest animals crawl out and see a lot of strange things: spilt motor oil, unknown flowers from other lawns, a box of matches, clockwork, teddy bear, balloons, candy wrappers, ... Humankind was caught in similar situation.

External link

• Review of the novel