Mikhail Sokolovsky— screenwriter, playwright, writer, winner of many awards and prizes, left Russia in March 2022. The collection "Skeleton of the Dragon" is the author's first book to be published outside of its borders.The main character of the play "The Skeleton of the Dragon" recalls how he walked as a child in the vicinity of his native village and hid from the rain in a cave. There, in the depths, he came across the fossilized skeleton of a gigantic dragon with a huge head and small front paws embedded in the wall. So the young Leonardo da Vinci began to think about nature, its origin, development and movement, and aspired to the main and unattainable dream of understanding the world. Just as dinosaur skeletons in museums consist of debris, fragments, fossils, and reconstructions, so this book consists of texts from different years, genres, and themes combined only by the author. The novel "The Glutton's Testament", written more than 10 years ago, takes place in Northern Tonga, a fictional country somewhere in the center of Europe. The action of the comedy "Srach" also takes place there, only already in 2024. The place and time of the action of the satirical story "House of Prayer" — Moscow, 2012. The times are still "vegetarian", but Pussy Riot has already received its "two-piece". "The Skeleton of the Dragon" is a historical play concluding the collection.Galina Yuzefovich, literary critic:Mikhail Sokolovsky's prose and drama are vivid, grotesque, at the same time phantasmagorical and painfully recognizable. There is something of Voinovich in it, something of the late Aksenov, but much more than anyone else could have written.Artur Solomonov, writer, playwright:I am very glad that Mikhail Sokolovsky's relevant and witty texts are collected in one book. I highly recommend reading his prose and staging his plays!Marat Gelman, gallery owner:The plot of "House of Prayer" is very conditional, similar to the rules of a television game, a reality show. But the heroes are real, made of meat. Ordinary people in unusual circumstances — "Mikhail Sokolovsky's method". No artistry, like Pussy Riot, just everyday life, like Jesus Christ.