Russian sci-fi writer Boris Strugatsky, whose story was made into film 'Stalker,' dies at 79
MOSCOW - The prolific Russian science fiction writer Boris Strugatsky has died at age 79.
His biographer, Boris Vishnevsky, reported the death on Ekho Moskvy radio, and close friends later confirmed the news.
Strugatsky worked in collaboration with his older brother, Arkady, who died in 1991. They are best known in the West for their novel "Roadside Picnic," which was adapted for the 1979 movie "Stalker," directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.
The brothers were popular writers in the Soviet Union, publishing 27 novels from 1958 to 1988 and numerous short stories. After the death of his brother, Boris Strugatsky published two books under a pseudonym.
Fellow writers and friends mourned the passing of Strugatsky, who they said died of heart trouble and pneumonia Monday evening in a St. Petersburg hospital.
