Book

The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, will be released by Melville House in January 2026.

In this darkly funny and emotionally resonant novel of contemporary Russia, a young filmmaker unexpectedly finds herself targeted by an authoritarian regime—despite her best efforts to stay out of politics.

The Undead is a layered and sharply observant portrait of an artist caught in the machinery of state power, and the choices one faces in a system where even indifference can be dangerous. Written with the intimate insight of an émigré from Putin's Russia, The Undead is both a compelling narrative and a chilling reflection of how repression operates today—not just against dissidents, but against anyone.

When Maya, a young Russian filmmaker, makes a low-budget horror movie, it seems like a promising start to her indie film career. But her jokey lo-fi picture soon attracts the attention of the autocratic state, and Maya is swept into a nightmarish system where logic breaks down and no one is safe.

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The Undead is a courageous and witty book about art and politics. With keen insight and wry humor, Svetlana Satchkova evokes Maya's devastating artistic and moral reckoning. This fascinating, propulsive novel will stay with me.
—Helen Phillips, author of Hum and The Need

In The Undead, the career and well-being of Maya, a young filmmaker in Moscow, unravels in the most bizarre, realistic way, showcasing the insidious, absurd nature of a totalitarian state. Deeply informative and engrossing, The Undead examines how bizarre and horrific human nature can evolve under the pressure of the desire to live unharmed rather than free. A moving examination of the meaning of home, the horror of a dictatorship, the hilarity and joy of movie making, and one woman's political coming of age in Putin's Russia. Truly important reading for our times.
—Paula Bomer, author of The Stalker

There is nothing supernatural about the zombies in Svetlana Satchkova's savvy, frightening novel. They are all of us, wherever we are, who keep looking away when authoritarian forces crush expression. Witty and unsettling, The Undead is a cautionary tale about, among other things, never quite admitting where the danger lies until it's too late.
—Sam Lipsyte, author of No One Left to Come Looking for You and The Ask