Fandango and Other Stories presents a selection of essential short fiction by Alexander Grin, Russia's counterpart to Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Alexandre Dumas. Grin's ingenious plots explore conflicts of the individual and society in a romantic world populated by a cast of eccentric, cosmopolitan characters.

The aim of this book is to examine Grin's life in detail and to correct popular misconceptions about him - notably that he was a seafaring desperado who skillfully plagiarized the work of Western adventure writers. At the same time it touches on his posthumous literary face and seeks to briefly define his significance to Russian letters.

This biography portrays Alexander as both a complex personality and a single-minded general, a man capable of such diverse expediencies as patricide or the massacre of civilians. Writing for the general reader, the author provides gritty details on Alexander's darker side while providing a gripping tale of Alexander's career.