 Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials or super beings or something that nobody saw. The visitation left in its wake six areas on the surface of the earth that have been rendered unlivable. The areas are death traps, and they are littered with alien technology, all of which is clearly broken or depleted or defective in some sort of way. The title comes from the theory that these artifacts are discarded junk. The kind of things that we humans would toss out the car door after a roadside picnic. A subculture of so-called stalkers develops people who are experienced at entering the zones and retrieving artifacts, and that's what the story is about. It's very well written. The Sturgatsky brothers are excellent writers, and I recommend this book highly. The second story here, the tale of the Troika, is very different. It's an absurdist Alice in Wonderland kind of thing. There is some amazing writing in this story as well, but it's mostly silly and kind of tedious. I want to read more by these guys though. You can support 30 Seconds Sci-Fi and my other projects by becoming a patron. There's a link in the description below. And visit the 30 Seconds Sci-Fi Tumblr, that's my headquarters. In addition to my videos, I publish links and updates there every day.