A collection of true stories from the life of a tattoo artist who started tattooing with a homemade machine in 1992 — at a time when there was no information about tattooing at all. Set against the backdrop of the post-Soviet space, a time of uncertainty and radical change. His first clients were friends, and later mostly criminals and cops. Women only began coming for tattoos in the late 1990s. One chapter covers his service in the Soviet Navy, where he made his very first tattoos. The book includes real photographs of tattoo work and sketches from that era. Honest, vivid stories about the people he had to work with in those times. Translated from the original Russian by the author, who worked as a tattoo artist since the 1990s.