Nova anniversary celebration in Wuppertal

With issue #21 the German science fiction magazine Nova, that I founded in collaboration with Ronald M. Hahn and Helmuth W. Mommers in 2002 and now edit with Olaf G. Hilscher, has advanced into the longest living sf magazine ever published in Germany, even surpassing the now defunct Alien Contact in Berlin. In June we will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of our magazine with a number of events in Wuppertal. It will including two reading sessions, one on Friday, June 14th with Thorsten Küper and Sven Klöpping reading stories from Nova’s international sister magazine InterNova, another one on Saturday, June 15th, with authors from the very first and the most recent Nova issue: Arno Behrend, Michael Marrak, Uwe Post and Horst Pukallus. The series of events will be crowned with an anniversary party in the Culture Club Barmen, the home of longtime Nova co-editor Ronald M. Hahn’s oldie band Wupperkrampen.

For the exact time and location please refer to Christian Günther’s event flyer (which, as always, may be used for promoting the readings, please with a note to Christian or me). Thanks to the owners of Café Stil-Bruch and the Culture Club Barmen for providing the locations.

Afterthought: Mumtaz Ambient Music Night

It has been a great night in the Mumtaz Taj Mahal in Second Life. Three hours of electronic live music of various styles, a receptive and numerous audience and a great location in the Mumtaz ballroom – it can hardly get any better, despite some technical problems in the course of the night (that are common on the still young and developing Second Life platform). Jana Kyomoon, the Second Life alter ego of Jan Pulsford, with her versatile, dream-like pieces and Automatic Quandry aka Robert Keller with his completely unique, wild and inventive shredding of sounds and samples did a great job. Even my own two-part performance, though I’m still new in music and not yet on the level of my two accomplished and experienced fellows. was well received.  Thanks to Jana and Auto for following my invitation, to Freya Beresford and Voodoo Spyker – builders and owners of the Mumtaz – for making this event possible and to all those who helped me to organize it, especially graphic artist Christian Günther. The Mumtaz, my favorite place in Second Life, is such a nice location that further events of this kind will surely follow.

Here some impressions of the night from my point of view.

“Der Moloch” to be published in Romania

The Romanian translation of my novella “Der Moloch”, winner of the Kurd Laßwitz Preis 2008 for the best German science fiction story of the year, will soon be published as a separate paperback by Millenium Books. Thanks to translator A.R. Deleanu for his good work and to editor Horia Nicolai Ursu for his interest in my writing. This is my first foreign book publication and I hope it will not be the last one.

 

Coming Second Life and reallife events

In the second half of the year I’m again involved in the organization of a number of events which all will be announced in detail here later. Here’s an overview:

On June 14th and 15th writers, artists, editors and readers of the German sf magazine Nova, that I edit in collaboration with Olaf G. Hilscher and assistant editor Sven Klöpping, will celebrate the magazine’s ten year anniversary with a number of events in Wuppertal. It will start on Friday 14th with a reading from Nova‘s international sister magazine InterNova. Thorsten Küper, Sven Klöpping and Uwe Post will each read an own story and a story from a foreign colleague published in InterNova. On Saturday, starting at 19:00, a Nova anniversary party will take place in Culture Club Barmen, the home base of longtime Nova co-editor Ronald M. Hahn’s band Wupperkrampen.

On Saturday, July 13th we will repeat the well-received Science Fiction Ladies Night in Wuppertal, a group-reading of female German sf writers, this time with Gabriele Behrend and Gloria Manderfeld, already present in the successful premiere in 2012, and newcomer Jacqueline Montemurri from Velbert, probably again in Udo Hösterey’s popular second hand bookshop.

The next Second Life event after the Mumtaz Ambient Music Night that I plan will be a literary evening in the Kaishi Chou Okiya, a beautiful recreation of a classical Japanese village. It will be dedicated to the famous Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa, best known for the story on which Akira Kurosawa‘s classic movie Rashomon is based, with an introduction to the life and work of the writer and a reading of several of his stories. It is scheduled for early August. More news soon.

Mumtaz Ambient Music Night

Despite some discouraging recent developments that my fellow Thorsten Küper aka Kueperpunk Korhonen reported about in his blog, cultural events in the 3d Internet world of Second Life continue. On Saturday, May 25th I will be for the second time this year host of an event in the beautiful Mumtaz Taj Mahal. This time I will present atmospheric live electronic music by Jana Kyomoon and Automatic Quandry. Yours truly will also play a few pieces. The long music night will start at 12:00 Second Life Time resp . 21:00 Central European Time. The location is at http://slurl.com/secondlife/danbi/118/168/28

Thanks to the invited musicians, to Freya Beresford and Voodoo Spyker  – builders and owners of the Mumtaz – and as always to Christian Günther for creating the attached flyer that may be used for announcing the event (please with a note to Christian or me).