New novel published

Fabylon Verlag has just published my new novel Der Moloch, based on my novella of the same title that was awarded the Kurd Laßwitz Preis for the best German science fiction story in 2008.

It has been a long way to see this book finally published. My health problems postponed its completion by almost two years. Its publication was further delayed by the heavy workload of my publisher and valued fellow writer Uschi Zietsch that left her little time for her publishing work. I hope the book will prove worth the effort. It continues my line of stories and novels set in a dystopic Germany of the near future.

The cover was created by renowned German science fiction artist Timo Kümmel.

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Essay on James Tiptree, jr. published

Lindenstruth Verlag has just published issue #119 of Franz Rottensteiner’s renowned critical science fiction and phantastics magazine Quarber Merkur. It includes my essay on Alice Sheldon’s aka James Tiptree, jr.’s short fiction, “Determiniertheit und Ekstase. Verborgene Motive in den Kurzgeschichten von James Tiptree, jr.”.

Reading almost all of Tiptree’s short stories in the order of publication and thus tracking the development of one of the greatest writers in the history of science fiction has been, for me as passionate short fiction reader and writer, a humbling and enlightening experience. Some of her stories – such as “Her Smoke Rose Up Forever” or “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” – are of such an artistry and originality that I regard them as the Holy Grail of science fiction story writing – a challenge to further develop my own craft and maybe once in my life write a story on a similar level.