I just realised that I’ve written 28 short stories in the last few years that have been published in anthologies. And then there are short stories that fill three short story volumes of my own, two in German: “Bisse” (BOD) and “Machtschattenspiele” (Edition Roter Drache). And one in English: “Call it a Knight“. Plus a few that I’ve written but haven’t fit in anywhere yet. Two short stories are also finished and waiting for future projects. That was fun. I love short stories. They are my proof to the universe that I can be brief at times. Still, I wish short stories would pay. But they don’t. At least in Germany they don’t. L’art pour l’art. All the same. Here’s an overview, in case anyone thinks they should aspire to own my complete works 😉     1 Short Story „90-60-90“ in: Der Arsch auf dem Sessel von Margit Schönberger…

I have already mentioned that the English version of „Schwingen aus Stein“ is now finally available as “Wings of Stone“. It’s always great when a new book arrives. You’ve been sitting at it for ages: writing, improving, writing, correcting, writing, editing, writing, sweating and sometimes swearing profusely, because at some point self-doubt always sets in if you sit on a project long enough.                 And then it’s finished: the new book. The wonderful Marilisa did the editing. And hopefully we have not missed any mistakes. (You can find them in every book, no matter how well you’ve paid attention). When you write in two languages, as I do, it’s always interesting to see if you can create the same mood in both. I actually wrote “Wings of Stone” in English first. Nevertheless, the German version came out first, long before the English. Well,…

I was a busy girl. Very busy. I have three new books out: Gefangene des Panthers – Teil 1: Verräterinnen (Prisoners of the Panther – Part 1: Traitors) in German Gefangene des Panthers – Teil 2: Monden-Feinde  (Prisoners of the Panther – Part 2: Enemies below the Moons) in German Wings of Stone (Steam Age Quest, Vol. 5 – English edition of the award winning novel “Schwingen aus Stein“). It’s always a terrible fuddle until you’ve got it all correct, have sliced your path through Amazon KDP, until even the last robot spirit is satisfied with the manuscript or the cover. It could give you grey hairs, but then I’ve already got those. A positive experience: nice KDP staff actually helped me. But now they are out, the novels: at the moment just as print editions, I still have to tackle the e-books, but I needed the printed books right…

I should actually finish writing my current novel project. But at the moment I’m having absolutely too much fun translating  my German novel “Weltendiebe” into English. I find it interesting that only now that I’m doing the translation I notice little mistakes in the German text that neither I nor my editor noticed before. Maybe I should always translate my books before I give them to anyone to read. But that would make everything take even longer. It’s complicated to adequately translate things into English that only exist in Germany. “Lastenausgleich” ( life support for for people who had lost everthing during the war) was a term I could explain but not translate directly. Or anything to do with the school system, because school systems in the UK and also in the US are so completely different that it is difficult to just translate. A simple translation would be confusing.…

You’re never quite finished. Not really. But in fact I have now finished writing my new novel and have edited and re-edited and cut it several times. Since I have a tendency to write very long books, but have been told that only a shorter book has any chance of being published by a publisher (Tolkien – despair!), I have put the sword to the manuscript. I did three levels of shortened manuscript. Some of it really hurt. A reader would probably not miss what is now not mentioned, because they don’t know that it used to be there. Nevertheless, as the author I do miss some nice sentences or even chapters. The first beta reader criticized that there was too little background ambience. Of course, that’s always the first thing that gets cut, because cutting bits of the plot might make the story illogical. Now I have four different…

One by one I am publishing my books in English. The last one  published was „Jenseits des Karussells“ = „Beyond the Merry-Go-Round“. The book is the continuation of the stories that started with  „Das Obsidianherz“ = “Obsidian Secrets”  continued with with „Salzträume“ = “Dreams of Salt” (in two volumes, as it was too long for one). “Obsidian Secrets” is set in 1865 in Munich, the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria. King Ludwig II has just been crowned a year earlier and has barely begun to think about building all the wonderful castles we love to visit today – Neuschwanstein, for example. King Ludwig II is pretty much the most romantic but also the most controversial king Bavaria has ever had, and to this day people argue about whether his early demise in Lake Starnberg some 20 years later was an accident, murder or suicide. But His Majesty only appears…

Too late again. I should have told you about “Call it a Knight” long ago: my first English-language short story collection. About the title: Yes, there is a knight in one of the stories. He is quite dead. To find out if he stays that way, you would have to buy the book and read it. Over the years I have written a vast number of short stories. It’s an unprofitable job. But what ever is profitable? (I’ve never been good at actually making money doing the things I love to do. I wish it were different.) Two volumes of German short stories have been published: Bisse Machtschattenspiele   In addition, I have been involved in – probably far too many – anthology projects. Anyway: the number of short stories that have sprung from my brain is quite large. In my constant effort to attract an English-speaking readership for my…