• general

    My three cents worth …

    What is a troll? No, I’m not talking about the naked giants from the Hobbit movie. I am talking about the people who annoy us online with their malevolent, disparaging opinions based on cluelessness, spiteful frustration and zero relevance. Those we call trolls. There are trolls to be found in online (book) reviews. They are some few people who basically…

  • cons

    I write. I sing. Write songs. And sometimes – very rarely – I paint. But that is just for relaxation really. I two weeks’ time I shall read at Dreieich Con. And together with a good friend I shall have a stand at the con. Now, she is the real artist. Jela. I am merely a colour punk. So if…

  • general

    Lovelybooks Leserpreis

    Since I have joined Lovelybooks (the German equivalent of Goodreads), my books may be nominated for the Lovelybooks award. If you liked “Die Quellen der Malicorn” or “Schwingen aus Stein”, then I would be happy if you could nominate the book. This is where you have to go. Thank you!  

  • book fairs

    Frankfurt Book Fair

    The main event of last week was Frankfurt Book Fair and, successively, BuCon, the Book Fair Convention. The actual fair saw me only for one day. But this was enough to show my face and to meet some nice people. Towards the evening it was getting even more interesting. After the traditional fantasy authors’ Chinese food run, we continued to…

  • cons,  readings

    Once and future readings

    I went to two readings last month. The first one took place at Fark Convention , a wonderfully nerdy event in an old mine near Saarbrücken. I can only recommend it to everyone. There was role playing, a post-apocalyptic camp with impressive homemade end of time cars, much Steampunk, much costuming, a humungous dealers’ area and of course: readings. And…

  • cons

    Loncon 3

    LonCon is over and both memories and souvenirs are good – met lots of friends – met interesting new people – listened to enlightening discussions – listened to wonderful concerts – was part of – hopefully – enlightening discussions wonderful concerts – two new books – one new hat and on the down side_ – con crud. I reviewed the…

  • cons

    LonCon – The World Science Fiction Convention

    Next week I shall be at Loncon. That’s the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention, held in London this time. And as the venue is so relatively easy to reach – the last ones were in Texas or Japan or Australia etc. – I very much wanted to be there. I’m looking forward to this immensely and have been quietly bouncing…

  • writing

    Short fiction – a list

    I am probably better known for my rather longish novels. But over the year I wrote quite a lot of short fiction for anthologies. The list (please see below) may not even be quite complete. But if you read German, these are the places where you will find my stories. • “90 – 60 – 90” in: “Der Arsch auf…

  • general,  readings

    Meissen Literary Festival

    Meissen is a wonderful town, mostly famous for its porcelain manufacture which started out in 1710 at the somewhat brutal instigation of Augustus the Strong (Elector of Saxony and King of Poland). The city also has a marvellous literary festival. Four years ago, I did a reading there. The sun was shining just as brilliantly down on the late medieval…

  • general,  authors,  readings

    Dungeons and Readings

    Last year, the Meissen Literature Festival had to be cancelled due to flooding. East Germany and parts of Eastern Bavaria were submerged in rather too much water in places where water was not at all welcome. This year the festival will (hopefully!) be held again. And I’ll be reading there again. I last read in Meissen four years ago, but…