… and once again in English

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 once in the prologue of “Obsidian Secrets” and is only mentioned occasionally thereafter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

„Salzträume“ = “Dreams of Salt”  is set in the same year in autumn, however in the mountains in Austria, which was ruled by Emperor Franz-Josef at the time. In Germany, everyone knows the Sissy movies, which show a romanticised picture of the love and life of Kaiserin Elisabeth. She, too, is not one of the main characters in the book, but – like King Ludwig in “Obsidian Secrets” – appears once briefly in the plot. Otherwise, there are those heroes and heroines who survived the “Obsidian Secrets” and a new heroine, an Austrian lady: courageous, intelligent and strong in character, but stuck in a really unfortunate situation. There is no lack of magic and fey either. They are distributed among the respective sides, and not everything that seems nice, is so. Treachery and crime make life and survival difficult for our warriors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now: “Jenseits des Karussells”   = “Beyond the Merry-Go-Round“. in English. Here the story returns to Munich. Two years have passed and the disastrous war of 1866 has changed everything. Bavaria and Austria lost the decisive battle against Prussia, and one of our heroes from “Das Obsidianherz” = “Obsidian Secrets” and “Salzträume” = “Dreams of Salt” is now also a maimed veteran. The real heroine of the book, however, is a young woman who does not realise that she is in any way special. Others, however, know it and plan to take advantage of this, regardless whether she can survive this or not. Then we also have a young painter, a junior magician who has started studying at the Arcane Lodge, a couple of inconspicuous ladies meeting for magical coffee klatsches in Munich, and – last but not least – a very peculiar ginger cat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently I am working on the English version of “Wings of Stone”. Unfortunately, I’m making rather slow progress here. When the book was published in German back then, the publisher insisted on shortening it massively. Now that I’m republishing the book, I’d like to put at least some of the cuts back in. Not all of them. But one or two sentences or thoughts and the odd explanatory reference to what happened before in the other books. In any case, it is tedious work to first compare the old German manuscript with the abridged German manuscript and then to transfer everything again into the English manuscript. That will take a while.

At the same time, I am working on a new project that will also belong to this series, but is set 20 years later. More about that soon.