New books and old books

I have a new book out: “Sturmkrallen” (Storm Claws). It is the third volume of the fantasy series “Die Geheimnisse der Klingenwelt” (Secrets of the Blade World).

This series was originally published by Droemer Knaur, but they suddenly didn’t want the third volume. That kind of thing happens to authors all the time. Some marketing crank thinks that something else could be better positioned on the shelf, and suddenly a series dies – without a conclusion.

This is very annoying for both authors and readers. But it has become “normal”, which is why there are so many unfinished series on the German fantasy market. In fact, there is now even a small publishing house that specialises in ‘finishing’ these series and publishing ‘leftover’ series volumes.

I was very frustrated at the time, especially as I had already been well on the way of writing the third volume. That’s why it took me a while to pull myself together and finish the book. But now it’s out – self-published, because nobody will ever buy a third volume. And because I also got the rights back for the second volume, “Blutfelsen” , it’s now also available on Amazon.

The series ‘Secrets of the Blade World’ is set in a world that has been at war for centuries. Once it was a united and peaceful empire with excellent education, a good infrastructure and well-meaning councils and councillors who formed the government. But it has fallen apart into eight individual realms that are constantly fighting for supremacy. Each one wants to conquer the entire empire for itself. Each has seven opponents who strive or the same outcome. It can’t work out that way.

The old knowledge disappears, as do the old roads and expertise in every area of erudition vanishes and has been vanishing for a long time now. The rulers and their subjects are certain: magic doesn’t exist. The magical superbeings who are hostile to humans are just a legend. And the Xyi, a group of highly effective assassins recruited from war orphans, do not exist either.
Unfortunately, all these beliefs are wrong. There is much more to Predorenn than people realise. However, the ongoing war keeps everybody busy, and they fail to see the sinister danger that is already interfering with everyone’s fate.

Of course, the first volume ‘Seelenspalter’ is still available in its original publication by Droemer Knaur.

You may notice that the design is different. That’s because I don’t have the rights to the Droemer Knaur design and had to make my own cover. Once again, F+F Gunkelmann took over the design. I am deeply grateful to him. My gratitude also goes to Jela Schmidt, who did a marvellous job editing ‘Strumkrallen’. What would I do without these wonderful people?