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foto Wilko Mueller

Nemecky autor sci-fi a fan. Je mu 36 let, studoval fyziku a astronomii. Je sefem klubu Andromeda v Halle a editorem fanzinu Solar-x vychazejiciho jednou mesicne. Nektere jeho knihy a povidky byly publikovany, jedna dokonce v Belgii.

German SF author and fan. Age 36. He studied physics and astronomy. He is head of SF Club Andromeda, Halle, editor of Solar-x monthly fanzine. Some of his books and stories were published, even abroad.

ostatni hoste / other guests...


od/from: Z.Rampas 7.7.1998, 15:21
otazka: Zde, v Ceske republice mame problem s preklady. Nekteri nakladatele zkousi minimalizovat cenu knihy tim, ze najmou "rychle a levne" prekladatele. Celkovy dojem z takoveho romanu je pak sporny.
Mate coby spisovatel nejakou kontrolu nad prekladem svych textu do cizich jazyku?
question: There is a problem with translations here in Czech Republic. Some publishing houses try to minimalize price of the book by hiring "fast and cheep" translators. The overall impression from such novel is then questionable.
Do you, as a writer, any control about the translation of your texts to foreign languages?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: I have no experience in this case. The only story by me published abroad was translated into Dutch and I think correctly. But I can tell you it is the same in Germany. I am angry about translations very often and I write so in my reviews - but it is useless. The translators have to work very fast and they don't get much money. Even the largest German publishing houses like Heyne and Bastei do bad translations. I just read the whole Xanth series by Piers Anthony for a complete review and I was shocked. Names of persons were translated into German and in several forms too! The reader had to be confused who might be who. There is only one way and I repeat it every time someone brings up the subject: Read the originals in English. This is more fun and it broadens your language skills. By the way: Swedish fan Wolf v. Wittig told me that the Swedish population is that small the publishers don't bother with translations at all. You have to learn English if you want to read good books there!
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od/from: Ivan 7.7.1998, 15:18
otazka: Jak moc se citite byt omezen uspechem svych predchozich knih a povidek? Napsal byste knihu, kterou se vam silne chce napsat, ale ktera by se zdala byt absolutne nekomercni? question: How much do you feel limited by success of your past books and stories? Would you write a book which you strongly want to write but which would seem like a totally non-commercial title?
odpoved: Pisi jen to, co chci psat, ale nemel jsem dosud velky komercni uspech. Ne, ta otazka je pro ostatni diskutujici. answer: I write only what I want to write, but I haven't had big commercial success yet. No, this question is for the others.
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od/from: moderator 7.7.1998, 15:16
otazka: Jak moc pouzivate Internet a na co? Sledujete napr. usenet newsgroups? question: How much do you use Internet and for what? e.g. do you watch usenet newsgroups?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: I use internet regularly for research on certain and special topics, just now I am into vampires. I have found there many useful information about many things. But I have no time to watch usegroups and I don't "surf" as they call it here when you jump around randomly.
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od/from: 7.7.1998, 15:12
otazka: Mohl byste nam doporucit nejlepsi WWW stranky se spolehlivymi informacemi o Vas? question: Could you recommend us the best WWW site with a reliable information about you?
odpoved: http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~braatz/ASFC/ Tyto stranky nejsou ani tak o mne, jako spis o mem SF klubu a fanzinu. Jsou vetsinou v Nemcine, ackoliv jsou tam take anglicke stranky. Zkousime byt vice mezinarodni. answer: http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~braatz/ASFC/ This is not so much about me but my sf club and fanzine. It's mostly in German but there are English pages too. We try to get more international.
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od/from: jXb 5.7.1998, 19:33
otazka: Ovlivnuje Vase zkusenost Vase dilo? Zda se, ze autori zkousi vice povolani pred tim, nez se daji na spisovatelskou karieru a pouziji pak znalosti z teto "skoly zivota" pri psani. Kolik z Vasi tvorby je o Vas a kolik je ryzi abstrakce? question: Do your experiences influence your work? It seems some writers try to do many jobs before their writers career begins and use the knowledge from this "school of life" for writing. How much of your work is about you and how much of it is a pure abstraction?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: Yes, definitely. But it is not for experience that I work as a sales rep now, having been a teacher for kids and adults earlier. No, it's for surviving. On the other hand I have been deliberately seeking certain experiences to use them in my writing. So I spend a summer trekking through the Tatra mountains in your country, only with primitive gear. I wanted to know how it really is what many fantasy authors describe as a quest. Well, it is not actually a nice adventure to walk through wet grasses in the morning and spend hours with cooking water over a wood fire in the evening... Only the dragons and monsters I missed. But there were bears. In another story I used my experience as a lumberjack, especially the part when I got hit in the face by a motorsaw. Makes good horror stuff, really! But I don't write about me. I use, what I know to write fiction.
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od/from: moderator 5.7.1998, 10:53
otazka: V tatalitni minulosti byla ceska SF dulezitym alternativnim hnutim. Po roce 1989 se SF kultura zacala vyvijet tak, jak se menila cela spolecnost.
Vy jste aktivni v nemecke SF komunite - jak vidite vyvoj SF subkultury, conu, fanzinu atd. ve Vasi zemi?
question: Czech SF was an important alternative movement in our totalitarian past times. After the 1989, the SF culture started to evolve as a whole society changed.
You are active in German SF community. How do you see the evolution of the SF subculture, conventions, fanzines etc.. in your country?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: In a way it is true for German SF too what you say about Czech SF until 1989. But I wouldn't call it an important movement. We had a number of very successful authors, but only very few dared to make some subtle and veiled statements against the ruling order in their works. But these were noted by the fans! The fans themselves used sf as a way to forget, a way to do something that was not in the doctrines of the party. There are a very few cases known when officials undertook measures against groups of fans. At large they lived an unnoticed live at the fringes of the society.
In the late 80s a wave of fannish activity started. Maybe this was an expression of the general dissatisfaction, maybe not. There were some little conventions, fan-clubs were founded. Our own club in Halle startet in April 1989 as a reaction of a convention-like event in Berlin. There were even little fanzines in the old times, but very primitive. No mere mortals had access to the needed technology.
After 1989 it all has changed significantly. The mad collectors of West-German paperbacks are gone. Only a few clubs have the opportunity to invite guests for lectures or readings. But we have far more possibilities to produce fanzines, make conventions etc. In the last 9 years we all read hundreds of books we never dreamt of before. We have learned a lot. Fandom is now a subculture like others, but it has lost its secretly oppositional touch.
Today the activities in former East-Germany consist mostly of: - the semipro magazine Alien Contact in Berlin
- two alternating conventions in Leipzig and Hoyerswerda (now Dresden will join them)
- the monthly fanzine SOLAR-X from Halle (which I do edit)
- and local events organized by the clubs in Leipzig, Berlin or Dredsen I think there are some Star Trek and Perry Rhodan clubs, but they are a thing for themselves. We have almost no contact.
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od/from: Ivan 5.7.1998, 10:42
otazka: Chapete internetove publikovani a hypertextove pristupy k textu jako vyzvu (ohrozeni)? Zmeni to budoucnost psani knih? question: Do you regard the internet publishing and hypertextual approach to the text as a challenge? Could it change the future of book writing?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: I don't think so. I have published at least one novel in the net, but without sales. On the other hand, my own experience with reading on screen isn't convincing. At least no fiction has a chance there. Textbooks and encyclopedias are another thing. Of course, future advancements in the technology of the reading devices may prove me wrong.
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od/from: Ivan Adamovic 5.7.1998, 10:40
otazka: preklad zatim neni k dispozici question: American (and British) SF dictates the canon of the world s SF. But we can just see that European movie directors like Verhoeven or Besson refreshed the old Hollywood schemas and brought us some inventive movies. Do you think that there is an equal potential inside European writing? That SF from the Continent could somehow shake the SF genre in the near future?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: If I look at the sad examples of (published) sf and fantasy from Germany I must say no. And even if there were a higher quality, it would be impossible to invade the English language dominated world market. The policy of American publishing houses seems to be against it. But maybe... I hear the German publishing giant Bertelsmann now owns most of the American sf publishers. Of course this hope is in vain. Bertelsmann wants to sell, not to promote good literature.
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od/from: moderator 4.7.1998, 22:13
otazka: Ceska SF byla v totalitni minulosti dulezitym alternativnim hnutim. po roce 1989 se zacala SF kultura vyvijet tak, jak se vyvijela cela spolecnost. Jste aktivni v nemecke SF komunite. Jak vidite vyvoj SF subkultury, conu, fanzinu, atd. v Nemecku? question: Czech SF was an important alternative movement in our totalitarian past times. After the 1989, the SF culture started to evolve as a whole society changed. You are active in German SF community. How do you see the evolution of the SF subculture, conventions, fanzines etc.. in your country?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: In a way it is true for German SF too what you say about Czech SF until 1989. But I wouldn't call it an important movement. We had a number of very successful authors, but only very few dared to make some subtle and veiled statements against the ruling order in their works. But these were noted by the fans! The fans themselves used sf as a way to forget, a way to do something that was not in the doctrines of the party. There are a very few cases known when officials undertook measures against groups of fans. At large they lived an unnoticed live at the fringes of the society.
In the late 80s a wave of fannish activity started. Maybe this was an expression of the general dissatisfaction, maybe not. There were some little conventions, fan-clubs were founded. Our own club in Halle startet in April 1989 as a reaction of a convention-like event in Berlin. There were even little fanzines in the old times, but very primitive. No mere mortals had access to the needed technology.
After 1989 it all has changed significantly. The mad collectors of West-German paperbacks are gone. Only a few clubs have the opportunity to invite guests for lectures or readings. But we have far more possibilities to produce fanzines, make conventions etc. In the last 9 years we all read hundreds of books we never dreamt of before. We have learned a lot. Fandom is now a subculture like others, but it has lost its secretly oppositional touch.
Today the activities in former East-Germany consist mostly of: - the semipro magazine Alien Contact in Berlin
- two alternating conventions in Leipzig and Hoyerswerda (now Dresden will join them)
- the monthly fanzine SOLAR-X from Halle (which I do edit)
- and local events organized by the clubs in Leipzig, Berlin or Dredsen
I think there are some Star Trek and Perry Rhodan clubs, but they are a thing for themselves. We have almost no contact.
.
od/from: jirka 4.7.1998, 17:32
otazka: Jaka Vase kniha, podle Vaseho nazoru, je nejlepsi - kniha, kterou bych opravdu mel cist? question: Which do you believe is your best book - the one I should definitely read?
odpoved: Myslim, ze je to Mandragora, ale je dostupna pouze v nemcine. answer: I think it is "Mandragora", but it is only available in German.
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od/from: moderator 4.7.1998, 11:46
otazka: Setkani s mimozemskymi civilizacemi. Sleduji nas? question: Extra-terrestrial encounters. Do they watch us?
odpoved: Neverim v UFO v podobe kosmickych lodi. Sam jsem se s nekolika UFO setkal, ale ani na vterinu me nenapadlo, ze by to mohla byt lod mimozemstanu, kteri chteji poskadlit lidske bytosti na Zemi. Ne, oni nas nepozoruji. Na svych televizorem maji mnohem zabavnejsi programy.

Veda, jak ji zname, nam rika, ze vesmir je velky, hrozne velky. My vsak presne nechapeme, jak je ve skutecnosti velky. Jenom v nasi Galaxii mohou byt v dany okamzik miliony civilazaci. A my presto nemame sanci se s nimi skontaktovat, nez zase zaniknou. Rekl jsem veda jak ji zname - mohou pochopitelne existovat takove veci jako treba cestovani rychlosti vetsi nez rychlost svetla, hyperprostor a mnoho dalsich bajecnych vymozenosti, ktere si my spisovatele vymyslime, abychom vesmir vylepsili. Mozna, ze tohle je cesta ke hvezdam. Nase dnesni veda ji ale nezna. A tak jediny zpusob kontaktu, s nimz muzeme pocitat, je prostrednictvim radiovych vln (viz. film Kontakt). Vy vite co to znamena: cekat staleti a tisicileti na odpoved. Trochu nuda, ne?

To vse pro mne samozrejme nepredstavuje prekazku, ktera by mi zabranila psat o cestovani jinymi dimensemi a vesmiry, o pradavnych bytostech, ktere ve sve hnevu znicili nekdejsi vesmir a mnoha podobnych vecech. Vase otazky vsak byly orientovany spise futuristicky. Musim se priznat, ze skutecny vesmir je pro me psani mene vyznamny tehdy, pokud se mohu lepe vyjadrit v ramci vesmiru neskutecneho.

answer: I don't believe in UFOs as spaceships. I have seen some UFOs myself, but I haven't thought for a second this could be an alien vessel teasing the foolish humans down there. No they don't watch us. They have far better shows on their own TV. Science as we know it tells us the universe is big, awfully big. But we don't understand how big it is really. Only in our galaxy there could be millions of civilisations at the moment, but we have no chance to contact them before they vanish again. I said science as we know it - of course there could be faster than light travel, hyperspace and all the wonderful things we writers thought of to make the universe a better place. Maybe there is a way to the stars. But our science of today doesn't know it. And so the only way of contact we can think of is via radio. (see Contact, the movie) You know what this means: centuries and millenniums of waiting for an answer. Rather dull, isn't it? All this is of course no obstacle to me to write about travel through other dimensions and universes, ancient beings who destroyed the former universe in anger and more stuff. But your questions are more to the futuristic part. I must confess that the real universe is only of lesser significance for my writing if I can better express something in the frame of an unreal universe.
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od/from: moderator 4.7.1998, 1:12
otazka: Technologie budoucnosti. Co si o tom myslite. question: Future technologies. What do you think about it?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: It is highly speculative to say something serious about future technologies. And almost certainly it will be the more wrong the farther into the future you try to look. One can only have an opinion based on the things we already have or think scientifically possible. But maybe there will be breakthroughs in the decades to come we don't dare to dream of now? To dream them up in the common conciousness is the job of the sf-writers. Most of the stuff may be mere fantasy but who knows which future scientist is inspirated by the part that is not? I believe that our computer science would exist if there were never one sf novel about robots and computers, but it wouldn't be the same. I think that sf had its part to shape some things of the present, even our way to think. If you look around you will find bits and parts of science fiction everywhere, even in advertising. Why shouldn't sf do the same for the future? A lot of our beloved gimmicks are now researched: I heard about someone who thinks even instant matter transport could be possible.
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od/from: jansan 4.7.1998, 0:49
otazka: Dnes se casto hovori o "krizi" soucasne sci-fi a to jak filmove, televizni, knizni a webove. Dokonce i umirneni hovori prinejlepsim o stagnaci. Ja se pod tento nazor nepodepisuji, trebaze je pravda, ze se behem nekolika uplynulych desetileti temata formy a pribehy castecne vycerpaly a otrepaly.
Vetsina literatury je venovana mimozemstanum, kteri jsou vetsinou zobrazeni jako prinejlepsim nasilne ci destruktivni bytosti. Soucasne jsou prekvapive natolik vyvynuti, ze maji tolik rozumu, aby dokazali potlacit ponekud primitivni chovani. Je nase fantasie tak povrchni, nebo je to zpusobeno tim, ze nasi ctenari si diky Hollywoodu nedokazou predstavit vzruseni bez zabijeni a likvidace? Dusevni procesy mimozemstanu jaksi nedosahuji urovne jejich technickeho pokroku a clovek se az divi, jestli nahodou jejich Darwin nepracoval ponekud zvlastnim zpusobem a zcela nezapomel pridat jejich inteligenci. V kazdem pripade jsme vsak my lide jejich svetu zcela cizi. Vsichni vime, ze "fantazirovani" Julese Verna se stalo v nasem stoleti skutecnosti. Nedokazu si predstavit, ze by se totez stalo s dnesni sci-fi.
Nechci tim rici, ze by jadro sci-fi literatury nebylo umelecke ci zdrave. Skutecnost, ze se nekteri autori opakuji, je bohuzel znepokojujici. Dochazi nam uz skutecne para? Nemela by kvalita opet prevazit nad kvantitou? Co je podle vas poslanim SF a jak ho muzeme dosahnout?
question: There is a talk about "crisis" in contemporary "sci-fi", be it film, TV, books or WEB while even moderates talk about stagnation, at the best. I do not subscribe to that opinion, however it is true, that after several decades, the themes, forms and stories are partially exhausted and worn-out. Much of the literature is devoted to aliens, who are portrayed mostly as violent or destructive creatures at best. At the same time they are -supposingly - greatly advanced to be intelligent enough to suppress that rather primitive behaviour. Is our fantasy so shallow or is it because our readers - thanks to Hollywood - cannot imagine excitement without killing or anihilation? Their mental processes somehow does not reach the level of their technological advancement and one wonders if their Darwin didn't work some strange way, missing the "human level" of intelligence completely. Either way, we people seem to be quite strange to their world. We all know that "fantasizing" of Jules Verne became reality in our century. I cannot imagine the same happening with today's science fiction. That is not to say that the core of the sci-fi literature is not artistic or healthy. Unfortunately, the repetitious efforts of some authors are alarming. Are we really running out of steam? Shouldn't quality again prevail over quantity? What is - according to you - the mission of sci-fi and how can we achieve it?
odpoved: preklad neni zatim k dispozici answer: They talk about crisis constantly. And in a sense it seems to be true. Most of the things sf writes about have been told many times. Every time I read an only average sf book I think yes, it's exhausted. But then one day I come across a book with seemingly the same topic. And the author has found a surprisingly new side, another point of view. This is what makes a good author. Letting you see the otherwise dull reality in a new and shining light. And when some of the things our boys in the backrooms are working on today become common knowledge, sf too may get totally new impulses. But the new developments of today are not easy to grasp for our poor writers. Aliens are at first a topic to show us a mirror image. Hollywood Aliens are a device to get action into a movie. Most of the contemporary sf-movies are action thrillers having by chance a sf-setting. With the exception of "Contact" maybe. Of course our fantasy is limited by our experience. One can only imagine or describe beings with the help of certain comparisons. The behaviour of the aliens in a book or film depends on what they should achieve in the plot. Our hero needs enemies to prove his / her abilities? Give them some BEMs to fight! Or hero needs support and consolation in the far out? Give them some friendly wise BEMs to help them through. SF is not for predicting the future. Even if some of the things it has predicted came true. SF is literature and follows the laws of literature (or of movie making). Like all (good) literature it can be a tool to bring a message to its readers. Or it may be only for fun and relaxation. It depends.
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od/from: moderator 3.7.1998, 13:35
otazka: Existence livota ve vesmiru question: Life in the Universe - Does a life exist in the Universe?
odpoved: Ve vesmiru urcite existuje zivot. Jak jinak rikate tomu vsemu kolem vas? Ale ted vazne. V dobe, kdy jsem pro jeden vedecky casopis provadel vyzkum na toto tema, jsem se setkal se vsemi moznymi nazory. Vetsina z nich byla skepticka nebo primo negativni. Nejlegracnejsi vec, na kterou si vzpominam, byl nazor nekterych lidi, ze nabozenstvi mohou byt dukazem neexistence zivota mimo nasi planetu. Myslim se, ze nabozenstvi jsou spis dukazem neexistence inteligentniho zivota tady u nas. Znate film Kontakt? Kde nabozensti silenci takrkta znemozni kontakt s mimozemstany. Ja sam si nedovedu predstavit vesmir obydleny pouze takovou smesnou populaci bytosti, ktere potrebuji ke sve existenci nejaky vyssi duvod. Musi existovat take takove bytosti, ktere tomu vsemu rozumeji mnohem lepe. Tohle jsou ponekud citove duvody. Jako prirodovedec se domnivam, ze pravdepodobnost existence zivota mimo nasi planetu musi byt vysoka. Neco jineho ale je, kdyz mluvime o inteligentnim zivote. A o zcela jinou vec pak jde, kdyz hovorime o civilizaci. A uplne neco jineho je pak otazka kontaktu. To vse jsou odlisne veci. Zivot muze byt hojne rozsiren, pokud existuji ty spravne podminky. Ubira-li se vyvoj spravnym smerem, muze se vyvinout i inteligentni zivot. Muze se vsak vyvinout zpusobem ponekud odlisnym od kazdeho (a to temer vylucuje moznost kontaktu). Inteligentni bytosti mohou dospet k technicke civilizaci podobne te nasi - a nebo take nemusi. A to kontakt znemoznuje take. answer: There is certainly a life in the Universe going on - what do you call that stuff around yourself anyway? But seriously, in my days when I did research for a scientific paper about just this I encountered almost all kinds of opinions. Most were sceptical or outright negative. The most funny thing I remember is that some people thought religious matters could be a proof for the nonexistence of life out there. I think religious matters are a proof for the nonexistence of intelligent life down here. Do you know the film "Contact"? Where religious fools almost made it impossible to contact the aliens? In my own mind I can't see a Universe with only this ridiculous population of beings who think they need a higher reason to exist. There must be others out there who understand it all far better. Ok, these are rather emotional reasons. As a scientist I think that the probability of the existence of life out there must be high. If we talk about intelligence it is another story. And if we talk about civilisation - yet another. And finally talking about contact... These are different things. Life may be abundant if the conditions are right. Intelligence may evolve sometimes in due course. But it may evolve in rather different ways from ours. (This cancels almost the possibility of contact.) Intelligent beings may find a way to technical civilisation similiar to us - or they may not. (And this is a contact-killer too.)
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ostatni hoste / other guests...