Christoph Marzi

Christoph Marzi (* 1970 in Mayen ) is a German writer and teacher.

Live and act

Christoph Marzi grew up in Upper Mendig in the Eifel , graduated from the University of Mainz economics and now lives with his wife and four children in Saarbrücken . His main job is as a teacher of economics at the Saarbrücken School of Economics .

Marzi started writing at the age of fifteen. After writing several short stories, his debut novel Lycidas was released in 2004 , the start of the now very successful Ancient Metropolis series, which became a surprise success of the year.

At the role-playing meeting Dreieich Con in Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main , Christoph Marzi was awarded the German Fantastic Prize 2005. His novel Lycidas prevailed against four other candidates in the German-speaking debut novel category . The award was presented to him by the Saarland fantasy author Markus Heitz .

In 2005, Lilith (named after the goddess of Sumerian mythology ), the sequel to Lycidas, followed . The series around the ancient metropolis was initially completed with the appearance of Lumen in October 2006, but was continued in Somnia in November 2008 , which is expected to be followed by at least 2 volumes. In 2007 Marzi was nominated again for the German Fantastic Prize , this time in the category Roman in German for Lumen . Ultimately, however, he could not prevail against Markus Heitz ' The Powers of Fire .

With Malfuria and Malfuria - The Guardian of the Fog Stones , two more books in a trilogy were published in 2007, this time dealing with the experiences of a young Spanish witch . In 2007 the short story collection Nevermore was published . The two short stories Scarlet and Vardoulacha , which belong to this collection, continue the storyline of the Ancient Metropolis series. With the novel Fabula , which appeared in November 2007, Marzi begins a trilogy that takes place in the first volume in the Scottish Highlands . In mid-February 2008, Marzi completed the Malfuria trilogy with the book Malfuria - The Queen of the Shadow City. With London in 2016 he continued the Ancient Metropolis series and thus the story of Emily Laing.

Marzi was inspired by various, mainly Victorian , authors: Charles Dickens , Arthur Conan Doyle , Edgar Allan Poe , Robert Louis Stevenson and Jane Austen are among his main sources of inspiration. Particularly noticeable is the influence of the modern English author Neil Gaiman , whose idea of ​​a fantastic London underworld was taken from the novel Never-Land (orig. Neverwhere ) by Marzi in his Ancient Metropolis series. Other modern authors such as Kai Meyer and China Miéville also influence his books.

Works

Ancient metropolis series

• Lycidas. Novel . Heyne, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-453-53006-3 .
• Lilith. Novel . Heyne, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-453-52135-8 .
• Lumens. Novel . Heyne, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-81081-3 .
• Somnia. Novel . Heyne, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-453-52483-5 .
• London. Novel . Heyne, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-453-31665-2 .
• also the two short stories Scarlet and Vardoulacha from Nevermore

Malfuria trilogy

• Malfuria - The secret of the singing city. Novel . Arena-Verlag, Würzburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-401-06089-7 .
• Malfuria - The guardian of the mist stones. Novel . Arena-Verlag, Würzburg, 2007, ISBN 978-3-401-06127-6 .
• Malfuria - The Queen of the Shadow City. Novel . Arena-Verlag, Würzburg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-401-06128-3 .

Fabula series

• Fabula. Novel . Heyne, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-453-52327-2 .
• Lyre. Novel . Heyne, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-453-52623-5 .

Other works

• Nevermore. Narratives . Heyne, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-453-53275-5 .
• You believe in fairies, don't you? or equinox . Arena, Würzburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-401-06365-2 .
• Heaven - city of fairies . Arena, Würzburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-401-06382-9 .
• Helena and the rats in the shadows . Arena, Würzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-401-06561-8 .
• Grim . Heyne, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-453-26661-2 .
• Memory - city of dreams . Arena, Würzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-401-06622-6 .
• Imagery . 2011, ISBN 978-3-86762-107-6 .
• Piper and the riddle of the last clock, Arena, Würzburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-401-06863-3
• The miraculous story of the Faye Archer . Heyne, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-453-52992-2 .
• 5 days in April . Arena, Würzburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-401-06855-8 .
• The last film by Abraham Tenenbaum , Arena, Würzburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-401-60291-2
• Midnight , Piper, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-492-28090-7 .

Awards

• 2005: German Fantasy Prize in the category Novel Debut in German for Lycidas
• 2009: German Fantasy Prize in the Best Short Story Collection category for Nevermore
• 2020: Fantastic Literature Prize Seraph in the category Best Fantastic Novel for Midnight

Nominations

• 2007: German Fantastic Prize in the category Roman German-speaking for Lumen

Web links

Wikiquote: Christoph Marzi  - Quotes

• Literature by and about Christoph Marzi in the catalog of the German National Library
• Christoph Marzi in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
• Works by and about Christoph Marzi at Open Library
• Website by Christoph Marzi
• Interview on literatopia.de, December 08