Freedom. The Schmahamas Conspiracy

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Freedom. The Schmahamas Conspiracy is the debut novel of the German YouTuber Paluten , real name Patrick Mayer. With the web video series Minecraft Freedom for the computer game Minecraft , Let's Player createdits own virtual world. In his youth book , Paluten translated this world into literature. The work about the adventures of his alter ego Paluten on the island of Schmahama was published by Community Editions on March 29, 2018and immediately became a bestseller . Literary critics panned the book.

Creation and sales success

According to Paluten, the idea of converting Minecraft Freedom into a book came because his viewers wanted the project to be continued. He found it appealing to try another medium for this. The Schmalamas on the island of Schmahama evolved from the llamas of his Minecraft Exit project , which his mother had taken a liking to . Friends of the Freedom Squad like GermanLetsPlay , Zombey and Maudado do not appear in the book, unlike in the video series, because they had freedom of action and Paluten did not want to put anything in their mouths in the book.

He wrote the work together with Klaas Kern, a freelance author. Irina Zinner illustrated the book with 80 black and white drawings. It was published by Community Editions, a publisher founded in Cologne in 2016, which focuses on publications by influencers .

With the novel, a YouTuber came first on a book bestseller list in German-speaking countries for the first time. In the Spiegel bestseller list in the fiction category of hardcover editions , it rose to number 1 at the beginning of April 2018. In mid-May 2018, 80,000 copies of the novel had been sold; it was in its third edition. Young fans waited in long lines at book signing sessions . A 13-year-old said in Hamburg: "With the book I finally have something that will last."

At the end of June 2018, it stayed at number 13 on the Spiegel bestseller list, at the beginning of July it was at number 14. By the beginning of August 2018, the novel rose again to number 11 and remained in the bestseller list until the end of the month - overall it stayed there five months. After the release of the sequel Freedom. Messel im Outer Space , which appeared in March 2020 and reached number 1 on the youth book bestseller list, The Schmahamas Conspiracy also achieved bestseller status again.

content

After winning the war against the arbitrary rule of King Xaroth, Paluten, the adventurer with the pumpkin head, leads a quiet life in Dorfd, from which the resistance of the Freedom Squad originated. His best friend is Edgar the pig.

A messenger brings Paluten the news that he has won a trip to the island of Schmahamas, even though he did not take part in a competition. Paluten is thrilled, his friend Edgar will accompany him. Professor Ente, the ingenious scientist, entrusts them with a secret mission: They are supposed to bring the droppings of the lamas living there - the Schmalamas - with them, which they guard like treasure.

Captain lubricant pants drives the friends to the island, where they are welcomed by a large welcoming committee. Paluten thinks the island and the small capital are wonderfully suited for a relaxing holiday with lots of umbrella drinks. Mayor Obamma reports that the only person on the island is the boss . With LIVE, he runs the only company on the island that he supplies with electricity.

The overwhelming enthusiasm of the Schmalamas about their arrival initially irritates Edgar, and finally Paluten as well. In the dark they set off into the jungle, where they saw a group of Schmalamas migrate. They discover them gathered around a pond, in which they recognize next to Paluten's picture that of Evil Paluten, who is believed to be dead. The vicious doppelganger of Palutens arose from the splitting off of his own personality. They learn that their hosts hope to save the Schmalamas who have disappeared without a trace. Does the image of Evil mean that he is used for salvation like Paluten?

They are helped by the fearless Karla, a former adventurer. With her they build a trap in the jungle with a Schmalama dummy for the kidnappers - hooded two-legged figures who escape them after a hard fight. Young Harry joins them in the chase. He's scary, but the fastest narrow-lama in the world.

An intruder falls into a trap in Karla's highly secured cellar, where she keeps treasures and all kinds of tools. It is Evil Paluten who confesses to them that he emerged from the unsuccessful experiment of a mad scientist with the mission to kill Paluten - and yet saved him. He reports of treason, imprisonment and humiliation, and that Professor Ente has now teleported him to the island to help them.

Paluten doesn't believe Evil. Nevertheless, Paluten, Karla, Edgar and Harry set off with him to the big mountain, which turns out to be an extinct volcano. Inside, they have to overcome many dangers together until they get to a cave that is set up like a laboratory. This is where the missing narrow-lamas are held captive, guarded by fearsome two-legged mutant narrow-lamas. The hooded kidnappers also appear - and the boss . With the miracle cure obtained from the Schmalamas' excrement, which works like a fountain of youth, he wants to make more money than anyone can imagine. With his mutant army, he wants to enslave the island first and then the whole world. In a dangerous operation, the friends save the Schmalamas and destroy the boss's command center .

After the homecoming of the abductees has been celebrated, Mayor Obamma Paluten and Evil hands over a few barrels of Schmalamakot, which the lamas use as a medicine, as a farewell. Professor Ente is experimenting with this in his village laboratory. Without success. The last remnant disappears in a mysterious way after a brief green flash.

reception

Spiegel Online author Carsten Görig criticizes bumpy sentences and misses linguistic wit - the novel reads like an effortlessly funny school essay. It is "not a good book, really not". But that doesn't matter to the book, after all, readers of good books are not necessarily the target group.

In the bestseller check by WDR 5 , Christoph Möller does not find a word of praise for the adventure from the computer game world that has become literature. Only the illustrations get his approval. They are well made: “Minimalist images that depict the world of Minecraft blocks well. Without them the story would be even paler. "

In the ARD literary magazine Druckfrisch , Denis Scheck describes Patrick Mayer as the German star of Let's Player, as the current form of extreme narcissism is called. Filming himself playing computer games reminded him of agile early male porn stars who had themselves filmed sucking their own cock. Mayer needs a co-author, and the result is the book. "Did I say book? It's more of an oath of disclosure. "

As a precaution, Christian Gall explains the Let's Play format on YouTube to the Augsburger Allgemeine culture page readers and compares it with professional football: "Anyone interested in the game does not play himself, but watches professional players - who are idealized into stars." he is not outstanding, “not even good. But every single page makes it clear that the target group are the YouTube fans. "

In a report on a book signing by Paluten, Die Zeit - author Jana Gioia Baurmann discusses the novel's reviews in other media and comes to the conclusion: “And yes, Patrick Mayer will probably not win the German Book Prize , but other bestsellers do not necessarily either. "

literature

  • Paluten, Klaas Kern: Freedom. The Schmahamas Conspiracy. Community Editions. Cologne 2018 ISBN 978-3-96096-034-8 .

Web links

  • Jana Gioia Baurmann: Books with seven seals. In: Zeit.de. May 16, 2018, accessed on July 3, 2018 (report on a book signing by Paluten with backgrounds on the phenomenon of influencers as book authors).
  • The Schmahamas Conspiracy. Irina Zinner, accessed July 3, 2018 (website of the illustrator with images from the book).
  • The novel was placed in the bestseller list in the Fiction / Hardcover category at buchreport.de

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helen Montag: Paluten and the Schmahamas. In: shz.de. May 8, 2018, accessed July 2, 2018 .
  2. ↑ bestseller. In: Der Spiegel 15/2018, April 7, 2018, p. 117.
  3. ↑ Minecraft novel at number 1 in the fiction rankings. In: buchreport.de. April 4, 2018, accessed July 2, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Jana Gioia Baurmann: Books with seven seals. In: Zeit.de. May 16, 2018, accessed July 3, 2018 .
  5. ↑ bestseller. In: Der Spiegel 26/2018, June 23, 2018, p. 115 .; Bestseller. In: Der Spiegel 27/2018, June 30, 2018, p. 103; Bestseller. In: Der Spiegel 28/2018, July 7, 2018, p. 114; Bestseller. In: Der Spiegel 32/2018, August 4, 2018, p. 122.
  6. ↑ Paluten is the front runner in children's books. In: book report . April 10, 2020, accessed July 5, 2020.
  7. ↑ Footnote 2 in the novel: “No, that's not a typo (…). You can find out how this name came about in episode # 316 of »Freedom« on YouTube. ”(In the appendix, p. 158).
  8. ↑ Carsten Görig: You are amazed at the blocks. In: Spiegel Online. April 6, 2018, accessed July 1, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Christoph Möller: “Freedom. The Schmahamas Conspiracy ”by Paluten. In: WDR June 5 , 2018, accessed on July 1, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Denis Scheck comments on the top ten fiction. In: daserste.de. April 29, 2018, accessed July 3, 2018 .
  11. ^ Christian Gall: Youtuber Paluten becomes a bestselling author. In: Augsburger Allgemeine. May 3, 2018, accessed July 1, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Jana Gioia Baurmann: Books with seven seals. In: Zeit.de. May 16, 2018, accessed July 3, 2018 .