Gas light (booklet series)
The Gaslicht - Heftroman is a weekly series that was first published by Pabel-Moewig from 1971 to 1996 . It then went straight to Kelter Verlag , which started the series with mostly new authors and a different design with issue 1.
Editions and forms of appearance
From the Pabel-Moewig series there was next to the normal series (first edition) u. a. the coronation and selection requirements . After the first edition was discontinued, a few more novels were published in pocket booklet format, with the numbering starting again at 1 and over 1050 numbers having appeared by March 2020. The normal booklet series of the Kelter series is still available today. From the beginning of 2007 there was a bi-weekly release in the form of the more dignified pocket booklet format with a glossy cover. The pocket booklet was discontinued in 2008 with volume 58.
Literary origins and sources of inspiration
The famous Gaslicht films Gaslicht (1940) and The House of Lady Alquist (with Ingrid Bergman , Charles Boyer and Angela Lansbury ) as well as Rebecca are clear models - not only in terms of content, but also in terms of name - for the Gaslicht novels by Alfred Hitchcock . In the first two films mentioned, the gas lights on the walls actually play an important role - if they flicker or go out, the perpetrator has a hand in it.
In terms of content, the Gaslicht series follows the book series by Heyne Verlag, which is also inspired by the films, Romantic-Thriller . However, while only renowned, internationally known authors were published in the romantic thriller (e.g. Virginia Coffman , Robert Bloch , Alexandra Cordes , etc.), Pabel-Moewig's Gaslicht series took up the field alongside some translations by British and American authors Left (especially at the beginning of the series as a set novel) to the well-known local series writers such as AF Morland etc.
Content
As in the romantic thriller, the contents of the novels are set in gloomy moorland landscapes, moonlit nights, in castles, on enchanted places or lonely islands. The main character is almost always a woman who has to fight for the love of her life against adverse, gloomy, dangerous, sinister and / or criminal circumstances; often the struggle for a legitimate inheritance is also connected with it. Not always, but in the vast majority of cases, the heroine wins in the end, and with her that which marks the happy ending for her.
Sometimes, especially often in the newer novels from the Kelter Verlag, it is also supernatural forces or powers that weigh down the life of the heroine. The content has changed from a more criminalistic background (problem to be clarified) to a background with a metaphysical worldview (problem that cannot be clearly resolved).
Sub-series
There are several sub-series within the series. One of them is the briefly decoupled as a separate series The magic amulet .
Another sub-series is the independently running series of novels about the psychologically gifted reporter Patricia Vanhelsing and her aunt Elizabeth, who is interested in metaphysical events. The series (author Sidney Gardner) runs without its own identification within the parent series.
Also within the original series, some novels in the Barnabas the Vampire series appeared .
Cover pictures
Erneste J. Spoerr and an artist named by the publisher only as “Hauptmann, Dresden” are responsible for the cover pictures of the wine press books.