Karlheinz Steinmüller

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Karlheinz Steinmüller (born November 4, 1950 in Klingenthal / Sa. ) Is a German graduate physicist , futurologist and science fiction author.

Life

Karlheinz Steinmüller, together with his wife Angela Steinmüller, is one of the science fiction authors with very well-founded stories about social structures and mechanisms. Angela and Karlheinz Steinmüller were therefore not only considered top authors of this genre in the GDR , their books are still published and reissued today.

After graduating from high school in a special class for mathematics and natural sciences, Karlheinz Steinmüller studied physics and philosophy. In 1977 he received his doctorate with the dissertation “The machine theory of life. Philosophical Problems of Biological Mechanism ”to the Dr. phil. and then worked as a research assistant at the Central Institute for Cybernetics and Information Processes of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR . He has been a freelance writer since 1982 and was elected to the board of the GDR Writers' Association in 1988 as a representative of the "Literature and Environment" working group. From 1991 he worked at the SFZ (Secretariat for Future Research gGmbH) in Gelsenkirchen ; He is a founding partner (since 1997) and Scientific Director of Z_punkt GmbH The Foresight Company in Cologne and Berlin.

Angela and Karlheinz Steinmüller have been writing both joint works and their own for many years. Both also write non-fiction books. Karlheinz Steinmüller has published numerous essays on fantasy in the yearbook Das Science Fiction Jahr .

criticism

“When it appeared at the time, the readers would have recognized the slimy cockroach, the chief informant Mascaras, as a parable to the Stasi and in the 'Instructions for Vertical Dreaming' a parable of the ultimately unsuccessful attempts of the SED's cultural policy to lock the arts in ideological constraints to be harnessed to their lurching cart. But today, freed from the GDR-typical look for rebellious things between the lines, the book turns out to be much more than just an encoded criticism of the SED state. The dream master negotiates the question of the meaning of utopia by means of an exciting plot that merges elements from science fiction, fairy tales and fantasy regardless of conventions. The mascara revolution does not liberate people, it only puts them in other, new fetters. By trying to 'dream around' the miscarians with the help of his controlled nocturnal visions and thus force them to their happiness, Kilean mutilates them, deprives them of will and self-determination and thus turns his intention into the opposite ... mentally, stylistically and linguistically the climax in the work so far the Steinmüller. "

- Karsten Kruschel on The Dream Master : The Science Fiction Year 1992 , ed. by Wolfgang Jeschke , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag Munich, ISBN 3-453-05379-6 , p. 825.

“The Steinmüller's book sheds light on the events of 704 Speran years, about one and a half times as much in earthly terms. It consists of 26 stories of varying length and intensity. Some, more like vignettes, only throw a spotlight on a situation. Others describe an age or a turning point in a literarily complex manner and with differentiated characters. Or they simply tell an exciting story that can be more or less precisely classified historically. Sometimes they are kept realistic, sometimes the text sounds like orally transmitted fairy tales and legends. The shape of the whole is similar to that of Ray Bradbury's Mars Chronicles ... The thought game about Spera is a fine opportunity for utopians to do tabula rasa ... you can start from scratch and do everything right now. "

- Gundula Sell on Spera : The Science Fiction Year 2005 , ed. by Sascha Mamczak and Wolfgang Jeschke, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag Munich 2005, ISBN 3-453-52068-8 , pp. 1021f.

Awards

  • 1995: Kurd-Laßwitz Prize "Best Short Story" for Lighter Than Vacuum (together with Angela Steinmüller and Erik Simon under the pseudonym "Simon Zwystein")
  • 2001: German Fantasy Prize for the dissemination of fantastic literature in two different social systems and its future prospects (together with Angela Steinmüller)
  • 2004: Kurd-Laßwitz-Prize "Best Short Story" for Before the Time Travel (together with Angela Steinmüller)

bibliography

Novels and short stories
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Andymon. A space utopia. Neues Leben, Berlin 1982. At the same time: Union-Verlag, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-8139-5611-3 . Revised new edition: Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-88619-342-X . Also as: Works in single editions # 2.
  • with Angela Steinmüller: corals of space. Scientific and fantastic story. The new adventure # 447. New life, Berlin 1984.
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Pulaster. Novel of a planet. New Life, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-355-00160-0 . Also: Fantastic Library # 204. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-518-37990-9 .
  • with Angela Steinmüller: The dream master. Das neue Berlin, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-360-00174-5 . Also: Heyne SF&F # 4881, 1992, ISBN 3-453-05412-1 . Also as: Works in single editions # 4.
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Spera. A fantastic novel in stories. Golkonda, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-946503-71-3 . Also as: Works in single editions # 3.
  • with Erik Simon and Angela Steinmüller: The Wormhole Odyssey. A space operetta. Shayol, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-943279-21-4 . New edition: Memoranda, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-946503-16-3 .
Collections
  • The last day on Venus. Compass Library # 247. Neues Leben, Berlin 1979. Slightly revised as The Last Days on Venus. New life, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-355-01231-9 .
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Crooked lines. The New Berlin, Berlin 1984.
  • with Angela Steinmüller: The dream of the big red spot. Fantastic Library # 147. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1985, ISBN 3-518-37631-4 .
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Warm Period. Stories from the 21st century. Works in single editions # 1. Shayol, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-926126-30-2 .
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Computer Twilight. Fantastic stories. Works in separate editions # 6. Shayol, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-926126-93-1 .
  • with Erik Simon and Angela Steinmüller: Lighter than vacuum. Fantastic stories. Memoranda, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-946503-17-0 .
Non-fiction
  • The machine theory of life. Philosophical Problems of Biological Mechanicism. Dissertation at Humboldt University Berlin 1977.
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Charles Darwin. From beetle collector to naturalist. Neues Leben, Berlin 1985. Revised as: Darwin's World. From the life of an involuntary revolutionary . Oekom-Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-86581-124-0 .
  • with Angela Steinmüller: The future image of utopian literature in the GDR in the fifties and sixties. Secretariat for Future Research , Gelsenkirchen 1994, ISBN 3-928635-08-5 .
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Anticipation of the bright tomorrow. Studies on GDR science fiction. First German Fantasy Club, Passau 1995, ISBN 3-924443-85-8 .
  • Feasible futures. Futurology and science fiction. Secretariat for Future Research , Gelsenkirchen 1995, ISBN 3-928635-12-3 .
  • Basics and methods of futurology. Scenarios, Delphi, technology preview. Secretariat for Future Research , Gelsenkirchen 1997, ISBN 3-928635-21-2 .
  • with Angela Steinmüller: Visions 1900 - 2000 - 2100. A chronicle of the future. Rogner and Bernhard at Zweiausendeins, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-8077-0198-2 .
  • Future research in Europe. Results and Perspectives. 2000.
  • with Angela Steinmüller: untamed future. Wild cards and the limits of predictability. Gerling-Akademie-Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-932425-53-7 . Revised as: Wild Cards. When the improbable happens. Murmann, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-938017-12-0 .
  • with Angela Steinmüller: The future of technologies. Murmann, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-938017-46-5 .
  • with Robert Gaßner: What kind of future do we want? Visions of how research and technology should change our lives: Twelve scenarios and a method excursion. Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-941374-04-1 .
  • with Klaus Burmeister, Alexander Fink, Beate Schulz-Montag: Rethinking Germany. Eight scenarios for our future. oekom, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-96238-018-2 .
as editor
  • Reality Machines: Cyberspace and the Consequences. Future Studies # 11. Beltz, Weinheim & Basel 1993, ISBN 3-407-85311-4 .
  • The Future of the Future: Congress Documentation. Secretariat for Future Research , Gelsenkirchen 1993, ISBN 3-928635-06-9 .
  • with Peter Schattschneider : Science Fiction - Tool or Sensor of a Technological World? : Lecture series. First German Fantasy Club, Passau 1995, ISBN 3-924443-78-5 .
  • Future Studies in Europe: Results and Perspectives. Nomos-Verlags-Gesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2000, ISBN 3-7890-6766-0 .
Work edition

The works in single editions by Karlheinz and Angela Steinmüller were published by Shayol-Verlag, Berlin, from 2003. In volumes 1, 3 and 6, a few texts are assigned to only one of the two authors.

literature

  • David Draut: Ambivalent visions of the future. The author couple Steinmüller and East German utopian science fiction . Tectum, Marburg, 2014. ISBN 978-3-8288-3337-1 .
  • Helmut Fickelscherer: SF writer after the fall of the Berlin Wall. An interview with Angela and Karlheinz Steinmüller. In: Berlin bookmarks. 4, Issue 7, 1996, ISSN  0945-0106 , pp. 5-12.
  • Hubert Heinzl: Pulaster. In: The Science Fiction Year 1989 (Vol. 4), edited by Wolfgang Jeschke . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-453-03139-3 , pp. 584-587.
  • Karsten Kruschel : Steinmüller, Angela and Karlheinz . In: Lexicon of science fiction literature since 1900. With a look at Eastern Europe. Edited by Christoph F. Lorenz. Peter Lang, Frankfurt / Main 2016, ISBN 978-3-63167-236-5 , pp. 543-550.
  • Franz Rottensteiner : Karlheinz Steinmüller . In: Killy Literature Lexicon, Volume 11 (Si-Vi). Walter De Gruyter, 2011, ISBN 9783110220414 , pp. 231–232 ( excerpt (Google) )
  • Gundula Sell: Computer Dawn. In: The Science Fiction Year 2011. Edited by Sascha Mamczak , Wolfgang Jeschke and Sebastian Pirling. Heyne, Munich 2011, pp. 1104-1107. ISBN 978-3-453-53379-0
  • Erik Simon : Angela Steinmüller, Karlheinz Steinmüller. In: Erik Simon, Olaf R. Spittel (ed.): The science fiction of the GDR. Authors and works. A lexicon. Verlag Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-360-00185-0 , pp. 243-251.
  • Ralf Steinberg: Lighter than vacuum . In: The Science Fiction Year 2017. Edited by Michael Görden. Golkonda Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-946503-10-1 , pp. 76-79.
  • Ralf Steinberg: The wormhole odyssey . In: The Science Fiction Year 2017. Edited by Michael Görden. Golkonda Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-946503-10-1 , pp. 72-76.

Web links