William Voltz

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William Voltz (born January 28, 1938 in Offenbach am Main ; † March 24, 1984 , pseudonym of Wilhelm "Willi" Karl Voltz ; other pseudonyms: Detlef Kaufmann and Ralph Steven) was a German writer . He wrote in 1962 for the science fiction - series Perry Rhodan and coined the series as head writer from 1975 until his death sustainable.

The author

Wilhelm Karl Voltz published his first novel in 1958 in Georg Wiesemann Verlag ( Wuppertal ) as a loan book. The novel Star Fighter soon won numerous awards. Through fandom activities he finally came to the Perry Rhodan series, where he celebrated his highly acclaimed debut with volume 74 The Gray . Voltz had met KH Scheer through his membership in the Science Fiction Club Germany (SFCD) and made such an impression on the co-founder of Perry Rhodan that he received an exposé from him. In addition to The Gray , many of his novels became Perry Rhodan “classics”, e. B. A Friend of Men (No. 99), At the End of Power (No. 299), The Secret Empire (No. 519), The Timeless (No. 746), World Without Men (No. 757), Bardioc (No. 850) and The Terran (No. 1000). The “Aphilie Cycle” (books 700 to 799), which he designed to a large extent, is still considered to be a highlight of the series. Some of the characters he brought to Perry Rhodan were in part complex, multi-layered personalities, often also sympathetic anti-heroes and loners, who often had a certain strangeness, even if it was, like the shy "mask wearer" Alaska Saedelaere, was about people. Sometimes there were also mysterious, lonely searching beings whose true identity, destiny and often tragic story were sometimes only revealed after a long time, as in the case of the "blind girl" Kytoma or Callibso, the "puppeteer from Derogwanien".

The Voltzen

His deeply humanistic outlook was often expressed in the characters he created. His profession were the quiet heroes who went about their task without pathos and fulfilled it for the benefit of all. However, at the end of one of his Perry Rhodan novels, these characters were often "violated".

By “voltzen” one understood that he let a plot carrier, which he lovingly built up and characterized from the beginning of the novel, so that the reader had the feeling that he knew this character inside and out, died at the end of the novel. Death then usually occurred selflessly in an act that was intended to protect others and was consistent with the character of the character.

Exposé activity

From volume 674 (1975) onwards, William Voltz inherited KH Scheer as an exposé author and, until his death in 1984, decisively determined the course of Perry Rhodan . Under his direction, the keynote of the series changed. While the novels of the 1960s, with their predominantly military conflicts, were still strongly influenced by the spirit of the Cold War , a more humanistic direction now came into play. Secrets of the cosmos, the question of the origin and meaning of life in space or the spiritual development of humanity and its role in the universe came to the fore. According to STERN , the spirit of the 1968 found its way into Perry Rhodan : “Until then, there was shooting, from now on there was brooding.” During this time, many directions of the series were determined and a background and superstructure created, the Perry Rhodan to this day permeates and shapes. Sometimes not much to the delight of the current authors, who at times had to struggle with the popularity of William Voltz with the fans and sometimes experienced that a change in his conception aroused resistance in the community.

Silver volumes

Head editor Kurt Bernhardt commissioned Voltz to edit the first silver volume. According to Bernhardt, the first five booklet novels should be reworked into a complete novel. Further requirements were that the text should not lose any of the originality of the original version, but that it should no longer contain any errors. William Voltz described the time when the first silver volume was made self-deprecatingly as follows: “At the time the book was taking on the form in which it now presented itself to its readers, I traveled half of Germany, stopped mowing the lawn, dislodged friends, annoyed colleagues, arguments Started with a wife and children, no more greeting the neighbors, disastrous performances in football, drinking boxes of beer and smoking cigars. "

For the processing of the individual novels and their transfer into the silver volumes, William Voltz created a concept with the help of which the tendencies of the early sixties were circumvented. In order to take into account the global social and ideological changes since the heyday of the Cold War, all exaggerated, one-sided glorifying representations of the Terrans, exaggerated black-and-white schematizations of other peoples (especially the enemy image), overly drastic military representations and other things were defused. The novels were either rewritten or not found in the books.

Atlan, Dragon and Mythor

William Voltz was also part of the Atlan series from the start. Later he also took over the exposés there. In 1973 he started Germany's first fantasy series with Dragon . In the early 1980s he initiated a new series as an exposé author with Mythor , before this task was assigned to Ernst Vlcek .

illness

William Voltz became seriously ill with cancer in the early 1980s and spent his final years conceiving the series well into the 1200s. With Thomas Ziegler he tried to build a successor, but he did not stay. When he died on March 24, 1984, it not only shook the fandom forever.

Significantly, his last Perry Rhodan novel was called Einstein's Tears .

Honors

An early "honor" during his lifetime was the creation of the Matten-Willys species , who populated the early novels of the series as willing, hard-working creatures. The name suggested William Voltz and his hairstyle, which was a little longer at the time.

A William Voltz memorial volume was published in 1984 in honor of William Voltz. In it, all authors of the time expressed their memories of William Voltz in small anecdotes . It also contained the most important stations in his life and some stories, some of which had not yet been published.

The William Voltz Award was presented for the first time in 2004 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death . The three best short stories submitted were awarded prizes at the Frankfurt Book Fair .

In 2005 the award was given to the best SF short story on the defined topic of " Robots ", and in 2006 to the topic of "Stories about the 22nd Century ". The 2007 competition dealt with stories "that [happen] in a strange world".

bibliography

Perry Rhodan booklet novels (1963–1983)

  • 74: The horror
  • 87: The sleepers of the ISC
  • 92: Moluk secret mission
  • 99: A friend of the people
  • 104: Just a greenhorn
  • 110: In the footsteps of the Antis
  • 115: The Emperor and the Monster
  • 119: seeds of perdition
  • 124: The Psychological Duel
  • 128: Hyperspace Murderer
  • 133: Robots, Bombs and Mutants
  • 139: The Laurins are coming!
  • 143: Forbidden to humans
  • 147: The machines rampage
  • 153: A handful of lives
  • 154: The Haunted of Aralon
  • 161: Four from the USO
  • 162: The pact with death
  • 168: The ice trap
  • 174: The tank breakers
  • 180: The merciless opponent
  • 181: Trapped in Central City
  • 183: The jungle army
  • 191: Tschato, the lion
  • 192: Akons' ruse
  • 197: Hell Dance of the Giants
  • 203: The city of the ostracized
  • 207: The 73rd Ice Age
  • 212: The micro-fortress
  • 216: The dawn of classic cars
  • 221: Deported to Andro-Alpha
  • 227: The duplo and his shadow
  • 228: The Mutant's Revenge
  • 235: The White Trunk Caste
  • 236: In the outlaw camp
  • 241: Five from CREST
  • 242: The riddle of the swamp planet
  • 251: The army of bio-splitters
  • 252: The world of the regenerated
  • 257: The three-slayer
  • 262: The master plan
  • 263: Seven hours of fear
  • 273: Under the Nevada Glaciers
  • 274: Between fire and ice
  • 278: On a secret mission on Lemuria
  • 279: The Conquerors of Time
  • 284: Attack against the earth
  • 285: The third weapon
  • 292: The train station in space
  • 293: Central Station Company
  • 299: At the end of power
  • 301: The Platform of Terror
  • 308: Green moon over Jelly City
  • 312: The Secret of the Rain World
  • 313: In the lion people's camp
  • 322: A giant awakens
  • 323: The temporary police
  • 328: The fleet of glass coffins
  • 330: A man like Rhodan
  • 331: Human revolt
  • 334: In the giants' arsenal
  • 337: Contacts with unknown people
  • 338: The steel citadel
  • 343: Planet of a Thousand Joys
  • 347: The M-87 seekers
  • 351: The enslaved giant
  • 355: Rumal's double agent
  • 356: A temporary police officer deserted
  • 362: The madman and the dead
  • 370: Treason on OLD MAN
  • 377: Desert of Shining Stones
  • 378: Planet of the Monsters
  • 382: Planet of the Ruins
  • 386: Help from Sol
  • 394: The beast awakens
  • 397: The system of the 13 moons
  • 401: Departure into space
  • 404: The pirate lady
  • 408: Mutant rampage
  • 414: The space circus
  • 417: Assassination attempt on INTERSOLAR
  • 419: Conference of the Traitors
  • 424: Lost in the stream of time
  • 428: The hour of the thunderbolts
  • 432: The world of mutants
  • 433: The city of a thousand traps
  • 438: The year of the Cappins
  • 442: The beasts of Zeut
  • 447: The Terran and the Glass
  • 452: Planet of the Pacifists
  • 455: On the arena world
  • 456: The exhibition fight
  • 463: The Siga spies
  • 464: The wrong ganjo
  • 471: The final test
  • 475: The great vassal
  • 480: The thief from Gruelfin
  • 481: The traitors clique
  • 484: The end of the Odikon
  • 486: Between space and underground
  • 487: Me, the ganjo
  • 492: The steel prison
  • 496: The Clan Fleet
  • 501: In the concrete desert
  • 505: Trapped in a swarm
  • 510: The outcasts
  • 515: The Guardians of Solitude
  • 519: The secret empire
  • 525: The great death
  • 533: The breakthrough
  • 534: The Black Demon
  • 540: The attack of the cynos
  • 545: The mask wearer
  • 551: humanity put to the test
  • 556: The giant sun
  • 561: Outcast into nothingness
  • 566: Planet in hyperspace
  • 567: The Ice Man
  • 576: A mutant disappears
  • 577: A mutant is being hunted
  • 583: The Macaw and the Desperate
  • 585: The Arkonide's double game
  • 598: The Para-Bank
  • 601: The wrong mutants
  • 607: Ice World Arena
  • 614: Destination Andromeda
  • 615: Danger to Andromeda
  • 623: Market of the Brains
  • 628: The Ceynach Hunter
  • 635: The stone brain
  • 640: The crazy brain
  • 646: Contacts with Eternity
  • 650: The League of Seven
  • 655: The last magician
  • 663: Leticron, the overweight
  • 667: Guardian of the Eternal
  • 678: Zeus Anno 3460
  • 686: The Fleet of the Dead
  • 687: encounter in chaos
  • 696: Ambassador of Peace
  • 697: In the interests of humanity
  • 705: Escape from Imperium Alpha
  • 709: Titan steel fortress
  • 717: The end of Balayndagar
  • 726: In the Dakkar zone
  • 730: Paths to nowhere
  • 731: The Thieves of the Sol
  • 740: Orcsy's switch master
  • 746: The Timeless
  • 757: world without people
  • 758: The lonely of Terra
  • 765: feud of the mighty
  • 768: TERRA PATROL
  • 777: Fight the Invaders
  • 778: Duel of the aliens
  • 785: The first incarnation
  • 790: The secret of the module
  • 800: The Empress of Therm
  • 801: Sirens of Space
  • 810: Homo sapiens X7
  • 816: Master of Gravity
  • 819: The flying city
  • 829: The Terran's Cunning
  • 830: The fourth incarnation
  • 840: On BULLOC'S tracks
  • 850: BARDIOC
  • 851: Cosmic Nightmare
  • 860: Return of the Timeless
  • 861: brain transport
  • 870: Plondfair, the called one
  • 871: center of lies
  • 884: Spaceship of the Mighty
  • 885: Fight in the PAN-THAU-RA
  • 894: Soldiers of the LARD
  • 895: Gentlemen of the PAN-THAU-RA
  • 899: Hurricane in hyperspace
  • 900: LAIRE
  • 908: Aura of Peace
  • 917: limit in nothing
  • 918: The tomb of the mighty
  • 929: The dismantlers
  • 930: The Hole in the Universe
  • 944: Planet of the Dolls
  • 952: The caves of the ring world
  • 969: The false knight
  • 970: The end of the guards
  • 982: The Chosen One
  • 1000: The Terran
  • 1007: The Cosmic Hanseatic League
  • 1020: The Virus Experiment
  • 1027: The super game
  • 1035: Sphinx
  • 1041: The Oracle
  • 1048: Atlan's return
  • 1056: The Stone Charter
  • 1070: prisoners of matter
  • 1086: Solaner hunt
  • 1100: The frost ruby
  • 1108: Fall from the frost ruby
  • 1120: dealing with death
  • 1136: The last Maahks
  • 1141: Time remains the winner
  • 1165: Einstein's tears

Perry Rhodan paperbacks / planetary novels (1965–1976)

  • 9: Invasion of the dolls
  • 15: Me, Rhodan's murderer
  • 19: The Zone of Terror
  • 25: Abducted into space
  • 37: The Power of Dreamers
  • 41: tunnel to infinity
  • 60: Scouts from space
  • 72: On behalf of the MdI
  • 99: The Deadly Invention
  • 113: The sons of Sol
  • 144: The soulless
  • 161: The lonely star city

Atlan booklet novels (1969–1981)

  • 3: The Psycho Team
  • 5: The doppelganger
  • 7: Death must wait
  • 9: Iceworld secret base
  • 12: Agent of the steering center
  • 16: You can't see Siganesen
  • 35: The death of Humarra
  • 44: The school of the assassins
  • 49: Hunter of Immortality
  • 61: The positronic boy
  • 77: The Robot Man and the Mutant
  • 200: ruler in the microcosm
  • 300: The new Atlantis
  • 500: The Solans

Dragon booklet novels (1973-1975)

  • 1: Reach for Atlantis
  • 2: Master of Dimensions
  • 3: Fall of Atlantis
  • 15: The Valley of the Dragons
  • 25: Lord of the Crystals
  • 39: Servant of the Wind
  • 51: In the starvation desert

Single novels

  • Star fighters. Wiesemann, 1958. Also as: Pabel (Utopia Zukunftsroman # 200), 1959.
  • Hotel Galactic. Moewig (Terra Taschenbuch # 165), 1969.
  • Alpha code soaring. Pabel (ZBV-Taschenbuch # 30), 1975.
  • A robot in the garage. Goldmann (Goldmann Youth Books # 20214), 1978, ISBN 3-442-20214-0 .
  • The dead City. Moewig (Utopia Classics # 53), 1983.
  • Robot legend. Moewig (Utopia Classics # 56), 1983.
  • The mutant's ship. Moewig (Utopia Classics # 63), 1984.
  • Galactic Station 17. Moewig (Utopia Classics # 65), 1984, ISBN 3-8118-5011-3 .
  • The last people on earth. Moewig (Utopia Classics # 69), 1984, ISBN 3-8118-5015-6 .
  • The space team. In: Horst Hoffmann (Ed.): William Voltz memory volume. Moewig, 1984, ISBN 3-8118-7095-5 .
  • Reach for Atlantis. Moewig (Utopia Classics # 76), 1985, ISBN 3-8118-5022-9 .
  • The fall of Atlantis. Moewig (Utopia Classics # 77), 1985, ISBN 3-8118-5023-7 .

Short story collections

  • Quarantine and other stories. Moewig (Terra # 316), 1963.
  • The doppelganger and other stories. Moewig (Terra # 393), 1965.
  • The man with the sixth sense. Moewig (Terra # 539), 1967.
  • Invasion of the Peace Bringers. Pabel-Moewig (Terra Astra # 97), 1973.
  • Quarantine. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 3357, 1973.
  • with Alfred Keisner: Zeitsplitter. Moewig, 1981, ISBN 3-8118-2019-2 .

Collected SF stories

  • 1 The triumph. Pabel (Utopia Classics # 22), 1980.
  • 2 alphabet of horror. Pabel (Utopia Classics # 24), 1980.
  • 3 The rescue plan. Pabel (Utopia Classics # 30), 1981.
  • 4 A piece of eternity. Pabel (Utopia Classics # 37), 1982.
  • 5 Each other's skin. Moewig (Utopia Classics # 60), 1983.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.perrypedia.proc.org/wiki/William_Voltz#Pseudonyms
  2. ↑ Perry Rhodan Gold Edition ( Memento from April 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Perry Rhodan: A German hero. stern.de, December 7, 2006
  4. ↑ William Voltz: Contribution to the “Readers Contact Page”, in: Kurt Mahr : Return from Nowhere, Perry Rhodan No. 59, 4th edition, pp. 3-4, Pabel, Rastatt. November 1978.
  5. ^ William Voltz Award
personal data
SURNAME Voltz, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Voltz, Wilhelm Karl; Voltz, Willi Karl (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenbach am Main
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 1984