ZBV (series of novels)

CUA (short for to-use ) is a 50-volume novel - series of the German Science Fiction -Autors Karl-Herbert Scheer .

It was first published in 1957 as a bound loan book by the Balowa Gebrüder Zimmermann Verlag , Balve, with the addition of UTO (pia) -Krimi (nalroman) . It was reprinted from 1958 under the title Utopia Zukunftsroman (ZBV 1 and 3) by Pabel-Verlag and from 1962 as part of the Terra -SF series by Moewig Verlag (ZBV 2 and 4ff.), Supplemented there by new editions up to ZBV 18 in 1965. From November 17, 1972 the series was reissued or continued and was published as a paperback by Pabel-Verlag Rastatt. A second edition was published in 1976. A third edition followed. While the first volumes were separate storylines, in the course of the later volumes story arcs were built up over two and more volumes.

The ZBV series was discontinued in 1980 with the publication of Volume 50 in the middle of the story arc and so the Calthur / Toterlay / Golda cycle was not completed.

Perry Rhodan authors Kurt Mahr , HG Francis and William Voltz also worked on the series .

Some of the novels have been translated into French and Dutch.

content

ZBV is considered to be the forerunner of the science fiction series Perry Rhodan , as it has clear similarities with the first volumes. Scheer's authorship in the Rhodan series is particularly emphasized on the front page of the paperback editions of the Pabel Verlag. Likewise, numerous identical characters, storylines and technical developments were anticipated. This includes, for example, setting off into space with the help of extraterrestrial technology. There are also past adventures in the ZBV series in which the legendary Atlantis exists.

The main focus is on agent adventures in space and on earth. This is how the two main characters Thor Konnat, code name "HC-9" (born in a European region that was once known as the Federal Republic), and the bizarre Hannibal Othello Xerxes Utan, code name MA-23 , "shadow" of the western, American-influenced Secret Scientific Defense (GWA), first against earthly power blocs, in particular the Chinese-influenced Greater Asian League (GAS), and criminal organizations.

Little by little, the series of futuristic espionage stories that take place from 2002 onwards develops more and more into science fiction. From volume 8 onwards, after the discovery of forgotten technology from Mars , alien dangers are also fought. In the ZBV series, the earth is inhabited 187,000 years ago by the Martians as an external base, who used and trained the ancestors of mankind to be henchmen. After the first discovery on the moon, mankind finds further technology on Earth and Mars as well as the reference to their origin. With the help of Mars technology, technical progress is progressing very quickly, which, however, also attracts extraterrestrial powers and creates new dangers.

The basic starting point of the stories is a complicated brain operation on the two main actors Konnat and Utan, in which a nerve conductor between the two halves of the brain is interrupted, and which these two were the only ones to survive in mental health. As a result of this operation, they are insensitive to interrogation drugs and hypnotic influences. In the further course of this ability a "mutant-like" further development develops (mutants arise, according to Scheer, through inheritance, they have acquired the abilities through "development" - however, in Volume 4 mutations are also introduced that were caused by an atomic explosion in the Amazon region and which produced the mutant Manzo, who later becomes an agent of the GWA).

Konnat and Utan become telepaths (mind readers ) and through special Martian machines they become intellectual supermen. The intellectual distance between “normal man” and “superman” is also a not insignificant topic in some novels. Among other things, people are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with telepaths, who are increasingly referring to their code of honor, never to penetrate other people's brains without good cause.

In the sequels from the 1970s, the figure of Primo Zeglio - with not exactly flattering characteristics - is introduced as head of the defense of the European secret service MADE. In reality, Primo Zeglio was the director of the only Perry Rhodan film to date, Perry Rhodan - SOS from Space (1967).

With the spokesman Volker Risch , the first two volumes (“For special use” and “Kommandosache HC9”) were also converted into audio books in 2005 and published by readersplanet .

List of titles

The series has been published several times since it was first published and has appeared in hardcover , paperback and e-book formats .

• 1: For special use
• 2: Command matter HC 9
• 3: ordinal number 120
• 4: Pegasus company
• 5: CC-5 top secret
• 6: Hell below zero
• 7: Large-scale operation Dawn
• 8: Luna-Port elite unit
• 9: Overdue
• 10: Unlimited power of attorney
• 11: No entry
• 12: ability unknown
• 13: Beware of no man's land!
• 14: Diagnosis negative
• 15: Code character Big Bear
• 16: Space patrol Nebelwelt
• 17: Offensive Minotaur
• 18: Counterstrike Copernicus
• 19: Godapol replenishment base
• 20: programming excluded
• 21: Mars supply ALPHA VI (with Kurt Mahr )
• 22: Secret order giant eye (with Kurt Mahr)
• 23: Intelligence undesirable
• 24: Red eagle test object
• 25: Special planning for the mini moon (with the assistance of William Voltz or HG Ewers due to Scheer's illness)
• 26: Safety factor III (with Kurt Mahr)
• 27: Gorssky emergency transmitter
• 28: Hereditary spies outlawed
• 29: Mars revolt problematic
• 30: Alphacode soaring (with William Voltz )
• 31: Zonta norm illegal (with Kurt Mahr)
• 32: Newton's robotic anesthesia
• 33: Venus Spirit privilege
• 34: Incarnation illegal
• 35: Emergency solution planned (with HG Francis )
• 36: Late check-up revealing
• 37: Failure not allowed
• 38: Solution Takalor (with HG Francis)
• 39: Okolar-Trabant breeding laboratory (with HG Francis)
• 40: Atlantis reference point
• 41: Dress rehearsal for the time ballet
• 42: Period of total failure
• 43: Stimulation impulse death sleeper
• 44: Order of magnitude god wind
• 45: Calthur component
• 46: Saghon fortress hermitage
• 47: Control circuit fountain of youth
• 48: Symbiosis of autumn thunderstorms
• 49: Counted
• 50: Hypercode desert fox

literature

Chapter: Thor and the root dwarf - ZBV , in: Heinrich Stöllner: The future of yesterday. Science fiction series in the UTOPIA and TERRA series from the 1950s to 1980s. Dieter von Reeken, Lüneburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-945807-49-1 , pp. 66-76.

Web links

• ZBV - For special use ... , article by Heinrich Stöllner on Zauberspiegel.de
• Cover pictures of the novel editions
• Contents of the novels ( Memento from July 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Département Anti-espionnage Scientifique (French edition)
• Secret Wetenschappelijke Verdediging (Dutch edition)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Collaboration of the Perry Rhodan authors ( memento of the original from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.