Time ball
Zeitkugel is a German booklet series that was published by Wolfgang Marken Verlag in Cologne. A total of ninety volumes of this time travel series appeared between 1974 and 1978 before it was continued under the name ERDE 2000 .
action
In this series, the scientist Professor Robert Lintberg, who invented the time ball, a time machine , is sent on expeditions into the future and into the past with his two assistants Frank Forster and Ben Hammer. The clients are the members of the wealthy London “Club of Seven”, through which the funding for the Zeitkugel project was run. The time ball is a round, aluminum-colored time machine , with the help of which the three time travelers are transported into the future or the past. There they have to fulfill assignments for the "Club of Seven", mostly to review historical events and to report on them. With the help of the time ball, the time travel team jumps to Troy , Caesar and Cleopatra , Alexander the Great , Moses etc. In addition to defensive armament such as a light cannon and paralyzer, they carry a radar timer, a kind of mini-computer with radio equipment, and a translator. It is not possible to take people and things from the respective time period with you, this also applies to recordings of all kinds.
General
Up to volume 23, past and future adventures alternated. After a reader survey, only journeys into the past were made. The series appeared fortnightly. From volume 18 the reader contact page "Zeitkugel-Post" was set up. Only completed individual novels appeared in the series. After the publication of volume 90, the series was discontinued by Wolfgang Marken Verlag, since, according to information from the publisher, readers increasingly wanted trips into the future. The booklet series was renamed ERDE 2000 with the subtitle "With the Time Ball into the Future" and was also published by Wolfgang Marken Verlag from 1978 to 1979 .
Authors
A total of 12 authors contributed to the series. P. Bartels, Richard Wunderer , Peter Steinhofer , F. Laredo, MR Heinze, P. Eisenhuth, Mark Feldmann, Kurt Brand , G. Berger, Gerhard Merz , J. Wende, Otto Birner .
P. Eisenhuth (pseudonym of Horst Huebner ), who made his debut with Volume 10, not only became editor, but also regular author of the series. He wrote a total of 45 novels.
The cover pictures were all drawn by Alfred Dudda .
criticism
Due to the large number of authors and a lack of editing, the novels were of very different quality. In the course of the series, the quality of the novels increased after Horst Hübner became editor and lead author of the magazine series. What is remarkable about the genre is that most of the authors thoroughly researched the respective historical background of the time travel and created interesting alternative historical scenarios.
Novel list
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New edition
From 2005 to 2013 a new edition of the ZEITKUGEL was published by Mohlberg-Verlag . Here two thematically related novels have been revised and combined into a double volume. Only past adventures are taken into account in the new edition. With Volume 1 "Tutankhamun Murder Case", Volume 7 "The Secret of the Cheops Pyramid" and Volume 12 to 14, the Varus Trilogy, all by Udo Mörsch as well as Volume 4 "The Moses Riddle" and Volume 8 "The Golem", both by Jörg Bielefeld, new novels have also been published. The series was discontinued with Volume 14.
List of novels new edition
- Udo Mörsch + P. Eisenhuth / Tutankhamun murder case (new novel and ex-ZK 48)
- MR Heinze / Company Alexander and Hannibal (Ex-ZK 12 and 29)
- P. Eisenhuth + Kurt Brand / In the footsteps of Atlantis (Ex-ZK 10 and 53)
- Jörg Bielefeld + P. Eisenhuth / The Moses Riddle (new novel and ex-ZK 65)
- P. Eisenhuth / The tomb of Cleopatra (Ex-ZK 35 and 86)
- P. Eisenhuth + MR Heinze / In the realm of the yellow dragon (Ex-ZK 70 and 27)
- Udo Mörsch + P. Eisenhuth / The secret of the Cheops pyramid (new novel and ex-ZK 16)
- Jörg Bielefeld + P. Eisenhuth / The Golem (new novel and ex-ZK 78)
- P. Eisenhuth + Udo Mörsch / The Spanish Armada (Ex-ZK 36 and 38)
- P. Eisenhuth / The Queen of Saba (Ex-51 and 74)
- Kurt Brand + P. Eisenhuth / Battle of Babylon and Sparta (Ex-24 and 56)
- Udo Mörsch / Varus vs. Arminius - The Ambush (completely new novel)
- Udo Mörsch / Varus vs. Arminius II - The Blood of the Legionaries (completely new novel)
- Udo Mörsch / Varus vs. Arminius III - Exitus (completely new novel)