Hi, Scriptor:

I was wondering what sci-fi authors may have influenced you at a
tender age?  Names please, and don't hesitate to suggest some German
writers (even of other genres) that you consider good models.

a fan, mathtalk

Dear mathtalk,

My main influences came from Science Fiction authors who wrote in
English:

- Ward Moore's "Bring the Jubilee"

- Kirk Mitchell's "Germanicus" trilogy

- Harry Turtledove's "Agent of Byzantium", "Guns of the South", "The
two Georges", to name only a few

- Robert Harris' "Fatherland"

- Len Deighton's "SS-GB"

- John Brunner's "Times without Number"

- Thomas Harlan's "Shadow of Ararat" (I find the following books of
his "Oath of Empire" series not as good as the first one)

The number of German authors that have impressed me is very low;
Science Fiction is not of very good standing in Germany, so there are
not many who use their talent to write such works. In fact, I can't
name a single one whose works have really had any influence on me. And
frankly, I prefer authors from the Anglophone world; they are writing
with more wit and quite relaxed, not starched as their German
colleagues - who always seem to try very hard to produce a highly
meaningful piece of literature instead of an entertaining SF story...

Have a great day!
Scriptor

Very interesting. I'll take this list in hand for my daily round of
coffee with my dad at the local bookstore.  (We Anglophones can't pile
up verbs at the end of our sentences as well as you guys, but watch
out for prepositional phrases!)