Iwans Mutter ist schwerkrank, Ella auch. In einem Krankenhaus treffen sie aufeinander und kommen daraufhin nicht mehr voneinander los. Eine Nacht am Wasser, sie reden sie schweigen. Denn sie wissen um Dinge, die es sich auf einmal zu teilen lohnt. Sie suchten beide einen Ausweg, letztendlich finden sie einen Weg. Ist diese dunkle Nacht am Meer nur eine verschwommene Erinnerung oder doch der schönste Sommernachtstraum?

Diese kurze Erzählung handelt von Alva und Gregor. Während Alva seit einiger Zeit in der Dunkelheit lebt, fühlt sich Gregor in einer bunten Welt am wohlsten. Ihre Wege kreuzen sich und Gregor versucht, Alva das Licht zu zeigen.

In May of 1945, the American army, along with those of its Allies, occupied the cities and towns of Hitler’s Third Reich. While most American soldiers wondered how Germany’s citizens were going to feed and shelter themselves, this volume introduces the reader to another group of men who were concerned about a different form of starvation. The men of what was to become the Information Control Division (ICD) in the American Zone were preparing an antidote to 12 years of National Socialist propaganda, which was to be a steady diet of carefully selected bits of information that were calculated to change the way the German people understood the world. It was designed to transform the Germans into staunch defenders of democracy. In addition to providing the first historical overview of the activities of the ICD and the methods they employed, the book offers a unique perspective on how the US occupation utilised psychologists, psychiatrists, anthropologists, sociologists and other academics to vet potential candidates for media licenses in Germany. The narrative takes the reader through the various steps of the process of becoming a literary publisher, newspaperman, magazine editor, radio programmer, and filmmakers, and reveals how the American Military Government in Germany used the establishment of new media empires to attempt the mass re-education of an entire nation.

A cat-like creature foils the plans of an evil alchemist in this comic fantasy by the author of The City of Dreaming Books. Malaisea, the unhealthiest town in the whole of Zamonia, is home to Echo the Crat, a multitalented creature resembling a cat in appearance but capable of speaking any language under the sun, human or animal. When his mistress dies, Echo finds himself out on the street. Dying of starvation, he is compelled to sign a contract with Ghoolion the Alchemaster, Malaisea’s evil alchemist-in-chief. This fateful document gives Ghoolion the right to kill Echo at the next full moon and render him down for his fat, with which he hopes to brew an alchemical concoction that will make him immortal. In return, he promises to regale the little Crat with the most exquisite gastronomic delicacies until his time is up. But Ghoolion has reckoned without Echo’s talent for survival and his ability to make new friends. Walter Moers’s magnificent translation of Optimus Yarnspinner’s novel introduces us to yet another of Zamonia’s hotbeds of adventure: Malaisea, a place where sick is healthy, up is down, right is wrong, and Ghoolion the Alchemaster reigns supreme—until Echo crosses his path. Praise for The Alchemaster’s Apprentice “Cheerfully insane. . . . Remains lively and inventive right through the final heroic battle between good and evil.” —New York Times Book Review “Moers’s creative mind is like J. K. Rowling’s on ecstasy; his book reads like a collision between The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the Brothers Grimm. . . . What a delightful book.” —Detroit News and Free Press “Relentlessly whimsical.” —Library Journal “Cross The Lord of the Rings with Yellow Submarine, throw in dashes of Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Shrek, and The Princess Bride . . . That’s the sort of alchemy in which this sprawling novel trades.” —Kirkus Reviews

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