Jason Dark is the 'nom de plume' of Helmut Rellergerd, a prolific author of
horror detective fiction in the German language. His work has been favourably compared to that of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for '' A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
.
Helmut Rellergerd
Helmut Rellergerd (born January 25, 1945 in
Altena-Dahle,
Sauerland) is a German writer, under the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
of Jason Dark. Jason Dark is one of the most read authors in Germany in his genre.
Helmut Rellergerd was born in 1945 in Dahle, the
Sauerland and grew up in
Dortmund. He and wrote his first novel after he had finished school and the
Bundeswehr
The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...
. However, this debut release was rejected by the publishers. The first novel published at Bastei Publishing House was ''Im Kreuzfeuer des Todesdrachen'' in the crime series ''Cliff Corner''. He wrote the 1973 novel ''Die Nacht des Hexers'' and created the fictional character
John Sinclair. The Adventures of the English hero appear in the ''Bastei-Verlag'' in book and paperback form and developed from the 1970s to the most successful German horror series. Since the 1980s the John Sinclair radio play Since the 1980s, runs the successful radio play runs. Many novels have been translated into other languages.
Beyond the success of the John Sinclair series, Rellergerd invented other horror fiction series like ''Professor Zamorra'' and ''Damona King''. Under the pseudonym Red Geller he wrote the youth book series ''Das Schloß-Trio''. Since 2006 he has written under his pseudonym for the
Blanvalet
Blanvalet is a German publishing house, based in Munich, which was founded in 1935 in Berlin and is now part of the Bertelsmann's Random House publishing group. Blanvalet publishes entertainment literature and non-fiction, first in hardcover, ...
Publishing House the crime fiction series ''Don Harris Psycho-Cop''.
Rellergerd lives in a district of
Bergisch Gladbach.
John Sinclair
From 1973, Jason Dark started publishing horror detective stories of the
pulp fiction
''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...
variety, centred on an English
Scotland Yard inspector named
John Sinclair. The latter's surname was inspired by the "Sinclair" character played by
Roger Moore in the popular 1970s TV series, ''
The Persuaders''. The stories (usually of around 63 pages in length) have mostly been published as pulp magazines and have now reached the astonishing number of nearly 2,000 separate novels. The plots generally entail Inspector Sinclair's fighting against the forces of darkness (
vampire
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...
s,
werewolves
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...
,
sorcerers,
zombie
A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in w ...
s, etc.) and vanquishing them at the end of each tale. This positive disposition of the narratives has, Helmut Rellergerd believes, helped explain the popularity of the books, particularly amongst women, who (according to Rellergerd in a recorded radio interview) appear to number the most enthusiastic and largest group of his readers, not least because the stories are not excessively violent, but display a certain humanity.
The name of "Jason Dark" has humorous origins: Rellergerd's wife had a particular dislike for the fictitious English private investigator,
Jason King, of the TV series of that name, and as a slightly malicious joke, Rellergerd decided to give his central character precisely the name of "Jason". The surname, "Dark", suggested itself quite naturally, as his hero constantly does battle against dark forces.
Jason Dark also writes other pulp fiction, focussing on his character "Psycho-Cop". He continues to write three or four novels a month and shows no sign of losing his inventive vigour—a creativity that borders on the realms of genius. While unlikely to merit the title of a "Dichter" (poet, or serious writer), he is perhaps best described in his own words as a "kreativer Beamte" (creative bureaucrat, clerk or civil servant), producing (on an old-fashioned manual typewriter) novel after novel for his employers,
Bastei Verlag (Bastei Publishers).
Jason Dark has become, and remains, a pulp-author phenomenon in what the Germans term "Trivialliteratur", but which less generous commentators might call "trash fiction". Yet despite the speed with which the novels are written, they are marked by a certain skill in construction, a richness of vocabulary, a facility for devising gripping plot lines, and an eloquence in style which make them of some literary interest in their specific field. Indeed, Jason Dark has been called a 'writer of genius' and a 'remarkable literary phenomenon' by literary scholar, Dr. Tony Page, who also points out how Dark has been favourably compared to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 'Jason Dark’s imaginative powers have rightly been praised. Indeed, Godden writes: "‘As regards imagination, Jason Dark towers houses high in superiority above Sherlock Holmes creator, Conon (sic!) Doyle.’ (Godden, 207: 293). This is eminent praise indeed - and is justly bestowed'.
Views on writing and politics
Helmut Rellergerd has claimed (in the same recorded interview alluded to above) that many people have found his novels to be psychologically and emotionally beneficial, particularly during times of illness (saying that they have contributed to the recovery process through John Sinclair's "optimistic attitude" to life). In this, one might link him to Austrian writer
Adalbert Stifter
Adalbert Stifter (; 23 October 1805 – 28 January 1868) was an Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing and has long been popular in the German-speaking world, while ...
, who specifically recommended his novel, ''
Der Nachsommer
''Der Nachsommer'' ( en, Indian Summer, italic=yes; subtitled ''A Tale''; 1857) is a novel in three volumes by Adalbert Stifter. A 19th century ''Bildungsroman'' that describes the journey of an idealistic, sheltered young man from childhood to ma ...
'', as a therapeutic tool for the overcoming of melancholia or depression.
When asked in 2006 what caused him, the famed horror writer, the greatest fear and horror, he replied that it was
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's activities, particularly in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
: these called forth veritable goosebumps of fright upon his skin, he said.
Radio interview with Helmut Rellergerd, 2006.
/ref>
Publications (selection)
* '' John Sinclair''
* ''Das Schloß-Trio''
* ''Don Harris Psycho-Cop''
References
Sources
Radio interview with Helmut Rellergerd, 2006.
Interview with Jason Dark
External links
*
''John Sinclair's First Case: How It All Began'' (short novel by Jason Dark)
Night of the Necromancer'' (horror novel by Jason Dark)
* ttp://www.bookola.de/autoren/77-autoren-allgemein/504-interview-jason-dark.html Interview 2005
Portrait of Helmut Rellergerd in: Focus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark, Jason
German fantasy writers
Living people
1945 births
20th-century German male writers
21st-century German male writers