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Wolfgang Hohlbein (born 15 August 1953 in Weimar,
Bezirk Erfurt The Bezirk Erfurt was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Erfurt. History The district was established, along with the other 13, on 25 July 1952, substituting the old German states. After 3 Octob ...
) is a German writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction who lives near Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia. His wife,
Heike Hohlbein Heike Hohlbein (born November 15, 1954 in Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German writer of science fiction, fantasy and youth literature who lives near Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia. She is the wife of German author Wolfgang Hohlbein. Toge ...
, is also a writer and often works with her husband. With more than 200 published books and more than 43 million sold copies he is considered among the most successful German writers in the fantasy genre.


Personal life

Wolfgang Hohlbein was born on 15 August 1953 in Weimar,
Bezirk Erfurt The Bezirk Erfurt was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Erfurt. History The district was established, along with the other 13, on 25 July 1952, substituting the old German states. After 3 Octob ...
. When he finished school, he took an apprenticeship as industrial clerk. After the apprenticeship he worked in this profession in the following years. To bolster his income, he also worked as night watchman. It was during this time when he started to write his early works, to pass the time faster. In 1971 he met his wife
Heike Hohlbein Heike Hohlbein (born November 15, 1954 in Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German writer of science fiction, fantasy and youth literature who lives near Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia. She is the wife of German author Wolfgang Hohlbein. Toge ...
, whom he would marry 3 years later. Together they raised six children. In 1977 their daughter
Rebecca Hohlbein Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...
was born, who became a writer herself too. In 1982 he quit his job to work as a full-time author. Shortly after he and his family moved to Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, where they live until today. In 2014 the German TV channel RTL II launched a reality show called ''Die Hohlbeins – Eine total fantastische Familie'' (''The Hohlbein's, a fantastic family''), which aimed to show the life of the Hohlbein family in the a docusoap format. The show garnered about 910,000 viewers during the first episode, but after a fast drop-off in viewers and negative criticism of being too trivial and boring it was cancelled soon after.


Work

Writing short stories since young age, Hohlbein was first recognized as an author after sending in a manuscript he and his wife had written at a fantasy and science fiction writing contest in 1982. They won and their book, ''Märchenmond'' (English title: "
Magic Moon ''Magic Moon'' (original title: ''Märchenmond'', meaning "Fairy Tale Moon") is a young adult fantasy novel written by German authors Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein in 1982. The book was Hohlbein's first success as a writer and the starting point of ...
"), was published by '' Ueberreuter Verlag'', soon becoming a bestseller and winning several awards. In the following years the Hohlbein's wrote two sequels to the book, continuing their success. The trilogy remains their greatest success until today and sold more than 2 million copies. He's also a writer of pulp fiction, including the series ''Der Hexer'' (The Warlock), which he conceived in 1984 for the magazine ''Gespenster-Krimi'' (Ghost Thriller) published by
Bastei Lübbe Bastei Lübbe is a major publisher of genre fiction, pulp fiction and non-fiction in the German language. It is based in Cologne, Germany. As of 2010, it was the largest independent book publisher in Germany, and it claims to be one of the three ...
, mainly based on H. P. Lovecraft's ''
Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an ...
'', and of which he wrote the majority of novels initially under the collective
pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...
of Robert Craven. Later the series was reedited and republished as paperbacks, which collected the stories of several pulp magazines, including a prequel, and as e-books both under Hohlbein's own name. Hohlbein primarily writes in the genre of fantasy, horror and historical fiction. Since the success of ''Märchenmond'' Hohlbein had published more than 200 books. He sometimes cooperates with other authors like Dieter Winkler or his daughter Rebecca Hohlbein. His most important source of inspiration is his wife Heike Hohlbein, who is credited as co-author on more than 30 of his books. In his early days, Hohlbein also wrote a lot of paperback stories for various magazines and also often used a pseudonym. Later he focused more on stand-alone novels as well as some long-running book series, like the ''Enwor'' saga or the still not finished ''Chronik des Unsterblichen'' (''Chronicles of the Immortal''). Apart from his own creations, Hohlbein also wrote various movie tie-in (book), movie tie-in books, like in the Indiana Jones, Stargate or Pirates of the Caribbean universe.


Reception

Wolfgang Hohlbein is among the most successful and prolific German fantasy authors. He has written more than 200 books and sold more than 43 million issues throughout his career. Many of his books are translated and published internationally in various European countries as well as outside of Europe in countries such as South Korea. For many years none of his works had been translated into English, not even the eight Indiana Jones novels he wrote. His only works to be translated into English were his three ''Märchenmond novels'', which were published by Tokyopop from 2006 onwards, now titled ''Magic Moon''. Hohlbein's books also have been adapted into other media such as radioplays. His work ''Märchenmond'' was translated into a theatre play, which has been presented in places like the ''Westfälisches Landestheater'' or the ''Theater für Niedersachsen''. The German progressive metal band, Vanden Plas, recorded and consecutively released two full-length albums, ''Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld (Path One)'' in 2014 and ''Chronicles of the Immortals – Netherworld II'' in 2015, that were adapted from ''Blutnacht,'' a theater production based on the author's ''Die Chronik der Unsterblichen.'' Throughout the years, various propositions have been made to turn some of his works into film, for example for ''Das Druidentor'' or ''Azrael'', but none of these projects were realized. In September 2016 however, Constantin Film announced they will create a feature film based on his book ''Hagen von Tronje''. In 2020 Sony produced a film called Die Wolfgang or The Magic Kids (Three Unlikely Heros) about Vlad the vampire who moves to a new magical town and a special magical school, three of the year 7 children team up together as they all have their own problems - a fairy who is afraid of heights, a werewolf who is allergic to fur, and a vampire who can't stand blood. They soon discover that the town is controlled by a demon who is after one thing - a magical crystal that has been left by Vlad's mother that could bring back dark magical times if used improperly.


Bibliography


References


External links

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Official website (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hohlbein, Wolfgang 1953 births Living people Writers from Weimar People from Bezirk Erfurt German science fiction writers German fantasy writers German male writers