Hans Joachim Alpers (14 July 1943 – 16 February 2011) was a German writer and editor of science fiction and fantasy. Together with Werner Fuchs and Ulrich Kiesow he founded

Fantasy Productions Fantasy Productions Medienvertriebsgesellschaft GmbH (a.k.a. FanPro) is a German publishing company based in Erkrath. History The company was founded in 1983 by Ulrich Kiesow, Werner Fuchs and Hans Joachim Alpers to produce small metal min ...

, which became one of the premier

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

- and

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

producers and retailers. He was born in

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the R ...

. As an editor he co-founded the highly successful German-language

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

'' The Dark Eye'' and the ''Science Fiction Times'' and as a critic he was a contributor to ''

Science Fiction Studies ''Science Fiction Studies'' (''SFS'') is an academic journal founded in 1973 by R. D. Mullen. The journal is published three times per year at DePauw University. As the name implies, the journal publishes articles and book reviews on science fi ...

''. As a writer he used several pseudonyms including Jürgen Andreas, Thorn Forrester, Daniel Herbst, Gregory Kern, Mischa Morrison, P.T. Vieton, and Jörn de Vries. He won the Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for the novels ''Das zerrissene Land'' and ''Die graue Eminenz.'' He also co-wrote a six-volume series of young-adult SF with

Ronald M. Hahn Ronald M. Hahn (born 20 December 1948 in Wuppertal, Germany) is a German science-fiction writer, translator and author of reference books pertaining to Speculative fiction, speculative literature and film. He was editor of the German edition of The ...

''Das Raumschiff der Kinder'' (translates as "The Children's Spaceship"). He edited anthologies, annual publications, and reference works. Anthologies included
Science Fiction aus Deutschland: 24 Stories von 20 Autoren
' (1974). Annual publications included the
Science-fiction-Almanach
' (1981–1987) and
Science-fiction-Jahrbuch
' (1983–1987). Reference works included
Reclams Science-fiction-Führer
' (1982),
Lexikon der Science-fiction-Literatur
' (1980, 1988),
Lexikon der Horrorliteratur
' (1999), and
Lexikon der Fantasy-Literatur
' (2005). He lived in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

. In 2012 he was awarded a posthumous special Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for his many years of contributing to German-language SF.

Notes

External links

Interview with Hans Joachim Alpers (in German)Obituary (in German)Entry for Alpers in the Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek (catalog of the German National Library)
1943 births 2011 deaths German science fiction writers German fantasy writers German speculative fiction editors Speculative People from Bremerhaven German male writers {{Germany-writer-stub