Contemporary German science fiction lingers in the long shadow of a boom time of science fiction publishing in Germany from the late 1970ies to the early 1990ies that in retrospect looks like a golden age. In the early 1980ies when I made my first forays into science fiction writing there were at one point no less than six paperback and two hardcover science fiction book series competing on the German market, chapbook serials such as Perry Rhodan not even included. Heyne Verlag in Munich was the largest science fiction publisher in the world, surpassing even US giant Tor with its monthly output of new titles. Its editor Wolfgang Jeschke, himself an internationally known writer, reported that in its best times the first printing of 20.000 copies of an average new release would be sold out within a few months. It was impossible for even the most enthusiastic science fiction fan to read all science fiction that was published, and for professionals on the distribution lists for review copies it became a problem to get rid of a wagon load of new books they received each month. Science fiction was on the brink of gaining mainstream recognition in these years. On each campus book stand there were at least a few Heyne books by outstanding science fiction writers such as John Brunner or Ursula K. Le Guin presented.
Embedded in this general boom time were a few years of promising opportunities for German science fiction writers to publish books in the hope of reaching a wider audience. Like the local science fiction production of many countries, however, German science fiction never managed to hold a candle to the popularity and commercial success of Anglo-American writers. Wolfgang Jeschke made it a point to publish a wide selection of significant novels and collections by international writers, but even these failed to be attract much attention. His comprehensive, initially twice annually edited anthologies provided German writers with a chance to publish short stories, novellas and even poems, but the general critical consensus was that too much German science fiction was published in this period and only a few writers demonstrated the quality and stamina to embark on a significant writing career.
There has been much discussion and speculation about the reasons for the decline of science fiction publishing in Germany. The changing tastes of the audience due to the influence of blockbuster cinema and TV series have surely been a factor. Another one was the growing popularity of massive science fiction and fantasy cycles and serials that invited readers, as Wolfgang Jeschke put it, „to mentally keep their house shoes on“ (in the 1990ies it had come so far that I used to joke: „I can‘t remember the last time when a trilogy with less than five volumes was published.“) At the end of the day these developments made science fiction less interesting for a general book reading audience. One by one large publishers discontinued their science fiction series. Heyne science fiction today is only a shadow of what it once was. As the last three of Wolfgang Jeschke‘s international anthologies were published in 2002 a major publishing opportunity for German science fiction story writers disappeared. With a few exceptions German science fiction went underground. An era of small and self publishing began.
Thanks to my collaboration with Ronald M. Hahn and scene-returnee Helmuth W. Mommers I had a chance to contribute a little to what has happened since then (Christoph Grimm‘s article in this issue provides a snapshot of the current situation). For decades the German scene had failed to establish a lasting science fiction story magazine for domestic writers (Alien Contact in Berlin was the periodical that came closest to reaching this goal) and when we met in mid-2002 at a science fiction convention in Cologne to establish a new magazine that became Nova we didn‘t expect to last long either. No one would have been more surprised than ourselves had we known at this time that Nova would be approaching its 40th issue and its 25th year of publication today. As the last of the three co-founders I retreated from Nova in 2023 and left the magazine in the trustworthy hands of new fiction editor Marianne Labisch and publisher Michael Haitel to focus my editorial work on the revival of InterNova and on the book series Cutting Edge that is intended to present a selection of the best of German speculative fiction to a wider audience outside of the science fiction fandom.
The chance to edit a theme issue about German science fiction as comprehensive as this one came when I contacted translator Mike Mitchell. Austrian* editor and critic Franz Rottensteiner, who compiled the historical anthology The Black Mirror and Other Stories for Wesleyan University Press in 2008, was lucky to recruit for this book with renowned German to English translator Mike Mitchell a true master of his craft. Mike was so kind to give me his permission to republish several of his translations in this InterNova issue. Complemented with some translations that I did myself and others that its authors had at hand I finally arrived at a selection focusing on the self-publishing era that began with the first Nova issue and the revival of Renè Moreau‘s magazine Exodus shortly afterwards. It would not be complete, however, without a look into the past. German science fiction of the boom area, whose long shadow I have mentioned in the beginning, is represented with two classics from the 1980ies that I have to thank Ronald M. Hahn for contributing. Franz Rottensteiner looks back even further and provides little known facts about the reception of early German science fiction in the USA.
Michael K. Iwoleit
March 2026
* In case you wonder whether it‘s not a little reckless to regard Austrian-born Helmuth W. Mommers and Franz Rottensteiner as representatives of German science fiction: There has never been a clear distinction between the German and the Austrian scene, and it is hardly even noticed anymore that some of the best-known „German“ science fiction writers, such as Herbert W. Franke (another of Vienna‘s gifts to our favorite genre), are actually Austrians.
Michael K. Iwoleit