September 1, 2003
They arrived hot off the presses on my desk at the office during the last week of August: the two current volumes of the
Perry Rhodan Gold Edition , published by the HJB Verlag. Both volumes are true masterpieces of the Perry Rhodan series that rightfully have been newly released in this new format - incidentally, at the request of many fans.It really is a joy to browse in the two books and to read these classic novels again, mindful of the significance that they had - and have - for the series and of their continuing impact to this day on various plot elements within the Perryverse. Michael Thiesen’s expert afterwords provide background on each respective novel and put them in the proper perspective.
One of the two new titles is “Der Einsame der Zeit" (Time’s Lonely One) by K.H. Scheer, originally issued as Perry Rhodan booklet novella 50. When this volume was released, the unanticipated success of the series was not yet foreseeable - though it was clear even then that the series offered something completely new. With Atlan, the immortal Arkonide, the character whom Karl-Herbert Scheer introduced with this novel, a new element was added to the series that since then has further enhanced Perry Rhodan ’s success: from then on, the series evolved not only “ahead" into the science fiction universe’s fictitious future, but also “backwards" into a likewise fictitious past.
In the course of forty years of Perry Rhodan , what began with Atlan - and Atlantis, the myth of the destroyed continent - turned into an story about the past. Events that played a role in the series 50,000 years ago (the fall of Lemuria), 200,000 years ago (the experiments on Earth by the Cappins), one million years ago (the Swarm passing through the Milky Way), two million years ago (the Great Galactic War), or even 18 million years ago (the backstory to the super-intelligence IT) kept expanding the Perryverse by more and more facets.
There are many reasons for declaring issue 50 of Perry Rhodan a masterpiece. Among them is Scheer’s “creation" of the Arkonide Atlan and his backstory. In the same vein, the second of the two new volumes of the Gold Edition is a true classic. Specifically, we’re talking about “Der Zeitlose" (“The Timeless One"), written by William Voltz and published as novel number 746, hence, during the most gripping phase of the Aphilia story cycle, which is currently also being published in hardcover form.
Already introduced by William Voltz several hundred issues before, the character of Alaska Saedelaere was now once and for all endowed with the “cosmic touch" that characterizes him to this day in the eyes of the regular readers and fans. Saedelaere - the man with the mask, the outcast; at that time in the series, possibly the only human being on an Earth that humankind apparently had abandoned - in this novel, William Voltz manages to depict his favorite character in such a vivid and fascinating manner that it “haunts" my memory to this day.
Impressive characterizations is one aspect of this novel, cosmic implications is the other. Derogwania, the world of the puppets, and Callibso, the puppet master, open up a completely different perspective of the cosmos, namely, of a universe in which humans occupy one of the lowest layers of the so-called onion skin model that’s used in Perry Rhodan , while super-intelligences, not to mention the cosmocrats and their helpers, are much higher on the evolutionary scale. Today all this is quite familiar in the Perry Rhodan series, and readers are no longer surprised by it - but when the Aphilia and Bardioc story cycles first appeared, these were incredible revelations that greatly astonished us readers back then.
All the more better that these two classics are available again. The texts are true to the originals, even though they have been newly set. They are much more impressive in book form than in the weekly booklet form, and they look great on the bookshelf. I have to admit that I’m quite thrilled!
