Perry Rhodan Infotransmitter

In Memoriam Walter Ernsting/Clark Darlton (February 2005)

An Obituary

“ Perry Rhodan” co-founder  Walter Ernsting has been called the “father of German science fiction,” the most important proponent of the genre in the German language. Most of his readers came to appreciate and love him by his pen name  Clark Darlton. Ernsting passed away in the early morning hours of January 15, 2005, at a hospital in Salzburg, Austria. He was laid to rest in Salzburg on January 21, 2005, at a ceremony attended by family members, friends, and fans.

“Walter Ernsting changed my life,” said  Klaus N. Frick, editor in chief for “Perry Rhodan” at  Pabel-Moewig. “Without him and his work, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. As a young reader and fan, I admired him. In my work as editor, I’ve come to deeply appreciate his humor, his spirit, and his positive outlook on life. My colleagues and I will miss Walter very much.”

Ernsting was a child of the Second World War. Born in Coblenz, Germany, on June 13, 1920, Ernsting spent his childhood and youth in Coblenz, Lüdenscheid, Essen, and Bonn. Caught up in the wheels of the Nazi dictatorship, which he vehemently opposed, he was pressed into compulsory labor and military service during the Nazi era. First he was stationed in Norway, then in Russia. As a self-confident young man who couldn’t care less about the ideology of the Third Reich, he repeatedly got into trouble, finding himself court-martialed or under arrest.

Following the collapse of the eastern front, Ernsting became a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union for several years, ending up in Karaganda in Siberia—a major turning point in his life. While suffering severe health problems during his years of captivity, he coped with life in the Russian POW camps by dreaming of journeying to the stars and inventing stories of his own.

Finally returning home in 1950, Ernsting scraped a living as an interpreter for the British occupying forces and then made a discovery that would change his life: American science fiction pulp magazines with gaudily colored covers that were being sold to the soldiers on base. Ernsting was fascinated by these new worlds—and he took several of these magazines along to an appointment with the Pabel publishing house in Rastatt.

Pabel hired him as the editor for its “UTOPIA-Grossband” series, at the time the best literary science fiction series available in German. The end had come for the traditional German futuristic novel in the style of a Hans Dominik. The future belonged to science fiction. In the age of “Star Wars,” space adventures are now taken for granted. In the rubble heaps of the postwar period, they caused a sensation, a literary big bang. Consequently, “UTOPIA-Grossband” not only popularized “golden age” American and British science fiction among German readers but also inspired new generations of German genre writers.

With more and more readers contacting him directly, Ernsting also introduced the concept of a readers’ letters department in his publications. This led to the founding of the  Science Fiction Club Deutschland e.V. in 1955, the first organization for friends of this still quite new literary genre. Ernsting himself became the editor of “Andromeda,” the first German science fiction fanzine.

Meanwhile, translating and editing was not enough for Ernsting. He also wanted to write. But his publishing company turned him down. After all, who would really want to read German authors? Unperturbed, Ernsting resorted to a ruse: He submitted the translation of a text titled “We Against The Future” by a certain Clark Darlton. The “translation” was promptly released a few months later as UFO am Nachthimmel [“UFOs in the Night Sky”]. Clark Darlton, of course, was none other than Walter Ernsting.

More Clark Darlton novels were released. The readers appreciated them, even though—or perhaps just because—they went against science fiction stereotypes: Ernsting couldn’t care less about enormous futuristic technologies, which to him were only a means to an end that enabled him to tell his stories unfettered by the conventions of the present. Ernsting created characters that were made of flesh and blood, and he also pondered the nature of time—a topic that was to keep him in its grip throughout his career. He despised blind submission to authority almost as much as he rejected violence. The years of war and captivity had turned him into a pacifist.

Then, in the early 1960’s, Ernsting and fellow science fiction writer  Karl-Herbert Scheer presented the concept for a new literary science fiction series to the Moewig publishing company in Munich. It would feature an American astronaut who sets foot on the moon in 1971 and encounters the survivors of a marooned extraterrestrial spaceship. His name:  Perry Rhodan.

Launched in September 1961 in a  weekly dime-novel booklet format, “ Perry Rhodan” exceeded all expectations. Everyone had initially hoped for 30 weekly installments, at most 50. Instead, read by millions of fans around the world, “ Perry Rhodan” continues to this day as the world’s most successful space adventure series, with more than 2250 weekly issues released so far. A “Perry Rhodan” television miniseries is in the early stages of production by an  international team.

Ernsting himself contributed 192 of the weekly issues, and he also wrote 32 issues of the related “ Atlan” series and 24 of over 400 “Perry Rhodan”  paperbacks, which features additional self-contained stories set in the “Perry Rhodan” universe. One of Ernsting’s characters for “Perry Rhodan,”  Pucky the “mousebeaver,” has become one of the most popular extraterrestrials in the science fiction genre.

Ernsting’s personal friendship with “Mr. Science Fiction” himself, U.S. science fiction editor and agent  Forry J Ackerman, led to the publication of a U.S. edition of “Perry Rhodan” by Ace Books from the late 1960’s until well into the 1970’s, with Ackerman as editor. International editions have also appeared in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, Italy, and other European countries as well as around the world, with local language editions currently being published in France, Japan, the Netherlands, and Brazil—and most recently, China. According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction edited by John Clute and Peter Nichols: “When all the translations are included, PR has had a readership higher than anything else in sf.”

Meanwhile, Ernsting continued to have a hand in bringing American and British science fiction to Germany. From 1965 to 1970, he edited a German edition of Galaxy that featured translations of selections from the U.S. original. He was assisted by a young fan named  Thomas Schlück, who would go on to build one of the biggest literary agencies currently representing American, British, and other international genre writers in Germany.

In 1976, Bantam Books published Ernsting’s The Day The Gods Died, Ernsting’s only U.S. book publication outside of “Perry Rhodan.” Ernsting had become friends with  Erich von Däniken in the late 1960’s and wrote The Day The Gods Died as a fictionalization of von Däniken’s ancient astronaut theories. The German original of The Day The Gods Died was released in 1979.

Ernsting’s greatest legacy to science fiction is “ Perry Rhodan,” and he certainly left his mark on the series. “Perry Rhodan”’s pacifist trait, and its positive vision of the future that sees our own present times transformed into a better world—all this goes back to Ernsting’s influence. With  Pucky, Ernsting created a character that gives even  Perry Rhodan himself a run for his money in the popularity department. To a certain extent,  Pucky is the writer’s alter ego, a mischievous jokester who is always up to pranks but then acts more humane than most humans can claim for themselves. In short, a sensitive and compassionate subversive with a great sense of humor, just like Ernsting himself.

Boundless imagination, compelling humanitarianism, and an upbeat view toward the future are all hallmarks of Clark Darlton’s body of work. His writing describes a future for humankind unfettered by borders based on nationality and religion, and he dreamt of peaceful co-existence between humans and extraterrestrials.

Ernsting’s readers remained loyal to him and his body of work throughout the decades. His work as a writer was not the only reason. With his warm manner, his openness to other people, and his sense of humor, Walter Ernsting alias Clark Darlton captivated not just the friends of science fiction. His public appearances always generated much excitement and enthusiasm.

Ernsting slowly began to withdraw from public life in the 1980’s, living for a while in Ireland. In the 1990’s, with his health taking a turn for the worse, he retired as a professional writer and settled in Salzburg to be closer to his family. His fans were able to cheer him in person one last time at the 1991 Perry Rhodan WorldCon in Karlsruhe. After that, he continued to keep in touch with the world until shortly before his death, corresponding by letter and e-mail, and enjoying visits by fans and professional colleagues.

During his final years, his health continued to deteriorate, which was also a long-term effect of his experiences on the battlefield and as a POW. In the end, he had to confine his movements to a two-room apartment on the outskirts of Salzburg.

Nevertheless, remaining true to himself, “good old Walter” maintained his positive outlook until the end. When he spoke, his eyes sparkled with humor and a sense of adventure, belying all hardships. In spite of all sadness and mourning, we will always remember him for his unfailing warmth and optimism.

 The “Perry Rhodan” Team

By James Reasoner

January 15, 2005 - Received word tonight via the Space Opera Yahoo! group that Walter Ernsting, co-creator of the long-running German science fiction series Perry Rhodan, passed away earlier today. Using his pseudonym Clark Darlton, Ernsting wrote many of Perry Rhodan’s early novels. The Perry Rhodan series started in Germany in 1961 and is still being published. According to the official website for the series, over 3,000 Rhodan novels have been published, and evidently the series is still going strong.

Probably, though, most of the people reading this blog know Perry Rhodan, if at all, from the American reprints published in the Sixties and Seventies by Ace Books. The covers, at least starting out, were by Gray Morrow and were certainly eye-catching. I bought the first three volumes in the reprint series when they came out and read through them quickly. Each book reprinted two of the German novels, which were about 25,000 to 30,000 words each. The editor of the series was Forrest J Ackerman, and I believe the translations were done by his wife Wendayne. Though the hero was an American astronaut, no real attempt was made to "Americanize" the prose, so the result was an odd, sometimes awkward style. That didn't really matter to me then. The stories, which concerned the discovery by American astronauts of the remnants of an alien civilization on the moon, quickly turned into the sort of vast, sweeping, world-destroying space opera that I ate up with a spoon.

But after reading the first few volumes, I sort of drifted away from the series. After all, there were a lot of other things being published around that time that I wanted to read: Doc Savage, Conan, the Saint, hordes of comic books . . . and that only scratched the surface. Perry Rhodan got left behind.

Some years later, I decided on a whim to collect the rest of the Ace series. It wasn't too hard, and soon I had hunted down all the English-language Perry Rhodan books, over a hundred in all. I even had the subscription-only chapbook editions published after Ace dropped the series. I skimmed through the ones I had read before and then started reading the others in order. I made it about a fourth of the way through the series before I stopped. It wasn't a conscious decision; I just didn't get around to reading any more of them. But I still have all the books, and sometimes when I see them on the shelves, I think that I'm going to read some more of them . . . one of these days.

So rest in peace, Walter Ernsting. I enjoyed your work, and so did a lot of other people.

By Joseph T. Norris, Jr.

January 15, 2005 - Back in 1969, while a Third Year Man at the University of Virginia, I discovered the first edition of ACE's "Perry Rhodan" - "The Science Fiction Sensation of Europe! 70 Million Copies Sold!".

Upon discovering Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, and Carson Napier of Venus as a "too precocious" child, I read every science fiction book I could find, anytime and anywhere. I would sit in top of a tall tree while reading, hiding from the terror tactics of my brother and sister.

Discovering K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting's creation was an amazing event for me, the start of a lifelong love affair. I stopped spending money on trivial items and economized just to be able to spend every penny I had on issue after issue of Perry Rhodan.

I suppose then was a simpler time compared to today's world. However, Ernsting's creation was published during the days of the Apollo flights when we had our eyes on traveling to the moon and beyond.

Perry discovered something of great potential on his first trip to the moon. He and his friends made our own world a better place and then went on to help others who chose to make their lives better. Perry had adventures in the universe and others, through time and other dimensions. Of course, there were the usual bad guys to make the stories pull the reader into it. Ernsting and his fellow contributors put each reader in the middle of the conflicts, the love and the laughs that made each issue a real possibility.

Just as “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry did, Ernsting and his co-writers saw a better future for everyone; a future where everyone was empowered to rise above what we accept as normal, to be "better than we are", if you will excuse the trite phrase.

After over 100 issues by ACE, Perry Rhodan seemed to vanish. I have since learned that there was at least one attempt to pull Perry back into our reality in the late 90's; however, that was apparently unsuccessful.

In the meantime, in Germany, Perry Rhodan and his companions gained more and more visibility, with "Hefte" issues being published weekly, in the meantime more than 2 billion issues have been printed. Since I don't read German, I had to exist on a synopsis or two as they appeared in one or another Perry Rhodan web site.

Since becoming bed-ridden and "physically challenged," I have continued my search for translations of Ernsting and the other writers who have taken up the mission.

Just this past year, I discovered a group of Perry Rhodan fans (Team Rhodan International)  http://members.rogers.com/perry-rhodan-ca/, fans of Walter Ernsting, who are making an attempt to translate and publish the latest adventures of Perry Rhodan and his friend Atlan, the immortal and solitary survivor of time.

This group has become truly international, with members in three continents; each member is freely dedicating their own time and efforts to bring quality translations of the Perry Rhodan adventures back to America, where they hope he will be welcomed, again. Additionally, there are fan groups in many countries working toward the same goal for their own countries. Just run "Perry Rhodan" through your search engine and see how many groups there are, all over the world. (Japan, Brazil, Czech Republic, Holland, China, France ...)

Walter Ernsting was part of a team that gave the world hope, as well as entertainment. As a young man going into the military, I laughed and dreamed as I read and followed Perry through his adventures. As I re-read those aging volumes as "older" man, I still laugh at the antics of Perry and his team mates and wonder whatever happened to our innocent dreams. Walter's stories still inspire.

I humbly join Walter's family and friends in regretting his passing on from this world and wish happiness to everyone who has enjoyed Walter's work. As so many writers, his legacy lives on and thrives. Ad astra, Walter. Good journey and thanks for charting a way to the stars for us dreamers, no matter how old we are!

Thank you for the opportunity to tell others what Walter and Perry have meant, and continue to mean to me.

With my warmest regards,

Joseph T. Norris, Jr., Lt. Col., USAF (Retired)

By Dwight R. Decker

January 16, 2005 - Walter Ernsting (aka Clark Darlton) wrote with heart. Some of the other Perry Rhodan writers seemed more interested in the nuts and bolts of their super-technology and were very serious about it all, but Ernsting wrote more from the human side, with a sense of humor. If he's called "the father of  Gucky" (or Pucky), it's hardly surprising.

Now, this appreciation should be about him and not me. But I never met Ernsting in person and only really knew him from his books and stories, and from the very enlightening biography published in German not too long ago. So I can really only talk about what his work meant to me.

Actually, I probably could have met him... I spent my junior year in college in Salzburg, Austria, where he lived, during the 1971/1972 school year. I was just getting into PR then, had certainly read some of his stories, and knew at least vaguely that one of the PR authors lived in town. I think I just felt reluctant to bother the fellow. Surely a big important writer had better things to do than receive a visit from an obscure college student fan. A year later, after getting back to the US, I sent him a fan letter written in probably fairly cracked German, gushing enthusiastically over his paperback PR novel, Flight of the Millionaires, and he was kind enough to send me a letter back thanking me for the compliments. Since I had mentioned having been in Salzburg the year before in my letter, he remarked that it was a shame we hadn't gotten together for a chat.

That was the extent of my personal contact with him, though I would go on to translate a number of his PR novelettes for the American series. He was definitely my favorite author to work on, simply because he didn't go overboard on the technical details of the background super-science and instead just told interesting, often funny stories. In later years, as I picked up books in the paperback PR novel series (separate one-off novels apart from the magazine continuity), my first goal was to get every one of those that he had written, simply because I thought they were the most fun to read. (I think I'm only missing one now...)

Like any other writer, his work had its ups and downs. For my taste, the humor in some of his later output seemed to verge on the silly. Some of his non-PR stories took von Däniken and the occult way too seriously. But again, that was for my taste. When he was at his best, he turned out very enjoyable stories that I still like to reread now and then.

I haven't mentioned his importance as a founding father of German science-fiction fandom in the post-war years, or in getting the German science-fiction publishing genre off the ground. His biography tells that story. For me, he was my favorite German-language science-fiction writer, who gave me a lot of reading pleasure over the years, not to mention helping to me learn German by giving me a reason to learn it.

And so I was very sorry to hear that he had left us. I never met him, but somehow, after reading so much of his work over the years, I did feel as though I knew him, and that he had been a friend.

January 17, 2005 – “Perry Rhodan” founding father Walter Ernsting alias Clark Darlton passed away on January 15, 2005. The  Munich Perry Rhodan Roundtable, to which Walter had maintained close ties, has now put up an  electronic book of condolences on the Internet, to provide a place where Walter can be remembered and good-byes can be posted.

Contributions to the book of condolences have already been pouring in from around the world, moving Walter’s son Robert Ernsting to say today: “I am overwhelmed by the huge response. My sister and I are reading your words with tears in our eyes.”

The book of condolences can be found  here.

By Klaus N. Frick

January 21, 2005 – A sad event is scheduled for this Friday morning at the cemetery of the Salzburg suburb of Maxglan:  Walter Ernsting, whom hundreds of thousands of readers know and love under his pen name  Clark Darlton, will be laid to rest. Many German and Austrian fans are expected as well as writer colleagues and old friends.

Pabel-Moewig will be represented by Walter A. Fuchs, our managing director, as well as  Sabine Kropp and  Klaus Bollhöfener of the “Perry Rhodan” department. Regrettably I won’t be able to attend the memorial service and accompany  Walter Ernsting on his final journey.

The reason for this lies in Wolfenbüttel. This county seat within the state of Lower Saxony is not only the home of one of Germany’s most fascinating libraries, the  Herzog-August-Bibliothek, but also of the  Bundesakademie für kulturelle Bilding [Federal Academy for Cultural Education]. And this is where those seminars for budding science fiction writers have been held since 1995 for which I’ve been serving as a faculty member.

 Andreas Eschbach and I have been planning something very special for the program’s 10^th anniversary. The theme is: “Together with the 17 participants, we will write an entire science fiction novel—in one weekend!” To ensure that the project will run just as we have been planning it, PCs, printers, partition walls, and many other tools have already been installed at the castle in Wolfenbüttel where the seminar will take place. For Andreas and me, the whole thing will start on Thursday, and the novel is to be completed by Sunday evening.

At first I had considered canceling the seminar in order to travel to Salzburg. After much discussion at the office but also with the Ernsting family—and especially with Walter’s son Robert Ernsting—I’ve now decided to make the trip to Wolfenbüttel after all.

In the end, this seminar continues a legacy bestowed on us by  Walter Ernsting. As far back as the early 1950’s, he was supporting up-and-coming writers, launching fanzines, and helping young authors with their first tentative steps. I’m certain that he would be interested in our seminar if he were able to come to it. And I believe that with Wolfenbüttel, we are acting within a tradition that he founded.

Nevertheless, I deeply regret that I can’t be in Salzburg. We will be thinking about him, that’s for sure. And the spaceship featured in our collective novel will bear the name Clark Darlton …

By Sabine Kropp

January 26, 2005 – Founding father of the “Perry Rhodan” series and science fiction pioneer  Walter Ernsting alias Clark Darlton passed away on January 15, 2005, in Salzburg following prolonged and severe illness. Many friends and fans came to Salzburg-Maxglan to attend his memorial service and to bid him farewell.

Upon arriving at the Maxglan Cemetery shortly before 10 am on Friday the 21^st and entering the memorial hall, the first thing I saw was the coffin among a glorious sea of flowers.

The memorial service began just after 10 am. Mr. Hülsner, who had been asked to speak on behalf of the Ernsting family, did the introduction. He was followed at the lectern by Wolfgang Zenker of the  Vienna Perry Rhodan roundtable. Gustav Gaisbauer of the  First German Fantasy Club, who was Walter’s most recent literary agent, also said good-bye with a few personal words.

And in between all those words of comfort by various speakers, Walter’s favorite tunes were played, such as “When The Saints Go Marching In” or “New Orleans Function” by Louis Armstrong and also Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven,” just to name a few.

After the memorial service, we gathered at a nearby restaurant and talked about Walter for a long time. The group included representatives of the  Munich and  Vienna Perry Rhodan roundtables, Herbert Thiery, who had come on behalf of the  Science Fiction Club Deutschland, and Waldemar Kumming and Axel Melhardt, representing the first generation of fans. Inge Mahn and husband and  Ernst Vlcek and wife were there as writer colleagues and longtime acquaintances, and well as  Michael Marcus Thurner and  Reinhard Habeck as writers of the youngest generation.

All in all, I’m certain that Walter would have enjoyed this farewell gathering that wasn’t dominated solely by sadness.

"Perry Rhodan" on the Radio

February 3, 2005 – A report on Walter Ernsting will be included in the February 4, 2005, program of  CROPfm, which is broadcasted live by  Radio Helsinki/Verein Freies Radio Steiermark based in Graz, Austria. A regular feature of CROPfm is a segment called “ Big Brother News,” the 40^th edition of which will cover Walter Ernsting.

 Radio Helsinki/Verein Freies Radio Steiermark can be received over the air within the Steiermark region of Austria but is also streamed live on the Internet. “Big Brother News” programs are archived at  Big Brother News web site. The Walter Ernsting program will include contributions by  Johnny Bruck (recorded in the 1980’s), Franz Rottensteiner, and Axel Mehlhardt.

To access the page on the Walter Ernsting program, go to  Big Brother News, then scroll down and click on the “zur Übersicht aller aktuellen BIG BROTHER NEWS-Beiträge” link, then click on the link next to “BBN #40 - 4. 2. 2005” titled “Science-fiction-Pionier Walter Ernsting gestorben “The audio archives can be found underneath “AUDIO ABSPIELEN” (which also includes a downloadable MP3 version).

Walter Ernsting: My Guest Book—The Early Years of Science Fiction in Germany

June 10, 2003 - The volume on hand really is more than just a fan publication: Walter Ernsting: Mein Gästebuch – die ersten Jahre der Science Fiction in Deutschland ["Walter Ernsting: My Guest Book—The Early Years of Science Fiction in Germany"]. Future Perry Rhodan author  Clark Darlton, whose real name is Walter Ernsting, was born in 1920. In 1950, he had already become involved with promoting science fiction in Germany. As a translator, literary agent, editor, and later on also as a writer, he saw to it that the then unknown genre developed the significance that it has today.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, Walter Ernsting lived in the Bavarian town of Irschenberg, where visitors were always welcome at his home. Coming not just from German-speaking backgrounds, the fans and professional writers who visited him left behind their traces not only in his pantry but also in his guest book, which therefore became a unique document of that early era in sf.

Well-known publisher Jörg Weigand began to prepare this guest book for publication in collaboration with Karla Wolff. Each page was scanned and are reproduced in the volume on hand. As hardly anyone nowadays could decipher the entries, all handwritten passages were transcribed and, moreover, complemented with current commentaries by Walter Ernsting.

Some entries evoke a smile, others a confused frown—not all of the witticisms work forty or fifty years later. Nevertheless, the Walter Ernsting Guest Book is a veritable treasure trove for anyone who is interested in the early era of sf or even experienced it first-hand. Naturally, early traces of the Perry Rhodan series can also be found among the 180 pages, which are generously laid out in a letter-size format.

This extensive work has been published as volume 48 of the secondary literature series of the Erster Deutscher Fantasy Club e.V. (First German Fantasy Club). It really is nicely put together and also very well designed. We consider the price of 19.90 Euros to be completely justified by the effort that went into this production. Information about the publication can be obtained from the EDFC e.V. at Postfach 13 71, 94003 Passau, or online at  www.edfc.de. The publication can be ordered directly through the Transgalaxis mail order service ( www.transgalaxis.de).

An Editor’s Log Entry

By Klaus N. Frick

September 15, 2004 – These days  Walter Ernsting resides in a small universe of his own: a two-room apartment on the edge of Salzburg, with a view to the Alps that rise up in the distance at the end of fields of resplendent green meadows. At 84 years of age, the man who together with  Karl-Herbert Scheer brought the Perry Rhodan series to life more than 40 years ago, and who under his pen name Clark Darlton thrust open the doors to a fantastic cosmos for countless German-speaking fans of science fiction, is frail in health and must spend many hours each day in bed.

Nevertheless, Walter has not lost his sense of humor. This was quite clear once again when I had an opportunity to visit him at his home in Salzburg in early September 2004. His son Robert Ernsting, who handles his business matters, met me at the train station. Later on we were all sitting in Walter’s living room, discussing Perry Rhodan and politics, the series’ past and acquaintances we have in common. Walter regaled us with anecdotes from his treasure trove of experiences and was very happy when I conveyed good wishes from fellow authors and from the colleagues at the publishing company. He continues to read the Perry Rhodan series, though not every issue. Sometime that’s simply because of the typeface: Reading is difficult, especially when a novel is printed in a small typeface. “Why don’t you make a large-print edition?” he suggested, “that would be easier for me.” As he said that, his eyes were sparkling with the same energy as in past years whenever I spoke with Walter.

We parted in friendship and promised each other to step up efforts to keep in touch. Incidentally, he continues to enjoy receiving letters and post cards very much, though it’s difficult for him to respond right away. “When I’m writing a letter, it’s very tiring, and in the end, no one can make out what I wrote,”

Walter was especially happy about the greetings from the fans who had “immortalized” themselves on the Galactic Forum bulletin board at our  Perry Rhodan web site—his son Robert had printed them out and shown them to him. This “elemental force” in German science fiction—and who else would deserve such a designation?—remains as active and as sharp as ever.

Planetoid named after "Perry Rhodan" author

 Walter Ernsting

 Walter Ernsting is spending his retirement years in Salzburg and was overjoyed and moved upon hearing about this tribute on July 2, 2003.

•  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ernsting (Wikipedia entry)
•  www.clark-darlton.de (online book of condolences)
• Heiko Langhans, Clark Darlton—Der Mann, der die Zukunft brachte [“Clark Darlton—The man who brought the future”] (Pabel-Moewig Verlag KG, 2000) (ISBN 3-8118-2098-2) (biography)