Alpers, Hans Joachim
Entry updated 28 November 2022. Tagged: Author, Critic, Editor.
(1943-2011) German sf editor, critic, Small-Press publisher, literary agent and author, sometimes as Jurgen Andreas; editor 1978-1980 of Knaur SF and 1980-1986 of the Moewig SF list. With Ronald M Hahn (1948- ) he edited the first anthology of native German sf (see Germany), Science Fiction aus Deutschland ["Science Fiction from Germany"] (anth 1974), and he was a co-editor of Lexikon der Science Fiction Literatur (1980 2vols; rev 1988), an important sf encyclopedia covering almost all authors with German editions of their work. Further lexicons followed, including Lexikon der Horrorliteratur (1999) and Lexikon der Fantasyliteratur (2005), the latter of which received the annual Deutsche Fantasy Preis ["German Fantasy Prize"]. With Hahn again and Werner Fuchs, Alpers edited Reclams Science Fiction Führer (1982), an annotated survey of sf novels with listings by author. With Fuchs, Alpers edited for Hohenheim six anthologies of sf stories (1981-1984) covering sf history by the decades 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, with two volumes for each, and has edited the Kopernikus sf anthologies for Moewig (1980-1988 15vols). Also for Moewig he edited a German paperback edition of Analog (1981-1984 8vols) and a series of sf almanacs and year books – Science Fiction Jahrbuch (1981-1987) and Science Fiction Almanach (1982-1987) – containing sf data, stories and essays, the Almanac concentrating on the German scene. He wrote the Germany entry for the second edition of this encyclopedia.
In his later career he turned to Ties, contributing three titles to the Shadowrun universe: Das zerrissene Land ["The Torn Country"] (1994), Die Augen des Riggers ["The Eyes of the Riggers"] (1994) and Die graue Eminenz ["Grey Eminence"] (1995). One of his final works was the novel Nekrogenesis (2008), a contribution to the long-running Perry Rhodan series. Some further ties, Young Adult tales, and German-language-only anthologies are not listed below [PN/TSM]
Hans Joachim Alpers
born Bremerhaven, Germany: 14 July 1943
died Niebüll, Germany: 16 February 2011
works (highly selected)
series
Shadowrun
- Das zerrissene Land ["The Torn Country"] (Munich, Germany: Heine Verlag, 1994) [tie to the series universe: Shadowrun: hb/Jim Nelson]
- Die Augen des Riggers ["The Eyes of the Riggers"] (Munich, Germany: Heine Verlag, 1994) [tie to the series universe: Shadowrun: hb/Jim Nelson]
- Die graue Eminenz ["Grey Eminence"] (Munich, Germany: Heine Verlag, 1994) [tie to the series universe: Shadowrun: hb/FASA]
individual titles
- Nekrogenesis (Munich, Germany: Heyne Verlag, 2008) [contribution to the Perry Rhodan universe: Perry Rhodan: pb/Dirk Schulz]
nonfiction
- Lexikon der Science Fiction Literatur (Munich: W Heyne, 1980) with Werner Fuchs, Ronald M Hahn, and Wolfgang Jeschke [encyclopedia: hb/Karel Thole]
- Reclams Science Fiction Führer (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1982) with Werner Fuchs and Ronald M Hahn [nonfiction: hb/Klaus Dempel]
- Lexikon der Horrorliteratur (Erkrath: Fantasy Productions, 1999) with Werner Fuchs and Ronald M Hahn [encyclopedia: hb/]
- Lexikon der Fantasyliteratur (Erkrath: Fantasy Productions, 2005) with Werner Fuchs and Ronald M Hahn [encyclopedia: hb/]
links
- "Loincloth, Double Ax, and Magic: 'Heroic Fantasy' and Related Genres" (March 1978 Science Fiction Studies 5.1) [Heroic Fantasy: mag/]
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
previous versions of this entry