HOMBREDE

Laichen | Word play: Laichen = spawning & Leichen = dead body corpses

In: Bochumer Bankgeheimnis.

Everywhere in Bochum there are benches that have been carrying stories for some time. Small signs with authors, titles and a QR code draw attention to the fact that there is something to listen to here, playable via the app or the website Bochumer Bankgeheimnis.
Our story starts in the Chinese Garden of the Ruhr University, near where the bank is located, at the foot of a gentle hill. A tongue-in-cheek, atmospheric crime thriller, it celebrates the local atmosphere... even when you're not in the place in question, of course.

Laichen - an audio story. Bench visit.

Schwimme nicht gegen den Strom, sondern steige aus dem Fluss | Don't swim against the current, but get out of the river

In: Literatur in Westfalen. Beiträge zur Forschung 18.

A conversation on creativity in the crisis. In the midsummer of Corona's first year, Oliver gave an interview on the beloved grounds of the cultural heritage House Nottbeck, the former home of the Hui exhibition Ab ins Buch! | Into the book! Hannah von Legat interviewed him for the House Nottbeck blog, one of the too little read websites in this country, as Hartmut also finds. In this 18th volume of the humanities series on literature in Westphalia, the detailed, deep-diving conversation finds its printed eternal place.

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Unperfekt sein | Being imperfect

In: Keine Zeit, bin in Rente.

Hartmut is pleased. His old course for Being Imperfect comes in this gift book to a new audience. How many of the prospective female retirees will be inspired by it? The feminine is intentional, as history brought it to the women's version of this volume. There is also a men's version. But this is not the only reason why Hartmut blushes, but also because of the prominent neighborhood, with stories by Hans Fallada, Franka Potente, Amelie Fried, Christine Nöstlinger or Kurt Tucholsky.

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Verstöpselt | Plugged

In: Nicht gesellschaftsfähig. Alltag mit psychischen Belastungen.

By far the heaviest book we have ever worked on. The contributors deal with the topic as complex as the facets from depression to compulsion, from PTSD to borderline, from eating disorders to schizophrenia. The exclusive Hartmut story tells of an underestimated addiction: The pull of rabbit holes on the Internet, the hypnosis of the apocalypse, the urge, to investigate further and further what is actually going on... and to lose one's own existence over it.

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Der Störsender | The Jammer

In: Hol Oma von der Bowle weg! Neue Weihnachtsgeschichten mit der buckligen Verwandtschaft.

The editor liked the Hui story, which can only be read here, so much that he put it at the beginning. "The idea is funny and makes sense to everyone - and the execution is charming, as casual as it is poetic. Stylistically, the wealth of vividness and speaking detail is in the master class." We're blushing like Santa's coat! In any case, Hartmut here redeems a family from the greatest enemy of contemplation, the Internet, during a visit home. In his very own way...

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Schwiegersohn in Brand | Son in law on Fire

In: Was macht der Mann da unterm Baum? Immer wieder Weihnachten mit der buckligen Verwandtschaft.

The narrative perspective is important. This time the mother-in-law is speaking. Of course we have written the story but we know about the mother-in-law's mindset. What she thinks, about us, the children. And about her neighbors. Christmas approaches and the mother is in an uproar. For good reason, like the title implies. A laconic short comedy within the most popular Christmas book series of the country.

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Drei Aphorismen | Three Aphorisms

In: Alternative Fakten 2020 - Postkartenkalender.

Our secret favourite genre are sayings thought outside the box, with fatalistic humour. The section for "Aphorisms" on this website eloquently gives proof to that. Three of these aphorisms can be found in this sharp-tongued calendar, which Michael Holtschulte has put together in a varied way. When seven days are gone and one likes the joke of the week, one can have it sent as a postcard. This way, the punchline may have a double impact.

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Onkel Dieters Keller | Uncle Dieter's Cellar

In: Potzblitz - 27+1 erleuchtende Liebeserklärungen an die Popmusik.

Some rooms remain eternally within the soul. Like the party cellar of uncle Dieter. A typical eighties cave made of beer, smoke and vinyl, with two turntables behind the counter, a disco ball, a dance floor made of linoleum and fishing trawls on the ceiling. A nostalgic contribution for a collection about first encounters with pop music, the proceeds of which go to Amnesty International.

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Der Parkuhrläufer | The Meter Runner

In: Am Erker 75.

For the 75th anniversary the authors created a fictional report about the old pal Gregor Uhlenbrock from Münster. Unlike the hectic parcours athletes, this parking meter stroller sneaks through the alleys deeply relaxed and gives a little extra time to the people whose parking meter has expired. The story is surrounded by works of fine feathers like Thomas Frahm or Doris Weininger.

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Die Marmeladengläser | The Jam Jars

p>In: Wahltag - 19 demokratische Geschichten.

Young talents from the Ruhr-University tell the story of the Bundestag elections 2017 from the perspective of fictional characters - from geek to elf. A varied collection of stories of strong character between exuberant satire, surreal campus visions and melancholic realism. Fans of Hartmut also get their fair share: The story Die Marmeladengläser | The Jam Jars about choosing the niche is only available here.

Film und live.
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Urlaub mit Wischmopp | Mop Vacation

In: Ist das schön hier! - Fünf verrückte Urlaubsgeschichten.

At this point one could repeat the text of Urlaub mit Punkt Punkt Punkt, because this book contains the same story. However, as a product it is colossally different. From the original anthology only five stories were selected for Rowohlt Rotation to create a slim hardcover volume in the smallest format in order to create a design that actually fits in every bag.

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Die achte Stufe | The Eighth Step

In: Hinter den Lichtern - 18 unglaubliche Stories.

One of the elementary experiences of youth is not knowing where you stand. For Lara this feeling turns into a real doubling of the worlds, when during a thunderstorm night the staircase at home suddenly turns eight instead of seven steps. In the second reality, many other things are different - and better! But this does not remain consistent. Psycho-mystery within a great anthology.

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Japaner im Wald | Japanese in the Forest

In: Poesie am Rothaarsteig.

In the summer of 2013, authors hiked with guests on the Rothaarsteig and read excerpts from their works, which have to do with experiences in nature - here a scene from Wandelgermanen, in which the barefoot forest goblins are scaring a group of Japanese tourists.
At the latest with this, Wandelgermanen is the novel with the most extracts published somewhere else, besides Finn released.

Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Woll.

Die innere Ruhe - Eine Geschichte vom Land | The Inner Peace - A Story from the Country

In: Die schlimme Zeit zwischen Aufstehen und Hinlegen.

Lars gets upset. Laura stays calm. For her, gentleness is profession and attitude towards life. He, however, gets crazy, when the old neighbour starts his tractor, the village youth howls the mopeds and Olaf Lendermann plays stupid hits from Mickie Krause as a soundtrack to his birthday. But Lars' anger does not correspond with his assertiveness. So one day, he makes up a vengeance plan.

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Die Verlängerung | The Extension

In: Über die Frau.

The three intense pages reveal a diametrically different approach to the coming end. Built around metaphors that refer to the life of the dying person in terms of football, a conflict between mother and son comes to light that would never lead to a true reconciliation.
A tough nut to crack in another well-layouted project volume of the Arnold-Janssen-Gymnasium well worth reading.

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Urlaub mit Wischmopp | Mop Vacation

In: Urlaub mit Punkt Punkt Punkt.

Heiko is cleaning up. Anytime, anywhere. His best friend wants to take him on a vacation in order to calm his busy mind, but Heiko can't stop. At the restaurant he's cleaning up other people's dishes. In the shop he resorts the display. He's even trespassing in order to clean inside.
For an entire novel, Rowohlt felt this stuff to be too close to the Hartmut novels at S.Fischer within the same corporation.

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Es gibt keinen ersten Schritt | There Is no First Step

In: Texttourismus 2 - Erste Schritte.

Six years after the first volume, Lutz Becker and Ina Simone Mautz again called for texts for a good cause, this time in favor of Care. Es gibt keinen ersten Schritt shows Hartmut visiting his home town. Through a philosophical walk about the question if it is possible to find selective beginnings for anything at all, he distracts himself from a conflict with his parents.

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Das Homebook | The Homebook

In: Treibgut - Pandoras Büchsenöffner.

In the future, the state takes care of complete justice. It all started voluntarily. Within an application called Homebook, people exhibited their household. After the turnaround, politics used the system and made transparency an obligation. Since then, everything is redistributed, even the children. Isn't it obscene that some have three and others have none?
A dystopia of the type of Black Mirror.

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Neusser Straße 592a | Neusser Street 592a

In: Die Wahrheit über Deutschland - Städtetouren für Besserwisser.

The writer, organisateur and jack-of-all-trades Sven Amtsberg offers city walks in Hamburg, at which he serves up all kinds of absurd sailor's yarn about the places he visits with his guests. This book expands the concept to include whole Germany. Among other guest-writers, the authors present a portrait of their mother(-in-law)'s house in Cologne, in which's sailor's yarn more truth is tangled up.

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Kurt und Peter | Kurt and Peter

In: Meet little 16 - Briefe an das 16-jährige Ich.

Grunge opened up musical worlds and yet the men the author secretly loved as teenagers were more likely to be called Tony Banks, Adam Duritz and even Peter Maffay. The grown man meets his 16-year-old self and shows him freedom, as Hartmut understands it. A world in which there are no guilty pleasure records at all and in which grunge as movement is just as an illusion as the Weimar Classicism as an epoch.

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Die Vorweihnachtsneurose | The Pre-Christmas Neurosis

In: Lustig, lustig, tralalalala.

No party more intensely triggers the urge to have completed an insane catalogue of tasks by its deadline, than Christmas. Therefore the antihero of this story has decided to hammer in every loose nail somewhere until the fest. A story that rather smells more like sweat and garage muff than cinnamon stars and mulled wine, inspired by autobiographical manias.

Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Amazon (Tb).

Liebesleben bis 2075 | Love life Until 2075

In: Liebe macht doof - Geschichten durch die rosa Brille.

In Trockensümpfe and Stockender Verkehr it was about the physical expression of love. This anthology instead deals with the heart. Once again the authors set a story within the Hui universe. This time the women are driven by the question of whether their men really love them unconditionally. Hartmut and "me" think of all kinds of adventurous actions to prove that love.

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Ein Leben in Ocker | A Life in Ocher

In: Das wird ein Fest - 24 Geschichten für die Weihnachtszeit. In: Erst 1, dann 2, dann 3, dann 4 - 24 Advents-Überraschungen.

When once again the invitation to take part at a Christmas anthology flutters into the house, one could just make oneself easy. Just painting by numbers with the scents of christmas and the sounds of winter boots in the snow. But what do the authors do? They write a parable on the evil logic of well-intentioned egalitarianism, in which the world loses all its contrasts.
This crazy trip is set at the time of Wandelgermanen.

Purchase at Amazon. Purchase at Amazon (Tb).

Das Holodeck | The Holodeck

In: Von Menschen und Orten - Expeditionen in die Herzkammern des Ruhrgebiets.

The campus of the Ruhr-University with its enchanted mixture of brutalistic concrete, wildly growing plants and Lost Places exerts an enigmatic fascination. This text within the anthology by editor Monika Buschey in collaboration with WDR 3, puts it into words. The yellow net of the holodeck shimmers out of the undergrowth like a premonition, that this place could still hold many mysteries.

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Torschusspanik | Goal Panic

In: Stockender Verkehr - Sex mit Hindernissen.

A high point in Hartmut's career as a life consultant - in the literal sense. In the seminar room at home he teaches his clients the yoni massage. A bunch of men learn from him how to pamper their wives tenderly and long. The trick by which they understand it for the first time in their lives, is the transfer from love play to football. Art of playing instead of duel. With orgasm guaranteed.

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Nachbarn | Neighbours

In: Über das Tier.

This fable tells about a koala and a crocodile, which live in close proximity and yet in different worlds. The human tourists let alone do not notice the laconic depth of thought of the two animals.
The anthology is a heavily bound shelf-robber, published by Eva Schmidtke as a project of the Arnold-Janssen-Gymnasium in Neuenkirchen-St. Arnold.

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Der Regenpavillon | The Rain Pavilion

In: Summertime - Postcard Stories.

This anthology is a collector's box. It contains stories on postcards. As it has been on the market for a while, a letter from Hartmut appeared in the mail. He said he knew it was unusual to write to his creators, but this story about an attraction with darkness and rain on a place of the sun, offering a refuge for the mournful, that would be one of the best ideas ever.

Live.
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The Libertines - The Libertines

In: Kopfhörer - Kritik der ungehörten Platten.

The self-importance with which Pete Doherty destroys himself makes him so unsympathetic that even as a music journalist one avoids his albums. So it suited all the better that this anthology gave the otherwise very conscientious author the task to tear up an album of his choice unheard.
A blatant experiment in impudent prose like there has never been since.

Musikgespräch.
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Lust und Leergut | Lust and Empties

In: Trockensümpfe - Lauter befriedigende Geschichten.

In 2008, Charlotte Roche sent the country into turmoil with her novel Feuchtgebiete. Title and cover of this humorous anthology refer to it. Instead of writing a new story as usual, we excerpt a part of Wandelgermanen - the scene in the beverage market, in which I between the mountains of returnable bottles, fails miserably in trying to find the right words during phone sex.

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Der Menschen-Messie | The Man-Messie

In: Zimtsternschnuppen.

In a huge card index, Udo collects the contacts of all people he has met in his life. Driven by an obsessive-compulsive disorder, he feels obliged to supply them all with unasked christmas presents. Hartmut has the mission to heal him. Many years after this anthology, Udo appears as a neighbour of Susanne's mother in Erdenrund for a comeback as a character. Now he collects used dishwater, sorted by year.

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Geröll | Boulders

In: Am Erker 53.

The view as a child from the car up into the wooded mountains led to the longing, to be allowed to sneak around up there for hours. The view down the slope to the highway aroused sick fantasies about intentionally released rock slide. The adult writer lives it out - on paper. In a story about a group of young sociopaths, which arrange disasters by means of boulder avalanches.

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Wortstrudel | Word swirl

In: Treibgut - 42 Spuren am Strand.

For many years the author was a member of the literary stage group Treibgut at the Ruhr-University. On stage he got to know some writers who influenced him and for whom he would open the door at three o'clock in the morning today. With Treibgut as a group he ended up in beef, as they say in hip-hop. This satirical portrait therefore is a disstrack which the group itself later on published in their own anthology. Cool.

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Tok Tok

In: Sinn-haft 19 - Kleinergleich 30 Minuten.

An experiment in automatic writing. Thirty minutes without stopping. From the unconscious emerged the wooden being Tok Tok. It cheerfully destroys the narrator's life and at the same time frees him. In a piece of forest it murders a group of Wandergermanen (with "r"), years before the third Hui novel, and flees with his human into a botanical garden near Taipei. Murpy madness.

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Nimm es hin | Take it

In: Texttourismus.

This anthology gathers alpha celebrities and is a benefit for the organisation Futuro Sí. The story tells of a family trip of a man in his mid-twenties with parents and grandmother who has suffered a stroke. As she slowly steps out of the world, the narrator enters it as a successful advertiser - and can nevertheless not free himself from the way of life and the suction of his clan.

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DVD

In: Marzitöffkampanelchen - Erzählungen rund um Weihnachten.

Shaping experience: Whenever a technical device found its way out of the wrapping paper and as a new achievement into the family, chaos broke out. Friends of humorous films recognize early influences on comic literature through the cinema: Loriot's observation of people and the unholy mess of Chevy Chases' cult comedy National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

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Es kann nur eines geben | There Can be only One

In: Am Erker 47.

In the bathtub islands of bubbles form continents of two hostile populations. The first-person narrator is sinking on both sides of the front. The conflict is triggered by the impulse of one of the two populatins to destroy borders which the other one would never touch. Influences: Günther Anders' book Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen and the first directive from Star Trek.

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Flucht nach Babylon | Escape to Babylon

In: Macondo 12.

More of a trip than a plot. It sounds like this: "He licks the paper, blows it back onto the asphalt and before he realises it, his nose hits the legs of the first hookers. Like there's an invisible treadmill that keeps you moving if you stand outside too long without going somewhere." Oliver Uschmann drank a lot at that time and read Hugo von Hofmannsthal alternating with Bukowski.

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Arnes Lachen | Arne's Laughter

In: Macondo 11.

During a stoned boat trip some friends have a great business idea: They sell laughter on CD, just like other sounds of nature or whale songs. At the height of their success, they buzz through the talk shows. Only a few months earlier they had to be humiliated by a henchman from the employment agency. A laconic story with influences of the former Hamburger Schule.

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Martin

In: Alles Theater.

The winning story of the short story competition at the 8th Book Fair am Ried in the tranquil community Stockstadt at the river rhine. The anecdote about a crazy type of artist at the Ruhr-University was inspired by the real fellow student Martin Becker, who today is known himself as a writer, editor and radio play dramatist. As a character he carries trace elements of the later Hartmut in himself.

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Der letzte Sommer | The Last Summer

In: Am Erker 45.

A melancholic story about the end of a circle of friends and the realization that the protective cocoon of youth disintegrates as soon as the paths of life are divided. Settled at the Jazz Festival in the town park of Moers, the autobiographically influenced narrator shouts out the legendary sentence: "I simply drink myself back to the seventh grade and start all over again."

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Kurz vor der Lesung | Just Before the Reading

In: Lyrik 2000 S.

"While the fingers of time demand fast days - the waves wobble - evaporating body - like lost souls." That's the sound of poetry on the back. One's own sounds like this: "One lives here only temporarily. Temporarily means always. Drink, eat, hope for the jackpot. No jackpot. Drink more."
Written in Dortmund before the Poem evening, which is made fun of in Hartmut und ich.

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Der Busch | The Bush

In: Die literarische Venus.

In the foreword Prof. Dr. Werner Wenig thanks for the many texts delivered for the Dorsten Poetry Prize 2003, which was awarded back then for the first time. Of 570 poems, a full 300 found their way into this anthology. Der Busch basically anticipates the admiring inspiration and limitless glorification of nature with which Peter Wohlleben is rightly equipping its million-selling books today.

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Weltmeisterschaft | World Championship

In: Nationalbibliothek des deutschsprachigen Gedichtes 6.

he title sounds official. However, this series of brickstone-heavy books is not an archive of canonical poetry, but an anthology, which prints as many entries as possible - in the hope of selling each participant a few copies. The poem hidden in the flood of murmuring rhymes is not bad, but would fit better as a lyrical decoration at the wall of an alternative pub.

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Leben / Ein Unfall | Life / An Accident

In: Reisegepäck 5.

At the same time as the poetry from Worte in der Hektik der Zeit, two stories were published in this volume from the same publishing house. With good will one can recognize the urge for the punch line as well as the passionately failing attempt to sound as pregnant with meaning as Franz Kafka in his short parables. Although it would be interesting to hear, what the lean Prague man would have said to Leben.

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Trugbild - und fünf weitere Gedichte | Mirage - and Five other Poems

In: Worte in der Hektik der Zeit.

In the story Poem from Hartmut und ich, the two of them attend a pretentious poetry event including an art film in a Dortmund art house cinema. Among the worst poems performed there is the reproachful pamphlet Totes Leben. It was not invented for Hartmut, but is found in this anthology surrounded by slightly better attempts.

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Kalte Köstlichkeit | Cold Delicacy

In: Künstlerauflauf - Ein Rezepteheft.

The special issue of the art and literature magazine Köllefornia is devoted to recipes from 16 well-known and not so well-known artists. Sometimes the words lie heavy on the stomach and heart. Those of Sylvia Witt are on the other hand feasible and, at least in principle, edible: a very unconventional gazpacho variant.