These short stories have been conceived during the course of a series of writers' workshops, which inspired me through participants and facilitators alike. The stories have been evolving naturally, as to why we write and what we write about. From the realities for writing about colleagues and friends, the themes shifted to the inner workings of the writer and later to the magical and fantastic. Exhibitions of surrealist painters were a great facilitating experience for me and any writer. The cosmopolitan ambiance of participating poets and writers has been a fruitful experience for creativity. Movies about erotic themes, a beautiful woman participant, the tools that one uses to get going with a story, but also editing lessons, and spiritual experiences, have aided me to write them. A busy life of reading, visiting lecturers and digging from experiences enhanced the fantasy of free mental flight.
About the Author: Born in Eastern Austria, close to the Hungarian border, he witnessed as a young man the horrors of a nation's suppression, erupting in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He finished his education in art and architecture in Vienna, married and sailed for the Cape of Africa, an adventure that followed his childhood dreams. He had drawn African animals for his art classes, but the time had come to see them in their natural habitat. meeting a varied facet of people and cultures, working as a draughtsman in an engineering office, as an architect for a cultural center, as a coordinator of craftsmen and professionals, he made good use of his language skills traveling throughout Southern Africa. During a trip to Lesotho, a native artist showed him rock paintings with their stark palimpsest outlines and with typified movements of animals and humans. It made a lasting impression on him and influenced his artistic work. His vast collection of drawings and slides had been lost during a change of domiciles. He traveled widely across the Mediterranean. In South Africa, he joined writing and poetry workshops that lead to open the floodgates of his creativity. He settled in 2013/4 in Klosterneuburg-Weidling, a historic and romantic village, part of the culturally important city of Klosterneuburg, where he now lives and works. Poet Nikolaus Lenau is buried here and his poetry will always be an inspiration.