Hoffnungslose Ziele ─ A Dark Journey of Lost Causes

Against the backdrop of Continental Europe in the 1860s, in a world where witches, werewolves, and vampires are real, Hoffnungslose Ziele is quintessentially a story about coming of age and confronting the horrors of innocence lost and finding one’s way in an often unforgiving world. Four friends from a rural farming village in eastern Prussia–Anna, Christine, Karl, and Gustav–find themselves thrust into the adventure of a lifetime: a dark and at times hopeless journey in which more than one “lost cause” must be taken up, or that which each holds most dear abandoned. The story begins with best friends Anna and Christine dabbling in witchcraft for the protection of Christine’s fiancée, Karl, as he is about to enter conscripted military service in the Prussian Army. While Anna’s Catholic faith is being tested, however, a more sinister trial awaits: a 300 year old vampire takes an unhealthy interest in her. As her friends begin a desperate search, they meet various friends and foes along the way–including a mysterious demigoddess from the pagan world whose intentions are anything but clear. Hoffnungslose Ziele is written in the epistolary format, offering the first person perspectives of six protagonists as they recount fantastic events and their part in a journey across 19th Century Europe and beyond from each of their perspectives.

I’m a 36-year old father of four and a practicing attorney licensed in the State of California. I’m also a United States Air Force veteran with service in Afghanistan and the Republic of Korea. Since I was a teenager, it has always been my dream to write. I started writing short stories, often in collaboration with friends, as early as 1st Grade. It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing my entire life. In fact, the genesis of my current novel, “Hoffnungslose Ziele,” came from a NaNoWriMo challenge issued by my best friend back in 2014. The short story I wrote had very little to do with my current novel, but marked the first time I experimented with the epistolary novel format (albeit exclusively diary entries by a single character). I immediately fell in love with the format. For “Hoffnungslose Ziele,” I wrote entirely from the perspective of six characters penning diary entries and the occasional letters to each other. It’s a very interesting format, giving the reader a first person perspective, without limiting that perspective to the mind of a single protagonist. I was also deeply interested in Central European (especially Prussian) folklore, which is why “Hoffnungslose Ziele” dispenses with many of the 20th Century conceptions of such creatures as werewolves and vampires, hearkening back instead to 19th century folklore about these creatures with a healthy dose of my own imagination mixed in. Lastly, I am a Veller, Gauger, Rhode, Strehl, and Ehlers descendant, which gives my novel a bit of a personal touch. Anna and Gustav in particular embody thoughts, feelings, and ideals I harbored when I was roughly their ages. They’re a part of me, and vice versa.