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Dr. Andreas Gößling (English text below)

Herzlich willkommen auf meiner Webseite.

Als Schriftsteller und Verleger, Literaturwissenschaftler und Lektor habe ich (geb. 1958) einen großen Teil meines Lebens damit verbracht, Bücher zu schreiben und zu verbreiten, literarische Texte zu interpretieren und die Entstehung von – meist narrativen – Sachbüchern redaktionell zu begleiten. Daneben habe ich zahlreiche Reisen unternommen, unter anderem in Mittelamerika und Südostasien. Auch innerhalb Deutschlands habe ich nomadisiert und etwa in Frankfurt, Münster, München und Berlin gewohnt. Ich habe einen Sohn und lebe mit meiner Frau Anne Löhr-Gößling am Golf von Thailand und an der Havel.

Darüber hinaus war und bin ich so frei, mich an keinerlei Institutionen zu binden. Ich habe Germanistik, Politikwissenschaft und Publizistik studiert, war Promotionsstipendiat der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, habe eine Dissertation über Thomas Bernhard geschrieben und wurde mit „summa cum laude“ zum Dr. phil. promoviert. Nachdem mir überdies ein DFG-Postdoktorandenstipendium für ein dreijähriges Forschungsprojekt zu Robert Walsers Romanen zuerkannt worden war, galt ich als aufsteigender Stern der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft. Der Universitätskarriere zog ich jedoch ein Leben als freier Autor vor und publizierte meinen dreibändigen Robert-Walser-Kommentar in einem Wissenschaftsverlag, anstatt ihn als Habilitationsschrift einzureichen.

Auch als Autor mythen- und kulturgeschichtlicher Romane und Sachbücher für erwachsene und jugendliche Leser habe ich mich an keinen Verlag gebunden, sondern unter anderem bei Weitbrecht, Thienemann, Piper, Klett-Cotta, Heyne, Eichborn, Droemer Knaur, cbt, Boje, Aufbau und Arena publiziert.

Die versprengte literarische Herde sammle ich seit 2020 in der Edition Marbuelis, in der sukzessive meine (mir) wichtigsten Werke in einer zwanzigbändigen überarbeiteten Neuausgabe erscheinen. Lieferbare Titel können Sie hier direkt und versandkostenfrei bestellen.

Weiterführende Informationen finden Sie auf Wikipedia und (sporadisch) auf Facebook.


Buchpublikationen (Auswahl)

  • Belletristik: u.a. „Die Maya-Priesterin“, Eichborn 2001; „Im Tempel des Regengottes“, Eichborn 2003; „Der Alchimist von Krumau“, Eichborn 2004; „Faust, der Magier“, Aufbau 2007; „Der Ruf der Schlange“, Klett-Cotta 2010; „Wolfswut“, Droemer Knaur 2018; „Geisterschrein“, Droemer Knaur 2022
  • Sachbuch: u.a. „Drachenwelten“, Piper 2003; „Voodoo“, Knaur 2004; „Die Männlichkeitslücke“, ZS Debatten 2008
  • Jugendbuch: u.a. „Tzapalil“, Arena 2005; „Die Dämonenpforte“, cbt 2009, „Opus“, 2 Bde., Boje 2010
  • Literaturwissenschaft: u.a. „Thomas Bernhards frühe Prosakunst“, de Gruyter 1987; Kommentare und Interpretationen zu Robert Walsers Romanen, 3 Bde., Königshausen und Neumann 1991f.; „Göttliche Reiter auf Menschenpferden. Über Besessenheit im Voodoo“, in: Lars Friedrich et al. (Hg.): „Das Dämonische“, Wilhelm Fink 2014; Über „Frost“ und „Auslöschung“, in: Martin Huber / Manfred Mittermayer (Hg.): „Bernhard-Handbuch“. J.B. Metzler 2018

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Andreas Gößling

German author, literary scholar, editor and publisher


Andreas Gößling (born 1958 in Gelnhausen, Germany; also spelled Goessling; pseudonym: Pietro Bandini) is a German writer, literary scholar, editor, and publisher. His work spans an exceptionally wide range of genres and forms, including historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, psychological thrillers, true-crime thrillers, crime novels, non-fiction, children’s literature, young adult fiction, and academic literary criticism. Since the mid-1980s he has published more than fifty books, roughly thirty of which appear under his own name.


Life and education

Andreas Gößling was born in 1958 in Gelnhausen, a small town in the Main-Kinzig district of Hesse, Germany. From 1977 to 1986 he studied German literary studies (Neuere deutsche Literaturwissenschaft), political science, and journalism/communication science (Publizistik) at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. For his doctoral dissertation on the prose of the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard he received a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Academic Foundation), one of Germany’s most selective merit-based scholarship organizations. He was awarded the degree of Dr. phil. in 1986 with the highest possible distinction, summa cum laude. Following his doctorate, Gößling received a post-doctoral fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) for a three-year research project on the novels of the Swiss-German writer Robert Walser. The project included a three-month residency at the Robert Walser Archive in Zurich. Although the resulting manuscript was of a standard that would have qualified as a Habilitation — the German post-doctoral qualification required for a university professorship — Gößling

decided not to submit it, having resolved to pursue a career as a novelist rather than as an academic.

Over the following decades Gößling led a mobile and independent life. Within Germany he lived in, among other cities, Frankfurt, Münster, Munich, and Berlin. He also undertook extended travel and research journeys, principally in Central America and Southeast Asia. He has one son and is married to the author and translator Anne Löhr-Gößling. The couple divide their time between the Gulf of Thailand and a home on the Havel river near Berlin. In Berlin, Gößling also runs the specialist publishing house MayaMedia.


Literary scholarship

Gößling’s academic publications arose from major research projects. His doctoral work on Thomas Bernhard, the monograph “Thomas Bernhards frühe Prosakunst”, Gößling supplemented with the essay (1987) “Die „Eisenbergrichtung“: Versuch über Thomas Bernhards „Auslöschung“ (1988). He also co-edited, with Hans Geulen, an essay collection on Jean Paul’s Hesperus entitled Standhafte Zuschauer ästhetischer Leiden (1989). His post-doctoral research on Robert Walser resulted in a substantial three-volume commentary and interpretation series: Ein lächelndes Spiel (1991), Abendstern und Zauberstab (1992), and Abrechnung nach Noten (1992). These works are regarded as detailed close readings of Walser’s novels and remain reference texts in German-language Walser scholarship.


Career as a writer

Overview

Gößling began writing at an early age — by his own account, the earliest surviving texts date from around his tenth year. Since the mid-1980s he has published prolifically across a spectrum of genres. His output includes scholarly monographs, cultural-historical non-fiction, novels for adults, novels for young adults and children, crime fiction, psychological thrillers, true-crime thrillers, and poetry. He has also worked as an editor, accompanying the production of primarily narrative non-fiction books.

A recurring characteristic of Gößling’s fiction is the combination of meticulous historical or ethnographic research with mythological and fantastic elements, alongside literary complexity and sustained narrative suspense. His readers span an unusually diverse audience: academics in German studies, business readers, social workers, crime and thriller enthusiasts, fans of historical and fantasy fiction, and young readers.


Historical and mythological fiction

Gößling first reached a wide audience with two novels set in the world of the ancient Maya civilization. Die Maya-Priesterin

(The Maya Priestess, Eichborn, 2001) and Im Tempel des Regengottes (In the Temple of the Rain God, Eichborn, 2003) drew on his extensive research travel in Latin America, particularly in Guatemala and Mexico. The novels attracted considerable cultural attention: the public broadcaster ZDF produced a documentary film for its RomanWelten series, filming on location at the original sites described in the books, under the title Die Rätsel der Maya. Eine Zeitreise nach Guatemala (The Mysteries of the Maya: A Journey Through Time to Guatemala). A third major historical novel is Der Alchimist von Krumau (The Alchemist of Krumau, Eichborn, 2004), set in Bohemian Renaissance Krumau (today’s Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic). In 2007,

Gößling published Faust, der Magier (Faust, the Magician, Aufbau Verlag), his large-scale novelistic treatment of the historical and legendary figure of Doctor Johann Georg Faust, drawing on both European history and mythological tradition. The fantasy thriller Der Ruf der Schlange (The Call of the Snake, Klett-Cotta, 2010) continued his engagement with non-European mythologies.


Voodoo novels and mysteries

Several of Gößling’s works engage with Haitian Voodoo, both as fiction and non-fiction. The novel Dunkler Tanz (Dark Dance, 2006) was initially published under the pseudonym Alex Kortner. Dea Mortis: Der Tempel der dunklen Göttin (Dea Mortis: The Temple of the Dark Goddess, 2005) combines mystery and mythological horror. The novel Geisterschrein (Spirit

Shrine, Droemer Knaur, 2022), described as a psychological thriller, further demonstrates this preoccupation with liminal and supernatural themes. The early psychological thriller Irrlauf (1993) belongs to the same general territory of literary suspense.


True-crime thrillers

From the mid-2010s onward, Gößling became best known in the German mainstream market as a true-crime thriller writer, a genre in which real criminal cases or forensic realities are adapted into tightly plotted narrative fiction. His collaboration with the forensic pathologist and Berlin legal medicine professor Michael Tsokos produced a highly successful trilogy: Zerschunden (Ravaged, 2015), Zersetzt (Decomposed, 2016), and Zerbrochen (Shattered, 2017), all published by Droemer Knaur. All three volumes entered the top ten of the Spiegel bestseller list, Germany’s most widely cited bestseller ranking.

Gößling subsequently launched his own standalone true-crime thriller series featuring Berlin LKA detective Kira Hallstein. The three novels in the series are Wolfswut (Wolf Fury, Droemer Knaur, 2018), Drosselbrut (Thrush Brood, Droemer Knaur, 2019), and Rattenflut (Rat Flood, Droemer Knaur, 2020). Each novel draws on a documented real-world criminal scandal: Wolfswut was inspired by the German Manfred Seel, called the "Hesse Ripper", case; Drosselbrut was based on the Marc Dutroux case and its connection to organized child exploitation networks; and Rattenflut adresses the decades-long abuse perpetrated by BBC presenter Jimmy Savile in British hospitals and hospices.


Children's and young adult literature

Gößling has been an active author for younger readers throughout his career. His first work in this field, Timmy im Finsterwald (Timmy in the Dark Forest, 1996), is a fantasy novel for children from the age of eight. He subsequently published several novels for young adults, including Tzapalil: Im Bann des Jaguars (Tzapalil: Under the Spell of the Jaguar, Arena, 2005), a Maya-world adventure; Der Sohn des Alchimisten (The Alchemist’s Son, Arena, 2007), a Faust-related novel for young readers; and Die Dämonenpforte (The Demon Gate, Bertelsmann cbt, 2009), a fantasy novel. His most ambitious work for young adult readers is the two-volume historical fantasy series OPUS (Boje, 2010): Das verbotene Buch (The Forbidden Book) and Die Bücherjäger (The Book Hunters). Set partly in the European Renaissance and partly in a parallel world of books and reading, the series engages themes of knowledge, censorship, and literary heritage.

A further young adult historical novel, Goldfieber (Gold Fever, 2011), was followed by the three-volume Supernatural Secret Agency series (Random House/cbt, 2012), a fantasy-spy hybrid described as “James Bond meets Fantasy,” featuring a fifteen-year-old protagonist who discovers he is a half-spirit agent working between the human world and legendary fantastical realms.


Non-fiction

Gößling is a prolific author of cultural-historical and mythological non-fiction. These works are characterized by their attempt to illuminate intercultural parallels — shared archetypes, mythological figures, and ritual structures — across civilizations and historical periods. His major works in this field include:


  • Die Rückkehr der Engel (The Return of the Angels, 1995)
  • Drachenwelt: Von den Geistern der Schöpfung und Zerstörung (Dragon World, 1996), an early exploration of dragon mythology
  • Der heilige Kalender der Maya (The Sacred Calendar of the Maya, 1998)
  • Voodoo: Von Hexen, Zombies und schwarzer Magie (Voodoo: Of Witches, Zombies and Black Magic, 1999)
  • Die Freimaurer: Weltverschwörer oder Menschenfreunde? (The Freemasons: World Conspirators or Friends of Humanity?, Knaur, 2007)
  • Die Männlichkeitslücke: Warum wir uns um die Jungs kümmern müssen (The Masculinity Gap, 2008), a sociopolitical debate book
  • Deutschland misshandelt seine Kinder (Germany Abuses Its Children, 2014, co-author)



Publishing

In addition to his writing career, Gößling runs the specialist imprint MayaMedia in Berlin. Under the imprint Edition Marbuelis (a division of MayaMedia), he began from 2020 onwards issuing revised and expanded new editions of his own earlier works, alongside new titles. The Edition Marbuelis catalogue includes revised editions of his Maya novels, Voodoo fiction and non-fiction, the OPUS series, Faust, der Magier, and collections of shorter prose and poetry.


Style and themes

Across the full breadth of his work, several recurring preoccupations are evident. Gößling is consistently drawn to boundary zones — between history and myth, between the rational and the supernatural, between documentary reality and narrative invention. His adult fiction tends to combine precise historical, anthropological, or forensic research with strong plot momentum and a willingness to enter mythological or fantastic registers. His non-fiction similarly seeks to identify deep structural similarities beneath the surface differences of world cultures.

His willingness to write across such a wide range of genres — from academic monographs to young adult fantasy to true-crime bestsellers — reflects both his scholarly breadth and a persistent independence from institutional or commercial pressures. He has explicitly described himself as unwilling to bind himself to any institution, a stance consistent with his career-long avoidance of an academic post despite his qualifications.


Selected bibliography


Academic literary criticism

  • Thomas Bernhards frühe Prosakunst (1987)
  • Die „Eisenbergrichtung“: Versuch über Thomas Bernhards „Auslöschung“ (1988)
  • Standhafte Zuschauer ästhetischer Leiden (ed. with Hans Geulen, 1989)
  • Ein lächelndes Spiel: Kommentare und Interpretationen zu Robert Walsers Romanen, vol. I (1991)
  • Abendstern und Zauberstab: Kommentare und Interpretationen zu Robert Walsers Romanen, vol. II (1992)
  • Abrechnung nach Noten: Kommentare und Interpretationen zu Robert Walsers Romanen, vol. III (1992)



Novels (adults)


  • Irrlauf (edition q, 1993)
  • Die Maya-Priesterin (Eichborn, 2001)
  • Im Tempel des Regengottes (Eichborn, 2003)
  • Der Alchimist von Krumau (Eichborn, 2004)
  • Dea Mortis: Der Tempel der dunklen Göttin (Droemer Knaur, 2005)
  • Dunkler Tanz (as Alex Kortner, Droemer Knaur 2006)
  • Faust, der Magier (Aufbau Verlag, 2007)
  • Der Ruf der Schlange (Klett-Cotta, 2010)
  • Bernsteingrab (Edition Marbuelis, 2014)
  • Wolfswut (Droemer Knaur, 2018)
  • Drosselbrut (Droemer Knaur, 2019)
  • Rattenflut (Droemer Knaur, 2020)
  • Geisterschrein (Droemer Knaur, 2022)


True-crime thrillers (with Michael Tsokos)

  • Zerschunden (Droemer Knaur, 2015)
  • Zersetzt (Droemer Knaur, 2016)
  • Zerbrochen (Droemer Knaur, 2017)


Young adult and children's novels

  • Timmy im Finsterwald (Thienemanns, 1996)
  • Tzapalil: Im Bann des Jaguars (Arena, 2005)
  • Drachen (Arena, 2007)
  • Der Sohn des Alchimisten (Arena, 2007)
  • Die Dämonenpforte (Bertelsmann cbt, 2009)
  • OPUS – Das verbotene Buch (Boje, 2010)
  • OPUS – Die Bücherjäger (Boje, 2010)
  • Goldfieber (Boje, 2011)
  • Supernatural Secret Agency, 3 Bände (Random House/cbt, 2012)


Non-fiction

  • Die Rückkehr der Engel (Heyne, 1995)
  • Drachenwelt (Weitbrecht, 1996)
  • Der heilige Kalender der Maya (Heyne, 1998)
  • Voodoo: Von Hexen, Zombies und schwarzer Magie (Knaur,1999)
  • Drachenwelten (Piper, 2003)
  • Die Freimaurer: Weltverschwörer oder Menschenfreunde? (Knaur, 2007)
  • Die Männlichkeitslücke (ZS Debatten, 2008)
  • Deutschland misshandelt seine Kinder (Droemer Knaur, 2014, co-author)


External links


Official website of Andreas Gößling


Andreas Gößling at the German National Library


AVA International literary agency profile


Wikipedia page Andreas Gößling