Patric is our IT mate in charge of the engine room – to use a seafaring/spacefaring metaphor. The ship is in good hands.
Please introduce yourself briefly
I’m Patric Schirrmann, born in 1969, science fiction reader since about 1978 – I can’t say exactly, but definitely early. Speculative literature has accompanied me all my life through school, physics degree and IT profession. The focus is clearly on science fiction; horror is not for me, and when it comes to fantasy, my enjoyable reading experiences are limited to Tolkien and Terry Pratchett.
Why are you part of the MetropolCon team?
I have been attending Worldcons for almost 25 years and more often German cons like DortCon or ElsterCon. To my regret, these are becoming rarer and rarer – DortCon no longer exists, the continuation of ElsterCon is also no longer certain – and instead of always just saying “we should” or “we should have”, I took the opportunity and now help set up a convention myself with MetropolCon.
It’s Saturday night at a con: Where can you be found?
Laughing, drinking, and talking at the bar.
What are your wishes for the future of the speculative genres, particularly in Germany?
For the big publishers to take more risks; that those in charge of of a publisher’s roster and titles know the field and know what they’re doing, and a willingness on the part of authors to tell a self-contained story in just one book.
Best fictional sidekick of all time?
Zaphod Beeblebrox – “If there’s anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.”
You just won a week-long trip to a fantasy/SF world of your choice: Where will you go?
To the universe of Ian M. Banks’ Culture novels.
One work of speculative fiction (whether book or film or series or game) you would strongly recommend we all check out?
Echoing the previous question: my unconditional recommendations are the Culture novels by Ian M. Banks.
