Oliver’s Comments (group member since Jul 26, 2013)

Oliver’s comments from the Ask Oliver Pötzsch - Tuesday, August 27th! group.

Anne Hawn wrote: "Like everyone else, I love the series. I do genealogy and some of my ancestors came from the area of the books, so I was really interested in what life for them might have been like. I see that t..."

Brandner is a very popular Name in Bavaria. There also exists a popular old play called "Der Brandner Kasper" where an old man plays dices with the death. I have chosen the name to honour this play, so there is no real background.

Tom wrote: "For anyone, I am visiting Munich soon and plan to visit Andechs, since I am so enthralled with the book and now the history. What historical locations are in the book and still exist to see? What ..."

If you need a good guide for your Andechs-tour, well, just read the Appendix of my new book "The poisoned pilgrim". You will find everything there. And, of course, try the beer - it is the best in the world. But watch out, it is very strong, believe me!

Heike wrote: "Hi Oliver,
may I ask when the fifth part of the hangman's daughter will be published? I'd read it in German or English.
There will be published a fifth book of the series in Germany next July. I don't know when they will publish it in the States. I hope soon ...

And the second question: Are you recently working at a new project?
Here is the good news: I just finshed a great book about a Castle in the german peasant's war in the 16th century. A novel about love and war, hidden treasures and an old mystery. I love it! And, hey, it will be published in the States too! It is called "The Castle of kings". If you read it in german you just have to wait another month, in english I don't know.

Best re..."

Candyce wrote: "Hi Oliver! I am fan from Brazil ! Im finishing The hangman's daughter and i loved! Do you know if have other books of yours traslate to portuguese?
Im realy would like to read the series!
Thank you!"

I hope there will be more of my books in portuguese, but unfortunatly I don't know. Maybe you send an email to the Publisher and ask him. A lot of emails can eventually change his mind ...

Gianna wrote: "Hello Olivier,
I have enjoyed all of your books and can't wait for the next. My question is what caused you to write this series with a woman as your heroine. I loved the way you portrayed her mat..."

Writing novels always means writing about conflicts, and women in these days definitly suffered more than men. So I decided to write the story of a strong woman. When you read all of my novels you will see how Magdalena developes from a young, sometimes naive girl to a woman who manages to go her own way (despite her strong father!)

Dear friends and readers,
thanks for all your interesting questions. It's getting late now in Germany and I have to prepare dinner for the children. Please feel free to ask me some more questions (just in case that I haven't answered everything sufficently). I will try to answer as soon as I can. Hope to see some of you at my book tour in the US in September!
Best wishes, Oliver

Tina wrote: "I love the writing style. I was so anxious for the second book, I put my rusty German to use and ordered it internationally. Having seen both versions, I am amazed at the great job your translator ..."

The titles were not my originally choice - it was my Publishers decision. In German - as you may know - they are different. The title "Hangman's Daughter" becomes clearer as Magdalena plays a more important role from book to book.

Jake wrote: "I have also read all the books in the series and have a question/observation for you. I enjoyed them all immensely as historical fiction and feel they have an underlying theme- Capital Punishment ..."

Death penalty nowadays is barbaric and I don’t think it works. So I am a clear opponent as I think we should be grateful to having reached another step of zivilization. Nevertheless I feel love for Jakob Kuis because he was born in a different time (death penalty was more or less a kind of mercy helping the convicted to find their way to heaven). Jakob Kuisl had no choice: he had to become a hangman, but he always tried to make the best out of it. He is human in an inhuman system and this is what makes him special.

Starr wrote: "Oh, another question for Mr. Poetzsch (no oomlouts so oe is the closest approximation?)-
How do you like the translation of your work? Is it capturing the original text in all of its subtitles and ..."

Unfortunately my English is not good enough to judge the quality of the translation. I think what’s getting lost is the Bavarian dialect in which the Kuisl family (especially Jakob) are talking to eachother. This is a very “soft” German, infiltrated with some inexpressible curses I learned from my grandmother.

Fayla wrote: "Hi Mr. Potzsch and thanks for your time.

The only book is the Hangman's series that I've read is The Beggar King, but I look forward to reading Poisoned Pilgrim.
I know there have been a few ques..."

My daughter. Unfortunately she’s only 9 years old. That’s why we have to wait a little bit. But movie projects sometimes last longer …

Starr wrote: "*SPOILER ALERT* If you haven't read/finished Poisoned Pilgrim, DO NOT READ MY QUESTION BELOW!!!

After bringing in so much of her history in The Beggar King (providing such a wonderful psychologica..."

I have to confess: I cried a bit myself when Anna-Maria died. But times were hard, very hard. Many died too early. So the Kuisl family may not be an exception. Sorrow is part of every good piece of literature. Sorry for that. But it’s like in every family: some die and some live on.

Theresa wrote: "Love the books and I was wondering how long do you spend researching the historical references for the books? You also do a wonderful job describing the area, almost makes me feel like i have been ..."

I am sure your grandmother is much nicer than Christoph Holzapfel in my first book. I got this name from an ancient Schongau chronic. It sounded nice to me.

Johan wrote: "I love your books! Next book I will start to read is the fourth in the series. However I was wondering how about writing a book about that is more like a biography about your "Kuisl" family? That w..."

Maybe there will be a Kuisl-biography somewhen, because their history is thrilling until today. Swedish people today are very very nice and peace-loving. I know that because we love to be on vacation there. And by the way: we have never been attacked in Sweden so far …

Julie wrote: "I have really enjoyed the first two books in The Hangman's Daughter series. Your main characters are complex enough to be very interesting, yet normal enough to be able to identify people I know li..."

I haven’t read Ariana Franklin so far – thanks for the tip! Concerning your question about modern idioms: We don’t know how people at that time really talked. And even if we’d know this language would have been incomprehensible and boring (read “Simplicissimus” by Grimmelshausen and you know what I mean). That’s why I use contemporary phrases. That’s the only way for present readers to really submerge into the story and identify with the characters. And that’s what reading is all about, am I right?

Gordon wrote: "The daughter took a backseat in much of The Poisoned Pilgrim. Will she be figured more in the coming books (I hope!) and will we discover more about folk medicine and practices? The oppressive natu..."

Magdalena’s role will improve in further volumes. And we will get to know more about the simple people’s medicines and practices. I know a lot of women in Bavaria who have much knowledge about herbs. Their stories would be sufficient for 10 further novels …

Carmen wrote: "I have thoroughly enjoyed The Hangman's Daughter Tales! Jakob Kuisl has become one of my favorite characters in literature.

Mr. Potzsch, when you set out to write a tale, do you scaffold the cor..."

I have an exposé of about 10 pages when I start but many things develop during writing. That’s what really is fun to me! I have no idea what Jakob, Simon and Magdalena will figure out …
I would tell my younger self: Believe in you, try to avoid kitsch and epic battle scenes and kick out phrases and adjectives!

Bigtam45 wrote: "Hello,
I read your first book with my book club in Ramstein, Germany. We all loved the book and recognized several places from our travels. Some of us have continued reading the series. We think it..."

Meanwhile there are guided tours in Schongau and Regensburg which I can recommend. The tours are accompanied by actors, there’s music and you’ll get wine and medieval pastries. But I’m afraid these guided tours are all in German language. Maybe if you are a larger group it can be managed to have an English speaking tour – I don’t know. Otherwise I would recommend the tour, I presented in the appendix of “The Dark Monk”.

Maya wrote: "Hello Oliver.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this discussion.
I *love* your books. Mostly, I love Simon Fronwieser - who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite characters of all time. Is he ..."

Well, there will be a few wardrobe accidents in the future – poor Simon. By the way, Simon is the only one in the Kuisl family who is my complete invention. I needed a medicine, but there was no historical person in Schongau in the 17th century. “Fronwieser” is the name of an artist. I found a picture from him in the museum in Schongau. And I liked the sound of his name.

Amanda wrote: "Mr. Potzsch,

Thank you for writing such an engaging series! Also thank you for your time! I just recently managed to devour all but the most recent book (I plan on fixing that ASAP, scout's honor)..."

It’s already described briefly in the first volume how they get to know eachother. But you are right, maybe that would be a good plot for a short story. Thanks for the tip!

Melissa wrote: "Mr. Pötzsch,

First off, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.

I've read the first three books of the "Hangman's Daughter" series and just purchased "The Poisoned Pilgrim". Two o..."

For both topics there are quite many good books you can rely on. And I have got help from my father and my brother who both are medicines. According to torture techniques I would recommend the torture museums in Siena and San Gigliamo (Tuskany/Italy). But you need to have a good stomach to survive that …