Lesung: Queere Geschichten mit Mara Schmiedinghoff und Carolin Lüders

In the organizer's words:

On April 3, we welcome Carolin Lüders and Mara Schmiedinghoff, who have put together an entertaining evening of their short stories and novels for us.
The reading followed by a discussion starts at 6 pm. Afterwards, the event will be followed by an open QueerTresen, to which everyone is cordially invited.

Carolin Lüders, born in 1993, lives in the Ruhr area and works as a physicist - but that doesn't mean that everything in her stories is physically correct. She lives out her creative side by writing and painting and is particularly at home in fantasy. She has published several short stories and her first science fantasy novel is due out soon. You can find her on Instagram: @carolin.schreibt and on the web carolin-lueders.de She has a collection of queer short stories in her luggage:

A psychologist is researching a cure for the disease of falling in love - but can she protect herself from infection?
A test finds the right soul mate for everyone - but what if that soul mate is someone you hate?
A young man is forgotten by everyone who knew him - can he find a way out of his loneliness?
15 short stories and microfictions tell of being lost, falling in love, loss and finding like-minded people. Sometimes fantastical between magic, dystopia and body horror, sometimes everyday at a party or in the pharmacy around the corner. Everywhere the characters search for a connection to others, with the help of words, fragile sound waves - a bridge made of air.

Mara Schmiedinghoff was born in Münster in 1995 and discovered her love of fantasy and fairy tales as a child. She studied in Hildesheim, Brussels and Germersheim, where she led a student circle for creative writing. She now lives in Dortmund, works as a freelance editor and writes urban fantasy novels. She also publishes weekly writing tips and drabbles on Facebook and Instagram. She will be bringing two of her books with her: Hexenangelegenheiten and Vogelmenschen.

"Witch Matters"

"Germany's most notorious vampire has broken out of prison! With this news, head witch Sandra knows straight away that trouble is in the house. Because she is responsible for the town to which the vampire is now returning. So it's no wonder that the witches' council tasks Sandra with recapturing the fugitive. But the only person who could help her is his wife Kathleen. And she has made off with the vampire's entire fortune. As if all this wasn't enough to upset Sandra's life, a magical bracelet turns up about which only two things are known: It has an ancient curse on it. And it has chosen an unsuspecting six-year-old to wear it."

"Bird people"

"The bird soared past the other fliers, soaring into the sky above the top of the skyscraper before taking a rapid dive. Within seconds, it had covered half the distance to the ground and was hurtling towards the parking lot. I was so fascinated by the sight that I realized almost too late that I was under attack."
Something new is creeping through the Feldberg nature reserve. Something that puts even the werewolves to flight. And so, once again, the quiet small-town life is over for head witch Sandra. Instead of drinking coffee behind the counter of her little bookshop, she has to go on a monster hunt through the forest with her magically gifted friends. Instead of a monster, she finds a magician with memory lapses whose story poses further mysteries. His trail eventually leads Sandra to a residential tower full of bird people - and unfortunately they don't take kindly to the witches' council.