My name is Christof Wolf and I am a German novelist. See my homepage http://www.christofwolf.de/about-me-english/ for further information and the actual Exposé of my new project: NOT MY VATERLAND Rights are still available! I love to travel around the world and have already visited a lot of wonderful spots. I met people, who showed me how nessessary tollerance and acceptance between different cultures and religions are. Of course all these experiences have influence on my novels. But sometimes I do not have to invent stories, there are some plots which look for someone to tell it. Two times such strange things happened to me, and one of those outstanding situations made me to become an author. Here is the initializing situation:More than 14 years ago I lost my wife. To find back to live, I went alone to the US. In the New England states I wanted to send a message-in-a-bottle to my laid-wife. We both loved to travel and went several times to the US. But when I went around the coastline I did not find the right place to throw my bottle into the sea. So an internal voice told me to take it back to Germany. "... one certain day, on another time and an other spot you will find a place to send your message!"The following year I flew to Australia. It was my second time 'down under'. My wife and I went there some years before and we fell in love with the country. Three weeks I drove though the Outback areas and tried to find myself coming through and dealing with lonelyness. When I went back to civilization, I reached a little fishermen-town called Albany. One morning, when I was hiking on a coast trail, I found the right place: a steep cliff. Of course I had my bottle with me. So I sent a prayer and threw it: Usually these days you are sent a confirmation notice, like "Message sent". But of course nothing like this will happen if you send a message-in-a-bottle. But sometimes the unexpected will happen. How?What happened, was unbelievable ... shortly spoken: My wife got the message and she sent me a confirmation. How that?The bottle was found by an Australian police-officer. He took it to a newspaper. They published an article with a photo of him and a short text. In the text they mentioned my name and Hachenburg, the town I live in. The newspaper was read by a young German woman in Albany, she lives there because she is married to an Aussie. She recognized the city of Hachenburg, because she originally comes from that region, which is called the Westerwald (translated: Westernforest or Westwood). Her parents still live there, in the town of Hoehr-Grenzhausen, which is famous for pottery and the glass-producers Rastal and Sahm (look at the glass, when you drink a beer. It does not matter whether your are in the US or in South Africa or Australia ... you will often read the company's name Rastal).So the young lady called her mother in Germany and told her about the article and the man who wrote the message-in-the-bottle. Her mother said, that she would look up the telephone-book and find out if there was a man with that name: There was! It was me. So she picked up the phone and called me. You perhaps can imagine how surprised I felt and how shocked I was. Especially because the lady on the phone told me: "Susan called me some minutes ago!" Susan was the name of her daughter, but it was the name of my wife too. After a while, when we stopped talking, I began to cry - because I recognized, that my Susan sent me a sign from where ever she is now! She sent me her confirmation - she has got my message and appreciated what I wrote. For me it was the confirmation and her spur on me, that I should go on and take my life into my own hands. And that is what I did then ...After a while I wrote down the story of my message-in-the-bottle, because I wanted to memorize this outstanding event of my life. I thought, I have to write everything down, so I would be able to remember every detail when I am old. Otherwise people will say: "Oh look at this old man, he is mixing up fiction and reality. He is gettin nuts ..." When I showed the first 30 pages to a friend, he recommended to go on writing. He said it will be a good way of therapy too, to deal with my sorrow. So I went on writing my own story: The story of Hanna (Susan) and Benjamin (that's me). The manuscript became a size of nearly 700 pages; the story of the message-in-the-bottle became the proloque!HOW I GOT THE STORY PUBLISHEDOne day another miracle happened: I mentioned on XING (social network) that 'I like writing' and that 'I had already prepared a manuscipt'. I got a mail from the publisher Acabus-Verlag Hamburg (www.acabus.de) and they asked what the manuscript was about. I answered the mail and some days later, they offered me a contract. After the lectorate was finished, they published my story in the way of a modern trilogie: Sunrise - Sunshine - Sunset A modern, dramatic, lovely and unbelievable LOVE STORY (comparable to Erich Segal, who published his wonderful story in the 70th and promoted the tissue-industry a huge surplus). The trilogy takes you around the world (mostly to the US: like Los Angeles, NYC, Hawaii, Washington D.C. but to Australia too).After the success of the trilogy people asked me about more stories. So I thought of what I can write now. A crime story? A medieval story? Then I decided to write a medieval story because I was interested in history. I constructed a plot which combined authentic parts of history with fiction. And 2011 I published Civitas (latin for City) anno domini 1200 - Das Geheimnis der Rose (The secret of the Rose). A success-story which was nominated as BEST NEWCOMER HISTORIC NOVELS on LOVELYBOOKS.deAnd now I have almost finished "Not my Vaterland".The copyrights are still available!List of published novels and essaysSunrise - Das Tor zum Träumen (The door to your dream)(Novel, Part 1 of Trilogy, Publisher: Acabus-Verlag, Hamburg, 2009)The story is starting with the message in a bottle Benjamin throws into the Australian sea and how it 'returned'. Afterwards a lovely teenager story of finding the first real love beginns. It all starts when Benjamin and Johanna meet the first time at school, how they fall in love. There are ups and downs, missunderstandings ... real teenager-life. The most problem causes Hanna's engagement with Wolfgang. Will Ben and Hanna solve their difficulties and will they ever announce their love to be official?Sunshine - Wo Himmel und Erde sich berühren (Where heaven meets earth)(Novel, Part 2 of Trilogy, Publisher: Acabus-Verlag, Hamburg, 2010)This part 2 tells about the outstanding life Hanna and Ben lived since they have come together. They saw a lot of wonderful spots on their journeys around the world. They buyed and renovated an old house - built in 1875 - and called it their little "Villa Kunterbunt" (Villa Colourful). Colourful was their life - no place for boring moments.Both crowned their love it with a mariage. Ben's proposal of marriage starts with an very romantic 'kidnapping'. Then they planned and organized their outstandign. For the reception they choosed the theme: "Around the world". Their plans were to simulate a journey for their guests. They taped the sound of airplanes. Their waiters had to dress and speak like 'flight attentants'. They decorateted the ball-room like the interior of a plane. Every chair was equiped with seat-belt, amenity-kits (In advance they asked several airlines to support their dream and reception. A lot of them did!) Several weeks before, Ben and Hanna planned 'stopp-overs' in USA, Asia, Africa and South America. Afterwards they devided their guests into different travelgroups. The guests were asked to organize the stopps by welcoming and gratulate bride and groom in the respective language. Later on they had to present special items of the country and an original song. It was an unforgetable day for all participants - and of course for Hanna and Ben. Afterwards both depart for their honneymoon: San Francisco, Hawaii and Las Vegas. In that moment, when they think they found their paradies, dark clouds appear at the velvet sky ...Sunset - Darum sehet die Lilien (Consider the lilies of the field)(Novel, Part 3 of Trilogy, Publisher: Acabus-Verlag, Hamburg, 2010)One year later Hanna and Ben move to Frankfurt, where Ben works for the HR department of a bank. They rent a flat, but they keep their little Villa Kunterbunt too for their weekend escapes. Johanna finds a job too: She is HR assistant in a brand new five star hotel. Both live an urban and vivid life. But Hanna never gets used to live in the big city. One day Ben is offered a job in a University in their hometown Hachenburg. Hanna is so happy, because they are able to return home into their Villa Kunterbunt. When she finds a job too in a big health-insurance company everything seems to be perfect. But then, only one month later, Hanna is diagnosted breast cancer. It is a devastating message. Their lifes step on a rollercoaster of different feelings: hope, sadness, fear, love, hope, dissappointment, tears, hope, believeness, hope, God, metastases, Jesus, love, cry, strength, blood, tumor, lost ...Civitas a. d. 1200 - Das Geheimnis der Rose (The Secret of the Rose)(Historic Novel, Publisher: Acabus-Verlag, Hamburg, 2011)The Historic novel takes part in/around the year 1200. Heinrich returns as a cruisader. He has a souvenir which is chased by the STRICT EYES OF GOD, an association which wants to collect and preserve all relicts which are brought by cruisaders from holy land. Several years Heinrich fought for his christian idols, but now he only wants to get back home to his wife and son. Heinrich is the count of Hachenburg. Before following the demand of emperor Barbarossa, he and his brother Eberhard began to build a castle. Heinrich hopes his brother will fullfill their plans. Years later, almost reaching home again, he gets almoust caught by three raiders from the Strict Eyes of God. But Heinrich escapes injured. When he reaches a gorge, he falls unconcious from his horse. Antonius, the sun of a miller, finds him and takes him to his fathers mill. The whole family takes care of the stranger. When he recovers, he offers Antonius to accompany him on the last kilometers to Hachenburg. Heinrich promises Antonius will return with a reward that will help the millers family. Antonius follows Heinrich on the way to his new civitas. It does not take one day and Antonius gets stuck in his first real and dangerous adventure. The raiders are close and ... Civitas is a story that combines fiction and real story/people. In 2011 the book awarded for the Readers Price of Best Newcomers in Historic Novels on LOVELYBOOKS.de.Die Allegorie der Bäume (The allegory of trees)(Essay in anthology "Der König im grünen Gewand"(The king in the green gown), Publisher: Christoph Kloft Verlag, 2013)Ein Brief für Albertine (A letter for Albertine)(Essay in anthology "Albertine von Gruen - meine Freundschaft zu Johann W. von Goethe" (Albertine von Gruen - My friendship with Johann W. von Goethe), Published: 2014)