Now he is able to write books just for the fun and convenience of having other markets for it, besides bookstores and the Internet, his stores are in several countries around the world. After all, the book The Ninth Tentacle of an Octopus is also sold in Czech drugstores.
As a citizen, Rossmann discusses global warming and thinks about how to prevent it. His novel is about saving the world. In the course of science fiction from 2018 to 2100, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and the American President realized the need to change the system. They form coalitions to protect the country and assert their power by force.
But what about this framework? The story of 9th Arm of the Octopus is actually not very interesting, less exciting, not to mention the tension. What’s more, at the time Rossmann wrote it, he must not have known, perhaps despite his friendly relationship with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, what the Russian president would become. Reading today about how these aggressors saved the world is really bad science fiction.
There are many storylines and main characters in the book, some appearing and disappearing again without leaving a visible mark. It does not allow the reader to comfortably enter the story, every effort is made not to get lost in it. Frequent changes of place and time, on the other hand, shape the character of the book. In particular, the passages that describe newspaper articles make at least a refreshing contribution to the matte story. But that’s not enough.
Being active in climate protection is certainly commendable. However, writing a bloodless novel about it was completely useless.
Dirk Rossmann: The ninth octopus tentacle |
Caliber, translated by Tomáš Kurka, 302 pages. |
“Unapologetic social media guru. General reader. Incurable pop culture specialist.”