A Journey into Language Land with Bestselling Author Axel Hacke

Why not introduce a good book that brings a smile to your face! With Axel Hacke you're sure to have fun; we certainly did ;-)

“In the Grip of the Acorn Darter and Other Stories from Language Land” is the latest work of Axel Hacke, promising pure reading pleasure. It stems from a huge box in his office where he has amassed language findings from readers, advertisements, signs, menus, and newspaper articles over the past 15 years. All have in common small surprising errors, quirks, and misconceptions. “You will surely like this,” wrote the finders to the author, who over the years collected anecdotes on old receipts and coasters.

A Unique World of Stories

As the pile of stories grew larger and more unwieldy, Axel Hacke wondered what to do with the thousands of letters and notes. Upon closer inspection, linguistic misunderstandings, misheard phrases, and poorly translated texts revealed a unique world of stories solely related to language, thus Language Land was born in Hacke's imagination. “This could be a beautiful book,” he thought. “A funny, dreamy, whimsical, playful language game book.”

“Think a Book”

The final push for “In the Grip of the Acorn Darter and Other Stories from Language Land” came from an email from Mr. B., who photographed a sign at a boat rental in Agde, France, and sent it to Hacke: “Boat rental with or without a license – Think a Book.” For Hacke, this was a sign of fate to finally undertake the long-delayed project. After years of collecting, he gathered all the material from corners and shelves and from his computer to create a book.

A Land of Language

Axel Hacke's Language Land is the only land in the world that consists solely of language. Right behind the book cover, there is even a specially designed map featuring a Heartache Sea, a bakery for unfeeling donuts, and the buried semolina mountains. It becomes clear that one is allowed to heartily laugh at Axel Hacke's new book, where time is measured in pampering minutes, people work in sleepfall offices, wear whole-body tattoos, and write the word "zipper" as "Rajs-ferszlus." In the stories, species like the Acorn Darter, Avenger Salmon, and Ash Poodle roam, alongside black-eyed peas and the rare Tiftrienen.

Fried Capri Pants and Curved Numbers

As a reader, you can't help but be amazed and chuckle: In Axel Hacke's Language Land, people are not interested in boring reality, correct speech, or proper writing, but rather in the opposite: the incorrect, the ridiculous, the high and low, perplexity, the short pause, and the poetry and reflection that arise from it. There are straight and curved numbers, and one eats fried Capri pants and dishes with delightful names like “Little Cephalopods Drowned.”

In these times when real travel is challenging, you can escape into this near yet distant funny, dreamy, whimsical Language Land with Axel Hacke and enjoy carefree hours. And best of all with a glass of your favorite wine!

We wish you much enjoyment!

“In the Grip of the Acorn Darter and Other Stories from Language Land” by Axel Hacke, Kunstmann Verlag, www.kunstmannverlag.de