the stories are not excessively violent, but display a certain humanity. The name of "Jason Dark" has humorous origins: Rellergerd's wife had a particular dislike for the fictitious English private investigator, Jason King, of the TV series of that name, and as a slightly malicious joke, Rellergerd decided to give his central character precisely the name of "Jason". The surname, "Dark", suggested itself quite naturally, as his hero constantly does battle against dark forces. Jason Dark also writes other pulp fiction, focussing on his character "Psycho-Cop". He continues to write three or four novels a month and shows no sign of losing his inventive vigour—a creativity that borders on the realms of genius. While unlikely to merit the title of a "Dichter" (poet, or serious writer), he is perhaps best described in his own words as a "kreativer Beamte" (creative bureaucrat, clerk or civil servant), producing (on an old-fashioned manual typewriter) novel after novel for his employers, Bastei Verlag (Bastei Publishers). Jason Dark has become, and remains, a pulp-author phenomenon in what the Germans term "Trivialliteratur", but which less generous commentators might call "trash fiction". Yet despite the speed with which the novels are written, they are marked by a certain skill in construction, a richness of vocabulary, a facility for devising gripping plot lines, and an eloquence in style which make them of some literary interest in their specific field. Indeed, Jason Dark has been called a 'writer of genius' and a 'remarkable literary phenomenon' by literary scholar, Dr. Tony Page, who also points out how Dark has been favourably compared to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 'Jason Dark’s imaginative powers have rightly been praised. Indeed, Godden writes: "‘As regards imagination, Jason Dark towers houses high in superiority above Sherlock Holmes creator, Conon (sic!) Doyle.’ (Godden, 207: 293). This is eminent praise indeed - and is justly bestowed'. Views on writing and politics Helmut Rellergerd has claimed (in the same recorded interview alluded to above) that many people have found his novels to be psychologically and emotionally beneficial, particularly during times of illness (saying that they have contributed to the recovery process through John Sinclair's "optimistic attitude" to life). In this, one might link him to Austrian writer Adalbert Stifter, who specifically recommended his novel, Der Nachsommer, as a therapeutic tool for the overcoming of melancholia or depression. When asked in 2006 what caused him, the famed horror writer, the