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At the time of Hoffnungslose Ziele's publication, I was a 36-year old father of four and a practicing attorney licensed in the State of California. I’m also a United States Air Force veteran with service in Afghanistan and Korea.
Since I was a teenager, it has always been my dream to write novels and/or screenplays. For me, reading and writing creative works is a sanctuary and an escape. Some of my favorite authors include J.R.R. Tolkien, Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney, Jr).
I started writing short stories, often in collaboration with friends, as early as 1st Grade. It’s something I’ve enjoyed doing my entire life. In fact, the genesis of my current novel, “Hoffnungslose Ziele,” came from a NaNoWriMo challenge issued by my best friend back in 2014. The short story I wrote had very little to do with my current novel, but marked the first time I experimented with the epistolary novel format.
For “Hoffnungslose Ziele,” I took Bram Stoker’s Dracula as inspiration, and wrote entirely from the perspective of six characters penning diary entries and the occasional letters to each other. I was also deeply interested in Central European (especially Prussian) folklore, which is why “Hoffnungslose Ziele” dispenses with many of the 20th Century conceptions of such creatures as werewolves and vampires, hearkening back instead to 19th century folklore about these creatures with a healthy dose of my own imagination mixed in.
Reviewed by Arya Fomonyuy for Readers' Favorite
Hoffnungslose Ziele: A Dark Journey of Lost Causes by Kevin Reinholz is set against the backdrop of 19th century Europe, with most of the action taking place in Prussia. The reader is immediately introduced to Anna, a young girl who is excited about her friend. Christine is dating a gorgeous man called Karl and, since Karl is about to join the Prussian army, Anna and Christine must do all they can to keep him safe. Of course, he is Christine’s fiancé, and that is how they find themselves interested in sorcery. But it is just the beginning of a very long and challenging adventure, a story that will lead Anna’s path to that of a three-hundred-year-old vampire, have them meet a dubious semi-goddess, and try their spirits in more ways than one.
The reader is introduced to a compelling cast of characters, each with a different background, each flawed in a unique way. It is interesting to see how they complement each other in a world that could be merciless. Kevin Reinholz is a great storyteller and he has done a great job by allowing readers to explore the complex worlds his characters carry within them, thanks to the expert use of the first person narrative, the creative use of the epistolary style and journal entries. The reader follows the stories through the perspectives of the different key characters, a style that makes the read an engrossing one, allowing a deeper understanding of the internal conflicts in the characters. Hoffnungslose Ziele: A Dark Journey of Lost Causes has a great plot, imagined with surprising moments to thrill the reader. The prose is polished and succinct. This is a great fantasy read and fans of supernatural tales will adore it.
