“Far ... far ... indeed, very far out there in the vastness of space ... where not a ray of sunlight sheds its warmth and the gleam of the stars is cold and indifferent, there in the darkness of infinity a small planet lurches on a wobbly course toward an uncertain future. That, dear Reader, is the wandering planet of Daduu. In fact, the events that took place upon this small planet might not have ever been told since, for quite a time, it looked as though there would be no one left to tell them ...”
Thus begins the fantastic story of the freshly hatched, yet parentless NUPF and his odd companion GRONK and their mission to save their tiny home planet. An inventive tale about respect towards nature and the consequences of mindlessly wasted resources, a narration about accepting responsibility and of growing with the challenges faced.
Yet NUPF is also story about being lost in an alien, frightening world and the big questions of life: where do I come from? Where do I belong? Who decides what I am?
A story about compassion and friendship, about the inevitability of gender-cliché and the quest for one’s own identity.
And finally, NUPF is a book about sociopathic robots, hand-knitted chickens, mischievous radishes, oracles with memory-loss, a book about corny music and onion-beer, about the songs of the cosmos, the essence of beauty, the miracle of knowledge and the blossoming of love.
Guided by his fictitious muse Brahoula Beatnik author Laurent Daniels manages to work the profound themes of existence into a touching tale which bursts with bizarre ideas and spellbinds readers of all ages.
Brahoula Tamilah Beatnik is a child of the 70’s and an ardent advocate of the ideals from that era. Unconditionally romantic and idealistic, always in search of new experiences inspirations and visions, she travelled to all the countries of this world and has worked as, among other things, a rickshaw driver, temple dancer, street cook, opera singer, pig tamer, reincarnation facilitator, techno club bouncer, wrestle champion and astrophysicist. In order to increase her influence in world affairs, she fought for years to get a permanent seat in the UN as a free member, but she was denied this honour.
In the summer of 2019, during a multicultural street dance event in Berlin, she disappeared in front of hundreds of spectators and dissolved into a puff of pink smoke.
She has been missing ever since.
Through-out his life Laurent Daniels has worked in many artistic professions: costume-designer, set-designer, make-up artist, dancer, actor, fashion-designer, TV-presenter, dubber, illustrator, singer, scriptwriter, director, choreographer and drag queen.
His vocation as a writer he found rather late and did so nonetheless with this feverishly fantastical book-debut that defies all categorization.
And even if the ‘creator’ of Nupf, Brahoula Tamilah Beatnik, is another creation living in Laurent’s head only, there can be much expected from her as a new voice in fiction.
Many thanx for the joy of letting me read your book. You created something really enchanting here. I was very touched by how gentle yet impressive and movingly you describe the whole gender-confusion. I also find many elements with an inspiring philosophy. With its openness and its empathic language this story touched my heart and my soul.
With a rich vocabulary and bizarre ideas Laurent transports his readers onto a foreign yet rather familiar planet, takes them along with Nupf’s astonishing journey and conveys his heart-warming message in a multi-layered style. A fantastic story about responsibility, friendship and love.
Thank you for letting me read this wonderful book. I was surprised by your delightful imagination. All those crazy names for the characters and their stuff! Ingenious! The illustrations are also great. I wish for you that this book becomes a success and maybe even gets turned into a movie ...
A wonderful book, imaginative and rich. A bit like Michael Ende, but with even more extravagant and brilliantly conceived physical phenomena. A bit like Astrid Lindgren, but more modern. Yet in all of that really suitable for people of all ages. At times full of suspense like a thriller, then again colorful and magical like a fairy tale. Most of all: Heartfelt and full of wisdom. I remember a writer once telling me, that if a book should be worth the trouble of being written, it better be something new, something that doesn’t exist yet. If there is any book that answers to that requirement, it’s this one: Nupf!
I thought "ok, I'm going to read 10 pages and let him know it's too hard for me", but I actually completely dived into the story and read it all. I am deeply impressed. I think you have a huge and priceless talent for writing. I'm in total admiration. The world you create here is so poetic, so humorous, so charming, full of wonderful images, pure emotions, it's magical and marvelous, and ... completely torn out, decaying, fallen apart, gone astray, grotesque ... This mixture is fascinating. You have a very refined sense of surrealisme, this is a talent that is not given to anyone. Reading those ten first chapters really warmed me inside during those quarantine days. ...for sure it talked to my heart and cheered me up like a child.
Nupf fought his way through the overgrown undergrowth that was once the front garden of Drusula's dwelling and climbed a hill that surrounded her property. Turning around, he saw the labyrinthine structure from the outside for the first time. There were many egg-shaped enclosures of different sizes that made up Drusula's habitat, all stacked against a steep rock wall that gave the whole construction stability and protection. The larger enclosures were at the bottom and the further up they went, the smaller they became.
Now seeing them from the outside, Nupf noticed that what he had thought were gigantic eggs were more like fossilised pumpkins or hollowed-out giant nuts. The roundish structures were held together by tightly woven tendrils and a solidified brownish mass that was stuck into the spaces like glue. The lower half of this enchanted, overgrown castle still lay in the bluish half-light of the fading night, while the upper part shone in the golden light of the rising dawn. He could see the spot from which he had observed his first sun cucumber rise, this time, however, Nupf wanted to marvel at nature's awakening from a different perspective. He wandered down the outside of the dam and made his way into the lush forest that lay ahead.
The book is available in German and English as a paperback for €16.00 and as a Kindle e-book for €9.99 on Amazon.
For the appropriate link, please select the language and format of the book and the country for ordering:
SCRAPBOOK Verlag
Laurent Daniels
Cheruskerstr. 21
10829 Berlin
Phone: +49 176 9650 6636
Email: contact@nupf-book.com