I picked up a parcel at the post office today. The delivery notice had said it was from the Deutsche Post, so I was hoping it was a copy of the German-language version of Star Trek Vanguard: Declassified, which was published at the same time as the English version. I opened the envelope to find my wish granted—and more:

Enclosed with my copy of Star Trek Vanguard: Enthüllungen was a copy of In Wassermelonen Zucker—a German translation of the Richard Brautigan novel In Watermelon Sugar.

This was a special surprise for me, because Brautigan is one of my all-time favorite authors, and this was the novel that introduced me to his work when I was only a teenager. I currently own copies of all of Brutigan’s published novels, and a few of his published volumes of poetry (which are extremely difficult to find).

During my trip to FedCon XX a couple of months ago, I had mentioned to Filipe, the Cross Cult intern, my affinity for Brautigan’s work, and he had tried to send a copy of this hard-to-find, out-of-print book with some Star Trek books he shipped to me last month, but that parcel had been damaged in transit and the copy of In Wassermelonen Zucker had been lost. But, as further proof of just how resourceful and diligent Filipé is, he found another one.

So, a tip of my hat to mein Bruder, Filipe!