Daniel Wisser was born in Klagenfurt, Austria in 1971. In 1989 he moved to Vienna, where he studied German literature and language. Since 1993 he has written novels, short stories, radio plays and song lyrics. Wisser’s first novel Dopplergasse acht (Doppler Lane Number Eight) was published in 2003. 

In 2018 Wisser published the novel Königin der Berge (Queen of the Mountains), which was awarded the Austrian Book Award, translated into six languages and appeared in two stage adaptations. The Georgian edition was translated by Mzia Galdavadze (Intelekti Publishing).

Since 2012 Wisser has been working on his web project Unter dem Fußboden (Under the Floorboards), a growing collection of micro novels, which appeared as a book, was staged twice and, of course, can also be read on his website. His next novel titled 0 1 2 (Zero One Two) is due in autumn 2023.

The Queen of the Mountain 

excerpt 

Herr Turin is sitting in his wheelchair about three meters away from the French windows. Both leaves are open all the way. There’s nobody in the corridor. Everything there was to be done in Turin’s life has been done. Herr Turin reverses the wheelchair three or four meters and positions himself right in front of the French windows. Then he pushes the joystick forward and drives at top speed toward the opening. At first everyone here will hold this against him, but a year from now they’ll have forgotten him.

HERR TURIN: Five seconds to impact. My dearest wish is that Irene and Melissa, also Herr Kelemen, meet their deaths quickly, painlessly, and peacefully.

IRENE TURIN: My husband passed away a year ago. He suffered a great deal from an incurable disease and took his own life.

NURSE ALIKI: The last thing he asked me was: Sister Aliki, how does this Uber thing work?

FATHER REISINGER: Talking about suicide is very difficult. We wish to keep Herr Turin in our memories the way he was.

Herr Turin still doesn’t know how that Uber thing works. If he’s dead, he no longer needs to find out.