"Irgendwo im Hindukusch. Ein Anwalt für Marken- und Urheberrecht, ein ""amerikanski"", macht Bin Laden darauf aufmerksam, welches Geld die Medien mit dem Gebrauch seines Namens und dem der von ihm gegründeten Organisation al-Qaida verdienen. Vom Geld verlockt, das der Anwalt ihm durch den Erwerb der Namensrechte verspricht, willigt Osama Bin Laden in das Geschäft ein und sichert sich die Rechte an den beiden ""Marken"". In den folgenden Wochen quälen sich die Medien mit teuren Unterlassungserklärungen aufgrund der unrechtmäßigen Nutzung der geschützten Begriffe. Auf Seiten der al-Qaida fließt das Geld in Strömen. Doch damit, dass die Medien irgendwann ihre Berichterstattung über den Terrorismus komplett einstellen, hat Bin Laden nicht gerechnet."
Author
Andreas Eschbach is a German writer who mostly writes science fiction. Even if some of his stories do not exactly fall into the SF genre, they usually feature elements of the fantastic. Eschbach studied aerospace engineering at the University of Stuttgart and later worked as a software engineer. He has been writing since he was 12 years old. His first professional publication was the short story Dolls, published in 1991 in German computing magazine C't. His first novel was published in 1995. Five of his novels have won the Kurd-Laßwitz-Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the German SF scene. His novels have also been translated into a number of languages, including English, French, Italian, Russian, Polish, Turkish and Japanese. In 2002, his novel Das Jesus Video was adapted for German television. In 2003, his novel Eine Billion Dollar was adapted for German radio. As of 2006, his only novel translated into English was Die Haarteppichknüpfer, published in 2005 as The Carpet Makers.
