The Baron and the Fish By Peter Marginter, Translation and Afterword by Lowell A. Bangerter

A mysterious silhouette cutter, menacing otters, the patriarch of a Scottish clan, who for centuries lives submerged in a whiskey vat, a retired fortuneteller with real clairvoyant powers, and three peculiar inventors of extraordinary devices are but a few of the inhabitants of the fascinating world in which Baron Criss-Crosshome and his secretary Simon Eybel search for justice, and the full realization of their respective identities. The Baron and the Fish describes their quest. With its witty, pointed, grotesque jabs at traditional social structures and the political, bureaucratic, and scientific establishments, Marginter's entertaining narrative exposes many of the enduring absurdities of human existence, while delightfully satirizing Austria's past.