Talk About Weird

If you believe a story written in German by a German science fiction writer named Armin Moehle I'm the pilot of a space ship. That in itself is a little bizarre, but it gets worse. I'm referred to as heavyset.
This space ship is named the Shenandoah. That in itself is enough to make a lot of people, especially Ohioans, a bit leery about setting foot on it because the Shenandoah was a Navy dirigible that crashed in Southeast Ohio. The captain was from Greenville, Ohio.
So sure enough, the space ship I'm piloting crashes. Someone is killed. Someone else, a nurse named Sybille, is trapped inside. The owner of the spaceship waves his arms around and says he doesn't understand. The pilot - me - stands there smiling. One translation claims I'm laughing.
But now to the weird part. The owner of the space ship is Loren Estleman. The assistant doctor who is lying there dead is Stuart Kaminsky.
In real life, not German science fiction, Estleman and Kaminsky are leading American mystery writers. I dabble at it myself. Kaminsky has been named a Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America. Both he and Estleman make enough money by writing to work full-time at the craft and not too many people can make that claim.
Stuart Kaminsky is a quiet, friendly man who did not deserve to die in a space ship crash. I can't imagine him even climbing aboard one of the things. My favorite of several series he writes is one with a Russian detective as protagonist. Loren Estleman is a dignified, sober individual who writes wonderful stories set in Detroit. It's impossible to visualize him waving his arms in the air while saying he knows nothing.
So why did this Armin Moehle decide to use our names? He didn't pick them out of thin air, that's obvious. I will say this, I'm in good company. And I ended up in better shape than the others.
The name of the story is "Twins," but only four of us were aboard the space ship and none of us were related so what does the title refer to?
A man I have come to know in Germany, Peter Puhl, is doing a complete translation and perhaps then I will understand it a little better. Until then all I can say is this is one weird story, even for science fiction. Perhaps someone should sue. Not me; I came out in better shape than anyone else. Smiling, even laughing, while poor Kaminsky lies there dead. Yes, it's a strange story.

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