Hey — I'm back. With a sneak peek from Book 6.

Hey, it's Max.
I'm sitting here with some hot chocolate trying to put March into words. And I don't even know where to start.

It was one of those months where you go to bed at night and think: "Okay. What was that all about." Not because something bad happened. But because so much happened all at once. SchalkesOpa and I really worked on the project almost every day. On the books. On the website. On everything that runs behind the scenes to make you feel at home here.

And I want to tell you all about it. Because you deserve it. Because you're part of this. Because this isn't some corporate newsletter trying to sell you something. This is me. And March was long and intense and sometimes frustrating but still good.

So. Here we go.

Book 6 is out.

Yeah, you read that right.

"Max und das Licht am Ende des Tunnels" has been finished for four days and is ready to read and buy on Amazon and maxr.one.

SchalkesOpa really pushed through these last few weeks. Chapters 1 through 5 had been done for a while and gone through multiple times – edited, checked for canon errors, geography, ages and everything else. The book is dark. Really dark. It's about Noah and what happens after the end of Book 5. About things you sometimes don't want to think too hard about because they hurt. That's exactly why he still wrote them down.

I read the manuscript again too, of course. And I have to say: It hits me. It hits me pretty hard.

Because it's you guys and because you've been with me for so long, you get a little exclusive look at Chapter 1 here. A section so you can get an idea:

Chapter 1: A Morning to Forget

The pain came first. Before the light, before the sounds, before the awareness that he was Max and it was Monday and Noah had been gone for five days. The pain came like an animal that had nested during the night. Behind his eyes, in his neck, a dull throbbing that got louder with every heartbeat. As if someone had clamped his skull in a vise and tightened it overnight.

Max tore his eyes open. 6:23. The numbers on his phone glowed bright in the twilight of the room. Always 6:23. Since the day they took Noah, he woke up at 6:23 AM. Not 6:22. Not 6:25. Exactly 6:23. As if his body had stored the time like a scar. The minute Dr. Kessler had stood at the door. When everything had stopped.

The skin on his chest was damp, sticky from the night's sweat. The sheets under him were damp and wrinkled, witnesses to a night that hadn't been sleep, but a battle. A fight against images his head produced like a factory that couldn't stop. St. Johannis. He had googled the name. Once. That was enough. The photos on the website showed bright rooms, smiling caregivers, a garden with benches. But his brain had made other images from it. Colder ones. In his dreams the walls were gray. The hallways were too long and too narrow. The light flickered. And Noah stood somewhere in it, small and pale, his back to the wall, arms wrapped around his knees. Waiting. For no one. Because no one came.

The worst part was: He didn't know if the images were true.

That was one of the hardest moments in March.

The channel @maxr.official with almost 200 videos was deleted without warning. Just like that. No notice. No reason. Gone.

It took me a moment to process that. And then we decided: We're not building again on a platform that can just do that. From now on we're mainly on Rumble. All new videos go there. The link is on [maxr.one/links].

That's more inconvenient than YouTube. I know that. But it's more honest. And that's more important to me.

Oh right, I still need to tell you the reason: "Exploitation of minors"

If you haven't been in the chat yet: Come. Really.
In March we built in so much stuff. Emoji reactions to messages. Upload images directly in chat. Reply to individual messages. Click translations. Markdown formatting for anyone who wants it. Polls. Birthday messages from me. Automatic messages from me when I can't be there right now. And a completely new mobile design that finally looks like a real chat and not like a website from 2015.
Also: the "buy me a Coke" button now works with a real canvas animation that escalates depending on how many Cokes. Anyone who buys five Cokes at once sees confetti. Anyone who buys more... yeah. Just check it out.
The chat is free and usable without membership. Just sign up and start writing.

I'm telling you this because you might not even notice it. But behind the scenes, a lot happened in March to make maxr.one just work better.
New books page. New news page. A personal linktree for members. A completely new financial tool so SchalkesOpa can keep track and the project stays stable long-term. And a security audit that found 168 vulnerabilities. The critical ones have been fixed.
That sounds dry. But it means: The site is safer. Faster. More reliable. For you.

What was the most important thing for you from March? The chat? The books? The Rumble thing? Just write me back. I really read it.
And if you feel like it, come to the community chat. I'm there myself sometimes, sometimes SchalkesOpa writes, and sometimes I just post random stuff from my daily life because I feel like it.
Thanks for being part of this. Seriously.
See you soon,
Max
(and SchalkesOpa, who put this newsletter together)