A. Sterren

My Canadian passport states the country of my birth, the starting point of a journey uneasy and revealing. I have seen much, maybe too much of the bad things that happen in the world. I have heard of and I have seen the appalling things that people in a frenzy of hate can do to other people. Yet I believe, not always is there hatred and cruelty. I believe in the kernels of goodness as I write my stories. Even my stories are not free from grief and tragedy but something good prevails in the end.

Books that I have published: Glans of Tarunan, Taellus of Tarunan and Fire of Tarunan (the Tarunan trilogy) - no longer in print. Books that I have published as Sterren: Resonance and Engelinkyn: The Winged Hemisphere, Engelinkyn: The Jewels of Huemancy. Last book that will be published in the Engelinkyn trilogy: The Towered Hemisphere. Books in the making: A series, Dim Stars in the Bright of which the first two volumes A Pride of GEMS and Demes of the Wreath are in the initial rough drafts.

In some measure, my stories reflect the experience of my parents, siblings and my own as we moved from country to country, across seas and oceans, from continent to continent, wherever winds of change and turbulence have steered us to. For now, my abode is in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. For now.

In the meantime, how do I balance my passion for writing with a busy life in reality? Read all about it in The Write Balance, Journaling the Writer's Life, a collection of life experiences I share with other writers. It is available on Kindle.

Meanwhile I had the audacity of submitting Engelinkyn: The Winged Hemisphere for the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Annual Self-Published Book Awards. I didn't win a prize, but the judge's commentary is rewarding enough:

Entry Title: Engelinkyn: The Winged Hemisphere

Author: Shirley Ouw writing under the pseudonym of Sterren

Judge Number: 91

Books were evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5.

Structure and Organization: 4

Grammar: 4

Production Quality and Cover Design: 2

Plot (if applicable): 4

Character Development (if applicable): 4

What did you like best about this book?

The phrases used throughout the novel are lyrical - written in a way that flows nicely and is somewhat poetic. The descriptions of the fictional creatures are well-written also; this is critical, since the reader has no visual to start with. The characters seem real and three-dimensional; their conversations consistently flow well. The novel is broken up well; short chapters make it easy to get through the story. The author is very creative; s/he has introduced new beings and new worlds that take an incredible amount of imagination to truly create, in so much detail that others can visualize it all as well.

How can the author improve this book?

The cover (including the title, subheading and image/design) doesn’t give the reader much information about what to expect from the book. For example, my first assumption was that it was spiritual novel, and I wasn’t sure what the title was (was it “The Winged Hemisphere by Engelinkyn?). The front cover would look more professional also, if the image bled to the edges, rather than floated in a frame. A glossary for the fictional creatures/things/etc would be helpful, since there are so many; they make it a little difficult at first for the reader to understand the scenes.

Shirley Ouw