Suspense romance novels with soul
‘Make Life Your Masterpiece’
Cate Stellar writes suspense romance novels with soul. Her passion is to connect her audience, through enthralling storytelling, to the higher truths of life which inspire us all to make our lives a masterpiece.
Her childhood growing up in the ‘old’ South Africa was idyllic, in spite of the political tensions which were so much a part of her environment while growing up under apartheid.
“I remember young years filled with magical hours spent reading Rider Haggard, Olive Schreiner, John Buchan, Karen Blixen, Joseph Conrad and other writers entranced by the magic of Africa. The fire of imagination this lit within me later inspired me to become a writer and documentary filmmaker.”
Cate grew up as a natural adventurer, curious and filled with a sense of the exotic romance of Africa and a desire to explore the world she encountered in books.
After studying to become a zoologist, Cate worked as a wildlife writer and as a conservationist for the South African Defence Force, before setting out to roam the world, backpacking through Australia, New Zealand, parts of Asia, the Middle East and Europe. During this time she worked as a university tutor, an outback field assistant, a waitress, a dishwasher, a bartender and a farm hand. She cycle-toured the Great Ocean Road and Tasmania, climbed peaks, hitchhiked around New Zealand, sailed the Whitsundays and got lost in the Blue Mountains.
Then it was back to Africa to pursue a career in the publishing and film industries as a screenwriter, documentary filmmaker and photojournalist. This included a series of hiking trails videos of some of her favourite Southern African wilderness hikes, and a series of documentaries which featured an endurance triathlon race through the wilds of Madagascar.
“One of my childhood inspirations was Gerald Durrell, who wrote the delightful My Family and Other Animals. So to work in Madagascar, one of his favourite conservation destinations, was a dream. We filmed a long-distance endurance race which took place over two weeks through some of the island’s wildest and most inaccessible terrain, and promoted the conservation of the island’s unique wildlife. One of the challenges was working with French race-coordinators, although it turned out they spoke much more English than they let on.”
After a stint in current affairs television and as an advertising TV producer, Cate moved to Australia, where her love of writing and poetry drew her to writing short stories and novels.
“It’s been a journey of many years to reach this place, where I feel I can now write the kinds of stories I create. As authors we journey into other worlds and into different planes and dimensions in order to bring back the truths we encounter in those story worlds for our readers to share. It’s taken a long time and much life experience to be ready for that.”
She now lives in Australia, the second of the two fascinating continents of her family heritage, with her loving husband and gorgeous children, where she juggles writing novels with her busy family, professional, church and community life.
How has YOUR reading inspired and influenced your journey?
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