The caste of Sharmaz contains a collection of short stories ranging from hard science fiction to fantasy and from horror to humor. Those who like fantasy will most probably enjoy the title story, Gisele and Galdan, The ancient magic and Why not all snakes have a split tongue. The white glow of steel, There are so many others and clear as sunlight are science fiction stories. Furthermore you will find some horror, like the story of what happened after the famous 80's movie 'An American werewolf in London'. And last but not least there's some humor, represented by the wine collector and even an erotic fantasy called sultry. The stories were inspired by several writers like Larry Niven, Orson Scott Card, Peter Schaap and Jack Vance. But also by discussions with friends or colleagues, or even a short newspaper item (which lead to Hunger). Most stories were published in the Dutch version of this collection called: Het kasteel van Sharmaz (ISBN 9789402108712), except for Hunger and Clear as night, those were written for a Dutch story contest in 2013 and have not been published before.