The Next World is Ursula Steck’s first American novel (although she has published several in Germany) and it was a Debut Author finalist for a 2006 Golden Crown Literary Society award. Steck has several novels published in her native Germany and this is her first American novel. Her turns of phrases are sometimes foreign and, in another novel, they might seem strange, but put into the mouth and thoughts of Anna Spring, a woman of Chinese and Caucasian decent who has lived most of her life in Germany, they seem to add to the character’s persona. In addition to these speech mannerisms, this quirky character has a glass eye that she frequently changes out to different colored prostheses, while at other times, she chooses to wear an eye patch.