MELANIE SCOTT, who also writes as M.J. Scott, grew up in a family of avid readers who fostered her love of words. A long time reader of fantasy and romance, it was inevitable that her own stories combine the two genres. Her unpublished novels have won a number of awards including the Romance Writers of Australia's Emerald Award and Valerie Parv Award and the Romance Writers of New Zealand's Clendon Award. She is a two-time finalist in the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart(R) Award. Shadow Kin, her debut novel, won praise from three New York Times bestselling authors. All three books in her Half-Light City series have been finalists in the Australian Romance Readers Association Awards. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she distracts herself with books, cats, and yarn when she's not writing.