Shirley Jackson Award – Novelette (shortlisted): "The Briskwater Mare"

Best Collection (shortlisted): "Cherry Crow Children"

Best YA Short Story: "The Miseducation of Mara Lys"

Best Horror Novella: "The Miseducation of Mara Lys"

Kalin's ability to combine beauty with dread astonishes

Kalin is both a serious writer and a serious talent…[It's] storytelling like a force of nature.

Kalin has a…talent for beautiful description that delivers tantalising hints of the sinister undercurrent.

The writing in all of [the stories] is beautiful without weighing the story down with dense prose. When I read my first Deborah Kalin story, I knew this was a collection to look forward to. And I was right. Whether or not you've read any Kalin stories before, if you're at all a fan of fantasy or horror, do yourself a favour and grab a copy of this book.

Deborah Kalin's SHADOW QUEEN is totally brilliant — fascinating and often painful … unlike anything I've ever read before

Kalin is a master of world building and her strengths as a writer lie in her ability to weave a complex plot complete with political turmoil and hard won alliances.