M.J. Scott biography options
Author bio used in M.J. Scott books
M.J Scott is an unrepentant bookworm. Luckily she grew up in a family that fed her a properly varied diet of books and these days is surrounded by people who are understanding of her story addiction. When not wrestling one of her own stories to the ground, she can generally be found reading someone else’s. Her other distractions include yarn, cat butlering, dark chocolate and watercolor. She lives in Melbourne, Australia. Her website is www.mjscott.net. She has also written contemporary romance as Melanie Scott and Emma Douglas.
Official bio – short
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 Her unpublished novels have won a number of awards including the Romance Writers of Australia’s Emerald Award and Valerie Parv Award and the Romance Writers of New Zealand’s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® Award. Shadow Kin, was her debut novel and has won praise from three New York Times bestselling authors. Publisher’s Weekly called Fire Kin, the final book in the Half-Light City series “Entertaining…Scott’s dramatic story will satisfy both fans and new readers”. The Shattered Court, the first book in her Four Arts series came out in April 2015. Publisher’s Weekly said “the story’s real strength lies in the web of intrigue Scott creates around her characters” and RT Book Reviews gave it four stars. It was nominated in the Best Paranormal Romance category in the Romance Writers of America’s 2016 RITA awards. All four books in the Half-Light City series were finalists in the Australian Romance Readers Association Awards, as was Wicked Words. She has also written contemporary romance as Melanie Scott and Emma Douglas.
She lives in Melbourne, Australia where she distracts herself with books, cats and paint when she’s not writing.
Her website is www.mjscott.net.
Official bio – long
M.J. Scott was born in Melbourne, Australia but grew up in the green and rolling hills of South Gippsland, Victoria. Raised by two teachers, her love of reading was always encouraged and books willingly provided to feed her reading habit. She moved back to Melbourne to attend university, where she did an honours degree in a subject completely unrelated to writing fiction. She still works in that field and gets to write a lot of documents that do not involve assassins, mages, vampires, magic and romance.
Her two great fiction loves have always been fantasy and romance, having grown up reading Tolkien alongside L.M. Montgomery and Susan Cooper, Diana Wynne Jones and David Eddings mixed with Heyer, Austen and all the romance books she could find. Therefore, it was somewhat inevitable that when she finally decided to start writing down the stories in her head, those stories incorporated both 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 was also a two time finalist in the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Award.
Shadow Kin was her debut novel and won praise from three New York Times bestselling authors. Her urban fantasy-like stories in an historical alternate world setting are a fresh twist on the genre. Fire Kin, the fourth and final book in the Half-Light City series was released in May 2014. Publisher’s Weekly called Fire Kin “Entertaining…Scott’s dramatic story will satisfy both fans and new readers”. In January 2014, she released The Wolf Within, the first book in a new urban fantasy trilogy. Book 2, The Dark Side was released in October 2014. The Shattered Court, the first book in her The Four Arts series was released April 2015. Publisher’s Weekly said “the story’s real strength lies in the web of intrigue Scott creates around her characters” and RT Book Reviews gave it four stars “Fans of high fantasy and court politics will enjoy The Shattered Court. Sophie is such a great heroine—readers will like that she’s not the brassy sassy heroine we see often, but rather a lady of her time who grows into a stronger character.” It was nominated in the Best Paranormal Romance category in the Romance Writers of America’s 2016 RITA awards. Book 2, The Forbidden Heir was released in 2017 and book 3, The Unbound Queen was released in April 2020, followed by Courting The Witch, a prequel novella available as a standalone in April 2021. Her latest fantasy release was the The Rebel’s Prize, the final book in the Daughter of Ravens series, set in the same world as the Four Arts books. Her latest urban fantasy release was Wicked Ways, book 5 in her TechWitch series in April 2024. Wicked Deeds, book 6 will be released in 2025.
All four books in the Half-Light City series as well as Wicked Words were finalists in the Australian Romance Readers Association Awards.
She also writes contemporary romance as Melanie Scott (and previously as Emma Douglas).
Her life, apart from the day job, revolves around books, writing, the odd painting, knitting, baking or photography binge, resisting the lure of dark chocolate and taking orders from her cats. She currently lives in Melbourne, Australia. Her website is www.mjscott.net.
