MELANIE TEM's chronicles of the terrors that haunt families and the amazing resilience of the human spirit have collected a Bram Stoker award, a British Fantasy Award, and praise both here and abroad. Stephen King said of her first novel, Prodigal, "spectacular, far better than anything by new writers in the hardcover field." Dan Simmons declared it "A cry from the very heart of the heart of darkness . . . Melanie Tem may well be the literary successor to Shirley Jackson." David Morrell called her ghost novel Revenant "Hauntingly beautiful. Achingly on target." And of Black River, her latest novel published by Headline in England, the British critics said "Fascinating, overwhelming, compelling . . . Melanie Tem is one hell of a writer." (SFX) "One of the most resonant, moving novels of recent years . . . a near-masterpiece." (Darlington Northern Echo)