
Other works by Polk include a historical fantasy set in Regency era England, The Midnight Bargain, which was nominated for several speculative fiction prizes. The third and concluding book of the series, Soulstar, was published in 2021. Witchmark is the first book of the Kingston Cycle, with the sequel Stormsong listed by CBC Books as among the Canadian fiction to watch for in 2020. In 2019, Polk was listed by the CBC as one of "19 Canadian writers to watch". Witchmark won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and received nominations for several awards including the Nebula and Locus Awards. Polk's first novel Witchmark, featuring a murder mystery set in an alternate history Edwardian England, was written in 2014 and published in 2018. Polk was influenced by the works of fantasy author Tanith Lee, in particular the Tales from the Flat Earth, the historical mystery and fantasy novels of Barbara Hambly, and the Valdemar novels by Mercedes Lackey. They began writing in their thirties, publishing short fiction in magazines such as Abyss & Apex in the early 2000s. Polk was born in 1969 in New Westminster, British Columbia and grew up in Surrey and Edmonton. A blend of murder mystery and fantasy, Witchmark is set in an alternate history England and is followed by two sequels, Stormsong and Soulstar. New Westminster, British Columbia, CanadaĬhelsea Louise Polk (born 1969) is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction, best known for the debut novel Witchmark which won the World Fantasy Award in 2019.
