Chalice was published in 2008. It was written by fantasy author Robin McKinley, who lives in England. McKinley has won several awards for her writing, some of which has been popular with young readers, and some with mature ones. Her work has been published for thirty years. She has re-told old fairy tales, and the story of Robin Hood, sub-created a country, Damar, in a world like some of the desert or near-desert parts of ours, except that there are dragons. In Chalice, she has written a book which takes place in a country that seems entirely of McKinley's creation, except that the culture approximates that of the Middle Ages. There are horses and carriages, but no steam engines, swords but no gunpowder.