Biography
Jeanne Hines was born in Moorefield, West Virginia, the daughter of Llewellyn Brown McNeill and Bess Heiskell McNeil. She grew up in a traditional family, but dreamed of doing something more than marrying and becoming a housewife. She married in 1943 Edward Thomas Hines (March 2, 1914 - Dec. 8, 2001) and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, but she was writing while she traveled with her husband between their five mansions along the East Coast. [3]
She worked as a reporter and fashion magazine illustrator before turning to fiction and becoming a novelist. Published since 1973, she penned gothic novels under her real name and romance novels as Valerie Sherwood and Rosamond Royal until 1991. She won the Romantic Times 1987-1988 Career Achievement Award in the category of "historical adventure". [4]
When author Chris Marie Green (aka Crystal Green), was 19, she wrote a fan letter to Hines, and the historical author answered the gushing missive and inspired her to write her first romance. [5]
Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name refers to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of early Gothic novels.
Eleanor Alice Hibbert was an English writer of historical romances. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen name: Jean Plaidy for fictionalized history of European royalty and the three volumes of her history of the Spanish Inquisition, Victoria Holt for gothic romances, and Philippa Carr for a multi-generational family saga. She also wrote light romances, crime novels, murder mysteries and thrillers under pseudonyms Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival, and Ellalice Tate.
A romance novel or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primary focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed to the development of this genre include Maria Edgeworth, Samuel Richardson, Jane Austen, and Charlotte Brontë.
Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long, who used the pseudonyms Marjorie Bowen, George R. Preedy, Joseph Shearing, Robert Paye, John Winch, and Margaret Campbell or Mrs. Vere Campbell, was a British author who wrote historical romances and supernatural horror stories, as well as works of popular history and biography.
Sheila Holland, née Sheila Ann Mary Coates was best known under the pseudonym Charlotte Lamb as a prolific romantic novelist. She signed her novels with her married or maiden names – Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates – and under the pseudonyms Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. She was married to Richard Holland. They had five children, including a set of twins: – Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland.
Patricia Maxwell, is an American writer. A member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame and the Affaire de Coeur Romance Hall of Fame, Maxwell has received numerous awards for her writing. Her first novel in the romance genre, Love's Wild Desire, became a New York Times Bestseller.
Carrie Vaughn is an American writer, the author of the urban fantasy Kitty Norville series. She has published more than 60 short stories in science fiction and fantasy magazines as well as short story anthologies and internet magazines. She is one of the authors for the Wild Cards books. Vaughn won the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award for Bannerless, and has been nominated for the Hugo Award.
Patricia Brisco Matthews was an American writer of gothic, romance and mystery novels. She wrote under the pen names P.A. Brisco, Patty Brisco, Pat A. Brisco, Pat Brisco, Patricia Matthews and Laura Wylie. She collaborated with her second husband, Clayton Matthews, on romance and mystery (suspense) novels; they were called "the hottest couple in paperbacks." She also collaborated with Denise Hrivnak as Denise Matthews.
Laurie (Lee) McBain is an American writer of seven historical romance novels from 1975 to 1985. Her novels Devil's Desire and Moonstruck Madness each sold over a million copies.
Francine Sandra Rivers is an American author of fiction with Christian themes, including inspirational romance novels. Prior to becoming a born-again Christian in 1986, Rivers wrote historical romance novels. She is best known for her inspirational novel Redeeming Love, while another novel, The Last Sin Eater, received its own film adaptation released in 2007 by Fox Faith. A film based on Redeeming Love was released on January 21, 2022 through Pinnacle Peak Pictures and Universal Pictures.
Velda Johnston (1912–1997) was an American writer of Gothic Romance novels. She also wrote under the pseudonym Veronica Jason. She was raised and educated in Pasadena, California where she sold her first short story as a high school student. She went on to UCLA on a scholarship, where she majored in journalism and wrote articles for the UCLA newspaper.
Mary Mussi, née Edgar, was a British writer of over 50 romance novels as Mary Howard, who also wrote over 10 gothic romance as Josephine Edgar. She is one of the two novelists to win three times the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Margaret Kathleen Maddocks was a British writer of 17 gothic and romance novels. Before retiring she wrote her autobiography: An Unlessoned Girl in 1977. She is the only novelist to win four Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Margaret Potter, née Margaret Newman, was a British writer of over 55 Romance, mystery and children's novels and family sagas, as well as many short stories. She wrote under her maiden and married names, and also under the pseudonyms of Anne Betteridge and Anne Melville. In 1967, her novel The Truth Game won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Maynah Lewis was a British writer of 23 gothic and romance novels. She is one of only a few authors to have won twice the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Doris Edna Smith was an Irish writer of over 20 gothic and romance novels. In 1969, her novel Comfort and Keep won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Rona Shambrook, néeGreen, was a British writer of over 50 gothic and romance novels, and some non-fiction books, under the pseudonym of Rona Randall from 1942 to 2001. She also used her married name Rona Shambrook and the pseudonym of Virginia Standage. In 1970, her novel Broken Tapestry won the Romantic Novel of the Year Awardfrom the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Anne Rundle was a British author of more than 40 gothic and romance novels. She also used the pseudonyms of Joanne Marshall, Marianne Lamont, Alexandra Manners, Jeanne Sanders, and Georgianna Bell. She won the Netta Muskett Award for new writers, and is one of only a few authors to have won twice the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.
Violet Elizabeth Cadell, née Vandyke was a 20th-century British writer. She sometimes used the pseudonym, Harriet Ainsworth.
Romance, is a "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents". This genre contrasted with the main tradition of the novel, which realistically depict life. These works frequently, but not exclusively, take the form of the historical novel. Walter Scott describes romance as a "kindred term", and many European languages do not distinguish between romance and novel: "a novel is le roman, der Roman, il romanzo".
