Jayne Ann Krentz

Jayne Ann Castle Krentz
Born Jayne Ann Castle
March 28, 1948
Cobb, California, United States
Pen name Jayne Castle,
Jayne Taylor,
Jayne Bentley,
Stephanie James,
Jayne Ann Krentz,
Amanda Glass,
Amanda Quick
Occupation Novelist
Nationality American
Alma mater San Jose State University
Period 1979 - present
Genre Romance, Suspense, Fantasy
Spouse Frank Krentz
Website
www.krentz-quick.com

Jayne Ann Krentz, née Jayne Castle (born March 28, 1948 in Cobb, California, United States), is an American writer of romance novels. Krentz is the author of a string of New York Times bestsellers under seven different pseudonyms. Now, she only uses three names. Under her married name she writes contemporary romantic-suspense. She uses Amanda Quick for her novels of historical romantic-suspense. She uses her maiden name for futuristic/paranormal romantic-suspense writing.

Over 35 million copies of Krentz's novels are in print. With Sweet Starfire, she created the futuristic romance subgenre, and further expanded the boundaries of the genre in 1996 with Amaryllis, the first paranormal futuristic romantic suspense novel. She is an outspoken advocate for the romance genre and has been the recipient of the Susan Koppelman Award for Feminist Studies.

Biography

Personal life

Jayne Ann Castle was born on March 28, 1948 in Cobb, California, United States.[1] She and her two brothers were raised by their mother, Alberta, in Borrego Springs for the first decade of Jayne's life.

She earned a B.A in History at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1970.[2] Fearful that she would be unable to find a job using her degree, she elected to obtain her graduate degree in Library Science from San Jose State University. Immediately after graduation she married Frank Krentz, an engineer, whom she had met at San Jose State. The couple moved to the Virgin Islands, where Krentz worked for a year as an elementary school librarian, a time she refers to as "an unmitigated career disaster".[1] Realizing that she enjoyed being a librarian but not the aspects of teaching that working in an elementary school required, Krentz moved into the higher levels of academia, including a stint in the Duke University library system.[1] Krentz and her husband later moved to Seattle, Washington.

Krentz has been generous in sharing her wealth with libraries. She established the Castle Humanities Fund at UCSC's University Library to allow the library to purchase additional books and has given money to 15 Seattle-area elementary schools to enhance their library budgets. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Writers Programs at the University of Washington extension program.[2][3]

Writing career

Early years

While working at Duke, Krentz began writing stories her way, combining elements of romance novels with paranormal twists. For six years she wrote and mailed proposals for new novels, consistently receiving rejection letters.[1] She claims to have tried to stop writing several times during that period, but that it became a "compulsion".[3] During this time she and her family moved to Seattle, Washington to further her husband's aerospace career.

Pseudonyms and genres

Krentz continued writing, and, in 1979, she sold her first novel, Gentle Pirate.[1] That novel and several that followed were published within various category romance lines, as that was the only method in which contemporary romance was published. As more publishers began to release single-title contemporary romances, Krentz shifted into writing only single-title novels.[4]

Her first novels were released under her birth name, Jayne Castle. Krentz signed a contract allowing one of her publishers to own the name, and, after leaving that publisher, Krentz was unable to use that name on new works for ten years. This led to the creation of several pseudonyms, including Jayne Taylor, Jayne Bentley, Stephanie James and Amanda Glass. By the mid-1980s she had begun using only her married name, Jayne Ann Krentz, for all of her contemporary romance novels.[1]

Her 1986 novel, Sweet Starfire, was a futuristic romance, a subgenre that combined elements of romance novels and science fiction. The novel was a "classic road trip romance" which just happened to be set in a separate galaxy. In 1987 she published a second futuristic romance, Crystal Flame, which again allowed for a "traditional romance plot unfold[ing] in an extraordinary world."[5] The success of these books encouraged Krentz to try to write a real historical romance with a humorous twist, which she released under the pseudonym Amanda Quick.[5]

She began writing paranormal futuristic novels of romantic suspense in 1996. Released under her maiden name, Jayne Castle, these novels are set far in the future in a world where everyone has a psychic talent and respectable people use marriage agencies instead of choosing their own mates. As is customary in her writing, in each case the protagonists have a mystery to solve or a villain to defeat.[6]

Psychic themes appear throughout Krentz's work. In 2006 she began a new series, called The Arcane Society, which includes books written as Amanda Quick (historical setting), Jayne Ann Krentz (contemporary setting), and Jayne Castle (futuristic setting). The books tell the stories of members of the Arcane Society for the psychically gifted, and each hero and heroine has his or her own psychic power. The books feature a mystery for the protagonists to solve while they are learning to deal with their psychic abilities.[7] The heroes of her novels are always alpha males who are as strong and determined as her heroines.[8]

Recognition

More than 120 of Krentz's romance novels have been published, with 32 placing on the New York Times Bestseller List. In total, there are over 23 million copies of her books in print.[3]

Krentz's novel The Waiting Game was adapted for the Harlequin Romance Series teleplay in 2001.

Her books have won many awards. Krentz has been nominated 22 times for Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards, winning in 1995 for Trust Me and in 2004 for Falling Awake.[9] She has also received a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award.[9]

An outspoken advocate of the merits of romantic fiction, Krentz maintains that "[p]opular fiction encapsulates and reinforces many of our most fundamental cultural values. Romance is among the most enduring because it addresses the values of family and human emotional bonds." To help educate the public about the genre she became the editor of and a contributor to Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance, a non-fiction essay collection that won the prestigious Susan Koppelman Award for Feminist Studies.[3] Krentz was the inspiration for, and first recipient of, the Romantic Times Jane Austen Award, created to "honor those in the romance community who have significantly impacted our genre."[10]

Bibliography

As Jayne Castle

Category romance

Stand-alone novels

Guinevere Jones series

  1. The Desperate Game, 1986, reissued digitally and in audio August 2012
  2. The Chilling Deception, 1986, reissued digitally and in audio August 2012
  3. The Sinister Touch, 1986, reissued digitally and in audio August 2012
  4. The Fatal Fortune, 1986, reissued digitally and in audio August 2012
  5. Desperate and Deceptive: The Guinevere Jones Collection Volume 1, January 7, 2014 [Collects The Desperate Game & The Chilling Deception]
  6. Sinister and Fatal: The Guinevere Jones Collection Volume 2, February 4, 2014 [Collects The Sinister Touch & The Fatal Fortune]

Curtain Worlds

Futuristic World of St. Helen's Novels
  1. Amaryllis, 1996
  2. Zinnia, 1997
  3. Orchid, 1998
Futuristic World of Harmony: Ghost Hunter Novels
  1. "Bridal Jitters" in Charmed (1999) and Harmony (2000)
  2. After Dark, 2000 and in Harmony (2000)
  3. After Glow, 2004
  4. Ghost Hunter, 2006
  5. Silver Master, 2007 (First mention of Arcane Society on Harmony)
  6. Dark Light, 2008
  7. Obsidian Prey, 2009 (ties-in with Arcane Society series)
Futuristic World of Harmony: Rainshadow Novels
  1. The Lost Night, 2012 (Connected to Crystal Gardens)
  2. Deception Cove, 2013
  3. The Hot Zone, 2014
  4. Siren's Call, July 28, 2015

Arcane Society Novels

The Dreamlight Trilogy
  1. Fired Up, 2009 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  2. Burning Lamp, 2010 (as Amanda Quick)
  3. Midnight Crystal, 2010
The Looking Glass Trilogy
  1. In Too Deep, 2010 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  2. Quicksilver, 2011 (as Amanda Quick)
  3. Canyons of Night, 2011 (introduces Rainshadow Island)

As Jayne Taylor

Category romance

As Jayne Bentley

Category romance

As Stephanie James

Category romance

Colter Novels

  1. Fabulous Beast, 1984
  2. The Devil to Pay, 1985

As Jayne Ann Krentz

Category romance

Stand-alone novels

Lost Colony Novels

  1. Crystal Flame, 1986
  2. Sweet Starfire, 1986
  3. Shield's Lady, 1989 (originally published as Amanda Glass, reissued under Jayne Ann Krentz)

Dreams Duology

  1. Dream, Part One, 1988 ( both part one and two were re-issued in 2001 together in one book called "A Shared Dream")
  2. Dream, Part Two, 1988

Gifts Duology

  1. Gift of Gold, 1988
  2. Gift of Fire, 1989

Ladies and Legend Novels

  1. The Pirate, 1990
  2. The Adventurer, 1990
  3. The Cowboy, 1990

Eclipse Bay Trilogy

  1. Eclipse Bay, 2000
  2. Dawn in Eclipse Bay, 2001
  3. A Summer in Eclipse Bay, 2002

Whispering Springs Novels

  1. Light in Shadow, 2003
  2. Truth or Dare, 2004

Arcane Society Novels

  1. White Lies (Book 2), 2007
  2. Sizzle and Burn (Book 3), 2008
  3. Running Hot (Book 5), 2008 (ties-in with Eclipse Bay series)
The Dreamlight Trilogy
  1. Fired Up, 2009
  2. Burning lamp, 2010 (as Amanda Quick)
  3. Midnight Crystal, 2010 (as Jayne Castle)
The Looking Glass Trilogy
  1. In Too Deep, 2010
  2. Quicksilver, 2011 (as Amanda Quick)
  3. Canyons of Night, 2011 (as Jayne Castle)

Dark Legacy Novels

  1. Copper Beach, 2012
  2. Dream Eyes, 2013

As Amanda Glass

Lost Colony Novels

  1. Crystal Flame, 1986 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  2. Sweet Starfire, 1986 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  3. Shield's Lady, 1989 (reissued under Jayne Ann Krentz)

As Amanda Quick

Stand-alone novels

Vanza Novels

  1. With This Ring, 1998/04
  2. I Thee Wed, 1999/04
  3. Wicked Widow, 2000/04
  4. Lie by Moonlight, 2005/05

Lake & March Trilogy

  1. Slightly Shady, 2001/04
  2. Don't Look Back, 2002/04
  3. Late for the Wedding, 2003/04

Arcane Society Novels

  1. Second Sight (Book 1), 1999 (as Amanda Quick)
  2. White Lies (Book 2), 2007 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  3. Sizzle and Burn (Book 3), 2008 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  4. The Third Circle (Book 4), 2008 (as Amanda Quick)
  5. Running Hot (Book 5), 2008 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  6. The Perfect Poison (Book 6), 2009 (as Amanda Quick)
  7. Fired Up (Book 7), 2009 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  8. Burning Lamp (Book 8), 2010 (as Amanda Quick)
  9. Midnight Crystal (Book 9), 2010 (as Jayne Castle)
  10. In Too Deep (Book 10), 2010 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  11. Quicksilver (Book 11), 2011 (as Amanda Quick)
  12. Canyons of Night (Book 12), 2011 (as Jayne Castle)
The Dreamlight Trilogy
  1. Fired Up, 2009 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  2. Burning Lamp, 2010
  3. Midnight Crystal, 2010 (as Jayne Castle)
The Looking Glass Trilogy
  1. In Too Deep, 2010 (as Jayne Ann Krentz)
  2. Quicksilver, 2011
  3. Canyons of Night, 2011 (as Jayne Castle)

Ladies of Lantern Street Novels

  1. Crystal Gardens, 2012
  2. The Mystery Woman, 2013

Non-fiction

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Webster, Dan (January 7, 2004). "Jayne Ann Krentz". SpokesmanReview.com. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 McKenna, Barbara (February 3, 1997). "USC alumna and best-selling romance novelist establishes library endowment". University of Southern California Currents. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 White, Claire E. (January 2003). "Conversation with Jayne Ann Krentz". Writers Write. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  4. ↑ "Interview with Jayne Ann Krentz". A Romance Review. January 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gelsomino, Tara (2002). "Review of Smoke in Mirrors". Romantic Times. Archived from the original on 2007-10-04. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  6. ↑ Krentz, Jayne Ann (1996). "Cameo/Exceprt from Amaryllis". Romantic Times. Archived from the original on 2007-10-04. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  7. ↑ Levy, Faygie (2007). "Review of White Lies". Romantic Times. Archived from the original on 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  8. ↑ Samuel, Barbara (February 2007). "Versatile Jayne Ann Krentz creates past, present, and future of romance". Book Page. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Author Profile: Jayne Ann Krentz". Romantic Times. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-10-04. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  10. ↑ "Pen Names". Romantic Times. 1997. Archived from the original on 2007-10-04. Retrieved 2007-07-26.

External links