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Turning the Pages of Romance – 2004 – Author Biographies

A One Day Conference for Lovers of Romantic Fiction

2004 Author Biographies

Biographical information provided by the authors. Information accurate as of 2004.

Victoria Alexander [Website]

Victoria Alexander is the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of 20 novels or novellas. The former television reporter turned to writing full time when she discovered fiction was much more fun than real life and she’s never looked back.

Victoria grew up traveling the country as an Air Force brat and now lives in Omaha, Nebraska with her husband, two teen-aged children, a bearded collie named Sam, a house under constant renovation and never ending chaos.

She laughs a great deal.


Kylie Brant [Website]

Kylie Brant is the award-winning author of nineteen novels for Silhouette Intimate Moments. She is a 2003 Romantic Times Career Achievement nominee, and her book Entrapment was nominated for a 2003 Reviewers Choice Award. Her best selling novels have been released in twenty-six countries and translated into eighteen languages. She readily admits that her favorite part of writing suspense is killing off the characters that annoy her the most, but insists she’s never emulated her plots in real life. Yet.


Pam Crooks [Website]

While expecting her first child more years back than she cares to count, Pam Crook read her very first romance novel, and she has been in love with them ever since. Her childhood was spent in the ranch country of western Nebraska where she became fascinated with the Old West and the cowboys who lived it.

She is the author of four romances. Her fifth and newest book will be released by Harlequin Historicals in August 2004.

Pam lives in Omaha with her husband (who is not a cowboy), four daughters, one son-in-law and her very mellow Golden Lab mix, Spencer. She loves to hear from her friends and readers. Contact Pam via email from her Web site, www.pamcrooks.com, or snail mail at P.O. Box 540122, Omaha, NE, 68154.


Kristin Gabriel [Website]

Kristin Gabriel launched her writing career by winning Harlequin’s Love & Laughter contest in 1995. Her first book, Bullets Over Boise, was made into a television movie and retitled Recipe For Revenge. She won a RITA award from the Romance Writers of America for her second book, Monday Man, in 1999, followed by another RITA in 2000 for Annie Get Your Groom. Most recently, her Harlequin Temptation, Propositioned? was named the Best Tempation of 2003 by Romantic Times magazine. A transplanted city girl, Kristin lives in rural Nebraska with her husband and three teenagers. Her hobbies include snacking and procrastination.


Cindy Gerard [Website]

Since her first release in 1991 hit the National Number 1 bestseller slot on Walden’s, Cindy Gerard has repeatedly claimed that coveted #1 spot as well as making appearances on a number of bestseller lists, including USA Today.

With numerous industry awards to her credit – among them the Romance Writers of America’s coveted RITA award and the National Reader’s Choice Award – this former Golden Heart Finalist and repeat RT nominee is the real deal. As one book reviewer put it, “Cindy Gerard provides everything romance readers want in a love story – passion, gut-wrenching emotion, intriguing characters and a captivating plot. This storyteller extraordinaire delivers all of this and more!”

After penning nearly 30 category romances Cindy is branching out into the Single Title market. The first book in her exciting romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards, will be released by St. Martins Press in late 2004 or early 2005.


Kim Louise [Website]

Kim Louise wrote her first work of fiction at 7-years-old and has not looked back. Since then she’s written 100s of poems, several short stories, a smattering of essays and 15 novels. Kim credits Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, and Stephen King among her literary influences.


Leigh Michaels [Website]

Leigh Michaels is the author of more than 75 contemporary romance novels published by Harlequin Books. More than 30 million copies of her books have been printed in 120 countries in 25 languages.

Six of her books have been finalists for Best Traditional Romance novel in the RITA contest sponsored by Romance Writers of America. The Iowa Library Association presented her the Johnson Brigham award in 2003 for substantial and sustained literary contribution to American culture.

She is the author of non-fiction books such as Writing the Romance Novel, a step-by-step workbook, and Creating Romantic Characters. She has produced audiotapes on writing.

She teaches romance writing at in-person seminars at the University of Iowa and on the Internet at Gotham Writers’ Workshop (www.writingclasses.com) and at Barnes & Noble University (www.bn.com).

She wrote her first romance novel when she was fifteen and burned it, then wrote and burned five more complete manuscripts in the next ten years before submitting to a publisher. Her first submission was accepted and published by Harlequin, the first publisher to look at it.


Julie Miller [Website]

Julie Miller is an award-winning author – with a Daphne du Maurier, two Readers’ Choice awards, a PRISM and a Golden Quill on the shelves in her office. She’s been a finalist in several other contests, including the Golden Heart. She started her career writing action-packed paranormals for Dorchester, and now has a home at Harlequin where she writes for Intrigue, Blaze and special projects.

Today, this former English and speech teacher gets support from her fellow members of the Prairieland Romance Writers – her local chapter of Romance Writers of America, the Kiss of Death link in the Mystery-Romantic Suspense sub-genre chapter of RWA, as well as her husband and son – and smiling guard dog, Maxie!

Her category romances have appeared on the Waldenbooks bestseller lists, and she was selected to help promote Harlequin Intrigue’s expansion from four to six books a month by writing an original story that appeared in a series of 2-in-1 Intrigue spotlight books in September. Her popular Taylor Clan mini-series for Intrigue, which features a family of law enforcement officers set in the Kansas City area, will be spun off into a new mini-series in 2005, entitled The Precinct, and will feature several supporting characters from the original series.

Inspired by the likes of Agatha Christie and Encyclopedia Brown, Ms. Miller believes the only thing better than a good mystery is a good romance.


Roxanne Rustand [Website]

Roxanne Rustand discovered romance novels when a friend handed her a Judith McNaught historical and dared her to put it down. She did – but not until four o’clock the next morning. Completely hooked, she spent the next year devouring all of the romances she could find, and then started writing one herself.

Her first manuscript won a Romance Writer’s of America Golden Heart for Best Long Contemporary. Her second manuscript was a Golden Heart finalist, and was published by Superromance in August, 1999. Her sixth and seventh Superromances were out during 2002, and three more are scheduled for 2003-2004.

Co-founder and two-term first president of the Heart of Iowa chapter of RWA, she enjoys speaking at regional and national writers’ conferences.

Roxanne has a Master’s Degree in Nutrition, and works as a staff dietitian for a residential psychiatric facility. She and her husband have three children. They live on an acreage with two dogs, three horses, numerous cats … and Sid the Snake, who insisted on appearing in her first book.


Cynthia Rutledge [Website (as Cindy Kirk)]

Cynthia Rutledge learned at an early age the value of having an active imagination. If she didn’t like the ending of a television show or movie, she simply thought of a different one. Or if she had difficulty falling asleep, instead of counting sheep, she made up a story.

She wrote her first book in junior high school with the hero modeled after Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits. (Anyone remember him?) When she let a favorite teacher read it and received a less than enthusiastic response, Cynthia promptly relegated it to the trash. However, she couldn’t stay away from writing. When she was sixteen she penned these words in her diary: “I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t be a writer.”

But it would be several decades before her dream would become a reality. In the meantime, she would go to college, first graduating with a BA in Sociology and Political Science and later with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. As a registered nurse she would work at a variety of different jobs, including a hospital discharge planner, a hospice coordinator, and most recently, as a regional consultant for a large insurance company.

During all this, she and her husband Kirt would raise one daughter, Wendy, and a variety of pets. It was while Wendy was in college that the dream of writing resurfaced. A little over three years after she began writing again, Cynthia sold her first novel, Unforgettable Faith, an inspirational romance to Steeple Hill. She’s proud of the books she’s written and truly believes that to get to know an author, you only need to read her work. Cynthia invites you to grab a cup of hot cocoa, curl up with one of her novels, and get better acquainted!


Bobbi Smith [Website]

After working as a department manager for Famous-Barr, and briefly as a clerk at a bookstore, Bobbi Smith gave up on career security and began writing. She sold her first book to Zebra in 1982. Since then, Bobbi has written over thirty-five books and several short stories. To date, there are more than five million of her novels in print. She has been awarded the prestigious Romantic Times Storyteller of the Year Award and two Career Achievement Awards. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists. When she’s not working on her novels, she is frequently a guest speaker for writer’s groups. Bobbi is mother of two sons and resides in St. Charles, Missouri with her husband and two dogs.


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