Kate Allan (born 1975) is UK author of Perfidy and Perfection, Fateful Deception (shortlisted for the 2005 Joan Hessayon New Writers Award) and The Restless Heart. She is co-author of The Lady Soldier by Jennifer Lindsay.
Allan was educated at the all-girls' Bedford High School and Repton School. She is member of the Romantic Novelists Association, the Historical Novels Society, the Society of Authors, and Verulam Writers' Circle.
วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 13 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2554
วันพุธที่ 12 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2554
Julia Quinn
Julie Pottinger was raised primarily in New England, although she spent much time in California after her parents divorced. Even as a small child she devoured books. Her father disagreed with her choices of reading material, Sweet Dreams and the Sweet Valley High books, and told her she could keep reading them only if she could prove that they were good for her. She promptly told him that she was studying them in order to write one herself. Challenged to prove that she meant her statement, Pottinger sat down at their early computer and wrote her first two chapters. After finishing her novel three years later, she submitted it to Sweet Dreams, but was rejected.
Pottinger graduated from Harvard with a degree in Art History. During her senior year of college, she realized that she did not know what she wanted to do with her degree and decided to attend medical school. That decision required her to attend two additional years of college to complete the science prerequisites necessary to apply for medical school.
To occupy herself during the long days of studying science, Pottinger began to write light-hearted Regency romance novels. A few weeks after she was accepted to medical school, she discovered that her first two novels, Splendid and Dancing At Midnight, had been sold at auction, an unusual occurrence for a novice romance author.She postponed medical school for two years while she wrote two more novels.
By the time Pottinger finally entered Yale medical school to realize her dream of being a doctor, three of her books had been published. After only a few short months of studying medicine, however, Pottinger realized that she preferred writing to dissections. She left medical school and devoted herself full-time to her writing.
Pottinger considers herself a feminist and gives her heroines feminist qualities that are not necessarily true to the attitudes of the times her novels are set. Her books are noted for being full of humor, with sharp, witty dialogue. The novels are primarily character-driven, lacking the great external conflicts that many romance novels employ. One of her novels, When He was Wicked, was highly unusual for a romance novel, as the first four chapters actually describe the heroine in a happy marriage with someone who is not the hero, and then shows the death of the original husband and deals with the grief of both the heroine and hero before allowing the second love story to flourish.
Most of her books are dedicated to her husband, Paul Pottinger, often with references to amusing alternate titles for the work. She won the Romance Writers of America RITA Award in 2007 for "On the Way to the Wedding" and in 2008 for "The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever". In 2003, she enjoyed the rare honor of being profiled in Time Magazine, an accomplishment few romance novelists have achieved, and in 2005 Publisher's Weekly gave To Sir Phillip, With Love a rare starred review, and later named it one of the six best mass market original novels of the year.[3] Nine of her novels, An Offer from a Gentleman, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, To Sir Phillip, With Love, When He Was Wicked, It's In His Kiss, On The Way to the Wedding, The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, The Lost Duke of Wyndham and Mr. Cavendish, I Presume have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List. Mr. Cavendish, I Presume was number one on the NY Times list in October 2008.
Pottinger has appeared in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Heartwood, and was a contestant on The Weakest Link. She is an avid reader, posting recommendations of her favorite books on her website.
Pottinger and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States.
Pottinger graduated from Harvard with a degree in Art History. During her senior year of college, she realized that she did not know what she wanted to do with her degree and decided to attend medical school. That decision required her to attend two additional years of college to complete the science prerequisites necessary to apply for medical school.
To occupy herself during the long days of studying science, Pottinger began to write light-hearted Regency romance novels. A few weeks after she was accepted to medical school, she discovered that her first two novels, Splendid and Dancing At Midnight, had been sold at auction, an unusual occurrence for a novice romance author.She postponed medical school for two years while she wrote two more novels.
By the time Pottinger finally entered Yale medical school to realize her dream of being a doctor, three of her books had been published. After only a few short months of studying medicine, however, Pottinger realized that she preferred writing to dissections. She left medical school and devoted herself full-time to her writing.
Pottinger considers herself a feminist and gives her heroines feminist qualities that are not necessarily true to the attitudes of the times her novels are set. Her books are noted for being full of humor, with sharp, witty dialogue. The novels are primarily character-driven, lacking the great external conflicts that many romance novels employ. One of her novels, When He was Wicked, was highly unusual for a romance novel, as the first four chapters actually describe the heroine in a happy marriage with someone who is not the hero, and then shows the death of the original husband and deals with the grief of both the heroine and hero before allowing the second love story to flourish.
Most of her books are dedicated to her husband, Paul Pottinger, often with references to amusing alternate titles for the work. She won the Romance Writers of America RITA Award in 2007 for "On the Way to the Wedding" and in 2008 for "The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever". In 2003, she enjoyed the rare honor of being profiled in Time Magazine, an accomplishment few romance novelists have achieved, and in 2005 Publisher's Weekly gave To Sir Phillip, With Love a rare starred review, and later named it one of the six best mass market original novels of the year.[3] Nine of her novels, An Offer from a Gentleman, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, To Sir Phillip, With Love, When He Was Wicked, It's In His Kiss, On The Way to the Wedding, The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, The Lost Duke of Wyndham and Mr. Cavendish, I Presume have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List. Mr. Cavendish, I Presume was number one on the NY Times list in October 2008.
Pottinger has appeared in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Heartwood, and was a contestant on The Weakest Link. She is an avid reader, posting recommendations of her favorite books on her website.
Pottinger and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States.
วันอังคารที่ 11 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2554
Judith McNaught
Before gaining success as a writer, McNaught has previously worked as an assistant director for a film crew, an assistant controller of a major trucking company, president of a temporary employment agency, and president of an executive search firm. She also was the first female executive producer at a CBS radio station.
She met her second husband, Michael McNaught, while working as an assistant director for a film crew, working on a movie for a General Motors division. McNaught was the director of public relations for the company. Between them, they had seven children, her two and his five from a previous marriage. Her husband encouraged her to write, buying her a new typewriter and being supportive through the years that publishers rejected her novels.
McNaught's first manuscript was Whitney, My Love, which she wrote between 1978 and 1982. After having difficulty selling that novel, she wrote and sold Tender Triumph in early 1982. She received the book cover for Tender Triumph on June 20, 1983 -- the day after her husband was killed in an accident.
Whitney, My Love, the first manuscript, was finally published in 1986, after McNaught had proven herself with two successful published novels. Unaware that there were rules that most Regency romances followed, McNaught's early novels were unique. Her novels introduced the hero first, rather than the heroine. Unlike the typical Regency, "a light romp with no sex," her novels tended to be "intensely sensual and witty." The book is now credited with inventing the genre today known as the Regency Historical. Whitney, My Love captured the elements of the traditional Regency romance, but its long length, sensuality, and emotional intensity were more often associated with the traditional historical romances, which were rarely set during the Regency period. Despite the many years it took to sell the story, it was very successful, and its success influenced other editors to solicit manuscripts written in the same style.
At the beginning of McNaught's writing career, she was one of a very few authors writing for the historical romance market. By 1985, however, the genre had exploded, and over 50 new historical romances were being published each month, many of them full-length historicals set in the Regency period like McNaught's. Despite her years of success in the historical romance genre, in 1990 McNaught switched genres to write contemporary romances, hopeful that she would have a better opportunity to distinguish her work in a less-saturated market. As her career has continued to mature, McNaught has gradually introduced elements of suspense into her writing. Regardless of their genre, however, her books tend to be fast-paced, with strong, loyal, compassionate and intelligent heroines.
McNaught was one of the first romance authors to receive a multi-million dollar contract and have her novels published in hardcover, better positioning them for review by major publications.She reached the New York Times Bestseller List for the first time in 1988,and all of her subsequent books have also placed on the NYT Bestseller List. After one of her novels placed on the New York Times Best Seller List for the first time, McNaught asked her publisher to change the covers of all future releases. Instead of the common bodice-ripping cover, McNaught wished her books to be packaged with "classy" covers.
In the early 1990s, Coors Brewing asked her to write a book that would appeal to women and could be used by the company to promote its women's literacy program. Appalled at the discovery that one in five women was functionally illiterate, McNaught offered to rewrite her almost-completed manuscript, Perfect to insert the literacy theme. The change took her an additional six weeks to incorporate. McNaught chose to donate a portion of her earnings from the book to women's literacy programs and insisted that each book contain a card giving readers information on how to donate to literacy programs or to become tutors.
She was the keynote speaker at the Romance Writers of America Conference in 1996,and in 1997, Texas Women's Monthly selected her among their four favorite authors, with John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, and Dean Koontz. She has also been awarded a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and had a Number 1 New York Times Bestseller with the romantic suspense Night Whispers.
While McNaught at one time lived in Saint Louis, Missouri, she moved to Texas after falling in love with Dallas while on a book tour. Her third marriage, to Don Smith, a professional golfer and engineer, ended in May 2003. McNaught described the break-up as peaceful and friendly, and she threw a party for 160 friends to celebrate entering a new phase of her life. As of 2007, she lives in Frisco, Texas. McNaught is active in children's charity and with breast cancer causes, and she has recently begun promoting literacy issues. After creating a subplot on literacy in her novel Perfect, McNaught asked her publishers to include a response card in the book packaging. Because of its inclusion, thousands of women who had read the book volunteered to become tutors and help people learn to read.
She met her second husband, Michael McNaught, while working as an assistant director for a film crew, working on a movie for a General Motors division. McNaught was the director of public relations for the company. Between them, they had seven children, her two and his five from a previous marriage. Her husband encouraged her to write, buying her a new typewriter and being supportive through the years that publishers rejected her novels.
McNaught's first manuscript was Whitney, My Love, which she wrote between 1978 and 1982. After having difficulty selling that novel, she wrote and sold Tender Triumph in early 1982. She received the book cover for Tender Triumph on June 20, 1983 -- the day after her husband was killed in an accident.
Whitney, My Love, the first manuscript, was finally published in 1986, after McNaught had proven herself with two successful published novels. Unaware that there were rules that most Regency romances followed, McNaught's early novels were unique. Her novels introduced the hero first, rather than the heroine. Unlike the typical Regency, "a light romp with no sex," her novels tended to be "intensely sensual and witty." The book is now credited with inventing the genre today known as the Regency Historical. Whitney, My Love captured the elements of the traditional Regency romance, but its long length, sensuality, and emotional intensity were more often associated with the traditional historical romances, which were rarely set during the Regency period. Despite the many years it took to sell the story, it was very successful, and its success influenced other editors to solicit manuscripts written in the same style.
At the beginning of McNaught's writing career, she was one of a very few authors writing for the historical romance market. By 1985, however, the genre had exploded, and over 50 new historical romances were being published each month, many of them full-length historicals set in the Regency period like McNaught's. Despite her years of success in the historical romance genre, in 1990 McNaught switched genres to write contemporary romances, hopeful that she would have a better opportunity to distinguish her work in a less-saturated market. As her career has continued to mature, McNaught has gradually introduced elements of suspense into her writing. Regardless of their genre, however, her books tend to be fast-paced, with strong, loyal, compassionate and intelligent heroines.
McNaught was one of the first romance authors to receive a multi-million dollar contract and have her novels published in hardcover, better positioning them for review by major publications.She reached the New York Times Bestseller List for the first time in 1988,and all of her subsequent books have also placed on the NYT Bestseller List. After one of her novels placed on the New York Times Best Seller List for the first time, McNaught asked her publisher to change the covers of all future releases. Instead of the common bodice-ripping cover, McNaught wished her books to be packaged with "classy" covers.
In the early 1990s, Coors Brewing asked her to write a book that would appeal to women and could be used by the company to promote its women's literacy program. Appalled at the discovery that one in five women was functionally illiterate, McNaught offered to rewrite her almost-completed manuscript, Perfect to insert the literacy theme. The change took her an additional six weeks to incorporate. McNaught chose to donate a portion of her earnings from the book to women's literacy programs and insisted that each book contain a card giving readers information on how to donate to literacy programs or to become tutors.
She was the keynote speaker at the Romance Writers of America Conference in 1996,and in 1997, Texas Women's Monthly selected her among their four favorite authors, with John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, and Dean Koontz. She has also been awarded a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and had a Number 1 New York Times Bestseller with the romantic suspense Night Whispers.
While McNaught at one time lived in Saint Louis, Missouri, she moved to Texas after falling in love with Dallas while on a book tour. Her third marriage, to Don Smith, a professional golfer and engineer, ended in May 2003. McNaught described the break-up as peaceful and friendly, and she threw a party for 160 friends to celebrate entering a new phase of her life. As of 2007, she lives in Frisco, Texas. McNaught is active in children's charity and with breast cancer causes, and she has recently begun promoting literacy issues. After creating a subplot on literacy in her novel Perfect, McNaught asked her publishers to include a response card in the book packaging. Because of its inclusion, thousands of women who had read the book volunteered to become tutors and help people learn to read.
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