Maggie Shayne
| Margaret Benson | |
|---|---|
| Born | New York, United States |
| Pen name | Maggie Shayne |
| Occupation | novelist |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | romance, paranormal |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Maggie Shayne (born Margaret Benson) is an American author of more than 50 romance and paranormal novels. She has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA Award. In addition to her work as a novelist, Shayne is active in the Wiccan religion, and is the High Priestess of a coven she founded.[1]
Biography
Early years
Maggie Shayne was born and raised in a rural area near Syracuse, New York.
Even as a child, Shayne liked to tell stories and rewrite the endings of some she had read, as well as those of the horror movies she loved to watch.[2] Her first attempt at a novel did not come until she was older, when she wove a story in her head while trying to comfort a sick baby. Because she had been in the mood to read a romance novel that day, the story she envisioned was also a romance. Within days, she had transferred her story to paper, writing longhand on a yellow pad.[3] Realizing that if she ever planned to be a published writer she would need a typewriter, Shayne took a job watching a neighbor's horses so that she could earn the money to buy her first typewriter. She soon finished three manuscripts, which she was unable to sell. Her fortunes changed when Harlequin launched their Shadows line. Shayne sent a query letter to let them know that: "I'm just jumping up and down; so happy that you have created a line especially for me!" Although the editor rejected her first book, Shayne's enthusiasm impressed her enough that she asked to see more novels, and purchased the second.[4] That novel became the first of Shayne's Wings in the Night series, which was so popular that Silhouette asked Shayne to continue writing the series even after the Shadows line was closed.[5]
Career Success
Since then, Shayne has had over 50 novels published, including category romance, contemporary western romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and time travel romance.[4] She has written for the Silhouette Intimate Moments line and Silhouette Romantic Suspense and for five single-title publishing companies (Avon Books, St. Martin's Press, Penguin Putnam, Spilled Candy Books, and MIRA Books).[2][3][6] Her paranormal romances seamlessly "combine the hearts of two such diverse genres as romance and horror" which proclaim that "the key is the redemption of the monster by the sheer power of love."[2] Many of her novels "[blend] mysticism into everyday life in a good vs. evil scenario."[7]
As a sideline, Shayne also worked as a writer for the soap operas Guiding Light and As the World Turns, and even considered accepting the position of co-head-writer before deciding to devote her time to her novels.[1][8]
Her novels have appeared on the USA Today, Booksense and Waldenbooks bestseller lists, and Twilight Hunger reached Number 18 on the New York Times Bestseller List.[4] Many of her books have been chosen by Doubleday Bookclub, the Mystery Guild, and Rhapsody Bookclub.[6] On her thirteenth nomination for a Romance Writers of America RITA Award, Shayne finally won the prestigious award, which is the romance community's equivalent of an Academy Award. She has also won three Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine.[6]
Personal life
Shayne is very interested in the culture and religion of ancient Sumer, and includes some of her research in her novels, including Destiny.[4][7] After several years of study at the Black Forest Clan, a chartered Wiccan seminary, Shayne has become a High Priestess and an Elder in the Wicca religion, and has been licensed as a minister. Shayne has founded her own coven, the Hawks of RavenMyst, in a "tradition" (similar to a denomination), known as the RavenMyst Circle, that she helped found.[1][4][9]
Shayne has five grown daughters.[4] She resides in a small town in upstate New York.[3]
Awards
- 1992-1993 - Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, Best First Book, Reckless Angel
- 1993 - New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Award for Best Long Contemporary, Miranda's Viking
- 1993-1994 - Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, Series Romantic Fantasy
- 1993-1994 - Affaire de Coeur Magazine Favorite Paranormal Author of the Year
- 1995-1996 - Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, Romantic Fantasy
- 1995-1995 - Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, Best Contemporary Fantasy, Fairytale
- 1997-1998 - Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, Best Mini-Series Romance, A Husband in Time
- 1997-1998 - Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, Best Contemporary Fantasy, Forever Enchanted
- 2005 - Romance Writers of America RITA Award winner, Best Novella, "Her Best Enemy"
- Romantic Times Magazine Women in Search of Heroes (wISH) Award, Twilight Illusions
- Romantic Times Magazine WISH Award, Born in Twilight
- Romantic Times Gold Medallion Award, Twilight Illusions
- Romantic Times Gold Medallion Award, Forever Enchanted'
- six-time Romance Writers of America RITA Award finalist (12-time nominee)
Bibliography
Wings in the Night Series
- Twilight Phantasies
- Twilight Memories
- Twilight Illusions
- Beyond Twilight (novella)
- Born in Twilight
- Twilight Vows (novella)
- Twilight Hunger
- Run from Twilight (novella)
- Embrace the Twilight
- Edge of Twilight
- Before Blue Twilight (online novella) [10]
- Blue Twilight
- Prince of Twilight
- Demon's Kiss
- Lovers Bite
- Angel's Pain (out October 2008)
- Bloodline (out May 2009)
- Twilight Prophecy
- Twilight Fulfilled (out October 2011)
- Wings in the Night (omnibus) (books 1-3)
- At Twilight (omnibus) (Born in Twilight and Beyond Twilight)
- Two by Twilight (omnibus) (Run from Twilight and Twilight Vows)
- Twilight Begins (omnibus) (Twilight Phantasies and Twilight Memories)
Fairies of Rush series
- Fairytale
- Forever Enchanted
Texas Brands series
- The Littlest Cowboy
- The Baddest Virgin in Texas
- Badlands Bad Boy
- The Husband She Couldn't Remember
- That Mysterious Texas Brand Man
- The Baddest Bride in Texas
- The Outlaw Bride
- Angel Meets the Badman
- The Homecoming
- The Texas Brand: In the Beginning (omnibus)
Immortal Witches series
- Eternity
- Infinity
- Destiny
- Immortality
- Eternal Love (omnibus)
- Immortal Desire (omnibus)
Oklahoma All-Girl Brands series
- The Brands Who Came for Christmas
- Brand-New Heartache
- Secrets and Lies
- Feels Like Home
- Dangerous Lover
- Stranger in Town (omnibus)
Mordecai Young series
- Thicker Than Water
- Colder Than Ice
- Darker Than Midnight
Secrets of Shadow Falls series
- Killing Me Softly
- Kill Me Again
- Kiss Me, Kill Me
The Portal series
- "Legacy of the Witch" (novella)
- Mark of the Witch
- Daughter of the Spellcaster
- Blood of the Sorceress
Brown and de Luca series
- Sleep with the Lights On
- "Dream of Danger" (novella)
- Wake to Darkness
- Innocent Prey
- Deadly Obsession
Novels
- Reckless Angel
- Kiss of the Shadow Man
- Forever, Dad
- A Husband in Time
- Annie's Hero
- Million Dollar Marriage
- Out-of-this-world Marriage
- The Gingerbread Man
- Enemy Mind
- That Mysterious Man
- Miranda's Viking
Collections
- Forgotten Vows (omnibus) (with Lindsay McKenna)
- Strangers In The Night (omnibus) (with Anne Stuart and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
- A Sprinkle of Fairy Dust (omnibus) (with Elizabeth Bevarly, Elaine Crawford, Marylyle Rogers)
- Bewitched (omnibus) (with Lisa Higdon, Susan Krinard, Amy Saunders)
- Brides of the Night (omnibus) (1998) (with Marilyn Tracy)
- Moonglow (omnibus) (with Lindsay Longford, Angie Ray and Katherine Sutcliffe)
- Silhouette Sensational: Forgotten Vows...? / license to Love / cowboy Daddy / babies On His Mind (omnibus)(with Barbara Boswell, Marie Ferrarella, Susan Mallery)
- Veils of Time (omnibus) (with Lynn Kurland, Angie Ray and Ingrid Weaver)
- Sinful (omnibus) (with Suzanne Forster, Lori Foster, Kimberly Randell)
- After Midnight (omnibus)
- Who Do You Love? (omnibus) (with Marilyn Pappano)
- Two Novels (omnibus) (with Lorna Tedder)
- Out of This World (omnibus) (with Laurell K. Hamilton, Susan Krinard, J D Robb)
- Broken Silence (omnibus) (with Eileen Wilks and Anne Marie Winston)
- Hot Summer Nights (omnibus) (with Lindsay McKenna, Dallas Schulze)
- Midnight Pleasures (omnibus) (with Amanda Ashley, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Ronda Thompson)
- Pregnant with His Child (omnibus) (with Marilyn Pappano)
- Danger in the Shadows (omnibus) (with Linda Turner)
- Special Delivery (omnibus) (with Cathy Gillen Thacker)
- Hot Blooded (omnibus) (with Christine Feehan, Emma Holly, Angela Knight)
- Man of My Dreams (omnibus) (with Suzanne Forster, Virginia Kantra, Sherrilyn Kenyon)
- Night's Edge (omnibus) (with Barbara Hambly, Charlaine Harris)
- Burning Bright (omnibus) (with Judith Arnold and Anne Stuart)
- An expected Family (omnibus) (with Caroline Cross)
- Kick Ass (with Mary Janice Davidson, Jacey Ford, Angela Knight)
- Moon Fever (with Lori Handeland, Caridad Piñeiro, and Susan Sizemore)
- An Enchanted Season (with Jean Johnson, Erin McCarthy, Maggie Shayne and Nalini Singh)
- Darkness Divine (short story collection) (with P.C. Cast, Rhyannon Byrd and Gena Showalter)
See also
References
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- ↑ http://www.eharlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1058
External links
- Pages with reference errors
- Living people
- 20th-century American novelists
- 21st-century American novelists
- American romantic fiction writers
- American short story writers
- American women novelists
- RITA Award winners
- Wiccan priestesses
- American Wiccans
- Year of birth missing (living people)
- Writers from New York
- Women romantic fiction writers
