Jayne Ann Krentz, née Jayne Castle (born March 28, 1948 in
Cobb, California
Cobb is a census designated place (CDP) in Lake County, California, United States. Cobb is located northwest of Whispering Pines, at an elevation of . The population was 1,778 at the 2010 census, up from 1,638 at the 2000 census.
History
Th ...
, United States), is an American writer of
romance novel
A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...
s. Krentz is the author of a string of ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' 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
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
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
Cobb is a census designated place (CDP) in Lake County, California, United States. Cobb is located northwest of Whispering Pines, at an elevation of . The population was 1,778 at the 2010 census, up from 1,638 at the 2000 census.
History
Th ...
, United States.
She and her two brothers were raised by their mother, Alberta, in
Borrego Springs
Borrego Springs (''Borrego'', Spanish for "Sheep") is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. The population was 3,429 at the 2010 census, up from 2,535 at the 2000 census, made up of both seasonal and year-round reside ...
for the first decade of Jayne's life.
She earned a
B.A
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
at the
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...
in 1970.
Fearful that she would be unable to find a job using her degree, she elected to obtain her graduate degree in
Library Science
Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...
from
San Jose State University
San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...
. Immediately after graduation she married Frank Krentz, an engineer, whom she had met at San Jose State. The couple moved to the
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...
, where Krentz worked for a year as an elementary school librarian, a time she refers to as "an unmitigated career disaster".
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
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
library system.
Krentz and her husband later moved to
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
.
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
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
-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
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
extension program.
Writing career
Early years
While working at Duke, Krentz began writing stories her way, combining elements of
romance novels
A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...
with paranormal twists. For six years she wrote and mailed proposals for new novels, consistently receiving rejection letters.
She claims to have tried to stop writing several times during that period, but that it became a "compulsion".
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''.
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.
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.
Her 1986 novel, ''
Sweet Starfire
''Sweet Starfire'' is a futuristic romance written by Jayne Ann Krentz and released in 1986. Krentz likened the novel to a historical romance set in another world, and its success inspired her to begin writing historical romances under the pseudo ...
'', was a futuristic romance, a subgenre that combined elements of romance novels and
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
. 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
ngin an extraordinary world".
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.
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.
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.
The heroes of her novels are always
alpha male
In biology, a dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social groups interact, creating a ranking system. A dominant higher-ranking individual is som ...
s who are as strong and determined as her heroines.
Recognition
More than 120 of Krentz's romance novels have been published, with 32 placing on the ''
New York Times Bestseller List
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
''. In total, there are over 23 million copies of her books in print.
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''.
She has also received a ''Romantic Times'' Career Achievement Award.
An outspoken advocate of the merits of romantic fiction, Krentz maintains that "
pular 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.
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".
Bibliography
References
External links
Official Jayne Ann Krentz Website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krentz, Jayne Ann
1948 births
Living people
American romantic fiction writers
University of California, Santa Cruz alumni
San Jose State University alumni
People from Lake County, California
People from Borrego Springs, California
American paranormal romance writers
American women novelists
Women romantic fiction writers
*
Pseudonymous women writers
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American women writers
20th-century pseudonymous writers
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American women writers
21st-century pseudonymous writers
Novelists from California
Duke University staff
American writers