Friday

In Search of Karen Hawkins!!!!!

December 31, 2010

Have you ever had one of those moments when you get a brilliant idea?
You know what I'm talking about - those brilliant ideas that turn into big projects that eventually make you start pulling out your hair and shouting what was I thinking? Well, I had one of those moments. I was just sitting innocently in my chair pondering what article I should write for my blog. It had to be something special - something about the Holiday season. Nah, overdone. Something about the end of the year? Nah - already did that. Wait a minute! Wait a minute! It's 2010 - what about some sort of farewell to the decade?

Then that irritating Beatles song popped into my head... "you say goodbye, and I say hello...hello, hello..." I know, I'll compile a list of romance authors who have passed away since 2000 and a list of debut authors for the same time period. I don't know what I was thinking. At the time it seemed like a good idea.

And then, while in the middle of compiling - I happened to mention I was working on a decade list and do you know what was said to me? "You know, some people think the decade ended in 2009." Well, of course my brain exploded and I immediately ran to the web. OMG! You would not believe the raging fight going on out there over what year the decade ended! I always suspected that humans are silly creatures, now I know for sure that we are. Anyway, I have sided with the 2010 people - their argument sounded more logical and Wikipedia says 2010 is the end of the decade, so it must be right!

When that earth shattering decision was resolved, I continued on with my project of compiling my authors for my decade - 2000-2010. 2000-2010...2000-2010! You know, numbers are a funny thing. In fact I try to avoid numbers whenever possible. Let's take the years 2000 and 2010 for instance. If you subtract 2000 from 2010, what do you get? 10! If you add 10 to 2000, what do you get? 2010! So, logically 2000-2010 is ten years, right? Wrong! Here's what you do, write the years down in a column starting with 2000 and ending 2010. Now, how many numbers do we have? 11. Oh those wacky ancients that invented the zero! And by the way, if you want to find out more about zero, read the non-fiction book: Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife.

Anyway, I have my decade list, however because I am including the year 2000, I'm calling it my Elevencade list.

I am also sure that I have left people out; however, these are the ones that I'm familiar with and this is my list.

GoodBye List:
Joan Aiken, 2004
Barbara Cartland, 2000
Nancy Cato, 2000
Elizabeth Chater, 2010
Virginia Coffman aka Virginia DuVaul, 2005
Celeste De Blasis, 2002
Dorothy Dunnett, 2001
Julie Ellis aka Susan Marino, Susan Marvin, 2006
Virginia Ellis aka Lyn Ellis, 2006
Rita Gallagher, 2004
Elizabeth Guest aka Suzanne Simmons, Suzanne Simms, Suzanne Simmons Guntrun, 2008
Mollie Hardwick, 2003
Jane Aiken Hodge, 2009
Isabelle Holland, 2002
Flora Kidd, 2008
Edith Layton, 2009
Alice Chetwynd Ley, 2004
Marjorie Lewty, 2002
Elizabeth Mansfield aka Paula Schwartz, 2003
Patricia Matthews, 2006
Betty Neels, 2001
Patricia Oliver aka Olivia Fontayne, 2002
Elisabeth Ogilvie, 2006
Maureen Peters aka Catherine Darby, Veronica Black, Belinda Grey, Elizabeth Law, Sharon Whitby, Judith Rothman, Levannah Lloyd, 2008
Belva Plain, 2010
Jennifer Rardin, 2010
Alexandra Ripley, 2004
Marlene Suson, 2005
Dawn Thompson aka Dawn MacTavish, 2008
Ronda Thompson, 2007
Elizabeth Thornton, 2010
Meriol Trevor, 2000
Sheila Walsh, 2009
Anne Weale, 2007
Kathleen Winsor, 2003
Kathleen Woodiwiss, 2007

Hello List
Really sorry for leaving out any new stars! This was an interesting list to compile. Some of these authors are still out there, still writing... some have changed genres and some have disappeared (What Happened?). I was actually surprised that there were so many new authors and that so many of them were still writing... especially when I whine about the shortage of books to read. And these are just the ones I'm familiar with!

Louise Allen 2000 - upcoming 2011
Zoƫ Archer 2006- 2010 latest book
Kristi Astor aka Kristina Cook 2004 - upcoming 2011
Jennifer Ashley aka Ashley Gardner, Laurien Gardner, Allyson James 2000 - upcoming 2011
Alexandra Bassett 2005 - 2006 (What Happened?)
Naomi Bellis 2006 - 2008 (What Happened?)
Renee Bernard 2006 - 2010 latest book
Jessica Bird aka J.R. Ward 2002 - upcoming 2011. Jessica seems to have vanished, but not JR Ward
Emily Bryan aka Mia Marlowe, Diana Groe 2006 - upcoming 2011 under Marlowe moniker
Anne Campbell 2077 - upcoming 2011
Fiona Carr 2003-2004 (What Happened?)
Kathryn Caskie 2004 - 2010 latest book
Kresley Cole 2003 - upcoming 2011
Evangeline Collins 2009-2010 latest book
Tiffany Clare 2008 - upcoming 2011
Victoria Dahl 2009 - upcoming 2011
Claudia Dain 2000 - 2010 latest book
Tessa Dare 2009 - 2010 latest book
Sylvia Day aka Livia Dare, S.J. Day 2005 - upcoming 2011
Robyn DeHart 2005 - upcoming 2011
Sarah Elliott 2005 - 2009 (What Happened?)
Charlotte Featherstone 2005 - upcoming 2011
Jeaniene Frost 2007 - upcoming 2011
Shana Galen 2005 - upcoming 2011
Jennifer Haymore 2009 - 2010 latest book
Karen Hawkins aka Kim Bennet 2000 - upcoming 2011. (When I saw the date on her first published, I was stunned. Karen Hawkins has been around forever or at least I thought she had. I had to do some searching and going through my books - her bio says she sold her first book in the 90's, however I could find only 2000 copyright dates. Even the Kim Bennet book has a copyright of 2000. So after a half a day of searching I have decided that for now we are stuck with the date of 2000. Of course, you know this means that Eloisa James has been published longer. Time is a funny thing.)
Susan Gee Heino 2009 - upcoming 2011
Elizabeth Hoyt 2006 - upcoming 2011
Kalen Hughes aka Isobel Carr 2007 - upcoming 2011 under Carr moniker
Madeline Hunter - 2000 - upcoming 2011...thought she'd been around longer!
Judith James 2008 - upcoming 2011
Julia James 2008 - upcoming 2011
Sophia James 2004 - upcoming 20011
Alissa Johnson 2008 - upcoming 2011
Sophie Jordan 2006 - upcoming 2011
Lydia Joyce 2005 - 2009 (What Happened?)
Shirley Karr 2005 - 2006 (What Happened?)
Jennie Klassel 2003 - 2005 (What Happened?)
Vanessa Kelly 2009 - upcoming 2011
Tamara Lejeune 2005 - 2010 latest book
Rose Lerner 2010 upcoming 2011
Caroline Linden 2006 - 2010 latest book
Sara Lindsey 2010 - 2011 upcoming
Kimberly Logan 2005-2008 (What Happened?)
Julie Anne Long 2004 - upcoming 2011
Beverley Kendall 2010 - upcoming 2011
Sally MacKenzie 2005 - upcoming 2011
Sarah MacLean 2009 - upcoming 2011
Joanna Maitland 2001 - 2010 latest book
Anne Mallory 2004 - upcoming 2011
Lisa Manuel aka Allison Chase 2004 - upcoming 2011 under Chase moniker
Michelle Marcos 2007 - upcoming 2011
Delilah Marvelle 2008 - upcoming 2011
Jolie Mathis 2006 (What Happened?)
Melissa Mayhue 2007 - upcoming 2011
Christine Merrill 2006 - upcoming 2011
Amanda McCabe 2001 - upcoming 2011
Mary Reed McCall 2001 - 2007 (What Happened?)
Monica McCarty 2007 - 2010 latest book
Margaret McPhee 2005 - upcoming 2011
Courtney Milan 2010 - upcoming 2011
Lucy Monroe 2002 - upcoming 2011
Sophia Nash 2004 - 2010 latest book
Miranda Neville 2009 - upcoming 2011
Kaitlin O'Riley 2007 - upcoming 2011
Sharon Page 2006 - upcoming 2011
Olivia Parker 2008 - upcoming 2011
Diane Perkins aka Diane Gaston 2004 - upcoming 2011
Jenna Petersen 2006 - upcoming 2011
Paula Quinn 2005 - upcoming 2011
Laura Rendon aka Melody Thomas 2001 - 2004 (What Happened?)
Pam Rosenthal 2003 - 2008 latest book - still writing
Nonnie St. George 2003 - 2004 (What Happened?)
Samantha Saxon 2005 - 2006 (What Happened?)
Melissa Schroeder 2004 - upcoming 2011
Eve Silver aka Eve Kenin 2005 - 2010 latest book
Hope Tarr 2006 - 2010 latest book
Sherry Thomas 2003 - 2010 latest book
Dawn Thompson 2006 - passed away
Lisa Valdez 2005 - 2010 latest book
Tracy Anne Warren 2006 - upcoming 2011
Minda Webber 2005 - 2008 (What Happened?)
Christine Wells 2007 - 2010 latest book
Emma Wildes 2006 - upcoming 2011
Lauren Willig 2005 - upcoming 2011
Mary Wine 2005 - upcoming 2011
Veronica Wolff 2008 - upcoming 2011

10 comments:

Hope Tarr said...

What a fascinating end-of-year post, Kay. I'm honored to be included in your extensive author listing. To clarify, tho, I debuted with A Rogue's Pleasure in 2000, so I've been around for a while. A Rogue's Pleasure along with another of my former Berkley books, My Lord Jack, was reissued as a digital release with Carina Press this summer '10.

Happy New Year! Hope

Tracy said...

What a great post, Kay. You never cease to amaze me with how your mind works. Lol I mean that in the best possible way. You have a way with words!

Love your lists.

Diane Gaston said...

Thanks for including me in your list, Kay. It has been a wonderful decade for me!!!

SidneyKay said...

Ms. Tarr: I'm sorry, I will fire my editor...whoops! Can't do that, she's related to me. However, I knew that I probably couldn't make it through that list without a boo-boo. You know, what makes it even worse is that I have "A Rogue's Pleasure". So, you still made it on my Elevencade list, which means you've been around for a l-o-n-g time, congratulations!

Thanks Tracy...yes, my mind scares me sometimes.

Karen Hawkins said...

Sidney, thank you so much for including me in the list! And yes, I sold my first book in the 1990s . . . in October 1998, in fact. Unfortunately, the first available slot for publication at Avon Books was February 2000, so that's when the book came out.

Eloisa has indeed been published longer. She's a gem, isn't she? :)

Karen Hawkins said...

By the way, Jill Barnett is publishing three new historicals -- finally! She's on my favorite historical list, too. Just an INCREDIBLE author!

From her website:
***************
The new books are a Medieval trilogy, set in early Scotland, and called THE THREE SISTERS, which pretty much tells you what it’s about. Ballantine will bring all three books out together, a month apart. No pub date yet, though--
****************

Isn't that exciting? I did a little dance when I read that!

SidneyKay said...

I'm so looking forward to Jill Barnett coming out with an historical and to top it off, there will be three. I will be in hog-heaven. What is hog-heaven anyway and do I really want to be there?

Tracy said...

The series Karen mentioned sounds good. I've never read Jill Barnett but after looking up a few of her books I'm definitely going to find some of her work and read away. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this list. I had no idea that Edith Layton and Elizabeth Thornton had passed away. I loved their books.

Also, I have been trying to find out what happened to Samantha Saxon. Her third and last book had a cliff hanger and I was trying to see what happened to her. Such a mystery.

Me said...

Maureen Peters aka Catherine Darby, Veronica Black, Belinda Grey, Elizabeth Law, Sharon Whitby, Judith Rothman, Levannah Lloyd, 2008

These were all pen names of my mother, who passed away a few years agao.