Cassie Edwards
For my first author spotlight for Sweet Savage Flame, I want to focus on the prolific but controversial author Cassie Edwards.
The Rise
Biographical information for Mrs. Edwards is fairly limited. She says on the back cover of her book Savage Surrender that she became interested in writing romance novels after reading books her friends gave her.
Mrs. Edwards’s first book, Portrait of Desire, a traditional historical romance, was published by Kensington’s Zebra imprint in June 1982.
Over the course of the next 27 years, Mrs. Edwards authored 108 books. Four different publishing houses released them: Dorchester, Harlequin, Kensington, and Signet.
In total, Mrs. Edwards wrote:
- 3 novellas that appear in anthologies.
- 6 series:
- Chippewa: 5 books.
- Dreamcatcher Indian: 3 books.
- Savage: 35 books.
- Savage Secrets: 12 books.
- Wild Arizona: 6 books.
- Wild Tribes: 4 books. (Note: the 6 Wild Arizona and two of the Wild Tribes books are published under two different names by two different publishers.)
- Approximately 41 standalone books. (It was hard to count them all).
Mrs. Edwards was a highly successful author, appearing on the New York Times bestselling books list and winning two Romantic Times awards. Her books sold more than 10 million copies.
The Crash and Burn
In early 2008, the romance novel blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books accused Mrs. Edwards of significant acts of plagiarism. At first, Signet, her most recent publisher, defended her. Later they dropped Mrs. Edwards from their author roster.
Afterward, Mrs. Edwards claimed she didn’t know she had to credit sources for her material.
Her last book, Savage Dawn, was published in September 2009.
(Disclosure: I am a fan of Mrs. Edwards’ work. I also own many of her books, including almost all of her books with Native American characters. At the time I began collecting these books, I was aware of the allegations against her).
In an upcoming post, I will write about Mrs. Edwards’s formula for her Native American romance novels.
Reviews of Cassie Edwards’ Books:
Links
- Wikipedia: Cassie Edwards
- Fantastic Fiction: Cassie Edwards
- FictionDB: Cassie Edwards
- Book Series In Order: Cassie Edwards
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