Roxanne Longstreet Conrad Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Roxanne Longstreet
Roxanne Longstreet Conrad (born in 1962) is the very tired and a bit insane writer of a ton of books, which includes suspense, paranormal fiction, mystery, romance, young adult, and science fiction novels. She also writes short stories and essays. Besides writing under her own name, she also writes under the names of Rachel Caine and Roxanne Conrad. Roxanne writes media tie-in books under the name of Julie Fortune.

Roxanne was born in New Mexico at the military base of the White Sands Missile Range. Her dad was a career Army man that provided the voice for countdowns during the rocket tests during the early sixties, among other things. Her mother worked as a civilian assistant to rocket scientists.

She grew up in West Texas and graduated from Socorro High School, located in El Paso, in the year 1980. Roxanne got her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University in the year 1985, minoring in music.

Roxanne wrote her first story at the age of fourteen. It was a variation on what is now called “fan fiction”, where she re-imagined an episode of the TV series called “Space 1999”. From that point on, her fiction output was prodigious. She gave stories away as gifts to her friends and family. When she was a teen and a young adult, it never occurred to her to become a novelist, as she had her heart set on music.

She studied the clarinet during junior high, and during college, she played part time with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. For the first five years after college, she played with various symphonies all over the state, working jobs and aiming to have a full-time orchestra music career.

Since the year 1990, Roxanne has been writing and publishing her novels and short stories. She is best known for her “Morganville Vampire” series she publishes under the Rachel Caine pen name, and the books have hit bestseller lists and have been published in other languages.

She was once told by a literary agent of hers that she is the type of writer that pokes along just doing okay until something she has written hits it big, and then she would go right to the top. It took her quite some time to actually make it this big, spending years supporting herself with evening gigs playing clarinet and mundane office jobs. She wrote in the morning, penning difficult-to-classify novels about spontaneous combustion, vampires, paranormal romance, and reincarnated dogs.

Roxanne sold her books in fits and starts to various publishing houses under at least five pen names, usually only learning that her work was selling poorly when some publisher would call to cancel her contract.

Even if her confidence in her own abilities wavered, her faith in the types of the stories she wanted to pen never faltered. She has always been interested in both writing and reading adventure stories, those are the kind that excite her the most. Eventually, she was able to find limited success with a group of adult-oriented urban fantasy books called the “Weather Warden” series.

Despite her early background, Roxanne never once felt pressured to study science as a kid. Both her parents instilled in her a deep passion for reading. Her mom adored romance and mystery novels, while her dad liked fantasy and sci-fi. After retiring from the military in the year 1975, her dad would take Roxanne to different used bookstores, and they would buy books by the bag.

Her early influences include Roger Zelazny, whose “Chronicles of Amber” books she read a dozen times at least. There was also Stephen King’s work, whose novel “Salem’s Lot” especially fired up her imagination, not to mention scaring the crap out of her.

Roxanne is a former professional musician that has the distinction of working with musical legends like John Williams, Henry Mancini, and Peter Nero. She also prefers a nice strong Guinness to wimpy beers from America and is an avid television watcher and movie buff.

Starting in the year 1999, she was employed in corporate communications as a web designer, corporate communications manager, editor, and finally as director of corporate communications for a huge multinational company. She took a hiatus in the year 2008 to complete some pressing deadlines, which lasted for eight months, before retiring from her position in the year 2010 in order to begin writing full time.

Roxanne writes most of stuff at home or on the road while she is doing appearances. While writing, she listens to music, with the music changing depending on the project she is doing.

“The Undead” is the first novel in the “Undead” series and was released in the year 1993. Most people do their best to avoid the sterile and cold peace in the hospital morgue, but Adam Radburn actually finds peace in the undemanding responsibilities of taking care of the dead.

It is the perfect job for somebody with an affinity for the night, or someone that is a vampire. Michael Bowman, Adam’s current friend, is going to find out the truth, causing Adam’s past to rise up and haunt them both. It will take the form of a foe and a hunger that never sleeps.

“Cold Kiss” is the second novel in the “Undead” series and was released in the year 1995. Insatiable lust and endless thirst. This is the nightmare that Michael Bowman’s life has become since he was transformed from the respected surgeon he once was into a creature of the dark. One that spends his time prowling the shadowy streets of Dallas, Texas for his death’s blood.

A few vampires want more than just blood, which Michael discovers after entering the closed doors of The Society to find Adam Radburn, his missing fellow vampire. This exclusive circle of the undead, bound by this pact that was forged in the deepest pits of Hell, pulls Michael right into a world of inescapable madness and seductive evil.

Michael just has to escape, though. Because death is not just a way of life for the damned. It is the ultimate aphrodisiac. The erotic embrace that promises some exquisite ecstasy and rather endless pain.