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Nora Roberts Since 1981, nor^ Robcrts :19 jO-: h ~ s published o\cr I jo 110rels. 111ost of tllclll roll1,iilit'. '1s J. D. Robb she l-i,isn-rittei~ ,i series of police p r o x d ~ ~ r ~ l s set in the Ye\\. b r k C i t ~ . of the f i ~ t i ~ r e ~vitll,I fc111~ile l-io~~~icide Ljctectivc ciscil-ieroi~~c. She Tvrotc ~t ledst one cx-1). title A S Jill hldrih :Fdllon 171:. Robcrts hds prorcll to be t>r~lifie, ii~vei~tive, ,illd cxtrel~lel~' fle.~ible.Sllc u1,ir. She is, sinlply. ,i m,istcr of tl-ie rorn,iilce ilovcl form. . . Like L>~ilc\.2nd Krcntz, Robcrts bcgdn her idrccr \\,rltlng sl-iort i~ntcnlpor~iries, ill her c,isc, for Silhoucttc. 1 1 1 1979 ciild 1980, Robcrts first submitted mdnusiripts to Hdrlcquin. She c.~pl,iii~s, "I sot the st,iild,ird rclcctioil for the first couple of tries. then nl\. fcl\oritc rejection of dl1 tinlc. 1rcici\ cd m\. nldnuscript b,iik with ,I ilicc little i ~ o t c n.hii11 s,iid tl-i,it m r vork sho\\,cdpronlisc, 2nd the stor\. h ~ d bccn \,cr\. cntcrtdining 2nd 1ve11 done. But th,it thcr [H,irleiluii~cilreciLjr l-icidtlleir ,111ieriid13 \\.ritcr. T h ~ t \ \ . o L I ~ ~ h ~ \ . c bccn J ~ n c tL>~ilc~." ~hlusscll, "Ii~tcrrie~v n.it1-i Robcrts" l j j : , . Sill-iouettc. ~vl-iicl-i n-,is formed in 1980. stood red). to exploit this decision b\. Hdrlcq~in's editors ~vl-iose rclcction of Roberts prored to be so ,inlciziilgly short-sighted. Silhouette s ~ \ \ . opportunir~. \\.here H ~ r l c c ~ u i n did not. Roberts n-eilt oil to n-rite one l-ii~i~dred short eoiltcnlpor ~ricsfor Silhouette. hlost Arc still in print; nun!. h ~ \ , c bccn I 8 4 ?A The TIcntietl-i-Ccnturv Rom,incc NOT el reisstled br lore. 01-11~'tllc lliosr pop~11,ir r0111,ii1ce 110relists 11,irc,I b,icklist this ,ictirc. ,\ccordiilt: to 17SAToAL7?., ill 1999, Roberts wrote four of tl-ic fire best-scllii~~ ron1,iilcc titles ,iild ~v,istl-ie top ron1,iilcc ,iilrl-ior of tl-i,it rc,ir b ~ s c d on s ~ l c s:"The Ycdr In Books":. In 1000.Robcrrs d g ~ i n \\.rorc four of the top 61.c l.OllldlliC no\ cls :no top r01-il~i13i~ r i ~ ~ t h o r \\'r16 nri~llcd: :BlClis ~ n d LlcBdrro\\,:. Counting both hclrdb,iik, ~ n d p ~ p c r b ~ i k no\ cls. she hds h ~ d ,i ramirk,ible si.xtv-eight rclc,ises oil the Acw 2b1ATrrilcj Best Sellers List over ,i d ~ i , i d c - l o i l ~ period endills ill October 3001 :Onor,ito:N. :Of course, the TZITIC~ 11,is11ercr rcrie~vcd,iilv of tl-iose titles.: ,\rgilCiblv.Roberts is tllc 111ost S L I ~ ~ C S S ~ L I ~ l.Ollldl3iC \\.ricer \\,riring the turn of the r\\,cnt\.-first icntur:.. She is ~ l s o one of rhc bcsr. Robcrrs hds J deep undcrsrdnding of the genre itself ~ n d n.ritcs flucnrl\. in 211 of rhc subgenres of romdnic. She nlcii~it~ul,itcs the b,isie elamcnts ill ,I m,istcrfill ~v,ir. She l-i,is,I kccn e,ir for dl,iloSuc. c o n t t r i ~ t c deft tccnc,, nl,iiilt,iln\ ,I p , i ~ e - t ~ ~ r i ~ i i ~ g t>ciit', cilld proT 1ile5 ~ o ~ I ~ ~ ~ ' I I ~ I I ~ e~-i,ir,ietcr~~,itm. Her cCir1rIT ork for S111-iouettethoTI cd rhc intensit!. she n.oulcl bring to this genre; sinic then, she h ~ s mdturcd into J nl~srcrful stor\.tcllcr. Robcrrs's heroes 2nd heroines, 2nd the io~rrships she hds them endit rctlcir rhc long tr~dirion ofrhc ronunic, rhc import,ince of ,iffeetire i~ldiridu~ilism, of fiil,inci,il iildcpeixleilce, ,ii-~dof c o ~ ~ i p ~ i ~ ~ i o i ~ , i t e 111~irri,ige for tl-ie I-ieroil~c. cis1reI1cistllc t , i ~ ~ l i i ~ g ,111il tl-ie lleCilills of tl-ie hero. Sere11 ~vorks~I-~OSCIIfrom her e,irlicst to her most rcccnt \\.ill dc~llonstr~rc Robcrrs's ionrribution to rhc romdnic. Li.zjb T1:oi.ozgbbi.i.d '1c)Sl: 2nd...

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