Browning, Pamela

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BROWNING, Pamela

(Pam Ketter, Melanie Rowe)

PERSONAL: Born in Evanston, IL; daughter of John (a musician and real estate investor) and Helen (a designer; maiden name, Jaeger) Ketter; children: one son, one daughter.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Ellen Levine, Trident Media, 41 Madison Ave., 36th Fl., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: Writer. Coker College, Hartsville, SC, public relations representative, 1992–94.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, Authors League of America, National Federation of Press Women, Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America (charter member), Media Women of South Carolina, Toastmasters International (past officer).

AWARDS, HONORS: Maggie Award, Georgia Romance Writers, 1999, for Lover's Leap; other awards include first place awards from National Federation of Press Women.

WRITINGS:

ROMANCE FICTION

Sands of Xanadu, Silhouette (Buffalo, NY), 1982.

Touch of Gold, Mills & Boon (Buffalo, NY), 1984.

Sea of Gold, Silhouette (Buffalo, NY), 1984.

Interior Designs, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1985.

Cherished Beginnings, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1985.

Handyman Special, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1985.

Through the Eyes of Love, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1985.

Ever Since Eve, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1986.

Forever Is a Long Time, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1986.

To Touch the Stars, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1986.

The Flutterby Princess, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1987.

Ice Crystals, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1987.

Kisses in the Rain, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1987.

Simple Gifts (first volume of "Heartland Trilogy"), Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1988.

Fly Away (second volume of "Heartland Trilogy"), Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1988.

Harvest Home (third volume of "Heartland Trilogy"), Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1988.

Feathers in the Wind, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1989.

Until Spring, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1989.

Humble Pie, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1990.

A Man Worth Loving, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1991.

For Auld Lang Syne, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1991.

Sunshine and Shadows, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1992.

Morgan's Child, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1992.

Merry Christmas, Baby, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1993.

The World's Last Bachelor, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1995.

Angel's Baby, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1995.

Lover's Leap, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1996.

RSVP … Baby, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 1999.

That's Our Baby!, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2000.

Baby Christmas, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2000.

Cowboy with a Secret, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2001.

Pregnant and Incognito, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2002.

Rancher's Double Dilemma, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2002.

A Real-Thing Fling, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2003.

Life Is a Beach, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2003.

Cowboy Enchantment ("Rancho Encantado" series), Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2003.

Baby Enchantment ("Rancho Encantado" series), Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2003.

Heard It through the Grapevine, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2004.

The Mommy Wish, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), 2005.

Breakfast with Santa, Harlequin (Buffalo, NY), in press.

OTHER

Wish for Tomorrow (young adult fiction), Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1983.

Stardust Summer (young adult fiction), Berkley Publishing (New York, NY), 1984.

Author of One on One (young adult fiction), Silhouette (Buffalo, NY). Editor, U.S.-China Review, 1999–2000, and NINK, 2000–01. Some writings appear under name Pam Ketter and pseudonym Melanie Rowe.

Browning's novels have been published in nearly twenty foreign languages.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A contemporary romance novel.

SIDELIGHTS: Pamela Browning told CA: "People assume that because I write romances, I must have wanted to be a romance writer. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wasn't particularly a fan of love stories before I published my first book with Silhouette, then part of Simon & Schuster, in 1982, but as the parameters of the romance genre expanded to encompass the many themes of women's fiction, I found romance to be a ready market. Books that celebrate relationships, that shed light on family interactions, that provide validation and hope for readers who may be struggling with problems in their own lives—these were the books that I'd always wanted to write, and those were the people I wanted to reach.

"Nothing is more rewarding than hearing from readers who have found something special in a book I've written. Early in my career, I wrote a book, Handyman Special, about a heroine who was the parent of a Down syndrome child. Everyone—my editor, my agent, other writers—told me not to write that book because handicapped children didn't appeal to readers, which meant that the book wouldn't sell well. I wrote it anyway, making it clear that the heroine didn't consider her child handicapped, only different and having a lot of love to share. It was one of my best-selling books, and when I received a letter from a mother who said that my book had helped her to accept her own Down Syndrome daughter, I knew that the struggle to publish Handyman Special had been worthwhile. Another reader, a man who had been abused as a child, wrote to tell me that my book Merry Christmas, Baby had enabled him to overcome the trauma of his childhood and the alcoholism that he felt was the result. In a separate letter, his fiancée also thanked me.

"My books have been published in ninety countries and nineteen languages, and it's amazing to me that at any given time in various places around the world, people are reading about characters that I created to populate a story that I invented. Maybe they're relaxing beside the sea in Portugal, or riding the tube in London, or snuggled into a deep cozy armchair somewhere in the Finnish countryside. As long as they keep on reading and letting me know that my books have made a difference in their lives, I intend to keep writing."