Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, the prolific fantasy novelist who wrote under the pen name Rachel Caine, has died at 58, Locus reports. The cause was soft tissue sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.
Conrad was born in New Mexico, raised in Texas, and educated at Texas Tech University. She made her literary debut in 1990 with a novel called Stormriders, and followed that up with several books published under the names Roxanne Longstreet and Roxanne Conrad.
In 2003, she began publishing novels under the name Rachel Caine. She was known for her young adult series The Morganville Vampires, which followed a Texas college student and her friends who live in a town that’s secretly controlled by vampires.
That series kicked off in 2006 with Glass Houses. Fourteen more novels followed, including Last Breath, which a reviewer for Kirkus called “a gripping, original take on vampires,” and Black Dawn.
Her other series include Outcast Season, Red Letter Days, and Stillhouse Lake.
Caine was remembered on social media by her friends and admirers. On Twitter, author Suleikha Snyder wrote, “Her skill and her talent were second only to her strength and her heart. She will be missed.”
PRINCE OF SHADOWS is “the” Rachel Caine book for me. It introduced me to her work. It fixed Shakespeare. And it changed me. It still takes my breath away years later. Her skill and her talent were second only to her strength and her heart. She will be missed. ❤️💔 pic.twitter.com/Kh0yjWuBuv
— Suleikha Snyder (@suleikhasnyder) November 2, 2020
And actress Felicia Day tweeted, “She was a wonderful person, so loving and worked harder than anyone I’ve ever [known]. If you have a chance pick up some of her books. They are brilliant and...so very fun. Like she was.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.