Zane (author)
{{short description|Pseudonym of author Kristina Laferne Roberts}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox writer
|name= Zane
|birth_name =Kristina Laferne Roberts
|birth_date ={{birth year from age at date|47|2014|1|27}}
|birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
|occupation = Writer
|genre = Erotic fiction
|period = 1997–present
}}
Zane (born Kristina Laferne Roberts; 1966/1967) is an American author of erotic fiction novels.{{Cite news|title = "Queen of Erotica" Zane On How Fifty Shades Affects the Sexy-Book Scene|url = https://entertainment.time.com/2012/08/01/queen-of-erotica-zane-on-how-fifty-shades-affects-the-sexy-book-scene/|newspaper = Time|access-date = 2016-02-24|issn=0040-781X|first = Andrea|last = Sachs}} She is best known for her novel Addicted.{{Cite news|title = 'Addicted' movie review: Zane's bestselling book bares all on the big screen|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/addicted-movie-review-zanes-bestselling-book-bares-all-on-the-big-screen/2014/10/10/43df416e-508d-11e4-aa5e-7153e466a02d_story.html|newspaper = The Washington Post|date = 2014-10-10|access-date = 2016-02-24|issn = 0190-8286|language = en|first = Michael|last = O'Sullivan}}
Biography
Kristina Laferne Roberts grew up in Washington, D.C. and Silver Spring, Maryland with her brother Deotis, and her two sisters Charmaine Roberts and Carlita Roberts.Salisbury Post obituary July 24 to 28, 2019{{full citation needed |date=October 2024 |reason=Whose obituary? Her father lived another three years after that date.}} Her father, J. Deotis Roberts, was an influential theologian and author, and her mother Elizabeth Caldwell Roberts was an elementary school teacher.{{Cite web |first=Laura |last=Moser |date=June 21, 2015 |title=Zane, the Queen of Erotica, Has a Secret. |website=Washingtonian |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/06/21/how-zane-the-queen-of-erotica-became-marylands-top-tax-deadbeat/ |access-date=May 17, 2024 |language=en-US}} Roberts attended Spelman College in Atlanta for one year, then moved Howard University to major in chemical engineering (without graduating).
In 1997, Zane began writing erotic stories to pass the time after her children went to bed.{{Cite web|title = Erotic author Zane is famous but anonymous|url = http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/erotic-author-zane-is-famous-but-anonymous/|website = The Seattle Times |date = June 11, 2007|access-date = February 24, 2016}} She was living in North Carolina and working as a sales representative. The stories developed a following on the Internet and she self-published The Sex Chronicles before landing a deal with Simon & Schuster.{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/06/11/books.zane.ap/index.html |title=Writer makes name with sex |website=CNN |date=June 11, 2007 |access-date=June 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612192121/http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/06/11/books.zane.ap/index.html |archive-date=June 12, 2007 }} Zane is the publisher of Strebor Books (now part of Atria Books at Simon & Schuster), where she publishes 36–60 books a year by other authors.{{Cite web |title=Black Authors Celebrated At Anguilla's 4th Annual Literary Festival |url=http://www.essence.com/2015/06/03/black-authors-celebrated-anguilla-annual-literary-festival |access-date=February 24, 2016 |website=Essence}}
Her work was the basis for the Cinemax program Zane's Sex Chronicles.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-may-10-la-et-cable-porn-20100510-story.html |title=Soft-core porn still hot stuff on cable TV |last=Weinbach |first=Jon |date=May 10, 2010 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=July 21, 2012}} A subsequent project, Zane's The Jump Off, premiered March 29, 2013, on Cinemax.{{Cite web|title = Zane Jumps Off Into Television [INTERVIEW]|url = http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/zane-jumps-off-into-television-interview-999#axzz412dpKJi4|website = EBONY| date=March 29, 2013 |access-date = February 24, 2016}} The first feature film based on one of her works, Addicted, was released by Lionsgate on October 10, 2014.{{Cite web |last=Miska |first=Brad |date=June 20, 2014 |title=Lionsgate Gets 'Addicted' to New Sexy Thriller |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/videos/3299811/lionsgate-gets-addicted-new-sexy-thriller/ |access-date=May 17, 2024 |website=Bloody Disgusting! |language=en-US}}
In 2014, she was cited by Comptroller of Maryland Peter Franchot as one of Maryland's top tax cheats, owing the state $340,833.58.{{cite news |first=Fredrick |last=Kunkle |title=Prince George's author of steamy fiction tops list of Maryland's tax cheats, comptroller says |newspaper=Washington Post |date=January 27, 2014 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/prince-georges-author-of-steamy-fiction-tops-list-of-marylands-tax-cheats-comptroller-says/2014/01/27/8d10cc06-879b-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html |access-date=February 5, 2014}} On June 11, 2014, Zane filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Maryland, claiming total liabilities of more than $3.4 million.{{cite news |first=Doreen |last=Brown |title=Author Zane filed for bankruptcy as her new movie, 'Addicted,' was in production |newspaper=Washington Post |date=October 4, 2014 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/author-zane-filed-for-bankruptcy-as-her-new-movie-addicted-was-in-production/2014/10/03/aa2d5150-4a60-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html |access-date=October 4, 2014}}
Her work is mentioned in sociologist Shayne Lee's book Erotic Revolutionaries: Black Women, Sexuality, and Popular Culture. In it, Lee discusses Zane's work as an example of "urban erotica [that helps] create safe spaces for black female characters to explore lust and embark upon sexual experimentation."Lee, Shayne. Erotic Revolutionaries: Black Women, Sexuality and Popular Culture. Hamilton Books. 2010.
Bibliography
Zane's publications include:"Zane Book List." CHUH Library – Home. Web. September 13, 2010. http://heightslibrary.org
- The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth
- Addicted
- Shame On It All
- Gettin’ Buck Wild: Sex Chronicles II
- The Heat Seekers
- Nervous
- The Sisters of APF
- Skyscraper
- Afterburn
- Dear G-Spot: Straight Talk about Sex and Love
- Zane’s Sex Chronicles
- Head Bangers: An APF Sexcapade
- Total Eclipse of the Heart
- Love Is Never Painless
- Flava Series: Honey Flava, Caramel Flava, Chocolate Flava
- Purple Panties
- Missionary No More
- The Hot Box
- Vengeance
- The Other Side of the Pillow (2018)
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{official website|https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Zane/269527}}
- [https://www.instagram.com/planetzane/?hl=en Official site]
- [http://aalbc.com/authors/zane.htm The African American Literature Reference Website]
- {{IMDb name|2268532}}
{{NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zane}}
Category:African-American novelists
Category:American women novelists
Category:Pseudonymous women writers
Category:Writers from Washington, D.C.
Category:People from Prince George's County, Maryland
Category:American chick lit writers
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers
Category:American erotica writers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:Women erotica writers
Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers
Category:21st-century pseudonymous writers
Category:20th-century African-American women
Category:20th-century African-American writers