OVERVIEW: Biography

In 1988, Jane Timm Baxter swiped a family member’s copy of Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice. It took the twelve-year-old two days to devour the novel, her head spinning with visions, ideas and possibilities. Jane grabbed up copies of Dracula, The Vampire Lestat and Salem’s Lot from the local library, as well as several volumes centering on the folklore of the vampire. There was no doubt; she was hooked on the immortal blood drinker.

The gothic subculture had not reached the mainstream populace at this time, and the word “Goth” was not the adjective that dripped from the lips of her peers as Jane wandered the school hallways, dressed from head to toe in black. Heavy kohl eyeliner rimmed her eyes, and black, permanent marker served as fingernail polish as Jane obsessively wrote dark poetry between class assignments. By the time the gothic movement reached noticeable levels, Jane had crossed into adulthood and no longer fit the gothic mold.

Although her appearance underwent several changes, Jane’s fascination with vampires remained steadfast. From one short story to another, her vampires evolved into something more powerful and unique than anything she kept reading in the works of other authors. Eventually, two separate races rose from her writing and the Ebonadrakry emerged beside their vampire cousins.

In 1996, Jane set aside her short stories in favor of trying her hand at a novel. Despite chronic health problems and diagnoses of migraines, type two bipolar disorder, cyclic vomiting syndrome and other illnesses, Jane continued to develop her novel. Days would pass when she was capable of penning only a few sentences, yet her characters had taken on lives of their own and would not allow her to give up. From first draft through countless rounds of editing, Shadows of Dawn reached its final incarnation in 2011.

After eight years of honing her craft, and therefore learning more about her characters, Jane followed the desire to delve deeper into the world she had created, and is working on two sequels, Dawn of Power and Lights Before Dawn, respectively. The character of Lila Bishop also spread to another novel, Night Garden, as a cameo appearance. Night Garden, a thriller with paranormal overtones, was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Awards, and is slated to be released by Daverana Enterprises in 2011.

Jane continues to voraciously consume folklore of the vampire, ancient to modern, making her an unofficial expert on the subject. As with most aspects of her life, she sifts through the beliefs and mythologies of multiple civilizations and eras, discarding what does not ring true and committing what does to paper. However, when asked if she believes in vampires as a creature of reality, her reply is four words, said with a smile:

“That’s not my area.”