This Fort Worth man wrote many popular romance novels - under women’s pen names

He put the “his” in “historical romance.”

Yes, romance novelists Edwina Marlow, Beatrice Parker, Katherine St. Clair, and — best-known of all — Jennifer Wilde were actually Fort Worth’s Tom Huff, a 6-foot-tall Army veteran.

Huff wrote 23 gothic romance and historical romance novels, most of them under female pen names.

Huff was born in Fort Worth in 1938, graduated from Poly High School in 1956 and from Texas Wesleyan College in 1960. After two years in the Army, he began teaching English at Paschal High School.

One day in class, Huff confiscated some paperback books that his female students were reading. Curious, he leafed through the gothic romance novels.

“They were just horrible,” he recalled, “and I decided anyone could do better than that.”

So, in 1968 Tom Huff walked away from the blackboard and sat down at the typewriter.

In a month he wrote his first gothic romance novel (as Edwina Marlow), “The Master of Phoenix Hall.” It was published in 1968.

Tom Huff and Edwina Marlow were on their way.

Huff later said, “These books are read mainly by women, and when I first started writing them ... we were afraid that women would only buy this kind of book if it were written by a woman. So we just picked a name. I’ve had several pseudonyms.”

He wrote under the names “T. E. Huff” and “Tom E. Huff” but also under the pen names “Edwina Marlow,” “Beatrice Parker,” and “Katherine St. Clair.”

In 1973, Huff wrote the gothic romance novel “Nine Buck’s Row” (as T. E. Huff).

In 1975, Huff’s gothic romance novel “Jamintha” was published under the pen name “Beatrice Parker.”

Huff wrote gothic romance novels for nine years. In 1976 he adopted the pen name “Jennifer Wilde” and turned from gothic romance to historical romance novels. His first Jennifer Wilde novel, “Love’s Tender Fury,” quickly sold 3 million copies and spent 26 weeks on the New York Times paperback bestseller list.

Huff’s second Jennifer Wilde historical romance, “Dare to Love” (1977), spent 11 weeks on the bestseller list.

In the 1970s, even though editors in the historical romance genre knew the formula for success (one strong female protagonist, one — or more — Prince Charming, one — or more — vile villain, three-dimensional characters, plenty of passion, of course, but not explicit sex, adversity and uncertainty, historical accuracy, a happy ending), it took some literary alchemy to transform that formula into sales gold.

After his first two historical romance novels, Tom Huff had proved that he was King Midas.

But this King Midas faced an additional challenge. Most readers of historical romance novels are women. Thus, a male writer, as the voice of his heroine, must convince women readers that the author, too, is a woman.

Tom Huff was a convincer.

“I can’t believe this book was written by a man; no man could know those things about a woman!” said one woman reader of the historical romance novel “Love’s Tender Fury” upon learning that Jennifer Wilde was actually a man.

Huff continued to write as Jennifer Wilde in the 1980s.

“Once More, Miranda” was published in 1983, “They Call Her Dana,” Huff’s eighth Jennifer Wilde novel, was published in 1989.

No doubt Tom Huff and Jennifer Wilde had still more tales to tell, but in 1990 Huff died at age 52.

Today Jennifer Wilde lives on, her books still selling with her creator’s Midas touch.

Mike Nichols blogs about Fort Worth history at www.hometownbyhandlebar.com.

This story was originally published May 16, 2020 at 8:00 AM.