Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Born in St. Cloud, Minnesota to Ralph and Melania Hinkemeyer on October 18, 1940, Michael Thomas Hinkemeyer grew up on a farm near South Haven, Minnesota, just south of St. Cloud.
Upon graduation from St. Cloud’s Cathedral high school in 1958, Hinkemeyer attended, and later graduated from St. John’s University in nearby Collegeville, Minnesota with a bachelor of arts in History in 1962.
After graduation from St. John’s University in 1962, Hinkemeyer was commissioned as a lieutenant in the ROTC and was stationed mostly in Europe for the next two years. When Hinkemeyer was discharged, he worked as a supervisor at the Montgomery Ward Mail Order Company and saved money to attend graduate school at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Hinkemeyer graduated from Northwestern University in 1966 with a master of arts degree and landed a job teaching high school in Long Island, New York. Hinkemeyer soon returned to Northwestern, this time to earn his Ph.D. He completed his degree in late 1970. While at Northwestern, Hinkemeyer taught at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Soon after graduating with his Ph.D., Hinkemeyer took a position at Queens College in New York and taught Intellectual History, Social Science Research, and Principles of Education. While teaching, Hinkemeyer first book was published – it was entitled The Dark Below.
In 1976, Hinkemeyer was laid off from Queens College and then began his career as a full-time author.
In August 1967, Hinkemeyer married Arlene Dingilian in Cincinnati, Ohio. They had two children, Ellen Lara (born in 1970) and Jonathan Edward (born in 1973).
Hinkemeyer’s books, including those written as Vanessa Royall and Jan Lara:
The Dark Below (1974)
Summer Solstice (1976)
The Fields of Eden (1977)
The Creator (1978)
Flames of Desire (1978) [as Vanessa Royall]
Come Faith, Come Fire (1979) [as Vanessa Royall]
Sea Cliff (1979) [Re-issue of The Dark Below]
Firebrand’s Woman (1980) [as Vanessa Royall]
The Harbinger (1980) [also known as Dark Angel Pass By]
Lilac Night: A Novel of Revenge (1981)
Wild Wind Westward (1982) [as Vanessa Royall]
Seize the Dawn (1983) [as Vanessa Royall]
A Time to Reap: An Emil Whippletree Mystery (1984)
The Passionate and the Proud (1984) [as Vanessa Royall]
Fourth Down, Death (1985)
Fires of Delight (1986) [as Vanessa Royall]
Limbo (1988) [as Jan Lara]
The Order of the Arrow (1990)
Soulcatchers (1990)