Rachel Cosgrove Payes

Who was Rachel Cosgrove Payes?

Rachel R. Cosgrove Payes, also known as E.L. Arch and Joanne Kaye was an American genre novelist, and author of books on the Land of Oz. A research biologist by training, she married Norman Morris Payes in 1954.

Her first book, The Hidden Valley of Oz, was published by Reilly & Lee in 1951. Her second, The Wicked Witch of Oz was denied publication on the grounds that the Oz books were not selling. The book was published by The International Wizard of Oz Club in 1993. She had a tendency to dismiss adult Oz fans and insist that Oz books are "for kids!", a view she expressed in the documentary, Oz: The American Fairyland.

The bulk of Cosgrove's work consisted of historical romance novels, many published by Playboy Press, one under the name Joanne Kaye. She also wrote science fiction novels for Avalon Books under the name "E.L. Arch", an anagram of Rachel, as well as shorter sf and fantasy under her own name. Payes also wrote gothics, such as The Black Swan.