Chelsea Quinn Yarbro was born on September 15, 1942, in Berkeley, California, to a cartographer and an artist. After attending San Francisco State College for three years, she became a cartographer in the family business in 1963, where she worked until the business failed in 1970. She then dedicated herself to writing, to occult interests (such as providing professional tarot and Ouija board readings), and to composing musical works. Her pursuit of matters occult and metaphysical has led to the production of several nonfiction works—Messages from Michael on the Nature of the Evolution of the Human Soul (1979), More Messages from Michael (1986), and Michael's People (1988)—as well as such musical compositions as "Stabat Mater," "Alpha and Omega," and "Mythologies."

Yarbro is chiefly known for her adult fiction, especially the best-selling "Saint-Germain" series, which recounts the adventures of the immortal yet humanly sympathetic vampire, Count Ragoczy de...