Mayhar wrote over 60 books ranging from science fiction to horror to young adult to historical to westerns.
Mayhar was born at Timpson, Texas, and was first inspired to write by finding Arthur Merritt's fantasy The Face in the Abyss (1931) on a remote rural news-stand at age 15.
[1] She later sold the bookstore, which served the students of Stephen F. Austin State University and people in the East Texas area, providing books that would otherwise have been unavailable locally.
Her juvenile novels (what would now be called 'young adult') were divided between her 'East Texas' series with regional settings, and her fantasy works for that age group.
[4] Until her health began to fail, her reputation was such that she still spoke regularly in the area, drawing large crowds.