[2] Under both names, her books have appeared at the top of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today lists, and they are frequent bestsellers in Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

[3] The fourth child in a family of five children, her parents, Harold and Malene Woodward, divorced when she was eight, at which point she lived with her grandparents.

She describes her childhood as defined by abuse and poverty,[4] but she remained close to her mother, who encouraged and shared her interest in horror, the paranormal and science fiction.

[3][5] Kenyon started writing while in high school, in part as therapy to escape other aspects of her life.

[4][7] Although money was already tight, after their first child was born and he graduated they lost their house, subsequently forcing them to live out of their car until they were able to secure an apartment some months later.

Previously, Kenyon had published her first story in 1975, and in the mid-1980s she was a writer for the science fiction magazine Cutting Edge.

[7] On January 7, 2019, Kenyon filed a lawsuit against her husband and his assistants, claiming they had poisoned her over a number of years in order to sabotage her health to his financial gain.

[6] Novels and short stories may be listed repeatedly because many of her series share the same fictional universe.