About Leanna Renee:
Bio:
Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide, audiobook narrator and the award-winning, bestselling author of over Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy, Supernatural Suspense and Non-Fiction books for adults and teens with publishers such as Tor, Sourcebooks and Kensington Books. A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts, co-authored with Andrea Janes, was a 2022 Bram Stoker Award finalist for "Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction". The book explores the intersection of women's history and ghost stories.
Leanna's Strangely Beautiful saga, beginning with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards. Tor Books notes Strangely Beautiful as a "foundational text of Gaslamp Fantasy" and new, revised editions are now available via Tor. Darker Still hit American Bookseller's Association's "Indie Next List", was a Scholastic Book Club "Highly Recommended" title and a Daphne du Maurier award finalist.
A 4-time Prism Award winner for excellence in the genre of Fantasy Romance, Leanna's short stories have been featured in notable anthologies and her books have been selected for national book club editions as well as translated into many languages. She writes and narrates speculative fiction novellas for Everand.com. She lectures on Gothic fiction and ghostly themes for prominent institutions such as New York University, Miami University, the Association of University Women and at conventions, libraries and conferences around the country.
A proud member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, the Horror Writers Association, SFWA, International Thriller Writers and The Dramatists Guild, she lives in New York where she is a licensed NYC tour guide working with Boroughs of the Dead and has been featured on television in Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown, discussing Victorian Spiritualism. She created and tours By the Light of Tifffany, a one-woman show as 19th century designer Clara Driscoll and is represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency.
The Longer Biography:
Author, actress and playwright Leanna Renee Hieber grew up in rural Ohio inventing ghost stories. She graduated with a BFA in Theatre and a focus in the Victorian Era from Miami University. She began her theatrical career with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and began adapting works of 19th Century literature for the stage. Her one-act plays have been published, awarded and produced around the country. Her fiction career began with Dark Nest, which won the 2009 Prism Award for best novella. The Dark Nest Chronicles are now reissued via Everand.com, with Hieber narrating.
Hieber's debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, has been lauded by Tor Books as a "foundational text of Gaslamp Fantasy." The book landed on Barnes & Noble's bestseller lists, was named a favourite of 2009 by 14 book blogs, won two 2010 Prism Awards (Best Fantasy, Best First Book), the 2010 Orange County Book Buyer's Best Award (Young Adult category. The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess, prequel in the Strangely Beautiful series, won the 2012 Prism Award (Best Fantasy). This currently out of print series has been reissued as STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL and as PERILOUS PROPHECY by Tor Books with the finale in the series MISS VIOLET AND THE GREAT WAR finally available.
DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul, first in the Magic Most Foul saga of Gothic Victorian romantic thrillers, hit the Kid's/YA Indie Next List as a recommended title by the American Booksellers Association. The book has been praised by Seventeen and Pixie Magazines, Shelf Awareness, The Chicago Tribune and selected as a "highly recommended" title by Scholastic and was a finalist in the Daphne du Maurier award for excellence in Mystery and Romantic Suspense (Historical Category). The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart continues the Magic Most Foul series and has been praised by Booklist, RT Bookreviews and more. She is serialized the finale, The Double Life of Incorporate Things on her blog in true Gothic Victorian fashion and the complete novel is now available.
Leanna's short fiction has been featured in anthologies such as Willful Impropriety: Tales of Society and Scandal, "Too Fond" featured on Tor.com and Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy and the Mammoth Book of Gaslamp Romance. Her new Gaslamp Fantasy trilogy with Tor, THE ETERNA FILES, is now complete. Her books have been translated into many languages such as Polish, Complex Chinese, German, Thai and Turkish and have been selected for multiple national book club editions. THE SPECTRAL CITY trilogy is now available from Kensington Rebel Base Books. The Spectral City has been a # 1 Amazon bestseller in Gaslamp Fantasy, #1 in Steampunk and # 1 Metaphysical Fantasy and was an additional bestseller across several digital platforms.
A Haunted History of Invisible Women, Leanna's first foray into non-fiction, focusing on haunted house and ghost stories where women's narratives are centered, co-authored with Andrea Janes, will debut 2022 from Kensington Books.
Leanna is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, The International Thriller Writers, The Dramatists Guild and the Historical Novel Society. She is a proud co-founder of the original Lady Jane's Salon Reading Series in New York which closed in 2020. Leanna was named the 2010 RWA NYC Chapter Author of the Year.
A New York City resident, she is a proud member of performer's unions Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Leanna works often in film and television and has been featured on shows like Boardwalk Empire and Mysteries at the Museum. When not writing or on set, she is a licensed Ghost Tour guide for Boroughs of the Dead tour company and can be found wandering graveyards and adventuring in full Victorian regalia. Despite being always on deadline, she finds time to enjoy creating Gothic, Neo-Victorian and Steampunk art and jewelry, and selling signed books, on Etsy. She lectures on Gothic fiction and writing the paranormal for notable institutions such as New York University. She is represented by Sara Megibow at KT Literary. By the Light of Tiffany: A Meeting with Clara Driscoll is Leanna's new one-woman show channeling this talented 19th century designer. Leanna is active on social media (mostly on Twitter ), where she loves to hear from readers, and is available for school visits, lectures and workshops for writers groups at reasonable rates. Visit her Free Reads and Extras page for writer's resources and more!
