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Leslie Lutz is a young adult author whose poetry and prose have appeared in various journals, including Kaaterskill Basin Literary Journal, Typishly, Orca Literary Journal, The Lyric, and Raintown Review. She has been a speaker at the DFW Writers Convention, Border Regional Library Association, and Thrillerfest in NYC. Her debut YA thriller, FRACTURED TIDE, was voted best of 2020 by Suspense Magazine and was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard pick. Her second YA novel, SWEETEST DARKNESS, follows a teenage psychic who comes into possession of a haunted safe that he absolutely should not open (psst....he does). She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and daughter, along with three cats and two spoiled chickens.

I didn’t know I wanted to write about haunted water, but it’s a theme I return to every time I write a short story or start a new novel. If it’s got a tentacle, or a water ghost, or a near-drowning, I’m probably going to write about it.