"If I could do one thing with the world, I'd turn the entire human race into empaths. Make everybody feel everyone's pain. If we could all truly empathize with each other, there would be an immediate end to most human misery. Famines would stop as rich countries fall over themselves to send aid...." -- L. J. Smith


Lisa Jane (L.J.) Smith realized she wanted to be an author sometime between kindergarten and first grade. She got her idea for her first published book while babysitting in high school, and wrote it while attending college at the University of California in Santa Barbara; after which she went on to teach public school for many years.

Dreams and nightmares have always fascinated her. Many of her books, like the Forbidden Game and Dark Visions trilogies, come from her own experiences and/or beliefs. For example, while she makes no claims of psychic powers, she is firmly convinced that streetlights go off at night when she passes. And some of the nightmares from the Forbidden Game trilogy came from herself, and friends. At times she'll stop in the middle of a particularly frightening dream and think: "This is awful. I sure hope I remember it when I wake up!"

Now the author of more than twenty books, she enjoys computers, mythology, walking in the woods at night, animals and writing about strong female characters and encourages girls to read, write and reach for their dreams. L.J. lives in the Bay Area of Northern California, in a rambling house among the trees, with one dog, three cats, ten thousand books, and gets some of her best ideas while sitting under the stars.


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