Leanna Renee Hieber
This week we take a closer look at Exposition Featured Speaker Leanna Renee Hieber. She is an author, actress and playwright who grew up in rural Ohio inventing ghost stories. Hieber 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.
Her 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 series is now available from Kensington Rebel Base Books with the sequel, A SANCTUARY OF SPIRITS, coming 10/2019. 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.
Leanna is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, The International Thriller Writers and the Historical Novel Society. She is a proud co-founder of the original Lady Jane’s Salon Reading Series in New York. 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 Paul Stevens of the Donald Maass Agency. 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.
We are honored and most excited to have Leanna Renee Hieber join us this September.
Get Involved
There are many ways that you can be a part of the Chicago Steampunk Exposition. We have a few spots left in the vendor hall, Artists’ Alley, and Authors’ Alley; to learn more click HERE. Or perhaps you would like to share your knowledge and present a panel or workshop? In addition to Steampunk programming, we are also looking for experts in Dieselpunk, Victorian Gothic, Doctor Who, Lolita, and other retro-futuristic related topics. If you would like to submit a proposal to present, please click HERE to learn more. And of course, we are always looking for Volunteers to help run the Exposition; a convention is only as strong as its team of volunteers. So if you would like to join the crew, please click HERE to learn more and apply. If you have not done so already, please RSVP to the actual Chicago Steampunk Exposition Event Page HERE to help keep you up to date on all the latest Exposition news.
Hotel Rooms
Staying in Chicago can be expensive, but we have managed to secure discounted rooms at the Westin O’Hare Hotel starting at $129 per night (plus taxes & fees) Suites are also available for $179 per night (plus taxes & fees) Book your rooms by calling (800) 937-8461 or (847) 698-6000 and requesting the Steampunk Block when giving the dates of your reservation. If you are planning on vending at the Exposition, we have a separate block of rooms reserved for you. Upon acceptance to the show and settlement of vendor fees, details and instructions for booking a room in the Vendor Block will be emailed to you.
Upcoming Posts . . .
- Sneak peaks for Special Events
- Tour of the Exposition venue
. . . and more!
