Deborah Leblanc is comfortable with the paranormal. Or perhaps "comfortable" isn't quite the right word."I have been shoved down a flight of stairs by something 'unseen'," said Leblanc, a Louisiana native.
Her experiences in 12 years of ghost hunting inform her latest novel, Water Witch, set for release in October by Dorchester Publishing.
Set in the mist-wrapped bayous of Louisiana, Water Witch follows Dunny, whose sixth finger seems to function as a tuning fork for the spiritual world. Her extrasensory gifts help her track down two children who have been swallowed by the swamp. What Dunny finds amid the bayou's ghostly inhabitants, though, reveals grave danger to not only the children, but to their would-be savior.
Leblanc said writing a book set in her native surroundings was a natural.
"There isn't a better place on the planet than Louisiana for inspiring a perfect setting for a supernatural thriller," she said. "The dark, seemingly endless bayous, the unusual customs and traditions of the Cajun people, the practice of Voodoo in New Orleans, the influence that pirates, the mafia, and a corrupt government had on building the state. They're all jewels tucked away in this writer's treasure chest."
A veteran writer, Leblanc got involved with the paranormal while helping a friend do research for an MTV show. And one of Leblanc's businesses--a management consulting firm--led her, in a roundabout way, to study funeral services and eventually earn a death scene investigator's license."I'm already curious by nature, but throw me into a puzzle like a crime scene with a dead body on site, and my curiosity goes off the charts," she said. "You have a tendency to probe deeper, ask harder questions. And it gives you a behind the scenes knowledge that few people have access to. ... As a writer, I think that knowledge and the different perspective help to create three-dimensional characters and more vivid scenes."
Leblanc was born in Lafayette, La., and grew up in nearby Scott. The written word has always fascinated her, she said: As a child, she tried to read every book in the town library. She said that an elementary school teacher--impressed by a short story about a mermaid-- was the first person to encourage her to pursue creative writing.
What became of the mermaid?
"I'd completely forgotten about that short story until Disney released The Little Mermaid years ago," Leblanc said. "I brought my daughters to the theater to see it, and the entire time we're watching the movie, I'm thinking, 'Hey, I wrote that story!'"
She cites as influences a wide range of authors, from Mark Twain to Stephen King to Tom Robbins. And her writing has taken a darker turn since her childhood--although justice is always done.
"Unlike in real life, the bad guy never wins in my stories," she said. "My readers don't have to guess about whether or not a particularly nasty villain will die in the story. No doubt the sucker's going to die. 'By what method?' is the question on the reader's mind, because I so love finding unusual ways to kill the antagonists!"
For more about Deborah and Water Witch, visit www.deborahleblanc.com.
Contributing editor Gerry Doyle is the author of numerous short stories published in the United States, abroad and on the Internet. His first novel, From the Depths, was released in November 2007 by McBooks Press. He has worked as an editor and a reporter for the Chicago Tribune since 2001. He's also OK at ping-pong and has had cocktails on three continents. He doesn't put much stock in astrology but just in case: He's a Leo.
