L.J.M. Wadsworth grew up in West Yorkshire, where anyonewith an interest in legends, ghosts, UFOs and all things 'strange' could take awalk on the moors and expect not be disappointed. She moved to Canada on herown at the age of 25 and joined a children's writing course. It was there shecame across the hard-hitting novels of American writer, Robert Cormier. Infact, although she most naturally wrote in the genre of supernatural suspense,Wadsworth's first-ever published piece was not a fantasy story, but an entry inThe Toronto Star Short Story Competition, where she was a runner-up witha story about a Nicaraguan child refugee in Canada. However, she knew her heart would always belong to sci-fiand fantasy, and the unsolved mysteries that seep through from invisible 'otherworlds'. Her short story 'The Boy Who Saw' (Thistledown Press) was listed onthe curriculum of the Saskatchewan School Board in the category 'The Unknown'alongside one of her writing heroes, John Wyndham. Her supernatural tale 'TheDrummer' appeared in the second anthology of The Horrors, Terrifying Tales(Red Deer Press). And in the UK, her short story 'The Gardener' was selected byCosta Book Award winner A.L. Kennedy as one of the runners-up in the MslexiaShort Story Competition 2021.Wadsworth's novel, Kenji, was published in 2024 (byHawkwood Books), a YA supernatural thriller that the author sometimes describesas 'X-Files for kids', but which she was very pleased the publisher describedas 'magical realism'. The Tale of Jack isn't a bit like it (other thanbeing magical), but harks back to the epic quests of Tolkien - just movingalong a bit quicker in rhyme! - and the fairytales that have sunk into ourhuman mythology, retold over and over in a changing world.Wadsworth would say her major influences are Alan Garner,Robert Cormier, Susan Hill and John Wyndham. She currently lives in the EastMidlands, and often finds herself looking for all things 'strange' again.