About the Author

Elizabeth Leiknes spent her childhood obsessed with tornadoes, rainbows, and what might be on the other side. She wrote Black-Eyed Susan while listening to the musical stylings of Donna Summer, Bruce Springsteen, and the Willie Nelson album "The Rainbow Connection." She has a secret soundtrack running in her head 24-7, and her bucket list includes traveling cross-country using random songs on the radio to guide the way. This would be really cool if she didn't have a full-time job. And two kids. And a husband. And a mortgage. And horrible map reading skills. Like her protagonist, she can't decide if she's dreamer or just plain ambivalent. Or whatever. Elizabeth is the author of two other published novels, The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns and The Understory, and teaches English near Lake Tahoe.