L.J. Smith (1958-2025)

Author L.J. Smith, 66, died March 8, 2025 in Danville CA after a long illness. Smith was best known for the bestselling Vampire Diaries series and the Night World series.

Lisa Jane Smith was born September 4, 1958 in Fort Lauderdale FL and grew up in Villa Park in Southern California. She attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and San Francisco State University, and worked for three years as an elementary school teacher before leaving to focus on her writing. Smith took a hiatus from publishing in 1998 to care for sick family, but returned to writing in 2008.

Debut YA novel The Night of the Solstice (1987) was followed by sequel Heart of Valor (1990). Her next work became her most famous: The Vampire Diaries, later adapted as a television series that ran for eight seasons from 2009 to 2017. First title The Awakening appeared in 1991, followed by The Struggle (1991), The Fury (1991), Dark Reunion (1992), The Return: Nightfall (2009), The Return: Shadow Souls (2010), and The Return: Midnight (2011). Subsequent volumes were ghostwritten.

Other works include the Dark Visions series, with The Strange Power (1994), The Possessed (1995), and The Passion (1995); and the Forbidden Game series, with The Hunter (1994), The Chase (1994), and The Kill (1994). The Night World sequence includes Secret Vampire (1996), Daughters of Darkness (1996), Spellbinder (1996), Dark Angel (1996), The Chosen (1997), Soulmate (1997), Huntress (1997), Black Dawn (1997), and Witchlight (1998). The Secret Circle began with The Initiation (1992) and continued with The Captive (1992) and The Power (1992).

Smith is survived by longtime friend Julie Divola, her sister, nieces, and nephews.