Moon Over Seaville with Dr. Leighton Reynolds

When he first moved to Santa Clarita in 2001, Dr. Leighton Reynolds had no idea what to expect. He knew that our community was the ideal place to call home, and that there was much about our valley that made it unique, but what he didn’t know was that two decades in Santa Clarita would also bring with them a series of wildfires that would – literally – spark his love for writing in the process.
“Until moving here, I had had very little contact with wildfires and really knew nothing about them, or that much about arson,” he says.
Before he was a writer, he was a practicing neuro-psychoanalyst, covering both PTSD and TBI patients. He didn’t know it then, but Dr. Reynolds would later go on and use Santa Clarita’s wildfire tendencies as inspiration for one of the proudest achievements of his career so far: a four-episode novel series based on our own Santa Clarita community.
The series, titled Moon Over Seaville, follows the story of Dr. Roger Sterling, who meets local fire chief Richard Bradford, and the two team up to track down a serial arsonist they believe is responsible for setting fires around their hometown. The two embark on an exciting hunt using the dynamics of the mind rather than traditional forensic evidence, but little do they know what they’re getting into – or the secrets they will uncover.
“I had considered writing fiction way back in graduate school in Boston, but my time was consumed with school, work, and family,” Dr. Reynolds says with regards to his writing journey. “Then one March morning in 2008, it all came together, and I’ve been writing seriously ever since.”
Dr. Reynolds began toying with the idea of fictional writing back in early 2008, after having spent years writing scientific and nonfiction pieces during the process of obtaining his doctorate. Then, one Sunday morning in March, he simply sat down and started writing and writing – and the rest is history.
He was (and still is) heavily inspired by Santa Clarita’s year-round fire seasons. After witnessing three simultaneous wildfires in the valley in October of 2007, the gears started to turn in his head.
“I have been watching the Santa Clarita Valley burn since 2003, and I felt that it was time to do something about it,” Dr. Reynolds says. “So I began researching arson, speaking with L.A. County arson investigators, and watching the news like a hawk. It didn’t take long for a psychological, action, erotic thriller to be born!”
Dr. Reynolds considers himself to be lucky to have evaded writer’s block for the most part, with his main challenges having been the actual publishing process. However, these obstacles haven’t stopped him from pursuing his love for the written word, and he has plans to continue writing and publishing both fiction and nonfiction pieces.
You can find Moon over Seaville on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble, with autographed copies available at our very own Valencia location. Dr. Reynolds himself can be reached via email at leightonj@sbcglobal.net, and via phone at (661) 478-0667 for both writing and neurological practice inquiries.

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