IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS in San Diego

Me, dressed for San Diego's Gaslight Gathering.

I spent the past four days traveling with In the Shadow of Blackbirds in its San Diego setting. I met high school students, librarians, booksellers, and other readers and enjoyed every moment.

To fully immerse San Diego students into the novel's 1918 setting, I had them wearing flu masks and smelling a bag full of raw onions. I also ventured into the world of steampunk conventions at San Diego's Gaslight Gathering.

A huge thanks goes out to the following schools, bookstores, etc., for hosting me:

San Diego High School
Grossmont High School
The Yellow Book Road
Mysterious Galaxy
San Diego County Library
Ara Burklund
Gaslight Gathering
My sister, Carrie
San Diego friends
Laura Mihalick at Amulet Books (who sent me down there in the first place!)

I've posted several photos from my trip, including pics from the novel's setting, on my Facebook page.

Sprucing Up the Place with Photos

Balboa Park, San Diego (Photo © Cat Winters)

In my last post I teased readers with a distorted photo of a San Diego landmark that plays a role in my novel. The building is part of the city's beautiful, historic Balboa Park, but that's all I'm going to say about that particular setting for now. How the locale relates to In the Shadow of Blackbirds will need to remain top secret.

I decided to build upon that last post and add a few more of my San Diego photos to the sidebar to spruce up the site. I've aged the pictures to try to make them appear to be straight from my novel, and I'm hoping they do the job of making the website a little more visually interesting. I'll be adding many more goodies once I can reveal more info about the plot, but for now I'll leave you with three aged photos that could have come from one of my characters' personal collections.

Winter Greetings from Winters

My mascot, Winifred, enjoying the holidays.

I'll be taking a break from blogging and the computer in general over the weekend. I hope the holidays find everyone happy, safe, and healthy.

Below is a virtual holiday greeting I created last year. I distorted one of my photographs of a San Diego landmark that appears in In the Shadow of Blackbirds to give the picture a supernatural feel. If you're familiar with that particular region of California, see if you can guess where it is.