The IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS Cover Reveal & Giveaway!!!!

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

Coming April 2013 from Amulet Books/Abrams.

Add to Goodreads.

Pre-order at Amazon.

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I'm trembling with excitement as I type up this post to reveal the hauntingly beautiful cover for In the Shadow of Blackbirds and to finally share an official synopsis for the novel. The cover was designed by the talented Maria T. Middleton, and the photography is by Symon Chow.  The lovely cover model is portraying a scene in which my protagonist, Mary Shelley Black, begrudgingly poses for a photographer who claims to capture the spirits of lost loved ones with his camera.

In celebration of the cover reveal, I'm giving away an In the Shadow of Blackbirds prize package. I don't have advance copies of the book available yet—those will wait for a future giveaway. But I do have some pre-Halloween treats involving creepy dark birds, which play a major role in my novel:

If you enter my giveaway using the Rafflecopter form below, you'll have a chance to win a copy of Kristen Lawrence's Poe-inspired CD, The Raven, four vintage-style crow bookmarks, and a signed bookplate featuring a line spoken by my In the Shadow of Blackbirds spirit photographer character during the scene pictured on the book cover. I'll run the giveaway until Thursday, October 4. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Yes, I'm Definitely Seeing This Ghost Movie

Being the huge fan of Gothic historical ghost stories that I am, I'm counting down the days until the February 3 release of The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe. If you haven't yet seen or heard anything about this film, or Susan Hill's novel on which it's based, here's one of the many Woman in Black featurettes popping up around the web (it includes a quick peek at the author):



As with most movie adaptations, differences from the book seem to abound, but I still can't wait to run out to see this creepy, classic, ghostly tale on the big screen and get scared out of my wits.

Scary Ghost Stories at Christmastime

I've always been fascinated with our tendency to be drawn to dark subject matters during the holidays. Think about our most cherished Christmas movies—the films watched over and over and imitated countless times—and the dark themes they entail:

A Sinister Old Man Who Sees Ghosts

A Christmas Carol

A Sinister Old Man Who Provokes Suicide Attempts

It's a Wonderful Life

A Sinister Old Monster Who Steals Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Why do we frequently veer toward the scary when it comes to our most cherished holiday?

Have you ever heard the Andy Williams song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," which includes the line “There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago”? Or read Susan Hill's The Woman in Black, which starts with the telling of ghost stories on Christmas Eve?

Victorians in England made a tradition out of sitting around the fire and spinning ghost tales on December 24. In fact, the winter solstice, the lengthiest night of the year, has long been considered one of the best times for paranormal activity. The veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is said to be thinnest when the old sun dies and the new sun waits to be born. Such a belief probably led to the spreading of spine-tingling stories during December's dimmest hours.

So, if you're wondering why you're craving a glimpse of Marley's ghost when winter awakens after midnight tonight, or if Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas wins out over The Santa Clause in your house, keep in mind you're just following a long-standing December tradition of dark, supernatural tales. 

Happy winter!

December Question of the Month: Have You Ever Captured a Ghostly Image?

One of my ghostly Maine photos.

I'm launching a new feature today: The Question of the Month. Unless I'm bogged down with revisions, I'll try to launch a reading, movie, or ghost-related question on the first day of every month.

Here's the December question:




Spirit communication, especially spirit photography, plays a huge role in the plot of In the Shadow of Blackbirds. In the future I'll be sharing some highly entertaining spirit photos from the heyday of the Spiritualist movement, but for now let's talk about YOUR experiences with capturing ghosts. Have you ever come across a misty figure that wasn't noticeable when you first took a picture? Do you tend to get mysterious orbs or weird traces of light when you snap photos in certain locations?

I'm attaching my own spooky photos, which I took in Maine during a vacation in the late nineties. Professional photographers have explained what probably occurred to my film (yes, this was back when I still used film), but I prefer thinking of the images as a running ghost (the photo above) and a phantom couple (the photo below).


If you have a ghost photo of your own you'd like to share, feel free to add a link in the comments section of this post.

At least it's the right season to be revising a ghostly mystery

My ghostly Maine photo.

I haven't had an abundance of time to work on revisions due to my kids being home from school for conferences, a birthday party with thirteen children in my house, and a sick daughter, but when I have sat down to work, I've been fiddling with the mystery aspect of Blackbirds.  I love books with satisfying twists and don't want to deliver anything less with my own work, but it's been a challenge trying to figure out how to make my ending as surprising and fulfilling and possible.  Some new ideas have popped into my head this week, and hopefully they're leading me down the right path.

At least October is the perfect time to be writing about ghosts and dark mysteries.  I've been scaring myself by watching shows like Ghost Adventures late at night and listening to Kristen Lawrence's Halloween Carols in the car with my kids.  Here's a video for a song of Kristen's I've been using to get myself into the Blackbirds zone.  It's called Dark Glass, and the chorus is absolutely beautiful and dreamlike.

More ghostly YA books

I recently finished reading Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown's Picture the Dead, a gothic, illustrated novel set in Civil War-era Massachusetts.  Admittedly, the authors had me sweating for a while because they used some of the same themes that appear in my work-in-progress: a wartime setting, spirit photography, a soldier's mysterious death.  The book was a page turner with gorgeous prose, so it didn't take me long to speed through the haunting story and realize--with a huge sigh of relief--our books have enough differences for me to keep plugging away.  Definitely check it out if you're looking for a book to read while huddled under the covers.  Fans of Poe, the Bronte sisters, and Sarah Waters's darker tales will eat it up.

While vacationing in Washington this past week, I visited the wonderful Village Books in Fairhaven and added another ghostly YA novel to my reading pile: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.  I've read his adult fiction before and especially enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind. This new novel was actually published in Spanish in 1993, but Little, Brown Books just released an English version in May.  It involves a young teen's experiences in a long-unoccupied--and possibly haunted--house on the Spanish coast during WWII.  Can't wait to read it!

As for my own writing news, I need to plug away at Blackbirds revisions before submitting the manuscript to another critique partner in September.  I've been reading so much info about how crucial it is to be able to write a one-sentence synopsis of one's book, and I think I've come up with one that satisfies me: A sixteen-year-old girl helps both the living and the dead endure the horrors of a troubled era.

Upcoming ghost movies

I've already tweeted this news, but I thought I'd also mention here that there are two highly intriguing-sounding ghost movies in the works:

THE HAUNTED MANSION
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Yes, there's already been a less-than-successful Eddie Murphy movie version of Disney's Haunted Mansion ride, so it may not seem like another such a film would be a wise idea. However, the man behind the new version is the Pan's Labyrinth writer/director, whose films are a far cry from Eddie Murphy comedies. According to MTV.com, the Disneyland ride is "a way of life" for del Toro.  As a person who grew up a half hour away from Disneyland and fell in love with the ride at an early age, I can completely understand. Here's a clip of del Toro discussing his ideas for the movie at Comic-Con:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Starring Danielle Radcliffe
I saw a stage adaptation of Susan Hill's chilling Victorian ghost story when I studied theater in London, and I remember absolutely loving the gothic tale.  Daniel Radcliffe will star as a young lawyer who's hired to settle an estate at the sinister Eel Marsh House. According to the The Woman in Black's IMDB site, filming will begin this fall and the film is scheduled to be released in 2011.

Keep the spooky tales coming, filmmakers!  We could use more of the ghostly ones.

Interview of me at Write in the Shadows

Novelist Nicole Hadaway has interviewed me over at Write in the Shadows today.  I've revealed much more than usual about the plot of Blackbirds, plus I've discussed how long I've been writing (hint: the picture here shows me in my first scary Halloween costume at the age of five; everything started falling into place for my current career around then).

A snippet from the interview:

A near-death experience straddles my heroine between the world of the living and the realm of the dead, and she’s able to communicate with the frustrated spirit of an eighteen-year-old friend of the family who’s been told he was killed in battle.

Read more at http://writeintheshadows.com.