Signed Copies of THE RAVEN'S TALE & a TV Appearance

If you're interested in purchasing a signed copy of The Raven's Tale—my new novel about teenage Edgar Allan Poe—the following bookstores have made ordering autographed editions easy.

⚜SIGNED COPIES⚜

✎ Fountain Bookstore, Virginia

✎ Books of Wonder, New York

If you're unable to purchase a copy, I'm happy to report that numerous libraries across the U.S. have already ordered the novel for their shelves! Visit the WorldCat page for TheRaven's Tale to see if your nearest library is stocking the book. If they aren't, most libraries have online forms for requesting the purchase of new titles.

⚜TV INTERVIEW⚜

At the tail end of my April cross-country tour for The Raven's Tale, AM Northwest, a Portland TV show hosted by Helen Raptis, interviewed me about the book. You can watch what I had to say about writing a novel about the legendary Edgar Allan Poe.

⚜PRAISE FOR THE RAVEN'S TALE⚜

“ . . . well-researched and darkly entertaining . . .”
—Publishers Weekly

“Brooding, macabre, romantic, and surprisingly whimsical . . . a must-read for Poe fans and Poe newcomers alike.”
—Kendare Blake
#1 New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series

“A darkly delicious tale. ”
—Kerri Maniscalco
#1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series

“Winters’s smart, silvery, slithering prose finds beauty in the grotesque—and what is art if not that?”
—Daniel Kraus
Co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Shape of Water

“A captivating and intensively researched tribute to the famous poet and his Gothic muse.”
—A.G. Howard
Author of the international and New York Times bestselling Splintered series

“A labor of literary love that will appeal to fans of Gothic horror . . .”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A rattling good tale that is worthy of the master poet himself.”
—Dwight L. MacPherson
Author of The Imaginary Voyages of Edgar Allan Poe, co-host of The Raven Lunatics

“Eerie, macabre, and appropriately esoteric.”
—Booklist

“Haunting and inventive.”
—Leanna Renee Hieber
Award-winning author of Darker Still and Strangely Beautiful

“The Raven’s Tale transports readers to the haunted streets of Antebellum Richmond, the city that shaped the teenaged Poe’s melancholy outlook and inspired his chilling poetry.”
—Chris Semtner
Curator of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, Richmond, Virginia

“A darkly seductive read, bringing a highly relatable Poe to life for the modern teenager.”
—Dawn Kurtagich
Award-winning author of The Dead House

“Teen fans of Poe’s poetry will learn about his life, and the included verses will create new fans.”
—School Library Journal

“Winters effectively infuses Poe’s macabre aesthetic into her fictional retelling of his life.”
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

⚜ORDER ONLINE⚜

AMAZON
BARNES & NOBLE
INDIEBOUND
POWELL'S
BOOK DEPOSITORY
INDIGO
BAM
AMAZON UK
KOBO

(Raven animation: "The Raven II," by luisbc)

A Radio Interview, Typeset YESTERNIGHT Pages, and Upcoming Events

Here's a quick look at my latest news.

KBOO Interview:

KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, OR, interviewed me in April as part of their "Between the Covers" program, and the podcast is now available online. Listen here.

Typeset Yesternight Pages:

I just received the typeset pages for Yesternight, my next novel for adults! William Morrow will be releasing the book on October 4, 2016. Yesternight is a psychological thriller about a school psychologist who, in 1925, investigates a seven-year-old girl who claims to have lived a past life as a woman who drowned in 1890.

Here's a little sneak peak of the interior pages:

PREORDER: 

Amazon • Barnes & Noble
IndieBound • Amazon UK • Book Depository  

BAM • Indigo

May-August Events:

I've updated my Events page to include more details about upcoming appearances. Here's where I'll be from the end of May through August.

Sunday, May 22, 2016, 3:00 pm

Arcadia Books (via Skype)

102 East Jefferson Street, Spring Green, WI

Skype visit with the Spring Green Community Book Club, discussing THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Manchester Township High School

Manchester Township, NJ

School visit.

Saturday, June 4, 2016, 11:00 am-2:00 pm

Klindt's Booksellers Spring Author Festival

315 E. 2nd Street, The Dalles, OR

Author fair with 12 Oregon YA and middle-grade authors.

Saturday, June 25-Sunday, June 26, 2016

ALA 2016 Annual Conference and Exhibition

Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL

YALSA's YA Author Coffee Klatch (9:00 am-10:00 am); additional appearances TBA.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016, 7:00 pm

McNally Jackson Books
52 Prince St., New York, NY
My Abrams editor, Maggie Lehrman, will be joining me to discuss THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

ThrillerFest

Grand Hyatt, New York City, NY

Panel - Medieval, Renaissance, or WWII? Historical Thrillers (1:00 pm-1:50 pm).

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Willamette Writers Conference

Sheraton Portland Oregon Hotel, Portland, OR

Panel - How to Break Into (and Survive!) the World of Young Adult Fiction (3:30 pm-5:00 pm).

VOYA Interview

I had the honor of being interviewed for VOYA Magazine's "Wouldn't You Like to Know . . ." series, and my feature is now live at voyamagazine.com. Past interviewees include such heavyweights in the YA field as John Green, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, and Ruta Sepetys. To say the least, I'm humbled and thrilled that VOYA asked me to participate.

You can find all of the "Wouldn't You Like to Know . . ." interviews at voyamagazine.com/topics/author-interviews.

A Podcast in Which I Answer 10 Questions in 10 Minutes

I’m honored to have been interviewed for the very first Abrams Books “10 Under 10” podcast. I answer questions about my books (present and future), my inspirations, writing advice, character names, and even the 1960s TV series Bewitched . . . all within a 10-minute time frame. 

Huge thanks to Abrams Books, the publisher of my YA novels, for inviting me to be their first podcast author!

Two More Interviews

You can catch two more interviews with me today:

Elizabeth Bunce, the inaugural YALSA Morris Award winner, chatted with me about my Morris nomination and my books over at Mirth & Matter.

Debut novelist Lindsay Currie, co-author of Creed (Fall 2014), asked me about my love of ghost tales and other In the Shadow of Blackbirds-related subjects at Scream Queens.

During both interviews, I revealed a few more details about The Cure for Dreaming...as I'm apt to do while I'm eagerly waiting to share that book with the world this year.

Interview with Cover Photographer Symon Chow

Symon Chow and cover model Olive.

My guest today is the talented Symon Chow, the photographer behind the In the Shadow of Blackbirds cover. Photography plays an enormous role in the plot of this novel, so I'm thrilled to feature someone who is both familiar with the art form and skilled at capturing the haunting look of the early-twentieth-century spirit photographs that are integral to this book.

Here is my interview with Symon.

Thank you so much for joining me today, Symon! As soon as my editor, Maggie Lehrman, gave me the link to your website and I saw your haunting, unique, vintage-style photographs, I knew you were the perfect photographer for the In the Shadow of Blackbirds cover. When and how did you first become drawn to this particular style of photography?

I guess it would have had to be in college when I started learning how to shoot “Alternative Process” photography. I have always been fascinated by old cameras and lenses, though even before college, I was fascinated by turn-of-the-century photography. But back then wasn’t as much about the gear and the process as it was about the subject. I have always had an affinity for the fashion of the era. If I had to pinpoint its beginning, it actually came from a shirt that my mother wore when I was a child. The shirt had a very intricate Art Nouveau pattern of sirens swirling through ribbons of fabric. I still remember it fondly and it has stuck with me though all of my creative endeavors.

When ABRAMS designer Maria T. Middleton approached you about photographing the cover of In the Shadow of Blackbirds, what were the first steps you went through to design and prepare for the shoot?

The first step of most covers I have worked on is to, of course, discuss what the designer and editor envision. I like to get as much details about the feeling they want to convey, so that I can get an idea of what kind of lighting will be involved. Then I like to ask about what types of props they want to incorporate. With that information, and the actual story for reference, I try to get as much detail before I work on “sketches.” I present as many different options as I can, focusing on different key elements that we’ve discussed. When the sketch is approved I can then concentrate on putting together the actual elements of the composition and source props and setups. The process is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It can at times be very fun and at times a little frustrating, but in the end, ALWAYS super fulfilling!

Your online portfolio shows a variety of costumes and eclectic Victorian/early 1900s-style backdrops and props. For the In the Shadow of Blackbirds cover, did you provide the costumes and all the accessories, including the goggles? 

I did actually, but not as much as I normally would have. Maggie and Maria already had a very particular outfit in mind before I even got involved in this project and had the costume pretty much sorted out. The only thing they didn’t have were the goggles...which I just happened to have sitting around (I collect old military goggles). On the day of the shoot we also played with different shoes and accessories. We have a fairly large collection of turn-of-the-century, pre- and post-WWI outfits and props that we’ve been collecting for years.

Did you use various costumes and backdrops for this shoot, or was there one particular look that you wanted most?

I believe we did a number of set-ups for this cover. Mostly wardrobe changes, different lighting set-ups, and positioning. We wanted to keep the setup simple in terms of the pose, because we wanted to focus on atmosphere. We were going for haunting, but also at the same time, inviting. We wanted the reader to get sucked into Mary’s world, and actually want to stay a while

Early-twentieth-century spirit photography plays an enormous role in the novel. Decades before the Photoshop era, photographers used methods such as double exposures to create ghostly images in the developed pictures. Are you able to divulge how you and Maria created the spirit lurking behind the model on the cover? 

Smoke and Mirrors.

If you lived in the early 1900s, would you still have been a photographer and designer? Do you think it would have been easier or harder to make a living with that art form back then?

I believe I would absolutely be working in photography and/or design in some shape or form. Especially in my photography, I use much of the same equipment, technics, and chemicals that were being used back then. It would be a toss-up as far as ease goes. While it would be easier to do the work of actually taking the picture and developing, it would be much harder to have the picture altered, press ready, and reproduced. This type of work is just in my blood, whether it be taking photos or making a sign or creating a book. I think if I were alive back then, and given the choice, my job would have been in the arts/technical field.

Thank you so much for joining me, Symon! I love hearing about the creation of this highly unique cover.

Visit Symon Chow online at www.SymonChow.com.

For more behind-the-scenes In the Shadow of Blackbirds cover info, please see my interview with the book's designer, Maria T. Middleton.

Friday Updates: Launch Party, ebook, & the Latest Giveaways

My launch party for In the Shadow of Blackbirds will be held tomorrow, Saturday, April 6, 4:00 pm, at Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton, Oregon! If you live in the area and can make it, I'd love to see you there. If you can't make it, you can still pre-order a signed copy, which Powell's will ship to you after the event.

Here's a photo of the novel, waiting on the Upcoming Events shelf at Powell's. I'm a huge fan of Karen Russell's, so I'm thrilled to see In the Shadow of Blackbirds sitting next to her latest release.

I'm still waiting to hear the latest updates about the Nook version of In the Shadow of Blackbirds! You can order the Kindle edition, but unfortunately, there has been a delay with the other ebook versions.

Here are the latest guest posts, interviews, and giveaways:

A&C Kids UK:

The Nocturnal Library:

Guest Post: 10 Ways I Researched the Past for In the Shadow of Blackbirds. International giveaway for a finished copy included.

A.L. Davroe's website:

A Feature Friday interview and two giveaways for finished copies.

Emily's Crammed Bookshelf:

A lovely five-star review from a teen blogger. She's offering a giveaway of a finished copy.

You can also find guest stops and giveaways on the In the Shadow of Blackbirds Blog Tour, which ends tomorrow. See also my Tuesday and Wednesday posts for other places I've visited during this busy, amazing book release week.

If I've visited your blog during the past week or so, and you don't see a mention of it, please send me a reminder and I'll add a link!

Ebook & B&N Updates...and My Latest Blog Stops

The ebook edition of In the Shadow of Blackbirds got delayed, but I've just been informed it's now available on Kindle! My publisher assured me other ebook versions will likely be available at some point today. Please check back here for updates.

Also, there's been a misshelving problem at some Barnes & Noble stores, but I've been assured that this issue is getting resolved, too. If you're looking for In the Shadow of Blackbirds at a Barnes & Noble and can't find it in the YA section, please check with a staff member. It was mistakenly labeled as juvenile fiction for kids ages 7 to 12.

Be sure to check out yesterday's post for all my latest interview and giveaway stops. Here are three more places I visited today:

I Like These Books:

A character interview with Mary Shelley Black that includes a sample of WWI-era jazz.

The post is part of the 2013 Standalone Reading Challenge.

The Lucky 13s:

I'm vlogging about the Spanish influenza aspect of In the Shadow of Blackbirds...while wearing a flu mask.

Ink Skies:

A This or That interview, part of the In the Shadow of Blackbirds blog tour and giveaway.

On display at Powell's Books in Beaverton, OR.

More Interviews, Giveaways, & Guest Posts

According to the brand-new countdown widget that now appears at BlackbirdsNovel.com, there are 38 days left until the publication of In the Shadow of Blackbirds! Because April 2 is getting so close, you'll more than likely see me and my novel, as well as several giveaways involving the novel, showing up across the Web.

Here's where In the Shadow of Blackbirds and I turned up this past week:

Realm of Fiction: An interview with me that involves fairy photos and flu remedies, plus an international ARC giveaway.

The Young Adult Connection: Guest post ("Why YA?") and an international In the Shadow of Blackbirds charm bracelet giveaway. 

Book, Bones, & Buffy: Preorder copy giveaway (international), part of the YA Paranormal Hop.

The Lucky 13s: We debut kidlit authors are sharing our childhood and teen photos. See me when I was about six months older than my protagonist, Mary Shelley Black.

Book Trailer Release Tour: Five ARCs and a free download of Jill Tracy's "Under the Fate of the Blue Moon" are still up for grabs (U.S. and Canada only). 

Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf: The publication's starred review of In the Shadow of Blackbirds showed up as one of the featured reviews.

Blogger/librarian reviews are also starting to appear online. Here's a small sampling (the last review contains several passages from the book, so you can get a taste of the novel's prose).

The Book Geek
The Book Stalker
Shelf-Employed

Thanks to everyone who's helping to spread the world about In the Shadow of Blackbirds! I greatly appreciate your time and enthusiasm!

FREE COUNTDOWN WIDGET

A Preview of the Dystopian/Apocalyptic Side of My Historical Novel

Level Two author Lenore Appelhans interviewed me at her website, Presenting Lenore, as part of her Dystopian August feature.

I'm sure you might be wondering why an author of a historical ghost tale was interviewed for a dystopian celebration. Instead of answering here, I'll send you over to the interview, where you'll learn about the dark, strange year of 1918, the setting for In the Shadow of Blackbirds:

http://presentinglenore.blogspot.de/2012/08/author-interview-cat-winters-previews.html

My First Post-Book-Deal Interview & Other Blogosphere Travels This Week

All this week I'm traveling around the blogosphere, making various guest appearances.

Today Mindy McGinnis, author of the upcoming dystopian thriller Not a Drop to Drink, interviewed me over at Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire. I'm part of her interview series called Submission Hell—It's True (I'll let you figure out the acronym of that series on your own). You can read about my long and winding submission journey here.

P.S. Not a Drop to Drink sounds amazing. Check it out at Goodreads.

I also just participated in Gennifer Albin's Januquery project. Gennifer is the author of another upcoming novel I can't wait to read: Crewel, set in a world where women designated as "Spinsters" can control time. She invited members of The Lucky 13s to help her critique query letters people are submitting to her site, and my critique ran yesterday. I've worked as a copy editor in the past, so I sincerely hope the author whose query I chose didn't pass out when she saw all my red marks. Queries are an extremely challenging part of the process of getting an agent, and I wish the best for all the Januquery participants.

Tomorrow (Jan. 11) I have a post running at The Lucky 13s. This week's topic: What Keeps You Going When the Going Gets Tough. I may have composed a song for that particular subject...

Finally, this Friday I'm participating in the monthly 13th-Day Post at The Lucky 13s and celebrating Friday the Thirteenth with a special post at Suburban Vampire.

When I'm not running all over the place, giving my two cents on the world of writing, I'll be right here working on my newest manuscript, which I'm trying to tackle as much as possible before I receive my In the Shadow of Blackbirds edits. All I can say about this one is that it's another Gothic historical novel. The working title, the basic plot, and everything else about the book will be staying under wraps for now.

My Interview with a Debut 2012 Author & a Query Critique Opportunity

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It's 2012, which means we'll now get to enjoy the books of The Apocalypsies—a group of YA, MG, and children's book authors debuting this year. I had the pleasure of interviewing one of those writers: Kami Kinard, author of The Boy Project (Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister).

You can read my chat with Kami at
http://thelucky13s.blogspot.com/2012/01/apocalypse-now-interview-with-kami.html.

In other news, Gennifer Albin, author of the upcoming YA novel Crewel, is running an event called Januquery on her blog. She asked us members of the The Lucky 13s to help her critique query letters that people send in, and I'm going to help out. If you have a query letter you'd like to submit for feedback, go to http://blog.genniferalbin.com/2012/01/januquery.html.

My kids are heading back to school on Tuesday, so I'll be wrapping up some goodies over at my Suburban Vampire blog and then diving back into my writing, which has been drastically ignored during the break. I'm also contemplating starting a group blog for debut YA historical novelists, but we'll see if I have time. It's also the start of Girl Scout Cookie season, and I'm the cookie mom, so things are going to get a little insane around here soon. If you hear the muffled cries of a stressed-out writer buried beneath boxes of Thin Mints, that'll be me.

Happy New Year!

P.S. 80% of the people who responded to my December poll said they've had a ghostly image show up in their photographs.

My chats with two authors branching out to YA fiction

I've been busy with interviews over at Suburban Vampire this month, and my two current guests are award-winning authors who have decided to venture into the realm of young adult fiction.

Today's Suburban Vampire guest is Marta Acosta, author of the Casa Dracula series.  Her young adult gothic novel, The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove, will be published by Tor in 2012, so keep an eye out for her as an up-and-coming YA author. I asked Marta eight random scary questions to celebrate Halloween and to promote her newest release, Haunted Honeymoon. She's also offering a giveaway package that includes a free signed Casa Dracula novel. READ THE INTERVIEW & ENTER THE CONTEST HERE.

Today also marks the release of Sophie Littlefield's young adult thriller, Banished. Last week Sophie gave me the inside scoop about her new novel, and her Suburban Vampire contest for a free signed copy of Banished is still open until Thursday, October 14. Sophie is known for her adult crime novels, A Bad Day for Sorry and A Bad Day for Pretty.  She and I also share the same phenomenal literary agent.  READ THE INTERVIEW & ENTER THE CONTEST HERE.

Thanks for chatting with me, Marta and Sophie!  You're both fabulous.

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.

Two interviews with moi

Some of you may know me as Catherine from Suburban Vampire, where I've been writing about undead entertainment for almost 3 1/2 years. I'm thrilled to announce that this weekend Suburban Vampire is being featured on a vampire music radio show in Instanbul, Turkey. Journalist Aylin Unal contacted me about her show and asked me to send her a vampire playlist based on my Music Monday favorites. She'll also be running an interview about me and the blog. The show will air this Monday, July 5, at 2:00 AM Eastern European Summer Time (Sunday, July 4, at 7:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time), on Acik Radio, 94.9 (which you can hear online). On Monday, July 5, I'll be featured at Aylin's blog, karanligincocuklari.blogspot.com. Thank you, Aylin!

Also, the wonderful Nicole Hadaway will be interviewing me at Write in the Shadows on Thursday, July 8. I'll be revealing a little more info about Blackbirds over there. I'll make an another announcement next week when the interview is live. Stay tuned...