The Scholastic Reading Club Edition (and Other Paperbacks and Goodies Coming Your Way)

As a reader who LOVED to receive her Scholastic book order forms in school as a child—and who still has many of her childhood Scholastic books sitting on her bookshelves—I am so thrilled to announce that the Scholastic Reading Club is carrying an exclusive paperback edition of In the Shadow of Blackbirds! I just got my hands on a copy (in other words, I ordered one through my son's school book orders, because I was dying to see it!!!), and here are some pics of the lovely new arrival: 

As I said, this is an exclusive edition that's only available through the Scholastic Reading Club and the Scholastic school book fairs. However, the Amulet Books paperback edition—which will include a sneak peek of The Cure for Dreaming—is coming October 7, 2014, and it's now available to pre-order. The cover will be a slightly modified version of that of the hardcover, and I'll likely be able to share the artwork within the next month.

Also coming quite soon: the cover reveal for The Cure for Dreaming! Amulet Books usually debuts their fall catalogs around April, which means they'll probably be sending me the artwork to reveal late March to early April. Please check back for that announcement. I absolutely love the cover and can't wait to share it.

I recently turned in the copy-edited manuscript of The Cure for Dreaming, and the next stage will be proofreading the typeset version. Maybe . . . just maybe . . . I'll post a sneak peek of one of the pages when I receive them in April. The novel is scheduled to release October 14, 2014, and pre-ordering is already available for that one, as well.

I'm also madly working away on the first draft of my adult novel, The Uninvited, which I need to turn in to my William Morrow editor by June 2. I've been told that particular novel will more than likely debut Spring 2015, which feels quite soon. I'm extremely excited to share all of these upcoming projects with everyone and feel so thankful to now have multiple books—and multiple editions of books—making their way into the world! 

Czech Republic Edition

Introducing the Czech Republic translation of In the Shadow of Blackbirds, coming March 12, 2014, from Jota:

Pre-order from Jota

Other editions coming soon:

Paperback Edition
Coming October 7, 2014 / Amulet Books
Pre-order from Amazon

Hungarian Edition
Publication Date TBA / Scolar Kiado

In addition to celebrating these upcoming editions, I'm keeping extremely busy working on The Uninvited and the finishing touches of The Cure for Dreaming. More on those books soon. :) 

Bram Stoker Award and Georgia Peach Book Award Nominations

Over the past few days, more wonderful news arrived for In the Shadow of Blackbirds. Just this morning I learned the Horror Writers Association named the novel a 2013 Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Superior Achievement in Young Adult Fiction. The full list of nominees is posted at stokers2014.org, and here's the list for the young adult category:

Patrick Freivald – Special Dead (JournalStone)
Kami Garcia – Unbreakable (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Geoffrey Girard – Project Cain (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Joe McKinney – Dog Days (JournalStone)
Cat Winters – In the Shadow of Blackbirds (Harry N. Abrams)

Congratulations to all my fellow nominees! My little book is sitting there among some amazing company! The winner will be announced May 10, 2014, at the Bram Stoker Awards® Banquet, to be held during the World Horror Convention right here in Portland, Oregon. I'm going to try my best to make it to the banquet, which will also be live-streamed.

I also learned the novel is a 2014-15 Georgia Peach Book Award Nominee. A committee of Georgia school and public librarians selected twenty books for the list, and over the next year teens will get to choose books from those twenty titles to read and rate, ultimately selecting one winner and two honor books. For more information about the Georgia Peach Awards, please visit georgiapeachaward.org.

Thank you so much to the Horror Writers Association and the Georgia Peach Book Award Committee for honoring In the Shadow of Blackbirds with these nominations!

Updates: THE CURE FOR DREAMING and SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS

The Cure for Dreaming Playlist

This past week was a highly productive one for my Fall 2014 release, The Cure for Dreaming. Here's what happened in the span of three days.

1. I saw cover comps for the book! This is the stage where the cover designer sends a few different samples of the cover art, and my editor, my agent, and I, as well as other key players at Amulet Books, weigh in on the designs. Maria T. Middleton, who also designed both the exterior and the interior of In the Shadow of Blackbirds, is in charge of The Cure for Dreaming, and she has created a cover that's stunning and absolutely PERFECT for this book. I love it! The dust cover will even include some special surprises, so if you plan to purchase an ebook edition of the book, make sure you at least take a peek at the hardcover at some point.

I will likely get to reveal the cover design in April. Tweaks are still being made, and Amulet Books typically waits until the seasons' catalogs are ready to be released before sharing the finished designs. Jaime at Two Chicks on Books will host my reveal.

2. The Cure for Dreaming is now available to pre-order at Amazon! The release date is listed as October 14, 2014, but that won't be considered the official date until the Amulet Books Fall 2014 catalog becomes available.

3. I turned in my latest stage of revisions to my editor. If all goes well and she likes what I've done, the book will move on to the copy editor, and after that stage, the manuscript will turn into page proofs and galleys. If you're a reviewer and would like to be considered for an advance reading copy when they become available, please contact Laura Mihalick at Amulet Books/ABRAMS.

In other news, I finished the first draft of my short story for the 2015 YA horror anthology Slasher Girls and Monster Boys (Dial/Penguin). All of the writers involved with the anthology will be handing those stories over to the editor in the next couple months, so that project is moving along nicely, too.

When I'm not working away on these YA projects, I'm busily writing my adult fiction novel, The Uninvited (William Morrow/HarperCollins), which I need to turn in by June. I haven't yet heard the planned publication date for that one, but I'll share the info as soon as I have it.

In short, I'm keeping very busy!