As 2014 comes to a close, I want to thank everyone who has read and embraced my books. This past year started off with an amazing bang when I got to celebrate In the Shadow of Blackbirds at the Morris Award ceremony in Philadelphia, and now it ends with a second book published and two more novels and an anthology short story slated for publication in 2015 and 2016.
I'm grateful to everyone in the publishing industry who is helping me to bring these books to life, especially my agent, Barbara Poelle, and the folks at Abrams, HarperCollins, and Penguin. But I'm also deeply indebted to every reader who's taking a chance on these offbeat books of mine with the quirky/spooky covers and historical settings. A writer can only have a career if he or she finds readers, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my readers.
I appreciate all of your kind notes and support, and if I don't respond immediately to one of your letters, please be assured it's only because I'm busily working to meet a deadline. Every single fan letter means the world to me.
I look forward to sharing my 2015 novel and my anthology short story with you this upcoming August. For those of you who enjoyed In the Shadow of Blackbirds, you'll find my return to the year 1918, a setting I adore. I can't wait.
Happy New Year!
Warmest wishes,
Cat Winters
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Looking Ahead to 2015 . . . Two Book Releases, Writing Workshops, Secret Projects, and More
In recent posts I've talked quite a bit about my novel that's coming up in 2015, but I actually have two works of fiction releasing from two different publishers next year . . . and they're publishing only one week apart from each other.
Here's a rundown of the books you'll be seeing from me next year, as well as a peek at the books I'll be working on behind-the-scenes and some of my scheduled 2015 events.
2015 RELEASES:
THE UNINVITED
Coming August 11, 2015
William Morrow / HarperCollins
ISBN 9780062347336
My adult fiction debut returns to the 1918 setting of In the Shadow of Blackbirds, although instead of California, this one takes place in Illinois, the site of the real-life lynching of a German-American named Robert Prager—a murder that made national headlines during the volatile final months of the World War I era. In The Uninvited, a young woman finds herself drawn to the brother of a German immigrant whom her father and brother killed in a violent act of vengeance for a war-related death. The novel is a ghost story, a love story, and a psychological thriller . . . and I can't wait to share it.
SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS
Coming August 18, 2015
Dial / Penguin
This YA horror anthology will feature original new tales by thirteen authors, including myself. From what I've heard, we won't be revealing the titles and synopses of our stories until the weeks leading up to the release of the book, plus there are a few other surprises about the anthology's theme that are yet to be announced. A cover is currently in the works, and hopefully we'll be able to reveal it soon. I've previewed some of the other authors' stories, and I can say with certainty that readers are in for a creepy and gripping treat just in time for the Halloween season.
BEHIND-THE-SCENES BOOKS
THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY
Coming Spring 2016
Amulet Books / Abrams
My third YA novel won't release until 2016, but 2015 will be the year when all of the fun stuff occurs—the major edits to get the book in shape, the cover design, the cover reveal, the preparation of advance reading copies. I cannot wait to share more info about this one, but I will say that it's a Hamlet-inspired tale involving a murder, Prohibition, and the KKK in 1920s Oregon. My Hamlet character is a biracial girl named Hanalee who's struggling to survive in a state gone terribly rotten.
THE TOP-SECRET BOOK
I've started writing a new work of adult fiction, so when I'm not in the midst of working on my other projects, I'll be busily typing away on and conducting research for this yet-to-be-announced new novel.
2015 APPEARANCES:
Saturday, January 17, 2015, 2:30-4:00 pm
The Next Level Professional Series
TaborSpace, The Annex
5441 SE Belmont, Portland, Oregon
Success Panel: How a Writer and Writer/Illustrator Got Their Starts, with Cat Winters and Nicole Rubel.
Thursday, March 12, to Sunday, March 15
Left Coast Crime 2015
Doubletree by Hilton Portland
1000 Northeast Multnomah Street, Portland, Oregon
Attending, potentially speaking. More info TBA.
Saturday, May 30, to Sunday, May 31, 2015
SCBWI Oregon's 2015 Annual Spring Conference
Holiday Inn Portland South
25425 SW 95th Ave., Wilsonville, Oregon
Faculty member. Subjects and times of workshops TBA.
More 2015 events are in the works, including possible appearances outside of Oregon. Please keep an eye on my Events Page for updates.
Here's a rundown of the books you'll be seeing from me next year, as well as a peek at the books I'll be working on behind-the-scenes and some of my scheduled 2015 events.
2015 RELEASES:
Coming August 11, 2015
William Morrow / HarperCollins
ISBN 9780062347336
My adult fiction debut returns to the 1918 setting of In the Shadow of Blackbirds, although instead of California, this one takes place in Illinois, the site of the real-life lynching of a German-American named Robert Prager—a murder that made national headlines during the volatile final months of the World War I era. In The Uninvited, a young woman finds herself drawn to the brother of a German immigrant whom her father and brother killed in a violent act of vengeance for a war-related death. The novel is a ghost story, a love story, and a psychological thriller . . . and I can't wait to share it.
SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS Coming August 18, 2015
Dial / Penguin
This YA horror anthology will feature original new tales by thirteen authors, including myself. From what I've heard, we won't be revealing the titles and synopses of our stories until the weeks leading up to the release of the book, plus there are a few other surprises about the anthology's theme that are yet to be announced. A cover is currently in the works, and hopefully we'll be able to reveal it soon. I've previewed some of the other authors' stories, and I can say with certainty that readers are in for a creepy and gripping treat just in time for the Halloween season.
BEHIND-THE-SCENES BOOKS
THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY Coming Spring 2016
Amulet Books / Abrams
My third YA novel won't release until 2016, but 2015 will be the year when all of the fun stuff occurs—the major edits to get the book in shape, the cover design, the cover reveal, the preparation of advance reading copies. I cannot wait to share more info about this one, but I will say that it's a Hamlet-inspired tale involving a murder, Prohibition, and the KKK in 1920s Oregon. My Hamlet character is a biracial girl named Hanalee who's struggling to survive in a state gone terribly rotten.
THE TOP-SECRET BOOK
I've started writing a new work of adult fiction, so when I'm not in the midst of working on my other projects, I'll be busily typing away on and conducting research for this yet-to-be-announced new novel.
2015 APPEARANCES:
Saturday, January 17, 2015, 2:30-4:00 pm
The Next Level Professional Series
TaborSpace, The Annex
5441 SE Belmont, Portland, Oregon
Success Panel: How a Writer and Writer/Illustrator Got Their Starts, with Cat Winters and Nicole Rubel.
Thursday, March 12, to Sunday, March 15
Left Coast Crime 2015
Doubletree by Hilton Portland
1000 Northeast Multnomah Street, Portland, Oregon
Attending, potentially speaking. More info TBA.
Saturday, May 30, to Sunday, May 31, 2015
SCBWI Oregon's 2015 Annual Spring Conference
Holiday Inn Portland South
25425 SW 95th Ave., Wilsonville, Oregon
Faculty member. Subjects and times of workshops TBA.
More 2015 events are in the works, including possible appearances outside of Oregon. Please keep an eye on my Events Page for updates.
Monday, December 8, 2014
ARC Requests for THE UNINVITED
So, if you're a bookseller, librarian, reviewer, etc.—someone who typically receives ARCs—please send your request to Lauren Jackson at HarperCollins.
ARCs are not yet available, but the list of recipients is in the works.
The Uninvited is my adult novel releasing from the William Morrow imprint of HarperCollins on August 11, 2015. Please note that if you've requested ARCs for my two YA novels in the past, this particular book is being released by a different publisher.
Thank you to everyone interested in receiving an advance copy.
Advance Praise:
“An affecting novel, dark in fiction and in fact. Set in 1918 against the parallel epidemics of the Spanish influenza and an equally terrifying strain of ‘superpatriotism,’ Cat Winters’s latest offers resonant characters, a stunning twist, and an emotional, satisfying conclusion.”
International bestselling author of
A Paris Apartment
“Part ghost story, part love story, part historical fiction, this tale set in a small Midwestern town during the Great War is compulsively readable, beautifully written, and populated with characters that will hover in the air around you, long after you've set the book on your nightstand. I finished this story and wished very much I had written it.”
Bestselling author of
The Fate of Mercy Alban and The Vanishing
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