It's been a while since I've posted any news here, mainly because the book
news I'm sitting on can't be shared publicly just yet. I'm shrouded in secrecry right now! All I can say is that I sold a book
last year and hope to be able to announce it publicly next year.
I'm also working on a secret new project, and I have another book out on
submission . . . so, again, all the things I could possibly talk about are projects I
can't actually talk about.
Please keep an eye on this website for announcements or follow me on social
media.
April 2 marked the eighth anniversary of the publication of my debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds. This past year I've often felt like I've become trapped inside the book's 1918 setting, when another pandemic threatened lives, shut down cities, and turned masks into a means of keeping everyone safe. It's been surreal, to say the least.
To everyone who's read In the Shadow of Blackbirds over the past eight years, thank you for discovering and recommending my tale of a rational, science-minded girl who's forced into a world of spiritualism and suspense during WWI and the 1918 flu.
Below you'll find a few bonus features for the book that I've posted throughout the years, as well as purchase links and library links for the various editions.
★ “Winters’s masterful debut novel is an impressively researched marriage of the tragedies of wartime, the 1918 flu epidemic, the contemporaneous Spiritualism craze, and a chilling love story and mystery . . . Deliciously creepy.”
—PublishersWeekly, starred review
• 2014 Morris Award Finalist • A School Library Journal Best Book of 2013 • YALSA's 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults • 2013 Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Superior Achievement in Young Adult Fiction • YALSA's 2014 Teens' Top Ten Nominee • 2013 Oregon Spirit Book Award Winner • SCBWI 2014 Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards Finalist • Booklist's 2013 Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth • Booklist's 2013 Top 10 First Novels for Youth • Starred reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist,
School Library Journal • Highlighted review, VOYA Magazine • Editors' Choice, Historical Novels Review • 2014 TAYSHAS Reading List • 2014 Westchester Fiction Award Winner • 2014-2015 Georgia Peach Book Award Nominee • 2014 Maine Regional Library System Cream of the Crop List • TriState Young Adult Book Review’s 2014 Book of Note List • 2014-2015 Florida Teen Reads Award Finalist • Oregon Young Adult Network Book Rave 2014 List
• 2015-2016 Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award Nominee • Nominated for the ACL of Northern California's
2013 Distinguished Book List • 2015-2016 MASL Gateway Readers Award Nominee • Shortlisted for the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board Teen Reader’s Choice Award, Canada • 2016 Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee • 2015-2016 South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee • October 2015 Big Library Read Selection • 2015 ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (Mysteries: Murder, Mayhem, and Other Adventures)
As so many businesses continue to struggle from the economic effects of the pandemic, I urge you to buy from indie bookstores. Supporting local libraries is also important and helps readers, authors, and local communities immensely, but if you're able to and would prefer to buy your newest read, please consider shopping at a site such as Bookshop.org, which raises money for indies.
If audiobooks are your preference, I recommend Libro.fm, which also supports local bookstores.
Here are links to some of the indie bookstores that have been especially supportive of my books:
