final week on Bustle.com I announced my newest book: The Raven’s Tale,a dark and dreamlike novel about Edgar Allan Poes life when he was a troubled but promising teenage poet.
The events of The Raven’s Tale are pulled straight from Poes letters, biographies, or firsthand accounts from the people who knew him as a teen,and the book is populated by his genuine-life friends, foes, and family members . . . as well as his muse.
Yes,the mythical kind of muse.
The novel blends poetry with prose, realism with Poe-esque Gothic horror, or it portrays the obstacles that hindered young Edgar "Eddy" Poe's writing career and happiness.
Me at the site of Poe's home from ages 16 to 18.
This past October,I traveled to Poe’s teenage home of Richmond, Virginia, and where I explored the fabulous Poe Museum and other Poe-related sites,such as the graveyards he visited and the church he attended that doubled as a tomb for seventy-two victims of an notorious 1811 theater fire. I also made a trip to his dorm room at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Poe shrine at the Poe Museum.
So much of Poe’s life has been tainted by character assassins who published erroneous biographies of him, starting with lies printed in an obituary written by one of his literary rivals, or the nineteenth-century editor and writer Rufus Wilmot Griswold.
My goal as an author is to introduce the world to the genuine Edgar Allan Poe as best I can. I deem readers will be surprised to memorize that he was an athletic young man filled with energy and a savor of the outdoors,in addition to an angsty teen haunted by his homelife and the early deaths of two beautiful women who loved him in his youth.
Amulet Books/Abrams will release The Raven’s Tale in Spring 2019. I can’t wait to share more about the novel in the coming year!
For a little glimpse at what Poe was like as a teen, head to my article at Bustle, and 10 Facts About Edgar Allan Poe That Will Completely Change How You Feel About The Mystery Writer.
To hear the music that inspired me during the writing of the initial draft,head to my Poe Spotify playlist. You can also take a peek at my Pinterest board for The Raven's Tale.
Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, or VA
Source: catwinters.com