10/12/10
Author Guest Post: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Posted In: guest blog
Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Books:
- Beautiful Creatures
- Beautiful Darkness
You can keep up with Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl & The Caster Chronicles.
Join the fansite Caster Girls & Boys.
Visit Little, Brown’s Beautiful Creatures website: for excerpts, downloadables, a map of Gatlin & more!”
Book summary:
Some secrets are life-altering… others are life-ENDING.
Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena’s family of powerful supernaturals for generations.
And now that Ethan’s eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there’s no going back.
Today I have a different sort of guest post. It’s more of a “Walking Through Beautiful Creatures/Beautiful Darkness Photo Tour” rather than a conventional guest post. (I’m hoping to have more ‘guest posts’ like this in the future.) I knew that the world of Beautiful Creatures (you can see my review here!) was based on actual places, so I asked Kami and Margaret to share some photos of those places that were mentioned in the novels. Thus, a ‘walking’ tour….. I realize we won’t actually be doing any walking…. except with our eyes, that is!
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| c. Kami Garcia, 2009. All rights reserved. |
Photo #1: Oaks with Spanish Moss – In many ways, these trees are an iconic image of the American South. They line roads, riverbanks, and many people with Gullah ancestry believe the “Angel Oak” outside of Charleston, SC has mystical properties.
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| c. Kami Garcia, 2009. All rights reserved. |
Photo #2: Cracked Sidewalk in Gatlin – If you read BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, you might recognize this cracked sidewalk from the prologue. This sidewalk is actually on Beaufort, NC. But when we saw it, flanked by houses with wraparound porches and American flags, it felt like Gatlin to us.
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| c. Kami Garcia, 2009. All rights reserved. |
Photo #3: Wate’s Landing & Painted Blue Ceilings – This house reminds us of Ethan’s house, Wate’s Landing, with it’s painted blue porch ceilings. In many parts of the South, people paint the ceilings, inside and outside of their houses, a light sky blue to keep carpenter bees from nesting. The light blue color fools the bees into thinking that the ceilings are really the sky. Although this house is similar to Wate’s Landing, it lacks an important detail – haint blue shutters. Haint blue is a turquoise shade that is believed to ward off evil. Amma would never live in a house without them.
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| c. Kami Garcia, 2009. All rights reserved. |
Photo #4: The Sisters’ Squirrels – If you read BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, you will meet Ethan’s great-aunts (the Sisters), and their squirrels. The story of the Sisters’ squirrels is based on the true story of Kami’s mother rescuing a group of baby squirrels. Kami’s mom raised them, and now they live in her yard, eating out of her hand and playing in pie plates strung in the trees. These are the real baby squirrels, all grown up.
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| c. Kami Garcia, 2009. All rights reserved. |
Photo #5: The Unitarian Church in Charleston, SC – This church is also referred to as the Round Church, for obvious reasons. In BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, the Sisters explain why some Southern churches are round: “So the Devil can’t hide in the corners.”
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| c. Kami Garcia, 2009. All rights reserved. |
Photo #6: A Grave from His Garden of Perpetual Peace – The cemetery in Gatlin is Called His Garden of Perpetual Peace. In BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS, Ethan visits the graveyard (we can’t tell you why), and readers learn that the “better graves” are surrounded by picket or wrought iron fences. They aren’t as fancy as a mausoleum, but Mrs. Lincoln would tell you that they are better than having ‘just anyone tromping around your final resting place.’
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| © Alex Hoerner |
“Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl came up with the concept for the world of Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness over lunch. Margaret had always been captivated by fantasies and wanted to write a supernatural novel, while Kami loved stories set in the South and wanted to write a book that drew upon her deep Southern roots. With nothing to write on, they scribbled their ideas for a story that combined their shared passions on a paper napkin. By the time they left, the world of Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness had been born. Both Kami and Margaret live in Los Angeles, California, with their families. They now write on computers instead of napkins and invite you to visit them online at www.kamigarciamargaretstohl.com.”
Related posts:
- Author Interview: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
- Author Guest Post: Y.S. Lee
- Guest Post: Author Jillian Cantor
- Author Guest Post: Y.S. Lee
34 Comments
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Wonderful post, I love the pictures and I can't wait to get home and start reading! Beautiful Darkness is waiting already on my Kindle, but unfortunately I have to work and can't start reading now.
I'm so excited to read how the story goes on!!!
Happy Release Day to Kami and Margi!!
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This was an amazing post! Loved the pictures. I can't wait for this day to be over so I can start reading it!
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Wonderful post, I love the pictures and I can't wait to get home and start reading! Beautiful Darkness is waiting already on my Kindle, but unfortunately I have to work and can't start reading now.
I'm so excited to read how the story goes on!!!
Happy Release Day to Kami and Margi!!
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This was an amazing post! Loved the pictures. I can't wait for this day to be over so I can start reading it!
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I just discovered BEAUTIFUL CREATURES at my bookstore yesterday and spent an hour standing in front of the YA shelf reading. Then (because eventually you have to get your kids from school) just bought the book. Can't wait to finish. Such lovely writing. Also, I have a thing for squirrels so I extra-enjoyed this post! Many thanks!
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Such an amazing post! I loved the pictures, very inspiring! I'm an Italian Blogger and Writer, and my Book is placed in the south of the U.S.A too, so i love everything about Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness.
I can't wait for the italian release! -
This was such an awesome guest post!! I loved seeing some of the things that were described in book one. I can't wait to get my hands on Beautiful Darkness!! Very fun post!!!!
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Gorgeous! It's nice to have some visual references now when I read, makes me want to move to the South! Fantastic post, thanks so much for sharing Kami, Margaret and Kristi!
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I just discovered BEAUTIFUL CREATURES at my bookstore yesterday and spent an hour standing in front of the YA shelf reading. Then (because eventually you have to get your kids from school) just bought the book. Can't wait to finish. Such lovely writing. Also, I have a thing for squirrels so I extra-enjoyed this post! Many thanks!
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Such an amazing post! I loved the pictures, very inspiring! I'm an Italian Blogger and Writer, and my Book is placed in the south of the U.S.A too, so i love everything about Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness.
I can't wait for the italian release! -
This was such an awesome guest post!! I loved seeing some of the things that were described in book one. I can't wait to get my hands on Beautiful Darkness!! Very fun post!!!!
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Gorgeous! It's nice to have some visual references now when I read, makes me want to move to the South! Fantastic post, thanks so much for sharing Kami, Margaret and Kristi!
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Pretty pictures! Thank you so much fore the post!
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Pretty pictures! Thank you so much fore the post!
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I loved seeing these pictures. I have this book on my TBR pile. I need to get crackin'!
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Oh how great is this! I love having something to visualize. Now I'll imagine this when reading BD. Thanks for sharing!
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I loved seeing these pictures. I have this book on my TBR pile. I need to get crackin'!
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Oh how great is this! I love having something to visualize. Now I'll imagine this when reading BD. Thanks for sharing!
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What a very beautiful way of showing the imagery of the novel. Great post!
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What a very beautiful way of showing the imagery of the novel. Great post!
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These pictures were awesome! I love when I can see the places that were mentioned in a book when they are based on real places or at least inspired by them!
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Really want to read this book. Do not wait to get here in Brazil
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These pictures were awesome! I love when I can see the places that were mentioned in a book when they are based on real places or at least inspired by them!
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Really want to read this book. Do not wait to get here in Brazil
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This is such a lovely post. I always enjoy seeing visual representations of the places and things that have inspired settings in novels. Bonus is that I now want to read this book even more!
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This is such a lovely post. I always enjoy seeing visual representations of the places and things that have inspired settings in novels. Bonus is that I now want to read this book even more!
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Love this!
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I love the pictures!
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Love this!
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I love the pictures!
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Great post! I love Charleston and love sharing it with others. We were just there a few weeks ago. As we were walking around I kept thinking about these books… love it! Great post!
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Great post! I love Charleston and love sharing it with others. We were just there a few weeks ago. As we were walking around I kept thinking about these books… love it! Great post!
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This is fantastic! It's exactly as I would have envisioned it.
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This is fantastic! It's exactly as I would have envisioned it.
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