Sandra's Book Club: Blog Tour: SHADE OF WINGS by Pam McGaffin

Shade of Wings is a speculative young adult novel about a family of New York City crows struggling to survive the outbreak of West Nile virus during the sizzling summer of 1999.

Shade of Wings

by Pam McGaffin

Genre: YA Teen Animal Fiction

For fans of Laline Paull, a speculative young adult novel about a family of New York City crows struggling to survive the outbreak of West Nile virus during the sizzling summer of 1999.

Four-year-old Duncan needs to hurry up and find a mate—at least, according to his sister, Cloud. But she doesn’t know about the mistake that’s preventing him from leaving their family to start another.

Though he’s the eldest, Duncan doesn’t see himself as a father. Yet that’s what he must become when both his parents die of the mysterious illness that’s killing crows across New York City. He devotes himself to caring for his siblings, including three fledglings—but he soon discovers he can’t protect them from the “blind death.”

Meanwhile, a zoo pathologist’s worst fears are realized. It starts with dead flamingos. Then critically ill New Yorkers start showing up in hospital emergency rooms.

Some blame the crows.

A profound story of loved ones sticking together in the face of tragedy and hardship.” - Kirkus Reviews

An amazing and heartfelt read. McGaffin confirms what so many of us already know, that humans should learn from the smart ones around us, even if they're crows." - Lori Matsukawa, TV News Anchor and author of Brave Mrs. Sato

"Utterly original! I’m in awe of Pam McGaffin’s deft storytelling—she makes a family of crows both fascinating and deeply relatable. I love a book that leaves me seeing the world with fresh eyes, and Pam accomplishes that in spades.” - Andrea Ezerins, author of When the Forest Dreams

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The human spoke to him as a mother to a nestling. She held his body so firmly he could only move his head. The warm pressure combined with her soft voice calmed him until she picked up a small tool with her other hand and pierced him with it. While he was still in the nest, Duncan had told him about bugs and bees with “stingers” that could poke through skin. Some stingers held bad stuff that made the skin swell and itch. Others drew out blood as well. That’s what this human did with her stinger. He watched the thin tube in her hand fill with a dark red liquid that reminded him of the bluish blood

running down the center of Lucas’s feathers. The human removed the stinger and the tube with his blood. He doesn’t remember what came after.

Now he sits in a box looking out on a room thrumming with humans and birds going every which way. It’s so loud and busy out there he’s thankful for his own space and the soft lining in it. He tries to prop himself up without the use of his right leg, which pokes out from his body like a stiff white twig. He can’t feel the white leg It’s like a strange and useless appendage growing from his body. The other leg is as it should be, but he needs two legs to do anything but flop around.

The humans must have done this to him. The white appendage reminds him of the straight white stick they used to tap his beak open. He’d tried to eat the fuzzy, rounded tip, but the mother human pulled it away before he could clamp down. When she finally did feed him, it was through a clear, pointed thing, like a beak but not a beak, that dropped liquid down his throat. He was disappointed not to get worms and insects, but the liquid took the edge off his hunger. He doesn’t remember falling asleep. His dreams brought him back to the river, the water carrying him ever further away from his family. He cried out but there was no sound.

“Ah, you’re finally up where I can see you.” The voice comes from a box across the corner from his. A female crow sticks her beak through the wires and then retracts it. She looks to be between Cloud and Duncan in age, but he can’t see all of her. “I’ve been waiting for someone to talk to. All the other crows have gone in that door.” She sticks her beak through the wires again, pointing toward a door at the back of the room.

“Thank your lucky stars you’re in this part, not in there with the dying birds.”

His confusion must show because she sighs. “Do you remember all the poking and prodding they did to you the day they brought you in? They were testing you to see if you were sick. You’re in this room, so you’re not. Lucky you.”

“I don’t feel lucky.” He shows her his white twig.

“Aw, you just broke your leg. You’ll heal, and then they’ll let you go. Me? I plan to take my time. I don’t want to leave here until this sickness goes away.” She pauses. “I’m called Bree. What’s your name?”

“Worm.”

She snickers. “Cute.”

Pam McGaffin always knew she would write books when she grew up.

So, at age 51, after a long career in journalism and public-relations, she quit her day job and went to work. After seven years, countless rewrites, and a seat-of-her-pants course in modern publishing, she released her debut novel, The Leaving Year, with SparkPress Aug. 14, 2018.

Set in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where she grew up, The Leaving Year, is a coming-of-age story about love and loyalty, family and friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in our search for meaning.

For her second novel, Shade of Wings, she looked to New York City to tell the story of the West Nile virus outbreak from the point-of-view of the first US victims – American crows. She hopes readers fall in love her hapless hero, Duncan, and his plucky crow family. She certainly loved giving them life.

Before tackling novels, Pam wrote short stories and articles. Her short fiction has appeared in the online literary journals, Eclectica and Amarillo Bay, and her articles have been published in many Puget Sound-area publications and websites, including The Daily Herald (in Everett, WA), Bicycle Paper, the MS Connection newsletter, and Seattle Children’s Story Project.

She has a BA degree in Communications Journalism from the University of Washington and certificates in fiction writing and advanced literary fiction from UW Extension.

When she isn’t writing or thinking about writing, she likes to read, walk the dog, swim, bike, garden, and watch birds.

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