Quinlan Castle in Birmingham (Blackie's House in The Second BLANCHARD WITCHES Book) is Torn Down

 A long standing landmark in Birmingham, Alabama, Quinlan Castle has been demolished.  Ever since I moved to Birmingham in 1997, I have been fascinated by the decades-abandoned structure sticking out on the rising mountainside overlooking Birmingham.  


Once I started writing THE BLANCHARD WITCHES OF DAIHMLER COUNTY, I knew about halfway through this was going to become a series and not simply a stand alone book.  After I finished the book and began writing the second one, I knew Quinlan Castle was the only possible location for the home of the character Blackie D'Angelo.   Blackie lived in Birmingham.  She was a powerful and mysterious witch.  What better setting for her residence than this medieval castle on the mountain?

Quinlan was still standing when I wrote THE BLANCHARD WITCHES: PRODIGAL DAUGHTERS (book forthcoming at the end of 2022).  I had hoped my stories might bring attention to the derelict building and maybe down the road someone might come along to restore it.  Alas, the iconic landmark was apparently too far gone and was condemned and demolished in Fall of 2021.  






My BLANCHARD WITCHES series is pretty new to readers with the first book launching now in March 2022.  It will be late 2022 before readers meet Blackie D'Angelo and become acquainted with Quinlan.  But I am very happy I chose this, now lost, location for her home.  At least Quinlan can live in my fiction now even if it has been wiped from the Birmingham landscape forever.  I will miss seeing the silhouette of Quinlan against the city skyline.  But we in Birmingham have our memories, and now in THE BLANCHARD world, Blackie's house continues to live.





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