I’m excited to announce that Within Every Flame, the third book in the Call of the Crow Quartet, will be released on December 1, 2021!

The title for this book took me FOREVER to come up with. I hemmed and hawed over it for months. At one point, I even wrote down a bunch of words that related to the book on scraps of paper. I shuffled them around and around, searching in vain for the perfect combination. I wrote lists of possibilities in the Notes app on my phone, jotting down anything that I thought might work. Eventually, it came to me: Within Every Flame.

It wasn’t until I began my final round of revision that I realized exactly how this fit in with the narrative. Once the book was finished, I sent my designer some cover notes, which included an explanation of what the title meant within the context of the book:

The title of this book comes from a saying embraced by some of its witchy characters: “entire worlds exist within every flame.” They think of fire as a gateway and a critical part of their rituals for communicating with the dead. But this concept also fits in nicely with the idea that the large is a reflection of the small, and vice versa. That there can be a lot of power in tiny things… and worlds can exist within worlds.

From my cover notes (slightly abridged)

The “worlds within worlds” theme also related to the structure of the novel, which itself contains stories within stories within stories, each one nesting inside another like Russian matryoshka dolls… so it seemed extra fitting.

When he sent me a draft of the cover, I fell in love with it at first sight. In his accompanying email, he noted that this theme tied into his alchemical leanings, which he has also been incorporating into other (delicious) projects:

The primary tenet of alchemy is “As Above, So Below”—or the idea that the structure of the universe is also the structure within an ecosystem, within a person, within the microbiological… the pomegranate becomes a stand in for the universe itself, really. 

Jacob Covey, Book Designer Extraordinaire

So it was truly a delight to have our visions aligned as we collaborated on this. Are you ready to see what he came up with????

I thought so!!!

In the months since this cover was first created, the symbol of the pomegranate has taken on yet new significance for me. Now it brings to mind the Persephone myth, since I’ve been finding myself drawn into repeated journeys to the (psychological) underworld. The pomegranate seeds Persephone ate bound her to the underworld, ensuring her return year after year, and thus have come to symbolize both death and rebirth. Really, what a perfect symbol for the struggles we find ourselves in collectively and individually these days!

On a similar note, one of the lesser known aspects of the Persephone myth is the involvement of Hekate, a goddess who is invoked in the novel.

When Demeter is mourning her missing daughter Persephone and seeks help from the Olympian gods… only Hekate was willing to venture into the frightening depths of Hades to retrieve Persephone. Guided by her torches, Hekate helped another soul through the darkness.

Courtney Weber, Hekate: Goddess of Witches

Fires, pomegranates, nesting dolls, alchemy, torchlight, underworld journeys… is your head spinning with all these different threads? Well, just wait until you read Book 3 😉

Speaking of which…

Preorders Are Now Open!

You can grab the digital or print version of Within Every Flame from your favorite bookstore or online retailer, or you can buy the paperback direct from the Rootcity Press store (U.S. orders only). 

PLUS, if you preorder a copy before November 15, you can be entered to win a Call of the Crow Quartet T-shirt! All orders through the Rootcity Press store will automatically be entered into the drawing. If you buy through another retailer, just email a copy of your receipt to brett@rootcitypress.com and you will be entered into the drawing too. International orders are also eligible.

Thank you all for your support! I’m really looking forward to sharing this book with you ❤️