The final book of the Call of the Crow Quartet has now hit the shelves! This is a bittersweet day for me. It may seem like I’m rapidly cranking these books out (all four have been published during the past two years, during a pandemic at that!), but in reality, today is the culmination of ten long years of incredibly hard work.

So it is with a heart both heavy and light that I bring you Book 4, What We Bury!

Together at Last

If you’ve been following along with the books, you may have noticed that each volume ties in with one of the traditional elements of air, water, fire and earth. As What We Bury‘s title and cover suggest, this is the book where we dig in deep to the rich, dark soil. But there is a fifth element that also comes into play much more explicitly in this volume: ether, or spirit.

As I see it, this fifth element is woven throughout the series, and with the completion of the final book, spirit forms a kind of invisible web around them all, knitting the books together and creating something greater than the sum of its parts.

There’s a line at the beginning of When We Vanished that pretty much sums it up. Andi is reflecting on the playlists that she and her dad used to make:

It was so satisfying when a mix turned out perfectly, when the right songs were strung together in the right order, somehow sounding better together than they had on their own.

Andi in When We Vanished

When I originally wrote this sentence, I thought about how the same dynamic was reflected in the four main characters, how their individual storylines arced and intersected, how they gained insight and energy from each other to become stronger together than they were apart. But the same holds for the books, too. Though I tried to infuse each volume with its own power, it isn’t until all the volumes are lined up together that they are truly complete.

And so, this release does double duty. It is its own volume, but also the one that integrates them all: the one that completes the Call of the Crow Quartet, that brings both the earth and the spirit to all that has come before.

I was unexpectedly moved when I saw all four books lined up together on my bookshelf for the first time. Together at last, I thought. I’m so grateful to everyone who helped make these a reality! As a small token of gratitude, I bring you these launch day goodies.

Playlist

Speaking of music mixes, check out the playlist of songs that served as inspiration while I was writing the book! Listen on Spotify or YouTube.

Music Video

It was really hard to decide on a song to cover for this last book! Eventually, I decided on a dreamy, slightly strange song by Take it Easy Hospital that captures the wistfulness and longing that the characters feel at various points during What We Bury. I first heard it during the movie No One Knows About Persian Cats, which featured lots of amazing music from Iranian musicians. In the video we created below, our version of the song is paired with footage I’ve filmed during commutes, vacations, and days at the park.

Recipe: Magical Mocktails

I’ve been on a mocktail kick lately, whipping up signature drink recipes for each book in the series. This is the What We Bury mocktail, a gorgeous, color-changing brew! It does involve a few specialty ingredients, but on the plus side, once you have them in your pantry you’ll have ample supplies to enjoy this drink (or, perhaps, make your own reel that unexpectedly goes viral) whenever the mood strikes you.

How to Buy the Book

You can purchase the print and ebook editions of What We Bury direct from the Rootcity Press store (where we are having a big sale until the end of July – plus, 10% of all proceeds go to We Need Diverse Books!) or from your favorite bookstore or online retailer. Buy links are available here, including links to Black-owned bookstores. 

I truly appreciate every single sale! As an indie author/publisher, I don’t have the heft of a big marketing department backing me, so I am incredibly grateful every time someone finds and purchases these books. It helps keep my little biz afloat so I can keep on writing and publishing my stories.

Thank You!

I appreciate you stopping by to join this virtual launch! Your support means everything to me ❤️