It’s time, my friends! Share with me a moment I, at times over the years, had thought would never come. The Song of the Sparrow, Order of Crows Book Two will release August 11, but today … the world gets to see the cover! Celebrate with me!
As usual, huge thanks goes to The Illustrated Author Design Services for this magnificent piece of art, time, and dedication.
And without any more delay …
Aleister Corigan watches the last rays of daylight sink out of sight from the rocking chair on his back porch. The clouds are painted in brilliant orange and pink, but soon it will fall to darkness. Usually he wouldn’t mourn a dying day, but this night brings with it a vast unknown of enemies and violence.
Four full nights have passed since the attack that led him to a series of discoveries, an army in the shadows waiting to crash through the magical protection over the city. Those four nights have changed everything. Now war is imminent. A battle of unthinkable magnitude has come to the Order of Crows’ doorstep and they have no choice but to fight.
Aleister slept after the Murder parted ways earlier in the day. He had no choice. As much as he would rather have focused some time on preparation, his physiology put him under as soon as he got home. Still, he’s already exhausted, and a strange, ebbing magic is in the air that makes his skin prickle. He had thought at first that it was a lingering effect of Casper’s alarm sigils, but he realized later it was something else, the evacuation order Legba sought from the city council.
Now Aleister has showered and dressed, casually for him in a black v-neck shirt with long sleeves and grey t-shirt beneath. A glass of red wine sits unheeded on the table beside him. The enchanted pocket watch that will boost his magic by the number on its face is in his hand. The fabled grimoire, the Key of Solomon, rests on his lap. He’s smoking slowly as he stares at the book.
It’s not open but he can hear quiet rasping whispers from it, words in a dark tongue that he doesn’t really understand but recognizes as infernal. This is a dangerous book, one that stirs fear in his inner sanctum. He won’t open it again unless he absolutely has to. The power to summon the Princes of Hell could just as easily be disastrous as it could be useful. Never mind the question of why it came to him.
The sky is fading now to true night. He can feel the pull of the full moon as it makes its ascent. He has to go face the Murder and the impending mayhem. He has to go start a war.
Aj Elmore, Author 