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Dana Elmendorf | A woman in Appalachia can talk the death out of the dying


In the Hour of Crows
Dana Elmendorf

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June 2024
On Sale: June 4, 2024
288 pages
ISBN: 0778310493
EAN: 9780778310495
Kindle: B0CH3KGGJN
Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook
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Also by Dana Elmendorf:
In the Hour of Crows, June 2024
South of Sunshine, April 2016

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1--What is the title of your latest release?

IN THE HOUR OF CROWS

2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?

A woman in Appalachia can talk the death out of the dying and she uses her gift to solve the murder of her cousin.

3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?

My stories usually have a Southern setting. It comes natural to me since I was born and raised in Tennessee. When I started researching Appalachian folklore, I knew the mountains was where I wanted to set my story. But the Appalachian Mountains sprawl up the east coast, hitting twelve states. Narrowing down to just one was a little harder. Even as a native Tennessean, Georgia felt more right for the story. The towns I write about are always fictitious, loosely based on a certain area I’ve focused on. The same goes for this book: “Black Fern, Georgia. Where death shrouds with a heavy hand.”

4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?

If I were in my twenties, I think I would. I didn’t smoke weed or drink whiskey at twenty-three like my main character, but I had friends who were bold like her. Friends who grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks” so to speak, who lived a harder life in a trailer park. I connected with those types of friends for some reason. I think Weatherly and I would have gotten along pretty well.

5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?

stubborn, loyal, determined.

6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?

You can’t force a book to be something it’s not. While I wanted this book to be a romance, the romance took a back seat once I found the true story, justice for her cousin. It took three rewrites to get it there, but I couldn’t be happier with the final story.

7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?

I tinker with it as I write. Each day when I sit down to write a new scene, I reread what I wrote the day before and tweak it. Just a word or the phrasing or tighten something I said in three sentences that could be said in one. It’s really hard for me to accept basic level writing that a first draft usually is. I expect better from myself and can’t seem to move forward if the words feel too flat. It causes me to get stuck quite often, and my writer friends have to yell at me and tell me just get the words down, you can pretty them up later. It’s a process for certain.

8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?

When I’m writing I’m always nibbling on blackberries or raspberries or cherries. I love fruit. That a bowl of mixed nuts. It’s brain food.

9--Describe your writing space/office!

I absolutely love my office. A few years back we converted a guest bedroom into my office. It’s a blend of modern chic mixed with rustic pieces. White, metal and glass bookshelves with lots gold accents and all my favorite books. A fat linen chair for the dogs to sit on and look out the window. Artwork that’s abstract canvases, simple floral prints, and framed sliced geodes rimmed in gold. My console cabinet and desk are made of reclaimed wood, both from India. I keep my desk clear of clutter, I can’t think if there’s clutter around. I also have three very personal items on my desk. They’re sentimental, and I feel connected to my inner self having them there. An Avon rose glass ashtray my mom had when she worked for Avon, I keep my rings in it when I write. A small gold metal jewelry box I found scrounging at a dump (something bored country kids might do.) My stepmother (who passed away) cherished that box. And a horseshoe that my grandparents had nailed above the doorway for good luck. Interior design is my hobby when I’m not writing so I love having a beautiful space.

10--Who is an author you admire?

It’s hard to pick just one. But I think there are a few that have a heavy influence on my writing style. As a teenager I was obsessed with VC Andrews books, dark family drama. And I LOVE the poetic words of Edgar Allen Poe, his turn of a phrase always excited me, like a trickery with words. And more modernly (and someone who is not dead), Sarah Addison Allen. She has a way of telling stories about these unique people with a light hand of magic realism that makes you believe these people and this magic might actually exist in the world.

11--Is there a book that changed your life?

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, something about the magic and world building fascinated me. It was the first book that sucked me into another world, and I didn’t have to live in my own reality for a time.

12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.

We had three publishers interested in my story, so it went to auction. I was able to talk to those editors before the auction, and I had my heart set on a particular editor (Meredith Clark with Mira.) They had a week to get their offer in. My agent never calls me, so when I saw her number pop up on my phone, I was sick to my stomach nervous. She told me the first two offers. They were nice offers but not from my favorite editor. Then she told me what Mira had offered. I had no words, I simply started crying. Seven years of hard work and I finally got the type of offer I had always dreamed of and with an editor and publisher I was thrilled to work with. It has been an incredible experience with my publisher, and I’m so happy we get to keep working together on future books.

13--What’s your favorite genre to read?

Anything with a touch of magic realism and beautiful, lyrical writing.

14--What’s your favorite movie?

It’s a toss-up between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Twilight. (I’m sure I will lose all street credibility by saying that. But that movie is why I’m an author today.)

15--What is your favorite season?

Autumn, it seems like the time of year magic can happen.

16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

Vacation to somewhere with a beach and a great steak dinner with a dessert I get all to myself.

17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?

I love the TV Series Outer Range on Prime TV with Josh Brolin. Set in Wyoming on a Ranch, the main character finds a black void in the ground, a hole to somewhere or some time else. Season two just came out and I can’t wait to watch it.  Oh, and I love the TV series From on MGM+, a town where people get trapped in and there’s no way of leaving and the eerie creatures that come at night.

18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?

Porcini Crusted Scallops roasted corn-truffle puree, smoked fingerling & balsamic-bacon sauce. That’s pretty specific, right?  It’s straight off the menu of my favorite restaurant, Pacific Coast Grill.

19--What do you do when you have free time?

Love to hike and be outdoors. Anything in nature really.

20--What can readers expect from you next?

I am so excited for my next story, Grave Birds, that I recently sold to Mira. It’s about a young woman who was brought back to life is now haunted by grave birds. When bizarre events begin to plague her small town in South Carolina following the appearance of a mysterious, handsome devil, she must rely on the visions they show her to stop his plans for revenge. Pitched as a modern twist on THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO for readers of Adrienne Young and Alix E. Harrow.

IN THE HOUR OF CROWS by Dana Elmendorf

In the Hour of Crows

In a small town in Appalachia, people paint their doorways blue to keep spirits away. Black ferns grow where death will follow. And Weatherly Opal Wilder is a Death Talker.

When called upon, she can talk the death out of the dying and save their lives—only once, never twice. But this truly unique gift comes at a price, rooting Weatherly to people who only want her around when they need her and resent her backwater ways when they don’t.

Weatherly’s cousin Adaire also has a gift: she’s a Scryer and can see the future reflected back in dark surfaces. Right before she is killed in an accident, Adaire saw something unnerving, and that’s why Weatherly believes she was murdered—never thinking for a moment that it was an accident. But when Weatherly, for the first time, is unable to talk the death out of the mayor’s son, the whole town suspects she is out for revenge, that she wouldn’t save him.

With the help of clues Adaire left behind and her family’s Granny Witch recipe box, Weatherly sets out to find the truth behind her cousin’s death, whatever it takes.

Imbued with magic, witchery, and suspense, Dana Elmendorf’s In the Hour of Crows is a thrilling tale of friendship, identity, and love.

 

Fantasy Magical Realism [MIRA, On Sale: June 4, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780778310495 / eISBN: 9780369749871]

Buy IN THE HOUR OF CROWSAmazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Powell's Books | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Libro.fm | Audible | Walmart.com | Target.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

About Dana Elmendorf

Dana Elmendorf

Born and raised in small town in Tennessee, Dana now lives in Southern California with her family. After four years of college, she wrote a book.

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