The hopeful joy wrought by the dedication of the Book of All Time, with its heady celebration of Meridia as both Melfar Calumet and Mundani Prophet, is shattered when a ship with expansive white wings drops anchor off Selbourne. The ship and its occupants depart as swiftly as they came, taking with them a mirror and two Melfar—including one of Meridia’s infant twins. They leave behind only mystery: Who are these people? And where did they come from?
Meridia and her partner Damon must fight through their personal grief to recover their missing daughter and her caregiver Yuli. But how to begin? They have no ships. Perhaps an answer lies in the nearly forgotten Melfar Song of the Sea or in deciphering the original purpose of the stolen mirror, discovered long ago in the perilous ruins of Swarthpol, where Meridia’s father was once imprisoned.
Perhaps there are ways of reaching Yuli and the baby that do not require ships.
Signed copies available at Reverie Books. Order the entire trilogy on BookShop or Amazon.
Bereft of leadership after a critical ritual goes fatally wrong, remnants of the Mundani Palinjian cult vow vengeance. They blame the Melfar and their Mundani sympathizers, attacking randomly and with escalating brutality. Melfar and their allies look to Meridia, the mixed-race healer who brought them the miraculous Song of All Songs.
Traveling with the Migrant deep into the past, Meridia witnesses the apocalyptic origins of Earth’s two peoples. Inspired by their struggles, she determines to help craft a new narrative, a story that can show Melfar and Mundani who they are, how they came to be, and bring them together at last. They’ll call it the Book of All Time.
Both Melfar and Mundani are hailing Meridia as a Prophet, but can she become what they need? Can she save them from one another?
Revisiting Song of All Songs Book Tour…
For the entire month of July, my book Song of All Songs was on a blog tour. There were reviews and interviews and guest blog posts on at least a dozen different websites. If you missed it, you can see the itinerary here, and pick out a few stops that pique your interest.
“When anthropologist Donna Dechen Birdwell turns her keen sense of how societies evolved in the past toward imagining a post-apocalyptic future, the result is a thoughtful, nuanced, intelligent thriller.” — Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of The Oppenheimer Alternative
“Song of All Songs is a beautifully written and richly realized vision of the future, informed by a deep understanding of humanity.” — Christopher Brown, Campbell and World Fantasy Award-nominated author of Tropic of Kansas and Failed State
“Song of All Songs is a lovely book. It is sad and hopeful both, and I thought about it long after I read the last page.” –Patrice Sarath, author of The Sisters Mederos and The Unexpected Miss Bennet
Order from Bookshop or Amazon.
Long after the apocalypse, Earth has repeopled itself. Twice.
Despised by her mother’s people and demeaned by her absent father’s legacy, Meridia has one friend—Damon, an eccentric photologist. When Damon shows Meridia a stone he discovered in an old photo bag purchased from a vagrant peddler, she is transfixed. There’s a woman, she says, a dancing woman. And a song. Can a rock hold a song? Can a song contain worlds? Oblivious of mounting political turmoil, the two set out to find the old peddler, to find out what he knows about the stone, the woman, and the song. But marauding zealots attack and take Damon captive, leaving Meridia alone. Desolate. Terrified. Yet determined to carry on, to pursue the stone’s extraordinary song, even as it lures her into a journey that will transform her world.
Donna Dechen Birdwell 