How Does Jesmyn Ward Use Magical Realism In 'Sing Unburied Sing'?

The things that have to happen in the universe to lead us to a very particular moment in time are often a mystery but for Pearl and Corey, just getting them in the same room isn’t enough. They both fight their attraction to each other for different reasons, but their fire is an eruption in the making. Pearl has a nine to five during the day, but plays the guitar and dreams of making it big at night. Her long time fiance and her best friend have a nasty secret that forever alters her life. Corey is a bass player in the hard rock band Feisty, determined to be a bachelor for life even though two of his best friends have tied the knot. Can these two come together and accept that the universe is determined to win? **This is book three of five, of my Feisty series. This can be read as a stand alone book but you will be better able to follow if you read them in order.**

MAGICAL (Everything about us... is magical.) Melanie Spears thought she was an ordinary high school girl until she learned she wasn’t. Dragged into a hidden realm where magic rules and royal blood matters, she’s faced with choices no teenager should ever make. Torn between homework and hidden powers, a mysterious stranger guides her toward a destiny she never asked for. As she steps into her royal role, Melanie discovers perks she never imagined, and dangers that could destroy everything she loves. With supernatural forces stirring in both her world and the human realm, she’ll have to be braver than she’s ever been. School assignments clash with forbidden secrets. Friendships are tested. Emotions run wild and so does her magic. When she hears the word “danger,” it’s not a warning. It’s a prophecy. Can she balance teenage life and a destiny she didn’t ask for? Excerpt from the story: "Melanie, can you please stay back?" "What do you mean?" "Can you not go to school today? Stay at home, please." She pleaded with glassy eyes. I pulled her into an embrace. "Can you tell me why you don't want me to leave?" "Danger." she whispered. "I wouldn't have wished for the latter. I should have just maintained the first prayer. All because what I saw...was going to be the end of me, what I saw was terrifying. It was death!"

The entire ward could hear the thoughts of the beautiful intern nurse, Sonya Row. When a patient kept vomiting nonstop, and I suggested increasing the pain medication, she stood nearby, sighing. [What should I do? Should I tell the family this painkiller can be addictive and really bad for the body? If they just wait a few more minutes, he'll recover on his own. There's no need to spend money at all.] The room fell silent in an instant. Everyone's gaze shifted toward me, and the family quietly refused my treatment plan. After that, I became the joke of the entire department. Every patient specifically asked not to be assigned to me. Later, while comforting a terminal stomach cancer patient, I followed her family's wishes and lied, saying it was just gastritis. Sonya complained about it in her thoughts. [The patient's practically dying already, but she's still saying she can be cured. It's obviously just to trick this old woman into draining her life savings on treatment.] That night, the old lady jumped off the building so she wouldn't burden her family. Her family thought I had revealed the truth and driven her to her death. They reported me directly to the hospital director, and I was stripped of my position as department head. Then, on a holiday weekend, the hospital admitted a pregnant woman with a suspected amniotic fluid embolism. To save her life, I had no choice but to remove her uterus. At that moment, Sonya's thoughts rang out again. [She doesn't have an amniotic fluid embolism at all. She was on her phone during surgery, which caused this. Now look what happened. This baby's a girl. This family wanted a son, and now they'll never get one.] The family attacked me on the spot, recorded it, and posted the video online to harass me. The desperate husband, obsessed with having a son, stabbed me to death to vent his rage. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Sonya first revealed her thoughts. This time, I could hear her thoughts, too.

Midnight. I heard a faint meowing through the window. I was about to have a look when floating words appeared in front of me. [Don't open the window! There isn't a cat outside! It's a serial killer!] [I'm done. How could the side character be so dumb? I can already imagine how tragic her death will be.] [Go and find the villain! He loves you so much! He will surely protect you!] I quickly retracted my hand on the window latch…

MANAGING MAGES: Hawk had been tormenting me as long as I could remember. I was a young mage and my power was still growing. But they thrust me under his watch in the service to our Warlord. And damn him for enjoying every moment he can torment me. Every time I think my power strong enough to challenge him, he finds new ways to torture me. He's told me that I'm his little prey and he'll be kinder when I succumb to him but I've vowed to never let the overbearing, insufferable cad put a hand on my bare skin. It's a battle of wills and wits. He may be more clever but I'm certainly more stubborn! But one thing I've learned about Hawk, never underestimate his conniving...I should've known better than to challenge him. After all, he's made a name for himself by his skill in Managing Mages. But beyond him there is an even bigger problem. Warlord: The Commander of the Mage's Guild. A ruthless killer who leaves a dark mist in his wake. Escaping the Mage's Guild would mean challenging Warlord himself. A dangerous endeavor. WARLORD'S WARD He came into our village like a shadow. A Dark Mage with the most powerful magic in all the realm. King Detry merely calls him Warlord. And he owns that title. Leaving wreckage in his wake. But for me, he had other plans. His cutting blue eyes seeing straight through my disguise. As his slave, his mere plaything, I'll learn the true darkness of magic without conscience. Anything he wants of me, he takes. Anything he wants me to do. I am willed to do with the flick of his hand. His power is an all consuming whirlwind. And I'm just the pretty butterfly caught in it.

“If you think I would not touch you, think again.” His breath fanned her face as he backed her into a corner. What made her think he would restrain himself? “Just because you’re William’s daughter, that means nothing to me. You could warm my bed just fine if you’re going to seduce me with your body like this. Tell me, what would you ask in return?” He bit her earlobe and she whimpered. Melissa Franklin’s dad named his best friend in his will, rather than his only daughter. She can’t have access to her inheritance until she turns 30, which is seven years away. Klyde Henderson, a man twice her age, became her legal guardian. But the man’s respect for her father does not extend to her. In his eyes, she’s a useless brat. Melissa needed to find a way to get her hands on her inheritance. That’s when the seduction games began.