What is the title of your latest release?
BONES AT THE CROSSROADS
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Oooh! I’d like to say BONES AT THE CROSSROADS is the second installment in the BATR trilogy where we follow our lead Malik Baron as he navigates the pressures of Fall semester, classes, homecoming drama, and deadly secrets all the while trying to learn how to control his ancestral magic!
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The homecoming. It’s something that I heard my friends and family who attended a HBCU talk about. The royalty, the legacy, and the sense of community. I never got to experience those things, so I wanted Malik to!
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Well, yes! Me and Malik share a lot of similarities.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Beautiful. Complex. Powerful.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That Malik is not your typical YA hero. He’s flawed and even though he is brushed away sometimes because of those flaws, it’s what makes him beautiful. I also am healing my inner-teenager while writing this book and coming to terms with things that happened in my life at the tender age of seventeen.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Unfortunately, yes. And I gotta stop. I have to constantly tell myself, “LaDarrion, it’s going to suck. Let it. Let the drafts reveal themselves to you.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Ok! So, I’m trying to stop because they’re addicting! But the Peanut butter chocolate covered pretzels from Trader Joe’s! Whew. What do they put in those!
Describe your writing space/office!
As I’m looking around Ha Ha. I have a picture of Queen Mother Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda from Wakanda Forever. I have a little love seat for when I want to watch television. I also have my bookshelf full of books. My books! And a big picture of Malik staring down on me as I write! Ha ha. By my desk, I have a picture of Lorraine Hansberry looking at me as I write and also James Baldwin. And my vision board. Which half of the things on it came true.
Who is an author you admire?
Tomi Adeyemi, and how she modeled her career. I am doing the same.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Yes, The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis.
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.
I was doing Lyft, driving somewhere in Downtown LA, and I remember my wonderful agent called me. And I’m like he doesn’t really call like that. We email! I swerved over in traffic, and he told me that we sold Blood at the Root in a three-book deal. And then I drove all the way home and screamed joy in my car in the middle of Ralph’s parking lot.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Right now? Adult Romance.
What’s your favorite movie?
Oooh. That’s hard. Favorite comedy, I’d say Bringing Down the House. One of the best comedies ever! Hmm. Okay, maybe favorite movie is The Mummy.
What is your favorite season?
Christmas. in my Mariah voice “It’s Tiiiiiiiimmmeee!”
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With friends. Or I do something that heals my inner child.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Interview With The Vampire! Whew. Louis and Lestat will get on your nerves and they’re toxic. But we love it! Go support Sinners on Streaming, and book, hmmm, I’d say any August Wilson play.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Love me some Spaghetti!
What do you do when you have free time?
Play Rollercoaster Tycoon! The 90s version. I love it.
What can readers expect from you next?
The finale of Blood at the Root. I know. Sad face. And after that, you WILL see more Black fantasy from me. I’m building a world that is so epic, southern, and so magical! And it’s in the same universe as BATR but with totally different characters. Soon come!
BONES AT THE CROSSROADS by LaDarrion Williams
Read the sequel to the explosive, instant New York Times bestseller fantasy debut that People Magazine calls “unforgettable.” A Black teenager with magical powers returns to Caiman University only to find new dangers and new secrets.
It’s Homecoming season at Caiman University, and all 17-year-old Malik Baron wants to do is be a regular college student…or as regular as he can get at a magical HBCU for young, Black Conjurers. He’s ready to go to parties, hang out with his new friends, choose a major, and talk to girls. Instead, he’s reeling from a summer of revelations, heartbreak and betrayal, and still uncovering the truth about his powers and his legacy.
The family he only just discovered is already fractured beyond repair, and a new relative who shows up on his doorstep brings even more questions. Then there’s the mother he risked everything to find, who might be the biggest threat to the life he’s trying to build. To protect his new community, Malik joins an elite secret society with roots in ancient magic.
His journey takes him even deeper into his own heritage and the history of the magical world, while bringing him closer to a classmate whose friendship might mean something more, if Malik is ready to let her in. But how can he use powers he can’t even control to defend a world he’s not sure will ever fully accept him? And as the pressure and danger builds, will he be able to confront the deepening cracks within the magical society, and those building within himself?
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About LaDarrion Williams
LaDarrion Williams is a Los Angeles based-playwright, filmmaker, author, and screenwriter whose goal is to cultivate a new era of Black fantasy, providing space and agency for Black characters and stories in a new, fresh and fantastical way. He is currently a resident playwright/co-creator of The Black Creators Collective, where his play UMOJA made its West Coast premiere in January 2022 and produced North Hollywood’s first Black playwrights festival at the Waco Theater Center. Blood at the Root is his first novel. His viral and award-winning short filmbased on the same concept, is currently on YouTube and Amazon Prime.
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