Ayize Jama-Everett

Yote and Kavita Ayize Jama-Everett

It's 1967. Freedom is unfinished work. Yote Mark is a runaway swamp shaman who carries the outlaw magic ofenslaved fugitives.

His traditions were shaped by flight, secrecy, andsurvival. Kavita is a young woman formed by the teachings of Sister Jah, wherelove is practiced as discipline and community is treated asprotection. Hannibal is a feared member of the Myals, a Caribbean-borncollective that values survival over mercy.

When violence breaks outbetween them, it reveals a deeper truth that Black spiritualtraditions are under threat. When Cecil Prosperous, a preacher with vast power and littlecompassion, reshapes belief into obedience, descends on Oakland, Yote, Kavita, andHannibal are forced into an uneasy alliance. They do not trust one another, butthey understand what is at stake.

To save their people, they mustdecide what community demands and what sacrifice can truly redeem. Ayize Jama-Everett was born and raised in Harlem, New York. He holds a Master's in Clinical Psychology and a Master's in Divinity.

He teaches religion and psychology at Starr King School for the Ministry when he's not working as a school therapist at the College Preparatory School. He is the author of three novels, The Liminal People, The Liminal War, and The Entropy of Bones, as well as the graphic novels, Box of Bones Books I and II and The Last Count of Monte Cristo. When not educating, studying, or beating himself up for not writing enough, he's usually enjoying aged rums and practicing his aim.