The Blackbirds (47 page)

For Ericka

“She knew she loved him when ‘home' went from being a place to a person.”

—E. Leventhal

For Destiny

“I saw that you were perfect and so I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more.”

—Unknown

For Indigo

“And then my soul saw you and it kind of went ‘Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you.'”

—Iain Thomas

For Kwanzaa

“I can't remember what it was like before you, and I don't even know how we got here but maybe that's exactly what I needed. Someone who could make me forget where I came from and someone who could make me love without knowing how to fall.”

—R. M. Drake

For the Blackbirds

“Girls will be your friends—they'll act like it, anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything—they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them.”

—Marilyn
Monroe

Whassup everybody!

Peace and blessings from Los Angeles.

Before I ramble on and thank all the supercalifragalistic people who have helped me on this expialidocious literary journey, I have to remind you, oh ye faithful reader, if you don't already know, that Ericka, Destiny, and Kwanzaa have been part of the Dickey-verse for a while. I'm sure the hardcore readers will probably kinda-sorta remember Kwanzaa Browne as a little bitty baby and the center of conflict in
Liar's Game,
Ericka Stockwell as a terrified teen in
Friends and Lovers
, and Destiny Jones holding it down in
Chasing Destiny
. They have grown up and now are living on the other side of innocence. And by the way, mannish Hakeem Mitchell was around for a bit in
Cheaters,
doing his best to steal Chante Marie Ellis from his uncle and get her to ride on his Big Wheel. Eddie is the son of Bryce from
Friends & Lovers
and well. At least I think he is.

LOL.

The novel actually was given the name
Blackbirds
because my wonderful editor asked me the title of what I was working on, and “Blackbird” happened to be the song I was listening to at the moment. Well, I was at the end of the movie
Beyond the Lights
, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw was singing the Nina Simone tune and it stayed with me. It really worked out, listening to the song, and getting a feel for who I wanted the four women in this novel to be as a group, as friends, as sisters, then coming up with the moment they were given that marvelous name. I
have to say, so far as Ericka, Destiny, Kwanzaa, and Indigo, I guess you can say this is a sequel that really isn't a sequel, because it can mos def be read as a stand-alone novel.

A few notes to the readers. Dr. Debra's memoirs were actually written circa 1995, so they are very accurate. There were mentions of pagers and using public phones in the original. Might have been a dinosaur sighting or two. LOL. Technology has changed, slang has changed, but the affairs of the heart remain the same. The Bible and the blues bemoan the same issues. Dr. Debra's personal segments were intended to be a part of the novel
Friends and Lovers
, as normal chapters, but Ericka's part and involvement was cut to keep the novel focused on Debra and Leonard. Hmm. Well, I guess you could say Leonard Jr. was in that novel as well.

Writers: Save everything. You never know when you'll find a chance to use it.

A few other things, besides ages, have been massaged to make the story work.

And, nah, I'm not telling what I had to do to make it do what it do.

I won't call out what had to be changed, or whose backstory had to be massaged a bit, but hopefully it wasn't enough to make the reader not suspend disbelief, only appreciate what we are able to do in a fictional universe. This is where I go to have fun and play What if?

To my homie, Kayode Disu, chillin' across the pond with the beans and toast eaters and waving at the queen, thanks for allowing me to pick your brain in order to create Indigo. I know only a true Nigerian can create an authentic Nigerian character, because you know the culture inside out the way I know both the south and east sides of Memphis, and I'm on the outside of your amazing culture looking in, however I hope I did an okay job bringing Indigo's world to life. You get the credit for all I did right, all I said correctly, all I spelled correctly, and I'll take the blame for any faux pas, for anything I misinterpreted or didn't fully understand. I think this is the third Nigerian character I've created. Time to get to Lagos! Yemi! Tiwa! I'm on the way! Start sangin'!

Hola to my fantabulous agent, Sara Camilli! Well, this time we've put out three novels in twelve months. Pretty cool! At this rate I'll make
it to book 100 before I'm eligible to join AARP. LOL. Since before '96, you've been in my corner. Thanks for giving the kid from Kansas Street in the 901 a chance to have fun and create a few interesting stories and characters here and there.

I wonder what the character count is thus far? From Valerie to Indigo . . . how many?

Someone should also do a degrees-of-separation chart for the characters.

At this point I think most could show up at the same picnic. But if Gideon walks in, everybody better run! Well, everyone except Reaper.

Special thanks and much love to all the wonderful people back in NYC on Hudson Street!

To my amazing editor, Stephanie J. Kelly. It was great working with you on this project. Thanks for the hard work. Sorry I made you cry.

Hopefully there were a few LOL moments in the mix as well.

Emily N. Brock and everyone in publicity at Dutton/Random House, thanks for being such a wonderful team. You and the crew make it happen. Hugs, kudos, and blessings to all.

And thanks to my amazing copyeditor (Mikayla Butchart). Thanks for helping me make this tale flow from the rooter to the tooter.

And to my wonderful readers, those who have been around since the start and those who have grown up with Ericka, Destiny, and Kwanzaa and have come along for the ride, thanks for the love both in the stores and on social media. Thanks for the mentions and the posts; thanks for the tweets and retweets. As I said before, thanks for posting photos of the novels as you work and play all over the world. It's really inspiring to see my work travel to other parts of the world. Now, if I can only get NASA to fly one of my novels up into space . . . that would be a photo and a half . . . Earth in the background. Hmm . . . Paging NASA.

To the Planer Group (Karl Planer and Tammee) thanks for helping this distracted writer keep his life and house in order. You rock!

In case I had tunnel vision and was distracted as I recover from having my deviated septum corrected (Oh, the pain! Even my pain has pain.), if I forgot to mention ye, trust me, it wasn't intentional. No need
to flip out and lose the plot as my face throbs like it was closed in a steel door. This upcoming section is just for you and only for you. Hear ye! Hear ye!

I want to thank _________________ for all s/he did/thought about doing/wanted to do in order to help a brother out while he was working day and night on creating/writing/editing/rewriting the astounding women now known as the Blackbirds. Your help was the help of all help, and I can't help saying that.

Peace, love, and November 7, 2015, smiles from a lifetime member of A Phi A.

Yeah, I do need some ice, ice, baby.

Soon I will be able to breathe again.

Latitude 33° 59' 56” N

Longitude 118° 20' 33” W

8:51
P.M
. 62 degrees Fahrenheit

Gray T-shirt, blue sweat pants (University of Memphis colors!)

Okay. Time to pop a pain pill or two, then bedtime for Bonzo. Deuces!

Eric Jerome Dickey

www.ericjeromedickey.com

Follow me on Twitter @EricJDickey

When writing a novel, there are only three difficult parts: the beginning, the middle, and the ending.

ERIC JEROME DICKEY is the
New York Times
bestselling author of twenty-four novels, and is also the author of a six-issue miniseries of graphic novels for Marvel Enterprises, featuring Storm (X-Men) and the Black Panther. He also penned the original story for the film
Cappuccino
directed by Craig Ross Jr. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Dickey is a graduate of the University of Memphis, where he pledged Alpha Phi Alpha, and also attended UCLA. Dickey now lives on the road and rests in whatever hotel will have
him.

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