First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?  If you want to make your own post, feel free to use or edit the banner above, and follow the rules below:

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

If you’re using Twitter, don’t forget to use #FirstLinesFridays!

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Hello, reader!

First, let me assure you that it is not, in fact, Friday. Although, perhaps by the time you read this, it will be 😂 It’s a Thursday night and I was racking my brain for something to post today. I’ve also been missing my First Lines Friday post because I’ve had tours on the last couple of Fridays. So I thought I’d celebrate Friday early! Besides, it’s been a long week and I’m ready for that Friday mood.

The book I’m featuring today is one I spoke of recently. I need to pick it up soon as it’s due back to the library in, like… two days. But let me not get too deep into it, eh? Let’s see if the first few lines can pull us into the story.

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The Line(s):

“You ever seen a Klan march?
We don’t have them as grand in Macon, like you might see in Atlanta. But there’s Klans enough in this city of fifty-odd thousand to put on a fool march when they get to feeling to.”

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The Hints:

This is a historical fiction novella...

… in which the Klan is populated with literal demons…

… and a band of resistance fighters must rise against them.

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The Reveal:

Click the cover to be taken to the Goodreads page

Goodreads Synopsis

“Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns with Ring Shout, a dark fantasy historical novella that gives a supernatural twist to the Ku Klux Klan’s reign of terror

D. W. Griffith is a sorcerer, and The Birth of a Nation is a spell that drew upon the darkest thoughts and wishes from the heart of America. Now, rising in power and prominence, the Klan has a plot to unleash Hell on Earth.

Luckily, Maryse Boudreaux has a magic sword and a head full of tales. When she’s not running bootleg whiskey through Prohibition Georgia, she’s fighting monsters she calls “Ku Kluxes.” She’s damn good at it, too. But to confront this ongoing evil, she must journey between worlds to face otherworldly nightmares—and her own demons. Together with a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter, Maryse sets out to save a world from the hate that would consume it.”

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Did those first few lines capture your attention? Did they make you want to read the rest of the story? Let me know in the comments!

And, as always, happy reading!