A crow so happens to feature a lot in my latest work in progress, a humorous urban fantasy based on the exploits of a character that has appeared here before, Pearl Barley, trainee exorcist. I thought I’d share an extract from it. In this section Pearl and fellow trainee, Marge Wisp are to be shown a crow with Corvid Dementicus or mad crow’s syndrome by Borage Backflip who looks after the unpassed spirits and members of the fae that the exorcists bring back from their runs, pending dealing with them. Pearl is convinced (based on what she was told by Sharon, a deceased hairstylist who is currently in possession of Pearl’s hair) that a crow she brought in had jackdaws syndrome, an different form of possession experienced by members of the corvid family but it is something Borage has contradicted. This is part of persuading Pearl she is wrong. Eventually there will be three books, involving Pearl – I’ve written book one and book two is three quarters done; my aim is to finish all three before I publish the first

Borage waited while they donned their protective outfits.

While they helped each other, Marge asked, “Do we need these for the crows?”

“Nah. They’re safe enough. The danger comes from the rest of little sods we have to pass. They’ll spit and eject and ejaculate and explode anything they can, just to make a point. Mostly it’s harmless, like being sprayed with acrid-smelling mayonnaise but occasionally it can dissolve fibre, burn concrete and permanently stain pretty much anything. Some of them are so dextrous they’ll brand your neck with a pair of bollocks before you’ve begun to duck.  Just don’t make eye contact. Many of them find that a threat and react. Mostly, if you ignore them, they’ll ignore you, whatever noise they make. You both got ear-buddies?”

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