Renascentem by Brad Acevedo, Caley Adona, David Andrews, Lady Lee Andrews, Raine August, William Bartlett, Amanda M. Blake, Rosalyn Briar, Sophie Brookes, Andrew K. Clark, PS Conway, Wendy Dalrymple and more

The Crow Calls Volumes are a series of poetry compilations inspired by Quill & Crow Publishing House’s poetry prompts. These prompts were intended to bring dark poets together from around the globe to share our mutual love of all things macabre. This is our sixth volume, celebrating rebirth and the light birthed out of darkness. Welcome to our Renaissance.

Where Dark Things Rise by Andrew K. Clark

Sixteen-year-old Mina is frustrated by Daddy’s drinking, her mom’s fanatical religious beliefs, and growing up poor in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Most of her teachers assume she won’t amount to much despite her 4.0 GPA, and the country club guys think she’s easy prey. But they don’t know Mina’s dark secret: She can control a magical force of supernatural creatures known as the Shadow Faces. Mina doesn’t want powers. All she wants to do is escape the trailer park for a leafy college campus far away. But when her crush, Gabe, is stalked by a shapeshifting preacher/wolf, Mina learns to use her powers to protect him. Mina soon discovers the same preacher is trafficking teens for a mystical brothel and has kidnapped her best friend, Erin, after a failed attempt at conversion therapy. Can Mina use the Shadow Faces to save Erin and the other kids without losing her chance at a normal life?