Interview with Andrew K. Clark, author of Where the Dark Things Rise and Where the Dark Things Grow

Hi Andrew! Thanks so much for letting me interview you today about your books and writing.

Q: Are Where the Dark Things Rise and Where the Dark Things Grow your first published books?

A: No, my first book was a full length collection of poetry called Jesus in the Trailer published by Main Street Rag Press in 2019. It was shortlisted for the Able Muse Book Award.

Q: What authors inspired you to become a writer?

A: I think my first interest in storytelling came from reading Tolkien and C.S Lewis. I was drawn to their stories and then in high school, a friend gave me a book of Langston Hughes poetry. I’d say that gave me the fascination with language alongside the storytelling.

On my shelves, you’ll find southern authors such as Ron Rash, William Faulkner, Jason Mott, Taylor Brown, Daniel Woodrell, and William Gay. But I am also a fan of magical realism and surrealism so you’d also find books by Haruki Murakami, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Franz Kafka. I’d also put Jesmyn Ward and Toni Morrison in this category, with a mixture of supernatural things happening in a very realistic setting. I am also a big horror fan. I grew up reading Stephen King and Anne Rice, but some of my favorites include Stephen Graham Jones, Andy Davidson, Daryl Gregory, Paul Tremblay, Alma Katsu, and Brom. I read a lot of poetry as well, some favorites being Jessica Jacobs, Kim Addonizio, Ilya Kaminsky, Tyree Daye, and Airea Matthews. Christina Sng is a wonderful horror poet. In general, I love work that bends genre or subverts it somehow and this is a goal for my work.

Q: Are there any particular authors whose writing style influenced your writing style?

A: I came to fiction from poetry so I love a beautifully crafted sentence. This doesn’t mean flowery language necessarily, but a bit of poetry weaved into the narrative. Probably the writing style I most identify with, in terms of my fiction, would be Daniel Woodrell’s. There’s a sparseness with Ron Rash that I aspire to. And I do love Cormac McCarthy’s style in much of his work.

Q: How long have you been writing for?

A: I started writing in middle school and published poetry in college. It was present in my life when I wasn’t trying to get my work published. Writing is something that I’ve always been compelled to do. As a creative, the years I’ve been the happiest are those when I was creating; the least happy years when I was consumed with work or other things that kept me from it.

Q: Can you share what Where the Dark Things Grow and Where the Dark Things Rise are about with us?

A: Where the Dark Things Grow (Cowboy Jamboree Press, September 2024) is an Appalachian gothic set in 1930s western North Carolina. It blends elements of magical realism, horror, and folklore into a coming of age story. The protagonist Leo is a troubled 15 year old growing up in rural, Depression era Appalachia with unstable parents, two useless brothers, his sick baby sister Goldfish, and the memory of his deceased brother Jacob. When his father goes missing, Leo’s attempts to help his family and find his father bring him into contact with mythical beasts, alchemists, prostitutes, and the ghost of his dead baby brother Jacob. Along the way, Leo is pulled into a rescue effort for a friend who has been kidnapped by the mysterious Blue Man.

Where the Dark Things Rise (Quill and Crow Publishing House September 2025) is a loose sequel set in the 1980s with some overlapping characters from Where the Dark Things Grow. 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. But Mina doesn’t want these powers. All she wants to do is escape the trailer park for a leafy college campus far away. But when her friend Gabe is stalked by a shapeshifting preacher/wolf, Mina learns to use her powers to protect him. Mina soon discovers that 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?

Jesus in the Trailer (Main Street Rag Press) is a collection of southern gothic poetry. Above all else, the poetry in Jesus in the Trailer evokes a cogent sense of place. Whether addressing police violence on the cobblestone streets of Savannah, the loss of a loved one to dementia, or coming of age in a trailer park in Appalachia, these poems address faith, death, love, lust, and beauty while not masking the pain of Southern history.

Q: Should you ever be approached by a person in the movie industry who expressed interest in turning your book(s) into a movie who would you like to see cast in it?

A: I have done some storyboards as I was writing using images of actors that I thought would fit the characters. However, I’d say more important to me would be the director, should I be lucky enough for someone to make films of my books. Two directors I’d love to see interpret my stories are Robert Eggers or Ari Aster. Jordan Peele is another favorite along with Jennifer Kent.