Name: An Evening with Andrew K. Clark, Author of Where Dark Things Rise, in Conversation w/ Dana Ridenour
Start: 2025-11-06T17:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-11-06T18:30:00-05:00
Location: Pat Conroy Literary Center

$An Evening with Andrew K. Clark, Author of Where Dark Things Rise, in Conversation w\/ Dana Ridenour$

The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center will host an evening with debut novelist Andrew K. Clark, author of Where Dark Things Rise, in conversation with Dana Ridenour, author of the Lexie Montgomery Series, on Thursday, November 6, at 5:00 p.m., at the Conroy Center (601 Bladen St., Beaufort). Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited: please reserve in advance to attend this free author event: 843-379-7025.
ABOUT THE NOVEL
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?
"Magical realism and small-town horror intertwine...[and] hums with a satisfying mix of humanity and creepiness. Where Dark Things Rise is ultimately about acceptance, family (both blood and found), and the power of choice. Fans who like some heart in their horror will find plenty of it beating here."--Publisher's Weekly

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew K. Clark is a writer from Alexander, North Carolina, outside of Asheville where he now resides. His debut novel, Where Dark Things Grow, was published in 2024. His first full-length collection of poetry, Jesus in the Trailer, was short-listed for the Able Muse Book Award. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in UCLA’s Out of Anonymity, Coffin Bell Journal, The Journal of American Poetry, Appalachian Review, Rappahannock Review, fall/lines, The Wrath Bearing Tree and many others. Clark earned his a B.A. in English and M.B.A. from Georgia Southern University, and an M.F.A. from Converse College.
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER
Dana Ridenour is the award-winning author of the Lexie Montgomery FBI Series: Behind the Mask, Beyond the Cabin, and Below the Radar. Ridenour is a retired FBI special agent who spent most of her career as an undercover operative. She now lives and writes in the South Carolina lowcountry.