Haunting Tales Arise from shadowed judgment
Not bells, but a crow found its way to my soul
Warrant bestowed at the hearing of the toll
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The Croe Tolls weaves together haunting, interconnected tales in both lyrical verse and traditional prose, all orbiting around Croe, a spectral figure who emerges when hidden harm cries out for reckoning. The Croe is not a punisher but a silent witness. His arrival signals the instant a character must finally face the truth they have long evaded and pay the spiritual price for their deeds.
Each story delves into a unique form of harm and the steep price of denial. These tales unravel debts of abandonment, cruelty, cowardice, and wounds passed down through generations. Some characters embrace their tolls and emerge changed, while others resist and become lost in the very shadows they cast.
Throughout the collection, the Croe lingers as a constant, enigmatic guide, leading each character to the brink of their darkest truths. In the final stories, the focus shifts inward, exposing the price Croe pays: the loneliness of shouldering the weight of others’ reckonings. By accepting this burden, he completes the cycle that threads the collection together.
The Croe Tolls becomes a tapestry of consequence, transformation, and the quiet mercy that waits for those brave enough to face their own darkness.
"Why a moan? When I am alone
This unrest of a shivery moan
Quiver to the moan of my disbelief
It's restless toll plagues an aching plea
Arrest, moan—why come with such malice?
Cease, moan—you are driving me to madness"
E. Croe
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HARKEN to the TOLL
THE CROE TOLLS
Not bells, but a crow found its way to my soul
Warrant bestowed at the hearing of the toll
Thy shadow from my slumber is not of my flesh nor bone
Nor is the fate of thy shadow; I no longer own
Splinters rain from knocking deeds of where a crow has perched
Rapping, tapping on the orb on the dead-post of wood
The crow speaks, speaks to me of the toll the reaper seeks
Rasping, scratching from its beak, the toll from the Crow speaks
I am not the raven that quoth of thy grim sorrow for your grief
I am the Croe from a murder of crows, summon souls like a thief
Judgment willed for your internal sleep; never again will you dream
Never heard by the living, I have stitched thy departed scream
I am the Croe from a murder of crows, summon souls like a thief
By silent winds, it came through a door that creaks
The verdict of my soul is what the Crow seeks
A nightfall regret occurs when the Croe summons; you must heed his toll
I plead guilty! And departed from shadow peacefully with the Crow
-E. Croe
Author Book Inspiration
The Croe Tolls draws its lineage from works that confront judgment, haunting, and the uneasy space between the living and the dead. It carries the atmospheric dread of Shirley Jackson, the moral reckoning of Cormac McCarthy, and the mythic inevitability found in ancient folklore and scripture.
Its stories echo the cadence of prophetic verse and the stark clarity of gothic parable, shaped by traditions where every shadow has a memory and every consequence returns with a voice. Yet the book stands apart in its fusion of poetic witness and narrative haunting, forging a mythos where judgment is not delivered from above but rises from the places we refuse to look.