New novella, and anthologies, Below

July 16, 2021October 11, 2021 ~ Kev Harrison ~ 2 Comments

So, here and in my newsletter, I’ve been dropping teasers about new releases for a while. But with all of them, I’ve been waiting on permission to talk about them. That permission has arrived and so I’m here to share the news.

First up, coming in August is Below, my new novella, released through Silver Shamrock Publishing on August 17th. With it coming from Silver Shamrock, I knew it was going to have cover art by Kealan Patrick Burke’s other-worldly Elder Lemon Design. What I had not anticipated, however, was that it would be this level of masterpiece:

To say I’m pleased with it is to downplay my emotional response a thousand fold. I’m confident the cover will sell copies of the book to people who’ve never heard of me and who have no idea what’s held within those 146 pages. And that, after all, is the idea.

What is within those pages, you might ask?

Here’s the synopsis: Nick has revered his grandfather his entire life. The absent hero, his namesake, buried alive in his final act of courage an ocean and thousands of miles away. Jess has outgrown her status as an all-action social media celebrity and the endless demands that come with it.

Adventure Travel TV has thrown this unlikely duo together, promising Jess the launchpad she craves and Nick the chance to tell his grandfather’s story first-hand, in the newly uncovered mine that still holds his remains from the twilight days of the gold rush. Is it a dream come true or a nightmare as someone or something stirs…BELOW.

Released August 17th, you can pre-order your eBook copy now or wait til nearer the release to get the paperback edition.

Watch out for my appearance on the Deadheadspace podcast in early August (hopefully among others) when I’ll be talking about the book.

Later in the year, there are two incredibly exciting anthologies featuring stories of mine.

The first of these is A Silent Dystopia. Edited by David T. Griffith and released through Demain Publishing, this book is a collection of stories set in Dave Jeffery’s A Quiet Apocalypse universe. If you’re not familiar with the subject matter, I strongly recommend you familiarise yourself with the original canon of three books A Quiet Apocalypse, Cathedral and The Samaritan.

Dave has been tremendously kind to me since I began writing and, to be asked to contribute a story to an anthology which explores a fictional world which has moved me so profoundly was one of the most surreal moments in my author-life to date.

My story in the book is titled ‘The Courier’ and features a smuggler called Saul, based in the south west of England and, I believe, is one of my strongest pieces to date.

‘The Courier’ will appear alongside stories by Steve Stred, Stephanie Ellis, J. A. Sullivan, John Palisano and others in a book that I hope and believe fans of the AQA series will really get a lot out of.

Finally, my story, ‘Refuge’, has been accepted to appear in another of this year’s most exciting anthologies. The first release from the brand new publishing house, Brigid’s Gate Publishing, Were Tales: A Shapeshifter Anthology features stories and poems of were-creatures. ‘Refuge’ is set in Sweden, and features a were-creature native to the norse region. It will sit alongside work by a multitude of incredible writers and poets, including Jonathan Maberry, Linda D. Addison, Stephanie Ellis, Eric J. Guignard, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Laurel Hightower, Cina Pelayo, Gabino Iglesias and many more. More news on this and A Silent Dystopia when pre-order links are live.

Treading the Paths

June 2, 2021 ~ Kev Harrison ~ 1 Comment

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here (especially as I’m now putting out a monthly newsletter which you can sign up to here). But, with my debut collection, Paths Best Left Untrodden clawing its way from its subterranean lair this Saturday, it would be remiss of me not to mention it.

I started thinking about a short story collection about eighteen months ago. I’d had a number of shorts published in some quite prestigious and exciting anthologies. Hopefully I gained a fair few readers from my fiction sitting shoulder to shoulder with some titans of the genre, such as Gemma Files, Richard Chizmar, Mary SanGiovanni, and Brian Evenson but, after the relative success of my debut novella, The Balance, I felt there were perhaps others who might want to absorb the breadth of my work to date without having to invest huge sums on the anthologies I’ve been part of. Of course, I also wanted to get some new, unpublished tales into the world.

The title, Paths Best Left Untrodden is very much a representation of what horror is for me. The misstep. The erring from what, deep down, we know is the correct trajectory and into a state where control leaves us and where we are at the mercy of monsters, human or otherwise. I hope that people will find this thread throughout the thirteen stories in Paths.

Responses so far have been overwhelmingly positive, with incredibly kind blurbs from four sensational writers in TC Parker, Ross Jeffery, Dave Jeffery and Dan Howarth. Dan also saw fit to publish Paths as the second title under his new Northern Republic imprint. Initial reviews from Simon Paul Wilson at Kendall Reviews and J Maddux entertainment have also been effusive.

This has alleviated some of the pre-release nerves.

One thing I was never nervous about was the cover art. Placed into the safe hands of Greg Chapman, who also crafted the cover for The Balance, I find myself with a thing of beauty to hold in my hands. And something which, in its sinister-yet-not-overt nature, hopefully represents the contents of the book well.

Paths Best Left Untrodden is released Saturday 5th June in eBook format, with a paperback due imminently thereafter, through Northern Republic. You can pre-order your copy here.

New Short Story – ‘Attribution’ – on The Other Stories and Collaborative Novel Out Now

April 15, 2021 ~ Kev Harrison ~ 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update here as I’ve not had anything concrete to share. The wheels have continued to turn in the background though and I’m hoping to be able to make a few more announcements in the coming weeks. For today, a new short story of mine has been put out through Hawk and Cleaver’s The Other Stories podcast. This one is their patrons-only, exclusive episode. Called ‘Attribution.’ It features a journalist at a true crime magazine who finds something unexpected in the static of his interview recording. You can check it out here by signing up to Hawk and Cleaver’s Patreon for as little as a dollar a month. Do let me know what you think in the comments or drop me a tweet @lisboetaingles on Twitter.

About eighteen months ago, the writer, editor and all round gentleman Don Gillette tweeted a completely crazy idea. What if a bunch of writers came together and wrote a collaborative horror novel, each one picking up a chapter and simply continuing where the last left off? I liked the tweet and, a few days later, Don reached out to ask me if I’d like to be involved. I was surprised but enthused and signed up, right away. Thus was born a group called ‘The Thirty’ who came together to write the novel.

Don wrote the first chapter in November 2018 and other writers such as Jonathan Janz, Mindi Snyder, Steve Stred, D. W. Gillespie, Miranda Crites, Sadie Hartmann, Chris Sorensen added their own pieces to the puzzle, with Edward Lorn closing out the book. I penned chapter fourteen.

It’s a ghost story and, as you might imagine with a cast of thirty writers adding their own chunks one after the other, it’s eclectic and full of surprises. As Don alludes to in the introduction, there might not be another novel like it-especially not in horror. If you’re keen to check it out, you can find it here.

Enter the Inferno

December 5, 2020December 5, 2020 ~ Kev Harrison ~ 1 Comment

Inferno, the latest incarnation of the Infernal Clock series, is out now. With Stephanie Ellis (The Five Turns of the Wheel) and Alyson Faye (Lost Girl & Spindleshanks) taking on the roles of Virgil and Dante – and no, I don’t know which is which – they will guide readers through a reimagined nine circles of hell, created by eighteen writers, including TC Parker, whose debut horror novel Salt Blood is among my reads of the year, V. Castro, who has been tearing up a storm throughout the horror world and has two huge releases coming from Flame Tree Press in 2021, CC Adams, who I’m proud to call a stable-mate at Lycan Valley Press, with his latest novella, Downwind, Alice and Steve Stred, whose releases this year include Of Witches and Scott: A Wagon Buddy Tale.

To read about all of the authors involved, check out their fascinating interviews, which Stephanie Ellis hosted on her website, here.

My story in the anthology, ‘Elixir,’ follows Kai, a man who has built up a huge following as a peddler of dreams, representing the brand Future Herb. He is approached by a mysterious woman after one of his shows and things only get stranger from there.

I hope you’ll check it out and enjoy it if/when you do. Pick up your copy of Inferno here.

New story, ‘The Call of the Ocean,’ available now on Burial Day

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020 ~ Kev Harrison ~ 2 Comments

I’m delighted to announce that a story of mine, ‘The Call of the Ocean,’ is today featured on the Burial Day website. Having recently announced three new entries to their incredible line-up of books, Burial Day also post short fiction stories once a month from established and up and coming authors. I’m ecstatic that they chose this one of mine to feature for the spookiest month of the year.

‘The Call of the Ocean’ is, thus far, a rarity for me in that it’s one of only two stories I’ve written which is set in Lisbon, where I live. I had a story published in late 2016, ‘Death Imitating Art,’ which won me a prize and rekindled my love of writing, but which is long since out of print. Besides that piece, while I’ve often used other places that my heavily travel-influenced life have taken me, Lisbon hasn’t really featured. I can’t tell you why that is, but I can tell you that I plan to correct it, once my novel WIP is out of the way.

My spot of Lisbon is the exact point where the Tejo river merges with the Atlantic ocean. I stare out at the water every single day of my life, while I have breakfast, while I work, etc. So, it’s natural I suppose that the ocean itself takes a central role in the story. Also featured are the sceneries of my childhood, when I spent seemingly endless summers on the Sussex coast, still one of my favourite parts of my former homeland.

The story is not for the faint hearted. I hope you enjoy it. Do let me know in the comments, or tweet me, @LisboetaIngles on Twitter.

Read the story here.