Tag: demain publishing

A Silent Dystopia and Hex-periments

~ Kev Harrison ~ 2 Comments

This past week has seen not one, but two anthologies I’ve been incredibly excited about for a while. First up is A Silent Dystopia, from Demain Publishing. Set in Dave Jeffery’s A Quiet Apocalypse universe, this anthology features stories by the likes of Stephanie Ellis, Steve Stred, J A Sullivan, Morgan K Tanner, and myself, alongside some other amazing voices.
Some of the stories focussed on how apocalypse ‘preppers’ might handle the eventual coming of such a cataclysm, others on how a chosen few might reject the prejudices against the Deaf in this silent world, while still others – like mine – considered how some might try to help smuggle the persecuted to safety and the hazards they would face.
All in all, from what I’ve read so far, it’s a terrific anthology. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can grab your copy in eBook here. The paperback version will be arriving sometime in early 2022. If you’re not familiar with the source text, you can get to grips with Dave’s brutal and emotionally difficult world here.
Massive thanks to David T. Griffith who went to pains to get these stories just right and to pay the best possible homage to the universe Dave Jeffery created. Also to Dean Drinkel at Demain for supporting the project, and to Roberto Segate, whose stunning art adorns the cover, as well as Adrian Baldwin who, as ever, created a dynamite overall cover design.

The second anthology – released today, no less, is Hex-Periments: A Dark Biotech Anthology. Surgically spliced together by the mad scientist duo of Ross Jeffery and Keith Anthony Baird, this one features stories by the editors themselves, Demi-Louise Blackburn, Tracy Fahey, David Sodergren, Dave Jeffery, Paul Kane and others, alongside my story ‘Cerebral Salvage.’ All the tales within the book feature dark biotechnological themes, often with black magic elements. With the calibre of authors on show, the quality of the stories is obviously very high, but what I love most about this anthology is that the proceeds are going to support homeless charities in the UK, something I hope we can all get behind. So, pick up a copy here and do some good, if you have the means to do so.

I did readings with snippets from both of my stories which feature in these anthologies on my YouTube channel recently. Check out the one for ‘Cerebral Salvage,’ below.

New novella, and anthologies, Below

Below Cover
~ 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.

A final Treat from the Trickster and don’t miss Curfew

~ Kev Harrison ~ 2 Comments

I’m freshly returned from a (socially distanced) holiday in Malta and have a few projects coming to fruition. First up is my story, ‘Shaft,’ which is featured in the latest (and final) edition of Trickster’s Treats, the annual halloween, charity anthology from Things in the Well. As you may know, after putting out almost forty excellent releases over the past few years, Steve Dillon has decided to call it a day running the press, to focus more on family life and his own writing. So many people have been given a break by Steve, myself included, with my first proper sale coming for ‘Warding’ in his anthology Below the Stairs: Tales From the Cellar, you can read more about that here.

But onto Trickster’s Treats 4: Coming, Buried or Not. This anthology has been edited by Louise Zedda-Sampson and Geneve Flynn, and it was a great experience, as Things in the Well anthos usually are, with some great editing bringing the most out of my story. The story is called ‘Shaft,’ but has nothing to do with a policeman who breaks all the rules. It’s set at Stonehenge in the UK, where a circular shaft was recently discovered nearby. That news story fused with the call for the anthology and the story kind of wrote itself. There is some visceral nastiness that I think and hope readers are going to get a thrill out of.

The cover art is great and there are more than 30 stories and poems in the book, AND the proceeds are going to an amazing cause, The Indigenous Literacy Foundation. You can read about the work they’re doing, here. So if you want to read mine and a host of other tales of terror, do pick up a copy either by pre-ordering or after its release on 26th September.

Curfew is the second release of mine to come through Demain Publishing’s Short Sharp Shocks range of titles. My first one, Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See, first saw the light of day last April and was my first solo release. I’m pleased to say that novelette is still finding new readers today and, by and large, they seem to be enjoying it.

Curfew moves away from folk horror in a sense, yet retains certain elements of it. A small community, strange practices and the main characters as outsiders all feature here. But I do feel the vibe is different from both Cinders… and The Balance. I won’t say much more, as it’s not a terribly long tale and I don’t want to spoil it. For now, it is available only in eBook format, but it will be reproduced in paperback format early in 2021, and my short story ‘Haldjas,’ which was originally produced in audio on Hawk and Cleaver’s The Other Stories podcast, will be appearing in print for the first time.

Released this Friday, 18th September, you can pre-order your copy for just £0.77 in the UK and a similarly bargain $0.99 in the US, with similar prices on Amazons worldwide. Cover art and design is once again handled by the brilliant Adrian Baldwin, and I’d love to know how you get along with it, either here, in the comments or on Twitter @lisboetaingles.

Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See – Now Available in Paperback

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Cinders PaperbackMy first ever solo release, Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See, put out by the fabulous people at Demain Publishing, is now available in Paperback. With the original release almost a year ago now (its book birthday is less than three weeks away at the time of writing this post!), we wanted the paperback to be a bit special. So, having talked to Dean at Demain, we decided we would include a brand new, unpublished story, just for readers who pick up the paperback.

Cinders Paperback Rear

The story, ‘All My Bridges Burnt,’ is a very different sort of tale from ‘Cinders…’ It’s fast-paced and action-packed, and was based on a real-world urban legend of a haunting on the road in New Jersey, USA. It was great fun, reading up on the differing accounts of how the ghost-child manifests and then looking at the lay of the land on google maps and street view to get a sense of the geography.

I only hope that this bonus story is as well received as ‘Cinders…’ has been over the past year.

So, if you haven’t picked up Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See yet, there’s never been a better time to do so. Order your copy here.

Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See – Available for Pre-order Now

~ Kev Harrison ~ 1 Comment

CindersAvailable now for pre-order as a kindle-only edition, is Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See, part of Demain Publishing’s ‘Short Sharp Shocks’ range of long-short stories. This tale of British folk horror, set in rural Cheshire (not far from where I went to university, a long time ago), deals with themes of loss, isolation, secrecy and strained family relations.

The back cover synopsis is as follows:

Something old lurks in Leonard’s Wood and something – or someone – in the sleepy village of Wincham is feeding it. 

Now Owen must face it or risk losing his son forever.

Available now for £0.99 or $0.99, depending on your location, you can pre-order Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See, here, so it will magically appear on your Kindle, April 19th.