Tag: horror fiction

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.

Enter the Inferno

~ Kev Harrison ~ 1 Comment
Inferno

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

~ 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.

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.

Half price promotion on The Balance eBook and Audiobook

~ Kev Harrison ~ 2 Comments
After two months on sale, The Balance is doing better than I could possibly have hoped (all thanks to you readers!) To help more people find this fusion of Slavic folklore and ecohorror, Lycan Valley Press have decided to run a limited-time promotion, with the Ebook and audiobook both available for half price.

So pick up the eBook here.

Or the audiobook (lovingly narrated by Desmond Manny) here.

And don’t forget to use the coupon code Balance2020 at checkout. Note the capital B in Balance there, people.

If you do check it out, I’d love you to reach out to me and tell me what you think, via my contact page, on Twitter @LisboetaIngles or via Goodreads.