Tag: the balance

Announcement – Folklore Times Four

~ Kev Harrison ~ 4 Comments

A couple of weeks ago on my Twitter feed, I alluded to some exciting news:

I couldn’t say any more at the time, because things were still awaiting signatures and so on, but today – I can!

A little over two years ago, my debut novella, The Balance, was let loose upon the world. As any author will likely tell you, this was a moment of pride, terror, enthusiasm and trepidation on a rinse/repeat cycle. I had absolutely no idea whatsoever how it would be received.

Thanks to the amazing reaction of readers over the past couple of years, along with the promotion and word of mouth recommendations of a number of readers and fellow writers, the publisher of the book, Lycan Valley Press Publications, have approached me about putting together four new folkloric horror novellas between now and the end of 2024. I’ve now signed on to do just that.

As readers of my newsletter will know, this summer I’ll be transitioning to a 9 months’ writing/3 months’ intensive working plan for the next few years. I have been lining up projects to make that writing time productive, plotting out the details of the first two books. Both folkloric horror novellas. I’m incredibly excited to be working with Lycan Valley again – who did such an excellent job on the eBook, physical and audio editions of The Balance – and for the serendipitous timing which now means I can get on with the work and focus fully on making these books the absolute best they can be.

I don’t want to give away too much about the new books yet, but the first is going to be loosely connected to this image:

The queen of the 'fées de la mer' rides a nautilus shell
I can also hint that, when I finish my university teaching job in September this year, there will be a short jaunt to France to do some research, take photos, etc, for the book, before I go on my actual holiday to Italy. No hints for book two just yet!

I’m still plugging away at selling my novel, Shadow of the Hidden, to one of the publishers it remains under consideration with this year, as well as finishing up the Haunts project I am working on with Dan Howarth, Grant Longstaff and Paul M. Feeney for a late 2022/early 2023 release.

But 2023 – 2025, it seems, will be time for some horror folklore.

So come, sit around the fire. I’ve got some stories to tell you.

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.

Happy Book Birthday to The Balance & Thanks

~ Kev Harrison ~ 1 Comment

The Balance Cover High QualitySo, today’s the day. The Balance is out! Seeing my book out there in the world, two and a half years after I first wrote ‘The end’ is a surreal feeling. But a satisfying one. Early reviews have been really positive and, while no book is ever going to be for everyone, I’m pleased it’s resonated with some of the readers who’ve read it to date.

As is the way with life, nothing is without its little hitches. Amazon delisted the release, two days before launch without any real explanation as to why. So, if you want to get hold of it and can’t wait for Amazon to sort themselves out, you can pick it up direct from the publisher, in eBook format here, audiobook here & paperback (in North America), here. Until May 4th, both eBook and audiobook can be picked up with 50% off, using the promo code StayAtHome .

If you do pick it up and check it out, please do leave an honest review on goodreads and/or amazon. It makes a world of difference. Aside from that, leave me a comment here on the website, or tweet me. I’d love to hear how you get on with it.

Finally, I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone in the horror community who has helped me to promote the release. To Kendall Reviews and the Gingernuts of Horror as well as S.J. Budd and Aphotic Realm, for hosting early reviews. To Sci-fi and Scary and Janine’s Ghost Stories for having me on for some really thoughtful interviews, to the fantastic writer Dave Jeffrey for his dream-come-true blurb of the book, to the Staring into the Abyss podcast team and just to anyone that has retweeted, shared or talked about The Balance to anyone. I try to thank everyone, but if I’ve missed you, THANK YOU so very much.

Now, it’s back to work on the new novel.

The Balance – My Debut Novella – Coming 28 April

~ Kev Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Balance Banner

It’s both a tremendously exciting and a terrifying time for me, as my debut novella now has a release date. On 28 April, The Balance will be available in all the usual online stockists, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble and so forth. The early release eBook and audiobook versions are available now, with versions appearing on Apple books, Audible and so on in the coming days and weeks. US readers can pre-order the paperback here. There are currently some problems with the Amazon listing of the book, so Kindle users will need to buy direct from the publisher at the link above.

Here’s the back cover synopsis for The Balance:

When myth becomes nightmare … The price of blood is always blood. The Balance Cover High Quality

Natalia’s in trouble. She only looked away for a second, and now her brother’s hurt. Her relationship with her mother is fractured, her brother’s condition is deteriorating, and her only hope lays deep in the unforgiving forest. A secret spoken only in whispers offers a way out. But when help comes in occult forms a sacrifice may be the only way to restore the balance. 

Humanity and nature collide in The Balance by Kev Harrison, a modern reimagining of the Slavic folk tale of Baba Yaga, set in Cold War Poland. 

Why Poland?

Though I’ve now lived and am very much settled in Portugal, I spent three incredible years of my life living and working in Poland. It was a place I knew little or nothing about when I arrived and one that shall now remain close to my heart and forever feel like home.

The person of Baba Yaga is just one of a multitude of characters woven into the fascinating (and often terrifying) folk lore of the Slavic nations. It’s easy to understand how dark folk tales manage to remain so vividly remembered and so present in modern culture when you consider the history of the place.

Few nations have had their borders redrawn as often as Poland and, of course, the scars of both World War II and its status as a Soviet client state throughout the cold war are particularly raw wounds. A friend of mine told me once, as I left the Schindler museum (from where Oscar Schindler saved thousands from execution) in a state of shocked silence, “You learn about history from books. We learn about it from our grandfathers.” Of course, a great many from Great Britain suffered immensely and gave their lives in the second world war, but the stories of Nazi occupation and the quasi-occupied state that followed liberation, with permanent states of rationing, corruption and constant fear for one’s life, explained much about the psyche of the people of the country. They also explained to me the way folk stories, myths and legends have retained their presence in society until today.

I chose this period of the Cold War, in a rural town, in the heart of a harsh Eastern European winter, as the perfect setting for supplies to run short and for desperation to lead people back to the old ways.

I’ll be writing more about The Balance in the coming weeks before the paperback release. In the meantime, here is a preview of the Audiobook, narrated by Desmond Manny:

Writing Goals – 2020

~ Kev Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Happy new year.

January is coming to its midpoint and I thought it was high time to formalise what my writing goals are for the year.

Part of this is to share with my friends and readers and part of it is just to have it on the page in order to hold myself accountable. So, without further ado:

  • My first novella, The Balance is coming out very soon from Lycan Valley Press and I’m very excited about it. The goal here is to get it into as many hands as possible. You can read more about it here and I’ll announce pre-orders (along with some giveaways and fun stuff like that) here as soon as they are open.
  • My second novella Below (working title) was beta-read, re-edited and submitted at the end of 2019. I have a really good feeling about this one, and my goal here is to finalise a deal to see this book out in the world in 2020. In all likelihood, it may not see the light of day until 2021, but to have that contract signed would be a huge boost for me.
  • In the last two years, I’ve managed to have ten or more stories come out during the year in various publications and podcasts. I’d like to continue this form.
  • I want to complete one or two long form pieces during 2020. I have the beginnings of a longer piece which I started in 2018 and then left, as I didn’t feel prepared to complete it at the time. I also want to start and make good headway with a new project. (I felt previously that I maybe ‘wasn’t a proper writer’ if I didn’t write full novels, but I’ve since decided to bin that idea and allow stories to be what they want to be. I often find in my reading experiences that my favourite horrors are novellas, anyway.)
  • I want to contribute at least two stories to charity anthologies. I did some work with charity anthologies last year (as a submissions editor, producing the short list for ‘Sloth’ in Things in the Well’s Trickster’s Treats #3: The Seven Deadly Sins Edition) and had a story published in Grinning Skull Press’ A Tree Lighting in Deathlehem. Both were a lot of fun and for excellent causes, so I want to do more of this.
  • I also want to blog more, and not just to trumpet new releases. I read an article on Chuck Wendig’s excellent blog the other day and he made some excellent arguments for more blogging, so expect this stream of consciousness to be a bit more regular.

 

And that’s it. What are your writing goals for 2020? Share in the comments or drop me a tweet @lisboetaingles