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.

New Audio Story – ‘A Precious Quarry’ – Free on Tales to Terrify

September 4, 2020September 4, 2020 ~ Kev Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I’m thrilled to announce that my story, ‘A Precious Quarry’ is the feature story on today’s Tales to Terrify. This story is a sci-fi horror piece, set on an experimental mining vessel sent out to drill precious minerals from huge lumps of space rock in the asteroid belt of our solar system. Let’s just hope that when such projects start to come to fruition in reality over the next few years, things don’t go as badly as they do for the crew of the Pegasus.

This story was written in 2018 and found its first home in Things in the Well’s superb sci-fi horror anthology, Beyond the Infinite: Tales from the Outer Reaches. Getting a slot in this anthology was a bit of a dream for me, as it meant my story sat side by side with masters of horror, like Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley, as well as H. G. Wells – a sci-fi legend from the town where I grew up.

But enough blathering from me, check out the story for free, below and I hope you enjoy it – Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!

New audio story, ‘Lost and Found,’ available now on The Other Stories

May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 ~ Kev Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I’m delighted to share my creepy tale, ‘Lost and Found,’ with you, courtesy of the amazing people over at Hawk and Cleaver’s The Other Stories podcast. It’s the fourth entry in their ‘Remote places’ theme, which has featured some fantastic, scary tales. Here’s the log line:

When Sadie goes off hiking in the heart of the wilderness, Gemma seizes the opportunity to unwind with a raft of movies and bubbly. When she doesn’t come back and a storm rolls in though, Gemma begins to fear the worst.

When writing this one, it was all about the atmosphere, trying to capture the isolation of the forest. I hope I got it right.

Leave your opinion in the comments, or tweet me: @lisboetaingles

To listen, click the image above, listen on Spotify, below, or search for The Other Stories in your podcatcher.

The Balance – My Debut Novella – Coming 28 April

April 9, 2020April 27, 2020 ~ Kev Harrison ~ Leave a comment

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.

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:

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

April 1, 2020 ~ Kev Harrison ~ Leave a comment

My 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.

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.