Narrelle M. Harris's Blog, page 2

Cover reveal: Queer Weird West Tales, ed. Julie Bozza

Queer Weird West Tales will be released by LibraTiger on 31 August 2022 – and here is the totally amazing cover!

You can read an extract from my story, “Derailed“, and you can pre-order the book at any of these online retailers.

An early review is already in on Goodreads:

You never knew what’s on the bill next in this wide range of tales. I won’t name my faves because I experienced them as a sequence where each felt new and interesting.

In all of them, people living their queer lives, often in tension with the tropes, pushing stories in different directions. This did add up to an interrogation of the genre, which co-existed with the genre homage. A bunch of well-constructed stories that deconstruct – and re-construct – the Western!

Bryn Hammond

Take a look and pre-order now – it’s not long to wait!!

The Blurb

Frontiers have always attracted the Other – where they find that the Other is always already there. These 22 stories explore what happens when queer characters encounter weirdness on the edge of the worlds they know.

Authors include: Julie Bozza, J.A. Bryson, Dannye Chase, S.E. Denton, Miguel Flores, Adele Gardner, Roy Gray, KC Grifant, Peter Hackney, Bryn Hammond, Narrelle M Harris, Justin Warren Jackson, Toshiya Kamei, Catherine Lundoff, Bunny McFadden, Angus McIntyre, Atlin Merrick, Eleanor Musgrove, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Lauren Scharhag, Sara L. Uckelman, and Dawn Vogel.

New anthology: Clamour and Mischief, edited by Narrelle M Harris

The spine art for Clamour and Mischief, (c) Andrea L Farley – featuring rooks and magpies flying across a stormy sky.

I’m so proud and delighted to formally announce the coming of a new anthology to Clan Destine Press – Clamour and Mischief, and anthology about corvids edited by yours truly.

A clamour of rooks. A mischief of magpies. A storytelling of crows.

All the corvids – the rooks and ravens, the jays and jackdaws, the crows and magpies – have the best collective nouns. A parliament and a party. Tidings and titterings, bands and trains. An unkindness.

Clamour and Mischief brings a veritable storytelling of crows to the corvidae, the bird family known for intelligence and cunning and for their connection with folklore and urban legends. These storytellers come from around the world and include award-winning and -shortlisted authors as well as emerging writers and fledgling authors in their professional debut.

This anthology’s sixteen striking stories are imbued with all the humour, darkness, wisdom, artfulness, vengefulness and magic of the birds that inspired them. Take them as a jest, a guide, or a warning – but don’t, whatever you do, ignore them!

Narrelle M Harris and Clan Destine Press are proud to announce the Table of Contents for Clamour and Mischief, due for release in August 2022.

“Once upon a Midnight” by Raymond Gates“All That Glitters” by GV Pearce“Sleuthing for a Cause” by Eugen Bacon“The Past is not a Present” by Geneve Flynn“Watchers” by Alex Marchant“The Song of Crows” by Jack Fennell“Kūpara and Tekoteko” by Lee Murray“Build Another Nest for Phantom Feathers” by RJK Lee“Branwen and the Three Ravens” by Dannye Chase“Seven for a Secret” by Narrelle M Harris“The Girl and the Crow” by R.D. White“The Jackdaw Maiden” by Katya de Becerra“The Language of Birds” by Jason Franks“Murder of Crows” by George Ivanoff“The Devil’s Teeth” by Tamara M Bailey“Quoth the Raven” by Gabiann Marin

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Publisher: Clan Destine Press – https://www.clandestinepress.net/

Coming soon: Cover release, artwork by Andrea L Farley (aka Altocello)

Image © Andrea L Farley

Larking about with Writing

You may have seen me post before about my new(ish) site, Larking Services, which I built to highlight the writing services I provide (including editing, mentoring, workshops and public speaking).

If you’re a writer, or you’re interested in the process of writing, you might find some useful tips in those posts. Here are some of the things I’ve been posting on my fortnightly Larking blog:

Writing Nuts and Bolts

Word Counts and What They MeanPLR, ELR, the Copyright Agency and Australian Writers

The Process

Debunking the ‘write every day’ mythResearch: How much is enough?

Writing tips

Opening short storiesCreating Character Voice Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)Adding Local FlavourUsing ‘5 senses’ to reveal character

Language and Grammar

Flaunt Vs FloutPunctuation: musical notation for language

If you like what you find there, you can subscribe to the blog at the bottom right of the page.

If you like it a LOT and want extra content, you can subscribe to the quarterly newsletter, Notes in the Margins at the bottom left (or subscribe right now using this link). Sign up and you’ll get Wording, a free ebook full of writing tips, After that, four times a year you’ll get a short newsletter with highlights, links to other useful posts, book recs, and other updates.

Either way, I hope you find the content of interest, and even of use!

Cover Reveal: Dark Deeds Down Under

Look at this gorgeous cover for this fantastic anthology of Australian and New Zealand crime fiction!

The anthology, edited by NZ crime fiction expert and author, Craig Sisterson, features writers who are practically crime fiction royalty across those two nations.

A lot of the 19 stories bring new tales of characters we already love – Kerry Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman and the Nancys from RWR McDonald’s delightful series. Katherine Kovacic offers another story about art expert Alex Clayton and Sulari Gentil’s Rowly Sinclair joins the throng. And for everyone who has missed the crumpled Murray Whelan, Shane Maloney’s story lets us meet him again.

Honestly, I am incredibly thrilled to have my story, “Observations on a Tragedy (in Three Acts)”, keeping such amazing company!

Here’s a little taster of my story, set in Melbourne with a new accidental detective I hope to visit again soon in a novel:

Brady Templar’s death embodied his career to the last detail. Reflecting his body of work, this young actor at the threshold of greatness died in a way that was unexpected, out-of-the-ordinary, shockingly graceful and heartbreakingly vulnerable.

Too soon?

Too soon.

The blessing and the curse of a writer, and a theatre critic in particular, thought Tee, was the tendency to render real life into a more manageable narratives. Storifying Brady Templar as she sat beside his cooling body was infinitely easier than looking at his ruins and wondering how his mother and sister would feel once they knew.

“Observations on a Tragedy – Act One” by Narrelle M Harris

Dark Deeds Down Under is due for release on 26 June 2022 – and you can get a 10% discount on the paperback, hardback or ebook if you pre-order before then!

Pre-order Dark Deeds Down Under from Clan Destine Press

Pre-order Queer Weird West Tales

The upcoming anthology, Queer Weird West Tales (including my story, “Derailed”) is due out in 31 August 2022 – but you can pre-order it now so that it’s in your hands ASAP after that!

Frontiers have always attracted the Other – where they find that the Other is always already there. These 22 stories explore what happens when queer characters encounter weirdness on the edge of the worlds they know.

In “Derailed”, I revisit Polly Crewes and her beloved, Nettie, from “Virgin Soil” (And Then… Volume 1). “Derailed” is set in South Australia in 1866. 15 years after the events of “Virgin Soil”,and we get to find out how their forgiving and forgetting is working out while they face an unexpected danger.

Here’s a little taster of the story – a train has derailed and one man’s private and frankly dangerous menagerie is on the loose!

[Polly] rode up as close as her horse would take her, jumped down from the saddle with a rope in her hand and began to swirl a lasso while looking for an opening. She’d have prayed as well, if she’d been the praying type.

William had no more patience for her circus skills than the collector’s histrionics. ‘Get out of it, girl. A little rope trick’s no use against that thing if bullets can’t kill it.’

In the background, the red-head was wailing about not killing his specimens. Nobody was paying any attention to that nonsense.

Polly had exhausted her own patience for explaining herself to men a lot of years ago. She had her eye on the croc, in any case, which was where all the smart people should have had their attention.

The great beast’s maw was momentarily closed, its head lifted out of the shallow creek water as its forward-looking eyes fixed on the nearest potential meal.

‘Watch your arse, Cade,’ said Polly gruffly. ‘Old Man Croc wants a bite.’

William danced out of the way with alacrity as the croc surged then subsided, resentful, and closed its jaws again, head raised for the next opportunity. Polly acted instantly, swirling and throwing her rope.

excerpt from “Derailed” by Narrelle M Harris, from Queer Weird West Tales

There is very much a weird element to the story too, but you’ll need to read it to find out what it is!

It’s wonderful to be sharing table of contents space with so many fantastic authors too! The contributors are Julie Bozza, J.A. Bryson, Dannye Chase, S.E. Denton, Miguel Flores, Adele Gardner, Roy Gray, KC Grifant, Peter Hackney, Bryn Hammond, Narrelle M Harris, Justin Warren Jackson, Toshiya Kamei, Catherine Lundoff, Bunny McFadden, Angus McIntyre, Atlin Merrick, Eleanor Musgrove, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Lauren Scharhag, Sara L. Uckelman, and Dawn Vogel.

Pre-order Queer Weird West Tales for its 31 August 2022 release from Smashwords, Kobo, iBooks, Amazon & other online booksellers.

New Song Release: Copper Beaches

Cover of Kitty and Cadaver

I’m delighted that the latest song from the Duo Ex Machina Song Project is now live and online!

Copper Beaches is a song about acknowledging how big and uncaring the universe is – and also how beautiful it is, and how we care for it, and love each other, despite loss and pain. It’s a song about defying nihilism and finding hope, and choosing those things.

The song is now up on all the usual music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Soundcloud. You can even buy a copy of your own through the Duo Ex Machina’s Ko-Fi account.

Otherwise, listen to it here on YouTube (and subscribe if you’d like to know when Duo Ex Machina releases its next song!)

I wrote most of the lyrics and main melody; it was refined and arranged by Josh King of Golden Hour Studios, and it features Melbourne singer Lalida, who also worked on the lyric and melody with us.

The Origins of the song

Copper Beaches – as you may tell from the name, which is a reference to the story The Copper Beeches – began life as a lyric for a Sherlock Holmes fanfiction.

I was ficcing as a writing exercise at the time, as I’d been having trouble with a novel at the time. I needed something fun to do, to free up my imagination and to play with different forms.

The prompt I responded to posed the idea that John had once been in a band, and Sherlock finds out. I created a backstory for John not supplied by the show, which included the early loss of his mother and how that tragedy had broken his family. His father and sister fell into drink. But John’s mother had taught him to play guitar, and he clung to music for solace. His father, unable t0 cope, became abusive. It was a pretty dark backstory.

After writing a few short stories based on the idea, I realised that I needed to write some of the angsty songs teenage John would have written for his band.

Copper Beaches was one of the songs I wrote. Within that Alternative Universe, he writes it at a turning point in his life. He’s full of grief and anger, but he has to make a choice whether he’ll become as self destructive as his remaining family, or do something more constructive with his life. In this song, he acknowledges that he is in an uncaring universe, but that the world remains beautiful and he still cares. (This is the point in the narrative in which he joins the army and studies medicine – leading him eventually to Sherlock Holmes and a new and meaningful life.)

Copper Beaches – now

I always like the melody and lyrics for this song, so I sent it to my producer, Josh King, to see what he thought. He loved it! His arrangement is gentler than how I originally heard it, and the bridge needed refinement – Josh and Lalida rewrote that together, capturing the spirit and heart of the song perfectly in a simpler and more evocative bridge than the one I wrote.

While the song was originally written for that previously mentions Sherlock Holmes fan, I snuck the title into my rock ‘n roll vampire adventure novel, Kitty and Cadaver. Actually, I ended up writing a large number of songs for that fanfic – it was a great opportunity to play with form and try my hand at different kind of writing. The songs in both Kitty and Cadaver and the Duo Ex Machina novellas owe their existance to those years experimenting with lyric writing in the Sherlock fandom.

What’s next?

Josh and I have plenty more songs to do together: lyrics from the Duo Ex Machina novellas; from Kitty and Cadaver (some of these have been produced and performed by Melbourne band Bronze) and even more Sherlock-inspired songs which haven’t yet been slipped into another book!

Subscribe to the Duo Ex Machina YouTube channel to keep up to date with new releases, or follow the band on Apple Music, Soundcloud, Amazon Music or Spotify.

Grounded – April ANZ and US price promotions!

In a world where wings give everyone the freedom to fly, an artist born wingless uses her art to show the winged world the wonder of the ground. But when she meets a recently injured police officer who finds himself grounded, they will both learn that there is more than one way to soar.

Australia and New Zealand

From 1 – 30 April 2022, Escape Publishing is offering – through all Australian and New Zealand online ebook retailers – the epub edition of Grounded at the special price of $2.99.

United States

From 18 April to 2 May 2022, Escape Publishing is offering – through all US online ebook retailers such as Kobo and Barnes and Noble– the epub edition of Grounded at the special price of US$1.99.

Reviews

Grounded is one of the best paranormal romances I’ve read. It is smart and sweet, with some fantastic worldbuilding and genuine warmth between the characters.

~Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Earl Grey Editing

Loved the storyline, characters, and the lovin! The themes of disability/accessibility were a welcome breath of fresh air

~ Stephanie Livingston-Bujold 

 A sweet, empowering tale of renewal.

~ D. Antonio, Amazon

About Grounded

In a world where flight is life, will two grounded people find other ways to fly?

When Benedick Sasaki’s wings are wounded in the line of duty, the former policeman doesn’t know if he has a place in a world where he can no longer fly.

Then he meets Clementine Torres, an artist born without wings and a vocal advocate for the flightless who has been subjected to recent hate mail and vandalism ahead of her new exhibition. As Clementine starts to teach Benedick new ways to appreciate the world on the ground, the threats against her art and possibly her life begin to escalate.

To survive, they will need to teach each other that not all beauty is in the air, and that both of them can soar without wings…

Aurealis Award nomination for Who Sleuthed It?

The crew at Clan Destine Press were thrilled to discover that Who Sleuthed It? has been nominated for an Aurealis Award under the “Best Anthology” category.

I’m excited too, with my story “Blood and Bone” within, keeping company with so many great stories!

Congratulations to all the marvellous nominees in this and all the other categories! You should take a look at all the nominees, because there are some guaranteed great reads listed! Some of the ones I’ve enjoyed include Eugen Bacon’s Danged Black Thing, The Gulp by Alan Baxter and the terrific Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Tales.

The Aurealis Awards will be announced later in the year (date to be announced).

Coming Soon: Queer Weird West Tales

The official cove

I’m delighted to share the news that I have a story in a new LIBRATiger anthology!

Frontiers have always attracted the Other – where they find that the Other is always already there. These 22 stories explore what happens when queer characters encounter weirdness on the edge of the worlds they know.

Queer Weird West Tales, ed. Julie Bozza

After releasing her moody, textured tale of the gunfight at the OK Corral, Writ in Blood – complete with queer protagonists and the devil – Julie decided there weren’t enough queer and weird stories about the wild frontier in her life, so she put out a call for submissions.

Her criteria:

Queer: At least one main character belongs to the LGBTQ+ spectrum, defined in whatever way seems natural to them.Weird: The story contains a speculative fiction element, drawing on fantasy, horror, or science fiction.West: The setting is the Old West – or the time and place of any other frontier.

For my story, “Derailed”, I decided to see what had happened to Polly Crewes, who was betrayed by the girl she loved in “Virgin Soil” (And Then… Volume 1). At the end of that story, the wizard protagonists, Lucius and Magnus, encouraged Polly to forgive Nettie in light of mitigating circumstances. Set in South Australia in 1866. 15 years after the events of “Virgin Soil”, we get to find out how the forgiving and forgetting is working out.

That’s the queer and the frontier parts managed. As for the weird? That would be telling. Let’s just say that Australia really doesn’t need another introduced species, especially this one.

Pre-orders

Queer Weird West Tales is due out on 31 August 2022 (as an ebook and in paperback) and is already available for pre-order through the Universal Book Link.

You can also add the eBook to your TBR list on Goodreads and to your library on Smashwords!

The Opposite of Life: A Patreon reprise

Draft cover for the new edition of The Opposite of Life. It’ll probably look nothing like this.

After I completed the serialisation of The She-Wolf of Baker Street on my Patreon, I came to an important realisation. Being super busy with multiple projects in 2022 meant I could not write a brand new novel to serialise there AT THE SAME TIME as everything else.

So, as I mentioned in early February, I’m bringing back my otherwise out of print Melbourne vampire novel, The Opposite of Life!

If you’ve never read this vampire novel set in contemporary Melbourne, it’s about Lissa, a librarian who is having a pretty rough time of her whole life, and Gary, the exceptionally uncool vampire she meets when she tries to find out who is murdering people around Melbourne. The impossible is obvious – surely vampires are killing these people? But Gary is investigating on behalf of the vampire community to find out who’s behind it. In the 21st century, the local fang gang can really do without the hassle of a police investigation.

A few review quotes, to whet your appetite:

This is a very rich text, in its atmosphere, its ingenious recasting of vampire myth, and its social and personal themes.

Kayla Lee Ward, Tabula Rasa

The Opposite of Life is a different sort of Urban Fantasy, and definitely an out-of-the-ordinary vampire tale. Maybe that’s why I like it so much.

The Literate Kitty

I gave up on vampire fiction long ago, but I think Ms Harris has restored my faith in the genre.

The Novelettes Book Reviews

If that sounds like a book for you, you can support me on Patreon at the lowest tier (US$3/month) for fortnightly instalments of the story)

If you’ve already read The Opposite of Life but would like to support my writing anyway (including a third novel in the Vampires of Melbourne series, to be written and posted after The Opposite of Life and then Walking Shadows have been serialised) at that same level, you’ll also get fortnightly posts containing sneak peeks of other writing, song lyrics, posts about my research and more.

There are also higher tiers where rewards include books, hand made jewellery and cards and even an opportunity to prompt an original short story.

Income from my Patreon helps to support me as a writer, to pay for cover art and editing on the Patreon books, and also to pay for the music production in the Duo Ex Machina song project!

Please come and check it out!

Follow the link to become one of my treasured Patrons!