Narrelle M Harris writes crime, horror, fantasy, romance and erotica. Her 30+ novels and short stories have been published in Australia, US and the UK.
Her work includes vampire novels, erotic spy adventures, het and queer romance, fantasy, horror and crime fiction, traditional Holmesian mysteries, and Holmes/Watson romances.
1. Tell us about your recent publications/projects?
As always, I have a dozen projects on the go! The one I’m working on today is an anthology I’m editing – The Only One in the World is an anthology of Sherlock Holmes stories predicated on the notion of what Holmes and/or Watson would be like if they came from a completely different cultural background. Writers with a particular cultural background or expert historical knowledge were invited to contribute, so readers can look forward to Holmeses and Watsons from many backgrounds. Clan Destine Press aims to release the anthology towards the end of the year. I’m working with some fantastic writers from a range of backgrounds and I’m really excited by the work they’ve produced for me! Keep an eye out in the second half of the year for that.
Fiction-wise, I’m completing a queer crime/romance novella for my Patreon and have finished recently a paranormal queer romance/mystery, The Talbott and Burns Mysteries, which I’ll submit to a publisher in July, when they’re taking submissions again. After that’s all done, I’ll be getting onto the third of the Vampires of Melbourne series (begun ages ago with The Opposite of Life and Walking Shadows), and I’ve been talking with my publisher, Clan Destine Press, about re-releasing the first two (now that I have the rights back to TOoL) when the third is ready.
During lockdown, I also wrote various short stories, including a bunch that were responses to prompts on the Clan Destine Press and Improbable Press blogs – I may collect those for my Patreon followers in due course, and add a few more to make it juicier!
And finally, I’ve been looking at turning the lyrics from Kitty and Cadaver and from the Patreon series, Duo Ex Machina, into actual recordings. My niece Jess Harris has recorded a few of the Kitty songs with her band, Bronze. I’m currently raising funds via Ko-Fi to fund recording with a friend, Joshua King, to work on the Duo Ex Machina songs.
Actually, part of the fundraising for that is through selling book-inspired jewellery I’ve been making under the name Dangerous Charm – sales will go to the Record A Song funds!
So…. yeah. Never a dull moment!
2. What has been the best publishing experience of your career so far?
I’ve mostly had good experiences, but I was particularly thrilled with how Kitty and Cadaver finally came to fruition in 2019 and how that’s now expanded, with Bronze having recorded Rain Song from the book and they’ll have Down on their new album (its release was delayed due to the pandemic – we hope it’ll be out soon.) Jess and Pat (from Bronze) performed six of the songs unplugged at the book launch and people seem to like some of the Kitty-inspired jewellery I’ve made to – so it’s been a very creatively fulfilling project!
3. Which recent Australian/NZ work would you recommend to international fans interested in expanding their Antipodean spec fic knowledge?
I always and forever will recommend anything by Tansy Rayner Roberts, and her Castle Charming series as well as the Belladonne U. stories – both originally published via her Patreon – are wonderful. Textured, funny, dramatic, deep and hella good fun. How does she do it?! She has a superhero series that’s also an absolute cracker.
I’ve also been reading Alison Evans – their fantasy Euphoria Kids is charming as is their zombie book, Highway Bodies. Yes that’s right. A charming zombie book. Both books have diverse queer and non-binary characters surviving together in a challenging world.
I love Jason Franks’ work and his latest, Shadowmancy, is another of his works full of grit, playing with extreme notions of fantasy and horror, but always with a core of humanity and understanding how extremes affect that humanity.
If folks want a showbag of authors, I recommend War of the Worlds: Battleground Australia, which has some corking good stories in it!
Australian SF Snapshot Project 