Shadow of the Hidden by Kev Harrison Cover Reveal

Shadow of the Hidden by Kev Harrison

“It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s too late?”

From Kev Harrison, author of The Balance and Below, journey with Seb, Oz and Deniz across ancient North African cities as they seek to banish the Shadow of the Hidden.
Coming March 2024 from Brigids Gate Press

To celebrate the cover reveal of his debut novel Shadow of the Hidden, we welcome author Kev Harrison to Ginger Nuts of Horror to discuss how the cover was transformed from the initial concept to the final image with the artist Mustapha_design. Be sure to read tot he end to see the cover in all it’s glory.

When I sat down to consider what I wanted from the cover for Shadow of the Hidden, I was drawn back to the place where the story started, in 2011, when I was living in Anatolia, southern Turkey.

The area is incredibly beautiful. Nature abounds, with the many tourist zones only really eating small chunks out of the miles and miles of mountainous pine forests which run inland from the jagged coastline. A beautiful place to hiking, but an unforgiving one to get lost or become stranded. 

It’s here, in one of these small mountainous towns where the story begins. Where my real-life friend was ‘cursed’ by an old widow. He graciously let me use his experience as a jumping off point, but politely asked his name be kept out of it for superstitious reasons.

My friend became Seb’s friend, Oz. The ‘curse’ grew from something which might seem unusual to someone who already believes in such things into a life and death struggle that would take my characters on a harrowing adventure from Turkey across the Maghreb and back. All of it trying to outrun, outsmart and, eventually, put an end to the Shadow of the Hidden.

How, then, to sum this up in cover art?

As an author working in the Indie/Small Press area, I’m always keeping my eyes peeled for artists who might be able to lend their talents to bringing one of my books to life. One day, on Instagram, I happened upon this image:

I had just finished a draft of Shadow of the Hidden and the style, as well as the obvious Arabic influence struck me as perfect way to let people in on what this story was about. So, when it came to finally picking art for the book, I was delighted when the creative mind behind Mustapha_design agreed to produce a work for it. 

We went through several iterations and concepts, but settled on this wrap:

The backdrop is dark, the detail is maybe even hard to pick out at first, but it captures the rawness of that landscape so well, while it also offers small hints at what you will find in the book. Things, perhaps, that you might not even notice until after you’ve read it.

From there, we worked on typesetting and here, we can reveal the cover for my debut novel, Shadow of the Hidden. 

Listen for whispered curses on the breeze in late March of 2024.

Pre-order a copy here

About Kev Harrison

Kev Harrison is a writer of dark fiction and English language teacher from the UK, living and working in Lisbon, Portugal where he resides with his partner in crime Ana and their two cat overlords. He’s previously lived in various cities in the United Kingdom, as well as Turkey and Poland. His subterranean horror novella, Below, is out now from Brigids Gate Press, while his debut novella, The Balance, is also available through Lycan Valley Press. His short fiction collection, Paths Best Left Untrodden is available through Northern Republic. His debut novel, Shadow of the Hidden, arrives in March 2024 through Brigids Gate Press. His short fiction has been published in a variety of magazines, podcasts and anthologies and he is a staff writer for This is Horror.

www.kevharrisonfiction.com
https://bsky.app/profile/kevharrison.bsky.social

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