About Us
We at Stone Raven Press are a small team of artists, scholars, and dreamers who believe in the power of Story to help us to escape our own limits, cross distant borders, and build new connections. We seek to publish psychologically genuine fantasy and speculative fiction that explores all things beautiful and devastating about the human experience, and to lift up the voices of authors often overlooked by traditional publishing houses.
Our Team
Larissa N. N. Davila, Publisher
Larissa N. N. Davila is an author, editor, licensed psychologist, and professor. Through the entwined realms of literature and psychology, she seeks to fire the imagination, spark understanding, and incite compassion. After long observing important stories dismissed by the Big Five because they couldn’t be neatly pegged into a marketing niche, Larissa founded Stone Raven Press to support exciting, thoughtful genre fiction with the potential to move the needle for societal change. In addition to her fantasy series, The Sky Seekers, Larissa writes non-fiction including Play in Clinical Practice (edited with Sandra Russ; Guilford), Handbook of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (Springer Nature), and Strengthening the Parent-Child Relationship in Therapy: Laying the Foundation for Healthy Development (American Psychological Association). Larissa spends her free time riding horses and herding cats.
Geoffrey McVey, Editor
Geoffrey McVey is an author, game designer, and retired academic. His interest in the representation of religions and mythologies in genre fiction led both to his upcoming novel, Ash of Silver, and to eight years of contributions to Scion (Onyx Path Publishing), a tabletop role-playing game of mythic heroes in a modern world. When not putting out the fires of writing deadlines, he lives in the suspiciously quiet land of Canada. Geoffrey has a Ph.D. in Religion from Syracuse University that he largely uses to remind authors that however unusual their approach to religion is in their stories, there is almost always a real-world precedent.
Kristen McDermott, Editor
Kristen McDermott is a staff reviewer and feature writer for Historical Novels Review, and is the co-author, with Ari Berk, of The Life and Times of William Shakespeare. (Candlewick/Templar 2010), which won the (UK) School Library Association’s 2011 Children’s Choice Award for Best Informational Book. A Professor of English Literature at Central Michigan University (and formerly Spelman College), she teaches Shakespeare, drama, and early English literature. She has also authored Masques of Difference: Four Court Masques by Ben Jonson, (Manchester University Press 2007), has written a series of general-readership articles on drama, fantasy literature, and folk traditions for Realms of Fantasy Magazine, and several biographical articles on Young Adult authors for The Dictionary of Literary Biography. Kris received her Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles. She believes that Shakespeare wrote his own plays, but that he probably got all his ideas from his cat.
Ari Warner, Artist
Ari Warner, born and raised in Northeast Ohio, graduated from the Pratt Institute in 2011 with a BFA in Communications Design. His illustration influences include Kenichi Hoshine, Ralph Stedman, and Maxfield Parrish. A multidisciplinary artist, he enjoys combining form and function and designing custom interior and exterior spaces. Since 2007, he has been illustrating for publishers of fantasy and speculative fiction. A proud resident of Cleveland, Ohio, Ari spends his free time caring for his garden, baking bread and pastries, and ignoring responsibilities to help friends with projects
H. R. Gordon (Hannah), Marketing and Publicity
H.R. Gordon is an author, editor, marketer, and professor. Stories are her greatest love. She has authored both children’s and adult works of fiction and nonfiction. Although she loves variety in her writing and reading, fantasy and speculative fiction remain at the top of her list. An alumna of St. Bonaventure University and the Denver Publishing Institute, she holds an M.A. in integrated marketing communications and a graduate certification in book publishing. Hannah is a passionate advocate for mental health awareness, LGBTQ+ issues, and black sheep everywhere. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, she can be found powerlifting, boxing, kayaking, hiking, cooking, and attending concerts. She lives in Buffalo, New York, with her partner Bryan, a three-legged German Shepard named Charley, and a curious Heeler puppy named Iggy.
Our Partners
At Stone Raven Press, we take pride in partnering with other independently owned small businesses to create beautiful books. Our partners include: