These are strange times, there’s no avoiding that idea, and like everyone else I am having to make changes to my life, my work and my expectations. Life is, of course, somewhat constrained at present though I am probably luckier than most in that I work from home and generally work alone so it’s not that different. The work itself though – now that is rather in a state of flux.

Just before this terrible sickness swept across the globe my publishers, Impress Books of Exeter, were taken over by a mixed imprint, Untold Publishing. Untold already had Aelurus Publishing, an e-book imprint focussing on fantasy and sci-fi. They also operate a series of services for self-publishing (though not the books themselves). Impress, with their diverse output, printed books and high production values, make up the third leg of this new company.

This sort of change can be rather nerve wracking for an author. Will the new publisher want to keep them on? What about contracts and terms – will they change? Will there be a gap where my books are reissued and if so how long? In the event the changes have proved to be small ones and generally for the better. There’s a shortage of print books, partly down to the closure of so many distributors, printers and physical book shops but one of the first things Untold did was to reformat and reissue the e-books for us. Not only are these now available for Amazon Kindle, they are now formatted for ibooks, kobo and Google books as well. And the print editions will return when we emerge from these strange times, blinking in the bright sunlight and shivering in the fresh air.

So, will there be any more “Alex Hastings” books? I think there might.
Watch this space – and the new Untold Publishing website for news. https://untoldpublishing.com/