Just wow!

Just when I thought I was actually going to give up on this publishing game lockdown happened (the first one, not the slightly inferior second one that made us all despise the C word even more!). It was during the lockdown that I continued to work huge hours to support the fight against the dreaded virus and in the odd rare moments of levity I had earned I would trawl through the seemingly endless array of agents and publishers, all looking to find the next Dickens (insert whoever you like, perhaps even Hastings!)

On the final day of reckoning I stumbled across a new company called Hobeck Books - the brainchild of Rebecca Collins and Adrian Hobart. I liked the look. They had a sense of fun, but also some real industry knowledge. And above all they'd signed up a well-known name in British actor Robert Daws (Yes that's him, been in almost everything - lovely smile, disarmingly witty and dare one say it more famous than me?!) and blow me down with a sneeze to the elbow if they weren't looking for new voices via their submissions.

I changed tack. Decided to adopt a whole new approach to the endless trials of submitting and being told "You really should be proud of your achievements Lewis....." when I knew that those people hadn't even read the submission.

Rather than waxing lyrical and trying desperately not to sound...desperate I just went for it.

This is me - people say I have something (treatable by the chemist I'm sure) - all I ask is that you take a look.

I knew Hobeck had taken more than a look when they simply replied (using a line from Seventh).... "Moth:Flame"

That I had made Rebecca's bath water go cold and had kept Adrian up all night (Permission to say oooer missus?) was reward enough. That they were as 'giddy with excitement' as I was, was the icing, no, the cherry on the icing on the cake.

What followed was an entire negotiation phase conducted over the internet - late nights, early mornings. It quickly became clear we were both in this for more than money, we both wanted our talents to be recognised among the good and the great and at times the awful that nowadays prevents a decent writer from being discovered. And when you have an island of excellence in a sea of despair it isn't easy to get that talent spotted.

Well, that was then, back in the dark and distant days of...July 2020.

And now, September 2020 I am PUBLISHED!!!!!! (How many !'s are suitable I wonder?)

Yes, Hobeck and I have literally got under the collective duvet and created a union like no other.

"Lewis's books are like a favourite malt whisky, the one where you throw away the cork and stay up all night until you have finished it...."

Bloody marvellous is all I can say!

To Rebecca, Adrian and the Hobeck family - Thank you. It means the world. Now, if you don't mind I've got a new novella to finish, the endless demands of a publisher already weighing heavy.....

Stay safe folks - please. Selfishly I'd like to be around long enough to write and for you to do the same, but read...

Lewis Hastings

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