Two new books

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Two new short story collections have been added to the Leg Iron Books catalogue in the last few days. Mark Ellott’s ‘A Moment in Time’ and Ruth Bonner’s ‘Just Call Me Roob’.

Both were greatly assisted by the provision of cover art via the authors, which saves a lot of time and work at this end. There are still three more books due for completion and release, ideally before Christmas, and of course the Christmas anthology which is still open for submissions.

I think we might take the day off for Christmas. Well, maybe half a day…

Christmas 2020

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Well, we may or may not get a Christmas this year but we’re certainly going for a Christmas anthology.

Underdog Anthology 13 (yes, it’s unfortunate although perhaps appropriate how the numbers turned out but here we are) is now open for submissions until November 25th. Editing will begin in earnest just after that date because we have several books in progress at the moment, and the aim is for publication in the first week of December. Ideally, very early in that week. The postal service is likely to be overstretched this year since nobody can go to the shops and everything is being delivered, so we really can’t delay this one.

It’ll be a fast turnaround but we’re used to that now. The Christmas anthology is always hot on the heels of Halloween, but UA12, ‘Mask-Querade‘ made it out before the deadline so it’s a little easier this year.

Any Christmas theme, from the gentle to the horrific, is allowed for this book. Something for everyone, and if it’s lockdown-themed so much the better.

We look forward to reading your jolly, or maybe not so jolly, Christmas tales.

Anthology 12 now closed

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Well, the deadline for Anthology 12 has now closed. Anthology 13 (Christmas themed) will open officially in mid October, although it already has two stories submitted for it. Early submission is fine, but editing won’t start before the actual opening date.

Anthology 12 is on track for release around October 10th if all goes to plan (yes, I know, it’s 2020, whatever can go wrong undoubtedly will go wrong) and, as with every other anthology so far, we have another new author to introduce. Many of your old favourites are also in this one. The contents list and cover will appear on publication, best not risk jinxing it by giving anything away too soon. Especially in this hellish year!

Some stories are COVID themed, as you would expect, and all have at least a little bit of scariness about them. Plenty of choice for those Halloween evenings, wrapped up in bed, ignoring the scuffling of Underbed Monster and the scratchings on the window pane.

There are other books in the pipeline. Ideally they’ll all be out by Christmas.

But it’s 2020, so no promises.

News from the Presses

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The latest release from Leg Iron Books is a short story collection by Wandra Nomad, who is therefore now to be found under ‘authors’ rather than ‘anthology authors’. Wandra also has stories in Underdog Anthology 11, and in the forthcoming anthology for Halloween.

The Halloween anthology is still open for submissions until the end of September, if you have something Halloween themed to add to it.

Meanwhile we still have Gastradamus’s short story collection, another book of tales from Mark Ellott, another book from Wandra Nomad and of course the upcoming Underdog Anthology 12. There is much to do, against a backdrop of setbacks and lunacy that has become the hallmark of 2020.

We’ll get through this year. Eventually.

Anthology 12 open for submissions

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The Halloween Anthology is open for short story submissions until September 30th. No rush, we won’t be editing until the beginning of September because there are other books in the works.

If E. Townsend reads this, your story arrived safely and it’s a good one. However, your eMail rejects all attempts to reply to you directly. Could you get in touch on an alternative email?

*Edit* The author has now been in contact and the story is in. Three already, all of them good ones needing almost no editing. If this keeps up it’ll be the easiest anthology yet!

Halloween 2020

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Well, this should be interesting. Rampant disease, dystopian controls, rioting maniacs, exploding towns, murder hornets, near-miss asteroids, demon seeds… so much to choose from for the horror writer this year.

The short story call for Underdog Anthology 12 will begin in mid August and will run until the end of September. Stories will be paid, of course, we don’t expect you to work for free. As always, stories don’t have to be horrifying, they just have to be Halloween.

The lockdown continues in the UK so Underdog Anthologies are all still priced at 99 cents (US) or equivalent in your country. All single-author collections and novels are currently fixed at $2.99 so you’re not risking much by trying one – and every one of them is well worth that price.

Wandra Nomad’s ‘Tales of a Wanderer’ is nearing completion, Gastradamus’s book is up next and Mark Ellott has another in the works. Even with all the trials and tribulations of this fiery vindaloo anus of a year, we might have been slowed but we have not been stopped.

If you have a story for Halloween, write it down. You have just under two months to get it submission-ready.

Here we go…

Quarterly royalties

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It’s time for quarterly royalties to authors. Everyone has at least one sale this quarter although payments aren’t going to be great because all eBooks are still at the 99-cents lockdown price. Still, it has at least gained every author at least one new reader.

The lockdown price won’t last much longer. All the gatherings and protests are going to make lockdown pointless soon. So, grab a cheap book while you can!

Tales from Loch Doon

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This anthology has been subjected to so many delays, but it’s finally finished.

As with all other eBooks, as long as the lockdown lasts the price will be set to the minimum. They can only be made truly free by either giving Amazon an exclusive or by giving up copyright, neither of which we are prepared to even consider. Giving up copyright is not possible since copyright belongs to the authors, not to the publisher.

eBooks are also listed on Smashwords, and links to the Smashwords copies will be (gradually) added to each book’s page.

Well, time to work on the next one…

Price cut for Kindle books

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If you don’t have a Kindle device, you can download a free Kindle reader from Amazon for pretty much any platform. Advantages of eBooks include, of course, almost instant delivery but also, in this time of fear of each other, they don’t require anyone to come to your door with a physical package.

The UK, like many other countries, is in lockdown. People will need books to read but at the same time, many will be out of work and can’t afford normal prices. Therefore, Leg Iron Books has reduced the Kindle versions of all of the Underdog Anthologies to 99p. This will apply to the fortchoming 11th anthology too. We cannot make them free without giving Amazon an exclusive and we aren’t prepared to do that.

All Kindle versions of all books by H. K. Hillman and Romulus Crowe are also now 99p. This will continue for the duration of the lockdown. We will contact all remaining novel authors who have Kindle versions of their books to ask if they wish to participate in this. Updates will be forthcoming.

It is not possible to cut the prices of print books, unfortunately. Those already make only pennies per sale.

Okay, we won’t make any money worth making from this, but it’s still worth doing.

UPDATE: All Kindle books linked to on the site are now 99c/99p for the duration of the lockdown. Smashwords editions will follow suit in the next few days.