We’ve Come a Long Way – But Apparently Not Long Enough

For those who write and read erotica, especially BDSM-themed, you know that lately there has been an escalation in what seems to be an attack on these works and authors by several sites (one in particular) , based on content THEY find offensive. The folks over at Pink Flamingo, one of my publishers, are very active fighting against this sort of thing, but sometimes it’s like beating your head against a brick wall. In any case, they’ve asked that I re-post this for them, and as they have put it so much better than I ever could, I’m happy to do so. And considering a couple of my titles, it’s likely I’m going to be banned in some of these places as well.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to add my own rant in at the moment (off to a friend’s daughter’s wedding – when did the kids grow up and we get old?), but rest assured, I will be back to speak about this again. In the meantime, please read what PF is dealing with and see the ways you can prevent being cut off from your favorite erotic books and authors.

A Request To Our Faithful Readers…

As some of you already know, we have had problems with major retailers banning our books. Pink Flamingo Publications has always strove to publish what our readers want. Some of those books include non-consensual or harder books that may have content that some people deem offensive. The major retailers, such as Amazon, Apple, and Google Books are now taking it upon themselves to determine what you find offensive. Even though our books are pure fiction, if they have non-con or even fantasies of non-consensual acts, they are being kicked off the websites. This is not just affecting Pink Flamingo, but other erotica publishers as well.

We understand that the retailers have made it quite easy on customers to get our books, especially with their 1-click buttons. But when they make our content harder to find, unless you’re a searching guru or they just take our books down, what will our customers or any erotica book lovers do?

Our request is simple. If you want to keep seeing the books that you love, from the authors you want to read, please buy the books directly from the publisher or from Indie Retailers. We have quite a few Indie Retailers that will be happy to help you find the books you want and need.

Our websites:
www.pinkflamingo.com
www.eroticbooknetwork.com
Indie Retailers:
http://a1adultebooks.com/
http://www.adultebookshop.com/
https://www.malloferotica.com/Home
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/
http://femdomcave.com/
https://www.smashwords.com/
Audio Retailer:
http://www.marsaudiobooks.co.uk/

Please spread the word. It is your right to pick what you want to read and what you find offensive.

The Latest and Greatest

Lots of news to share. First and  foremost, I can announce that my agreements with Noble Romance Publishing are terminated. I can’t say more, but it is over. Which I am glad for, as it’s been over a year since this mess started. It’s nice not to have the stress of that hanging over me anymore.

I also have some release news to share. Claimed by the Enchanter, the third in the Magiste Bayou Chronicles, will be out very soon. I don’t have links or anything yet, but I will be sharing as soon as it hits my hands. This book is the story of Regine Marchand and Cameron McIntyre. Reggie, as she calls herself, is a domme, and enjoys being in total control of every aspect in her life. Cameron is a dom as well, but he senses a submissive side to Reggie and wants to show her how pleasurable that can be. There are quite a few twists and turns in the story, as Reggie comes to learn many things about herself, and Cameron pushes her to her limits. At the same time, he helps her find out who really cursed her horse, putting her in danger. And as much as Reggie wants to resent Cameron, she finds herself falling for him, faster and deeper than she’d ever imagined.

Also on the horizon are releases for the revised and updated Magiste Bayou Chronicles. Both books, now called Claimed by the Devil and Claimed by the Mage, have been extensively re-edited and contain new content. I am very pleased with these updates and am looking forward to sharing them with you, along with the new covers.

I am also getting ready for the release of Warrior’s Wrath, though I’m not quite sure of the timeframe for that. Likely in the fall, though I’ll update as I get more news. (Update: I learned this morning that Warrior’s Wrath will be out in early 2014 Stay tuned for more details as we get closer) This is the story of Rowan Langley. He gets quite a rude awakening in the very beginning of the story, and when confronted with a slip of female thief, finds himself capable of things he’d never imagined before. It’s a good thing Aeron learns to crave Rowan’s torments.

With all of these books, keep an eye out here for more news and info, as well as giveaways and other fun sorts of things. I’ll be participating in a few events online and hopefully in person as well, in the coming months, and will share the details with you as I finalize them as well.

I will be at the NJRWA Put Your Heart in A Book Conference October 18-19, 2013, in Woodbridge NJ. I’ll be signing some of my books at the bookfair on the 19th. If you’re attending, or simply in the area, come find me.

On the homefront, I am still unemployed, and looking forward to school starting in a few weeks. While I’ve made significant progress and am closing in on the end for Warrior’s Possession, the third in the Warrior’s series, having the kids around during the day has made it difficult to maintain the pace I had going before the end of June. So I look forward to that. 

And now, I’m off to tend some household projects. One good thing about unemployment, is that slowly but surely, I will have the cleanest closets in town! 🙂

Counting Down

At the end of this month, I officially become unemployed. I’ve talked about it before, and while there are still some lingering mixed emotions, for the most part, I’m ready to be done and out of here. My employer extended my position for one more month before it transitions to California, so I could finish up fiscal year end programs and tasks. Unfortunately, IT never got the word, and they shut off my network account. I still can’t get back into many of the systems I need to complete the tasks I stayed on for. It’s been frustrating, but on the plus side, it’s given me a few weeks where I was able to work on and wrap up two of my manuscripts.

I got good news about one this morning- the third book in my Marchand BDSM romance series has been accepted by Sizzler Editions. Sadly, I still don’t have a title, but I have a few ideas (and if anyone has any suggestions, I’ll take them! lol) It’s an equestrian eventing set tale, which is why coming up with a title has been a bit tricky – horses, BDSM – wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea! 😀  I don’t have any further information yet, but will be sharing as I get it.

I also wrapped up Warrior’s Wrath and sent that off to Pink Flamingo, though now I’m in a bit of a panic because I think I left something out of a scene, but I’m not looking. I figure my editor will point it out if I did and since there’s nothing I can do about it at the moment, no use making myself sick over it unless I really have to.

I’ve also been spending the last several days revising The Night Club – my next vampire romance. This book has been in the works for a very long time. I first wrote it shortly after I finished The Taste of Magic, in 2003! Various events conspired to knock me out of the writing game for a bit – the unexpected pregnancy with my son and his infant and toddler years, specifically. Babies take a brutal toll on the creative juices. Thankfully, we’re done with those days.

In any case, when I got back to writing, I took a huge detour from that book and tried something new. Some of you know I tested myself by writing a very popular Harry Potter fan fiction (Dramione, anyone?). It got such a good response that the darn thing took on a life of its own and really helped my confidence (I will advise you don’t go looking for it, it’s been removed from all the sites where it once appeared).  From there, the Marchand series was born. One thing led to another, and I wrote Warrior’s Vengeance, which was another book I started back in my early days. Since my goals and genres changed drastically, I didn’t give the vampire book a second thought.

Until I re-released The Taste of Magic. It did very well, so I dusted off The Night Club and decided to revise it. Turns out, this baby needs a whole lot of re-writing. Not only was it written back when my voice was significantly different, there are a lot of issues with the writing in general. Too much passive voice, more telling than I’d prefer, and plotlines that go off in all sorts of directions. I’ve been deleting a lot of things, streamlining the plot and cutting down on the word count. It’s still over 90K at this point, but I suspect it’ll wrap up around 80-85K when all is said and done.

Once that’s complete, I’ll be starting my next series, which I talked about before – Vikings! I have plots for two books. The History Channel show has inspired me so much, and last week’s episode was particularly awesome! Hail Earl Ragnar!  lol  I’m inspired, motivated and excited to get started. And with the next several months of actually having time to write, I’m salivating waiting for May to come!