American Horror Story: Bestiality, Incest, Pedophilia...Huh?

American Horror Story: Bestiality, Incest, Pedophilia...Huh?

For the past couple of weeks I've been posting about my own experiences with censorship at retail web sites where e-books are sold like Amazon, Kobo, and Smashwords. These web sites started censoring self-published e-books thanks to an article in a questionable UK publication called The Kernel. The self-published e-books targeted allegedly contained topics like rape, incest, bestiality, pedophilia, and other topics most romance publishers will not publish. As a result, several web sites removed all self-pubbed titles to suss out the e-books with "taboo" topics. One web site even shut down. Amazon started clearing out their "taboo" topics through search engines, and e-books without the said "taboo" topics were removed for no reason, and without a viable explanation. And guess what I saw last night on American Horror Story: bestiality, incest, and pedophilia.

This article I'm linking to now discusses American Horror Story in an almost light-hearted way. If an author of erotic romance were to do this he/she would be slammed from one end of the Internet to the other.

Death, incest, bestiality, the gang's all here!

We're sure this is going to be a weekly occurence, but American Horror Story: Coven had its most insane outing yet on Oct. 23 with "The Replacements," which found Supreme witch Fiona (Jessica Lange) making her first big kill of the season in an attempt to protect her witchy throne. Plus, the recently-resurrected Kyle (Evan Peters) finally spoke and one of the girls got a little too close to the Minotaur monster for our comfort. Seriously, does anyone have brain soap?!

I did see the show last night and I just sat there watching it wondering how the fuck they can get away with all this on TV and authors like me who don't even go near "taboo" topics like that have been dealing with the worst brand of censorship since PayPal in 2012. I'm not judging American Horror Story and I'm not judging authors, publishers, or e-books that contain these "taboo" topics. However, I am questioning the actions of the large retail web sites where e-books are sold who made these recent mass sweeps of all books without taking into consideration that many of the books in question never violated one single guideline. I had a book removed from Amazon titled, "Internal Desires," and the reason why it was removed was because of words like "young" in the book description. And the characters in that book were all well over the legal age limit and it contained nothing that's considered "taboo." This week I had a book titled, "Young Doughy Joey," taken down at another web site for the same reason. It contained nothing "taboo."

So in their quest to censor the "taboo" topics all authors are now targets of retail web sites where e-books are sold, innocent words like young have become "taboo," and we've basically entered a police state where freedom of speech means nothing anymore.

And the most ironic thing of all is bestiality, incest, pedophilia, and other "taboo" topics are now being treated lightly on television and no one seems to find any fault in that at all. As I said, I'm not judging American Horror Story. They have every right to do what they want. But when I saw one scene where one character lifted her dress, crudely shoved her fingers between her legs, and invited some kind of half man half beast to have sex with her I cringed for several reasons. One, I cringed for the actress. She's not very good, and that scene seemed to diminish her even more. Two, I cringed because the producer of the show took advantage of a young woman's need for love and turned it into something disgusting with an animal. Three, because it took the character completely out of context. And four, because television shows like American Horror Story make millions of dollars and small self-published authors who don't write about bestiality, incest, and pedophilia, and who struggle to make ends meet just to pay for copy editors, can't even use words like young anymore without fearing their books will be censored by Amazon, Kobo, or Smashwords.

It will be interesting to see how this all turns out with e-books. And even more interesting to see what "taboo" topic Ryan Murphy will sensationalize and diminish next.

Photo of Mr. Murphy, here.

Lammie Guidelines Still No E-books Allowed; Kobo Refund From DOJ Settlement

I posted about the Lambda Awards recently, and now I'm linking to this year's submission guidelines, here. If you want your LGBT book to be considered, this is what you need to do.

Of course in the guidelines it stipulates no electronic submissions are permitted...no e-books will be eligible or even remotely considered for the Lambda Literary Awards. Just print books, as it's been done for the past twenty-five years, since Reagan was President and before there were HIV meds that kept people alive.

Books available in eBook format alone are not eligible.

So I won't be entering this year, once again. Though many of my LGBT novels are available in print on Amazon, I find it too time consuming and too costly to submit print books at this point in my life. I also find it interesting that while the world is embracing e-books and e-book sales are growing daily, the LLF absolutely refuses to acknowledge e-books for the Lambda Awards. Not to mention the fact that e-books have been offering so many new possibilities for LGBT authors that were not around twenty years ago when I started out in publishing.

I find it interesting as a reader, too, that e-books are not being considered for the Lambda Awards, because I haven't read a print book in three years, and I spend a lot of money reading LGBT e-books and supporting other LGBT authors. Maybe the LLF thinks e-books are a trend and will disappear eventually (Yeah, and cassettes might come back, too), maybe they think we'll go back to shopping at brick and mortar bookstores (not me), or maybe they think we'd be willing to part with our e-readers and go back to reading print books (ha!). But that's just conjecture on my part. I have no idea what they are thinking, nor do I care at this point in my life. I support anything LGBT and I'm posting the guidelines here for anyone who might be interested. For those who have submitted, I wish you the best and I hope you win.

An Important Message From Kobo:

I've been posting about the DOJ settlement with several major book publishers for a while now. There are too many links to bother with, so I'll just post this e-mail as an example. As a result of the DOJ settlement, Kobo informed me that I'm receiving a credit to my account. I've purchased a lot of e-books from them, many of which were from large publishers who were charging a lot for those e-books. I have no idea how much the credit will be, but it's nice to see something.

This is the e-mail I received from Kobo.

Dear Kobo Customer,

This notice is to inform you of a recent settlement by the State Attorneys General related to a lawsuit brought against publishers regarding eBook pricing. We are providing notice to our customers about your ability to receive a credit as a service to our customers. As a result of this settlement you are eligible for a partial credit based on select purchases from eBook publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin, MacMillan and Simon & Schuster that were purchased through Kobo. You do not need to do anything to receive your credit. It will be applied to your Kobo account automatically and you’ll receive another email letting you know when it’s available. If you prefer to receive your credit via a check please record your settlement ID: and click here to learn more. To read about your rights under the settlements or if you'd like more information on this settlement, click here or contact us. Thank you for being a Kobo customer.

The Kobo Team

Chase of a Lifetime Finally on Kobo.com

Chase of a Lifetime is finally up on Kobo.com. Don't ask me why, but it took weeks to get this approved and up for sale on Kobo. I would ask Tony every evening at dinner, "What's going on with Kobo and Chase," and he would say, "It's under review." As a side note, this has nothing to do with the fact that its erotic romance. It's their policy for all books...from what I can tell so far anyway.

With each web site where e-books are sold, we've found it's a different process. Amazon and Allromanceebooks, so far, have been the easiest to deal with. The fact that I love allromanceebooks for my own personal reading, makes me happy about this.

I thought it was important to get COAL up on Kobo with the rest of my published books. In my case, the sales aren't as good as other places, but I like knowing that people can buy it on Kobo because I'm also a huge Kobo fan and I have three Kobo e-readers now. I also have Kobo apps on my iPhone and tablet. I enjoy it just as much as Kindle.

Here's the link to Chase of a Lifetime on Kobo. I'm working on getting Jonah Sweet of Delancey Street up there, too. Chase of a Dream is still locked into the contract with the Amazon lender program and will be for a while. I love the idea of book lending and I wish they would allow us to do this on Amazon and still release the book in other places. I think readers would appreciate this.

Great Books Under $4.99 on Kobo.com

I post a lot about Amazon here, and that's partly because I have two full length novels on Amazon priced at .99. One is "An Officer and His Gentleman," published by Ravenous Romance and Alyson Publications in a collaboration...and the other is "Chase of a Lifetime," self-published recently by me, through Ryan Field Press.

But as a reader I have price points I set for myself. And anything under $4.99 usually attracts my attention.

I'm also a fan of Kobo, and buy many books from Kobo because I have two Kobo e-readers. I've also downloaded the Kobo app for my iPhone and I've read a few books on the phone as well. In other words: I love Kobo.

So when I received this newsletter from Kobo, for books priced under $4.99, I decided to share for those who might be so inclined. Some look really good, too. I don't think any of my books are priced that low on Kobo. But I'll be working on getting "Chase of a Lifetime" there very soon.

Here's a link to check out the sale.

(Edited to update: My Kobo books are $5.79)

Another Reason Why I Love My Kobo E-Reader...

This really isn't my bathroom (mine is nicer, with nicer towels and marble, and I'd rather wear white after labor day than put those bathroom rugs down around my commode). I swiped this on facebook. And I don't know who took the shot. But it would be hard to admit an e-reader doesn't beat this mess.

New From Kobo: Vox

I love Kobo anything. I have two Kobo e-readers, one backlit and the other e-ink, and have no complaints at all.

So when Kobo sent me the e-mail about their new Vox I figured posting about it would make me feel less guilty if I decide to buy one.

Check it out here.

Kobo Vox™ is an eReader and more!

Shop over 2.2 million books – 1 million free. Experience color books for all ages on the brilliant 7” screen. Take reading to a new level discussing books with other readers and sharing your Reading Life™ to Facebook®. Built for connected life, Kobo Vox offers Wi Fi, Web browsing, Facebook®, email, music, games, plus over 15,000 apps for Android™! More


ORDERS START SHIPPING OCTOBER 28, 2011.
You could WIN a Kobo eReader! Find out how >>
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Availability: In stock

Big News For Kobo...

As the readers of this blog know I love all things Kobo. I have two Kobo e-readers and I'm thinking about getting a third.

And now Kobo has partnered with two large book sellers, one in France and one in the UK. I'm not tech savy enough to understand the details. But I do know I'll have even more choices now when I'm shopping for books.

Here's a link to the WHSmith web site which will explain it better than I can.

Kobo, Big News, Now in Germany

I think this is big news. I have two Kobo e-readers, love them both, and order almost all my books through Kobo. And I like the Kobo Look Book so much, I just bought one for my mother (She's been reading on the iPad and wants just a plain e-reader.)

And now Kobo is launching a German e-reading store. Here's the link. All my books are on Kobo, and I hope they'll be part of this new German e-reading store. I've been published by a lot of German publishers over the years, and I still get a lot of e-mails from German readers.

Borders Out of the E-book Business...

Here's a customer care link to Borders that will explain everything.

From the Digital Reader:

Last week I reported about how Kobo and Borders had reorganized their partnership, and that it looked like Kobo were going to put their logo on the Borders ebookstore. Ithought they were doing this to buck up the investors and reassure everyone that Borders owe money to (collectively known as “the publishing industry”).

It looks like I was wrong. Kobo didn’t just put their logo on the site; they took over the Borders ebookstore completely. Borders are out of the ebook business.

If you try to buy an ebook from borders, you’ll get the pop-up window at right. Before you buy the ebook you’ll have to transfer your account to Kobo.

This is worse than I thought. It’s not a measure to prop up Borders; Kobo are planning ahead for the inevitable collapse.

If you’ve bought ebooks from Borders, I would go there now and move them over to Kobo. Do it now, before it’s too late.

Borders Files For Bankruptcy...But Don't Worry About Kobo!

Borders finally filed for Chapter 11. Here's the link from PW: Borders

I don't think anyone is majorly surprised by this. Actually, I don't think anyone would be majorly surprised at anything that happens within the publishing industry these days. It's changing daily, and unfortunately not enough people were smart enough to predict and plan for these changes. And this is one time I don't think we can blame it on the economy. This was a combination of greed, denial, arrogance, and absolute ignorance on so many levels it would be hard to point the finger in any direction.

However, Kobo claims they are financially secure and people who own Kobo e-readers are safe. Even though Borders has a small share in Kobo, it has nothing to do with how Kobo operates. If anything I can't help wondering whether or not Kobo will wind up helping Borders out of their financial problems, by restructuring the business toward more realistic goals and letting go of old traditions that haven't been getting them anywhere. Here's a great link that goes into more depth, with even more links.

And here's something I picked up at I Love My Kindle, which explains it in simple terms.

People with Kobo EBRs (E-Book Readers) would be okay. Kobo is a separate entity, although they have an association with Borders. I don’t think they’d be a part of any kind of liquidation. Kobo owners would lose a source of books for their devices, but that wouldn’t end the usefulness of the devices.

I love my Kobo and I'm not worried. My romance novels are still being sold at Borders.com as e-books, and I'm not worried about that either. On this link, I read, With the likelihood of fewer stores selling the Kobo e-reader (Borders and Walmart are the key retail locations for the Kobo e-reader), and the possibility of customers being spooked by buying e-books from a troubled retailer, the troubles at Borders definitely have the potential to impact Kobo. But I don't personally believe this because I see Kobo e-readers everywhere. I actually discovered mine at a local CVS Drugstore. In this case, it's a classic example of beware what you read in the internet because it's usually based on limited research.

In any event, Kobo is still the easiest e-reader to use on the market, it's still the most inexpensive, and it still has all the qualities people who aren't completely into e-reading desire. And like I said, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Kobo wound up as Border's biggest hit in the future. But then again, nothing in publishing would surprise me these days.

Borders is Having a Sale on Romance Books...

I'm getting a lot of e-mails now from Broders because I recently bought the Kobo e-reader. I've been downloading many of the free books they are offering so far.

But this sale looks interesting and I'm taking advantage of it myself:

Buy Four Select Romance Titles and Get a Fifth Free

Valid 1/25/2011 – 2/28/2011. Use promo code ROMB4G5 at checkout.