Monday, February 27, 2012

Censorship and PayPal

I’ve been blogging the last few days – under my real name – regarding the recent PayPal censorship of Smashwords and various eBook distributors and indie publishers.

It amazes me the number of bloggers that dismiss the banned topics as trash - not worthy of concern. None seems to consider for a moment that the banned topics are found in countless novels – by noted and respected authors.

I recall reading Ann Rice’s Sleeping Beauty trilogy a number of years ago. Those books would defiantly be on the naughty list.

Yet even Lessons, which is mainstream romance, with some steamy scenes, might find itself banned, if one rigidly applied PayPal’s rules.

Lessons touches on various moments of Alexander’s life – including when the teenage Alex allowed a boyfriend to get into her pants the first time– and when her eventual husband got to second base, when she was still in high school.

Anyone with a lick of common sense would read the story and realize the intimate scenes between her and her boyfriend were included not for titillation purposes, but as an element of plot development.

The problem - does Paypal have a lick of sense? And if someone who didn’t like me for some reason notified the powers that be that Lessons included underage sex (okay, they didn’t go all the way) – would I get banned and tainted with the nasty brush?

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Book Reviews

It is always exciting to get a review from a reader, especially when that person isn’t a personal friend, relative, or mutual friend of someone I know. When a total stranger takes the time to write a review – and the review is positive, it is a great feeling.

Over on Smashwords a reader identified as Tony Spencer wrote about Lessons: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the main and subsidiary characters well drawn and interesting. True lives can be quite messy and so this story felt very real. definitely worth taking the time to read the free preview and could be very rewarding if, like me, you are drawn in to read the rest. I will keep an eye out for other works by this author.

Thank you Tony Spencer. You made my day. :)