Pirate Web Sites

There is a discussion on Facebook about a site that is offering people's books for download free. We're not talking about older books that have been around and probably run through the bulk of their sales. Authors are finding their books that have just been released on these sites. No one is posting the site, I don't blame them, and I won't either. YOU know if you've been downloading books for free though.

This reminds me of when they started offering downloaded music and people thought they were "clever" because they were getting music free. This isn't right, folks. I know some of us have limited funds and books, even some ebooks, can be expensive, but taking a person's work for free is just plain theft. It's the same thing as me finding out you're not home and forgot to lock your front door, so I go in and clean out your refrigerator because I can. It's the same as your neighbor finding a way to tap into your cable or whatever and getting internet, phone and TV services free while you pay the bill.

If you want to read books and your money is seriously limited, there are things you can do:

1. Ask your local library to order the books.

2. Many authors give away free books all of the time.

   Enter their drawings or whatever they're doing.

3. Borrow books from friends you know who buy them.

4. Many of the book publishers and different groups have

   ways of helping you get some books. Ask them.

5. Join one of the many online groups and see if there is

   someone there who will share with you or give you some

   books free. That doesn't get the author a sale, but

   someone paid for the book at one point.

Please don't take free books from any site "just because you can." Most of these authors don't make that much money to begin with. Don't drive them out of the business just so you can put something over on someone.

Besides, it's just not fair.

The demise of Blue Feather and the role of small companies

I've been thinking for a while about what to say about the news that Blue Feather is closing.  I keep trying to straighten out the jumble of thoughts I'm having.

First, like everyone, I'm sad to hear about Blue Feather.  I talk to Emily Reed a lot and I know she's been struggling to keep the company going by herself while she dealt with children and a full time job and life in general.  I thought highly of Blue Feather before I ever met Em.  She focused on quality and not quantity, which appeals to me more and more.  She also published "different" authors.  By that I mean those that didn't always fit the cookie cutter mold.  I didn't care for every book the company put out, but I found them refreshing in their uniqueness.  How can you argue with a company that brought us Joan Opyr, Kieran York, Chris Paynter, Erica Lawson, Kelly Sinclair and others?  And I would defy anyone to find a mistake in a Blue Feather book.  Yes, this is a great loss indeed.

I don't think we give our "smaller" publishers enough credit.  It's almost funny talking about smaller publishers among small publishers.  Even Bella and BSB are small in comparison to mainstream companies, but our small presses are truly small. 

My sister Leigh and I toured the Bywater plant when we visited Marianne Martin recently.  It didn't take much.  We stepped from the house into the garage and there it was.  There is a little office with a copier and then the books are stockpiled in another section of the garage.  If you order a book from the Bywater site, you might not know it, but it's sent to you by Marianne Martin herself.  Yet, when I looked on the shelves, there was Joan Opyr, Bett Norris, Wynn Malone, Jill Malone, Georgia Beers and Marianne.  I suspect there are similar setups at Affinity, Bedazzled, Sapphire and the others.

In the rush to self-publishing, we need to give the really small presses more credit.  They usually can't hire full staffs.  They hire editors and cover artists by the job and when you email the company, you're just as likely to hear directly from the owner.  They don't have warehouses, secretaries or whatever.  They may use a distribution company, but that's about it.  Yet, many of the words I used about Blue Feather would also apply to these companies.  Bella and BSB turn out huge numbers of books now, but, with a few exceptions, they have a disturbing familiarity.  It's the really small companies that are taking a risk on some of the more daring writers.  For that reason alone, I hope we don't lose more of them.

Chris Paynter and Karen Badger have already announced they're going to self-publish.  Karen has a snappy logo for Badger-Bliss Books.  I hope they do well.  Catherine Wilson gave a wonderful presentation at the GCLS conference about how time encompassing this is if you really want to sell your books.

To the other authors, don't disappear on us.  There are companies that will probably come to you.  Find a place where you are comfortable.  Let us know what you're doing and keep the books coming.

Why you need to attend a GCLS conference if you read lesbian literature

In ancient times, it was common for tribes to split up their members and send them to live in different parts of the territory so that everyone would have plenty of resources to survive.  Once a year however, they would have a meeting of the tribe to reconnect with friends and family, celebrate accomplishments, perform important rituals and make decisions for the coming year.  It occurred to me today, as I began my journey home, that this is exactly what a Golden Crown Literary Society conference is about.  It is a coming together of a tribe.  We meet, we greet, we support, we laugh, we cry.  We hug, we argue and we tease each other.  Most importantly, we learn things about each other, the books and the components of putting them together.

 
I think this year's conference might be the best one ever.  I don't know if it was by planning or luck, but the sessions seemed to be very seriously planned and they provoked some very interesting discussions about the literature and where it is headed.  There were a lot of new people here and people who don't come very often.  I hope they're encouraged to keep coming after this conference.

The speeches by Ann Bannon (about what she went through to get published) and Lori Lake (about the history of the literature) were particularly effective and reached the crowd.  There was a powerful session where readers spoke out about what they wanted to see in the books.  I was very happy to see that a number of authors attended to hear what we had to say.  KG MacGregor facilitated a panel called "I Wish I'd Written That" that involved Georgia Beers, Katherine Forrest and Karin Kallmaker.  Salem West led a discussion about "Editors' Pet Peeves."  Excellent.

I attended the first half of a class by Lynn Ames and Sandra Moran on researching and writing historical fiction, then had to miss the second half to attend a session on character building given by Linda Kay Silva.  It's a shame they were against each other because every author could have benefited from them.  My sister attended the session about young adult literature offered by Andi Marquette and felt that it was very good.  I took notes on Katherine Forrest's Master Class about what has to be in a manuscript and there was a spirited discussion in the session on the role of tragedy in LGBT novels.  Catherine Wilson gave a commanding explanation how how to market your novel to the mainstream.  She had me convinced it could be done, if you're willing to invest the time.

Other sessions included writing freedom, how to write mysteries and horror stories, create cover art, researching complex issues in government, politics and law and many others.  There were also author chats and author readings.  There were things to engage a variety of people and, while a lot of serious discussion went on, there was plenty of laughter.  There was even a discussion about how to write about food, which I made a point to avoid.

After going through some shaky years, the GCLS seems to be on a firm footing and growing.  More importantly, it appears to be growing into the type of organization that I have advocated for over the years.  A number of the winners of this year's awards gave credit to members of the GCLS who mentored, beta read or edited for them.  They met at the conferences.  There are education programs being offered, online interview shows, and more and more books being nominated from companies and people not associated with the bigger publishers.  Now GCLS is going to make a push to add more diversity of all kinds to the membership.  We need to get those younger people involved.  GCLS can be meaningful for a lot of people.  My sister, who is the niece and sister of lesbians and the mother of a young gay man found Ann Bannon's speech especially meaningful.

GCLS is not cheap to attend.  There's the conference, room, food and other things to pay for, but the members didn't hesitate to dig into their pockets andto raise money to help support the programs and create scholarships.  A number of women attended because of the generosity of other women and even more will be able to do so next year.  It's not just a great learning experience, but where else can you get warm and strong hugs from so many women, many of whom are the authors you enjoy.  One young author said that, because of where she lives, she didn't think she'd ever been in a room with more than two or three lesbians at a time, so seeing 300 of them at once was a life changing experience.

The conference is in New Orleans next year during the last week of July.  That's the lower middle of the country, so most of us are within reach.  I feel pretty safe in saying that, once you attend a conference, you'll wonder why you didn't before.  Come and see if I'm right.

Above Reproach by Lynn Ames

Publisher:                   Phoenix Rising Press

Above Reproach is book two in the Mission Classified series by Lynn Ames.  It’s another action/suspense story that reintroduces the reader to Vaughn Elliott, one of the major characters in the first book Beyond Instinct.

Sedona Ramos works for a government agency and sees satellite images from Iraq that she wasn’t meant to see.  A nuclear facility that she helped to deactivate years before is showing activity again.  Sedona immediately becomes the target of a group that goes high in the US government and that wants to stop her from revealing what she’s seen, but she’s able to reach the president first.  That leads to Sedona making contact with retired agent Vaughn Elliott and a hand-picked team of super agents.  They are tasked by the president to go to Iraq to find out what is going on and are hunted by killers the whole way.  Sedona has a secret power though that will guide and protect them along the way.

For people who have read many of Lynn Ames’ books, this one is difficult to evaluate.  It’s certainly far better than her first books, but it doesn’t show the promise or ability of her recent work, especially Beyond Instinct.  The dialogue isn’t very good between the characters and there’s never really a feeling of suspense in the story.  The “bad guys” are supposed to be super-secret plotters who have tremendous resources available to them, but they are extremely inept at stopping the agents from achieving their goal.  Vaughn and her group have little real trouble confusing and evading their opponents and getting into Iraq.  The way they deal with the facility is probably meant to show their level of training, but it doesn’t create the suspense that a reader would expect.  The rate that a relationship develops between Sedona and Vaughn doesn’t match with the feelings they each express about past relationships, so their situation doesn’t feel “real.”  The story might have been stronger if the relationship had been left out.  Finally, there is a supernatural aspect to the story that, for those who don’t believe in that type of thing, can be very trying and contributes to the disjointed feeling of the book.

Above Reproach is not a poorly written book.  For someone who is looking for a quick read that is fairly entertaining, it will do fine.  For anyone who has read Ames’ recent books, it doesn’t quite come up to the ability she has shown recently; therefore, the book may be somewhat disappointing.  For fans of suspense novels, this one is tepid and there are others that demonstrate the genre better.    Those who are Ames fans and follow her work will read and enjoy this.  Those who are genre fans may want to find something else.

Keepers of the Cave by Gerri Hill

Publisher:                   Bella Books

Sometimes an author steps out of the box and writes a book that is different from her others.  This can be stimulating to creativity, but fans of the author may not appreciate what she does.  They’ve come to expect a certain type of book and they find something else disconcerting.  Gerri Hill did not follow her usual formula for Keepers of the Cave and there have been readers who have panned the book for that reason.  Different isn’t always bad though.  Give it a chance before passing judgment.

When a senator’s daughter disappears near Hoganville, Texas, FBI agents CJ Johnston and Paige Riley are assigned to go undercover to see if there is any connection between that case and others going back over fifty years.  CJ and Paige go to work at a correctional school near the town on what appears at first to be a useless mission.  It takes on a new dimension when they realize that the people in the town are just plain creepy.  They appear to be dominated in a cultish manner by the matriarch of the town, Mother Hogan, who is determined to block whatever the agents are trying to do.  As they poke around and make friends with a townswoman who teaches at the school, two things develop.   A sense of foreboding develops about the case and the women have to deal with a growing attraction between them.  Eventually they find themselves in a death race against an element that is the key to everything.

This may be one of the best books Gerri Hill has written.  It tells a fully comprehendible, if bizarre, story while making the readers think at the same time. The characters are fully drawn and complex.  The secondary characters are the ones that provide the real meat of the book.  Mother Hogan, as despicable as she is, is also fascinating as a study in extremism and of someone who will do whatever is necessary to achieve her ends.  The complete obedience shown to her by the rest of the town sets the unique atmosphere of the book.  CJ and Paige provide the romance in the book and the introduction to Hoganville, but they are pretty standard characters.  They are obviously there to satisfy Hill’s romance readers.  It’s the rest of the book that is an unusual type of story for Hill, which is probably why some of her usual readers have reacted poorly to it.

The writing in Keepers of the Cave is tight and well-paced.  There is a supernatural aspect to the story that could be expanded or at least better explained, but this is a page turner.  The story stays interesting from beginning to end and a reader can’t ask for much better than that.  If you’re looking for a regular Gerri Hill romance, this isn’t it.  Hill may be trying her hand at something new.  If that’s true, she should be encouraged.  Any writer should be applauded for expanding her abilities, especially if she does a good job of it.  In this case, Hill did.

Give Keepers of the Cave a chance.  If you approach it knowing what to expect, you shouldn’t be disappointed.

Rebellion in Ulster by Angela Koenig

Publisher:                   Blue Feather Books

To those who say lesbian novels don’t deal with serious or topical issues, that they don’t present sophisticated or well developed characters or plots, that they’re basically erotica disguised as romances, the answer is, sure, some of them are.  The answer is also that, if you want something different, you’re not reading the right books.

Rebellion in Ulster by Angela Koenig is a very intense book from a different perspective.  Jeri O’Donnell is a Rhodes Scholar from the US who decides to use her time in Britain to meet her extended family in Ireland.  Unfortunately, Jeri’s cousin Fiona is a gun runner for the Provisional IRA and uses Jeri’s rental car for her work.  A shoot out with British soldiers ends with Fiona dead and Jeri in the infamous Armagh Women’s Prison.  While there Jeri transforms from an American who understands very little of “The Troubles” between Britain and Ireland into a loyal soldier for the IRA.

What is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter?  The answer usually depends on which side of an issue you stand on.  Koenig presents this story with a slight bias for the Irish, but there is some sympathy for the British standpoint also.  Jeri feels she owes her life to the Irish cause as a replacement for Fiona and she becomes an expert at what she does - killing, gun running and bombing.  Occasionally however she wonders if she is doing the right thing.  As the book progresses the reader is able to see her internal struggle with what she believes and what she questions.  Along the way she meets a host of friends and lovers who shape the person she becomes and a crisis at the end will force her to make an important evaluation of her life.

Rebellion in Ulster is about a lesbian, but not lesbianism.  Jeri could just have easily been straight.  That might turn some readers away from the book, but it shouldn’t because it’s a very strong story with a complex and interesting central character.  There is also a bonus to this book, unlike anything this reviewer has experienced.  Holding the book provides a sensual experience not usual with a paperback cover.  It almost feels like suede.  Holding that book awakens your fingertips before the words reach your eyes.  It's not only a good story, but will remind you of why you like to hold a book in your hands.

The Midas Conspiracy by Jennifer McCormick

Publisher:                   Blue Feather Books

Cybil Reynard is a mercenary who can be hired for just about any job if the sum is right.  Her latest assignment is to track down two agents of the Valori race and retrieve information they have stolen from Midas Pharmaceuticals.  The Valori are humanoids that many already distrust, so Cybil has no hesitation about killing the agents if that is necessary; however, she begins to have doubts when she encounters Leara Sorani and her bodyguard Kitani.  They defy practically everything Cybil has been told about the Valori and their mission turns out to be noble.  Midas is developing a vaccine that will eliminate all races except those originating on Earth.  Instead of being enemies, Cybil, Leara and Kitani find themselves in an uneasy alliance to save the universe, an alliance where neither side really trusts each other.  Things don’t get any easier when they find themselves involved with Cipher, a type of intergalactic peace keeping group of fearsome warriors, and its mysterious leader Enigma.

This is an outstanding first novel for Jennifer McCormick.  The story is very reminiscent of what appears on television or in the movies, but she handles the genre of science fiction with great ability creating races, planets and technology that seem realistic.  The characters are appealing and lead the reader to care about what happens to them, even when they don’t behave very well.  The one true villain comes with a wicked twist to the story that is totally unexpected.  It keeps the story fresh when it might have become routine.  The only “weakness” is in the Valoir.  McCormick mentions several times that they don’t have an assigned gender.  It’s a race that can be male or female and they alter the roles during their lifetimes.  The characters she presents come on strongly as “female” though.  A few more “male” traits needed to be included to sell the description.  The story moves at a good pace though and provides enough drama to keep the interest high.

The Midas Conspiracy begs for a sequel.  It isn’t necessary for the story, but the reader will probably want to find out what happens to Cybil and Leara.  Even readers who don’t normally enjoy science fiction will probably find this book very enjoyable.  It’s worth giving a try.