Setting the record straight regarding my former company

Hey y'all

You may have seen some recent stuff on my FB about the company I used to own.

Here's what I have to say. I am not now and have I ever been involved with Torquere Press LLC. I was co-owner of Torquere Press Inc. and I closed that business in Dec 2014. I made all of my final payments, and I turned over the rights to the TQ name to someone I thought I could trust. I was wrong.

This is not a family squabble. This is not about creating drama or can't we all just get along. This is about non-payment of an author for 70 days beyond the contracted period of 60 days past the end of the quarter. This is not about a check on which payment was stopped. This is about a check marked NSF. You cannot arbitrate criminal actions, and bouncing checks is a federal crime. This is not about "being reasonable". Stealing from an author is wrong, and while no, I am not the injured party, I am well aware of all of the facts of the situation, and I would feel absolutely remiss in not warning my fellow authors and the GLBT romance community I love so much to beware. This situation is reaching the levels of EC smoke blowing, and it kills me to see something I created take this kind of a hit.

While there is, completely by coincidence, a J Talbot still associated with Torquere Press LLC, that is not me. Talbot is the pseudonym I chose 15 years ago, and the current J Talbot at TQ is the victim of circumstance there. I have thought recently about changing my pseudonym for the sake of distance, but I have too much time and effort invested in my long career to make that kind of change now. However, there is no reason my legal name should in any way be associated with Torquere Press LLC.

Anyone who knows us from the old days of TQ knows we never took part in public drama, so to be accused of doing this out of spite is ridiculous. I will not be threatened into being quiet. I can't do it. I just can't. Pay your authors, publishers, and just avoid this problem.

Julia, aka Lorna