Torquere still isn't closed

why is that?

So, not long ago, Torquere announced to their authors list, at least, that they were closing.

All of the authors who have gone unpaid and unanswered cheered. Yay! They're doing the right thing and reverting rights.

Except they're not.

Two days ago, Kristi sent this to Torquere authors.

"We are having to change internet carriers and are without from last night until 12/27 when they can come hook it up. I can not check the TP email or use my Mac until then. I have access to my gmail and my phone during this time."

Now. I know Ms. Boulware-Talbot. She worked for me for 3 years before she took over TQ. She's had her TQ emails on her phone for all those 5 years. So even if this mysterious outage is real, why can't she answer emails.

I'm baffled, y'all. I understand wanting the weekend off, but be honest and say I'm not working from Friday to Monday. I know maybe 5 authors who actually got their reversion letters.

Why are the sales channels still up? Why is the site still up? Where is the public announcement?

More smoke and mirrors and more bullshit.

Julia

How not to close a publishing business (Torquere Press LLC)

So, in an email to their author list dated Dec 13, 2016, Torquere Press LLC announced they were beginning the process of closing.

Here's where they announce their main point:

While we realize this announcement may not be totally unexpected to some of you I’m sure many of you will have questions. Please be patient with us as we will take some time in getting all of the hundreds of rights reversions together. The process of us wrapping up Torquere will take at minimum 90 days if not longer.

Right. Now, see, I can totally understand taking time to make sure all rights are reverted correctly.

What I can't understand is leaving sales venues up for that time. Make a public announcement so readers can download any files they've bought, give people 3 or 4 days, then shut down the website and distributor site accounts instead of stealing yet more money from your authors.

The only nod at all to the fact that they have not paid anyone since June 2016, and that was for (4th qtr distributor sales and 1st qtr TQ sales-- I did not get paid for that 2K statement thanks) was this paragraph:

We are very saddened that we have to end things this way, but we believe it is for the best for everyone involved. We will continue to support each of you in any way we can when it comes to self publication questions, or even helping you find a good new home for your current and future books if we are able. We are still looking at options on how to get everyone paid and caught up and appreciate your patience while we are dealing with this matter.

You see how they did that? We're keeping your books hostage while we slowly take down the sales areas, but we have no plan in place to pay you the 10s of 1000s of dollars you already earned and we didn't pay! But here's the kicker.

We have done everything we could to turn things around but with the saturation in the industry, the financial hardships we are in, my health in constant decline along with the negativity we have had hurdled our way. We feel like we are currently fighting an uphill battle. We have so many happy memories and will hold on to those as we make our choices for our futures in this industry. It has truly been an honor and privilege to work with each of you.

IOW, we love y'all for making us money, but it's your fault that we failed. Uh, hello! If they hadn't stolen thousands, no negativity would have come their way. No one wants to be a victim of theft. But I'll be damned if I won't expose a thief when I'm faced with one.

So again, I urge the owners, Kristi and Joanna, to do the right thing. Announce to your readers, distributors and creditors that you're closing. Give people 3 days to download any files. Turn off your payment gateway. Close accounts at Amazon and other distributors as those books will remain in people's libraries even when you take the books down. Once you are no longer making illegal money off people, you can send reversion letters over a reasonable period of time. You're done. Stop punishing authors for your mistakes.

Julia

writer beware blog re Torquere

Just parking this link here http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2016/12/small-press-storm-warnings-torquere.html

An open letter to Torquere Press LLC

Dear Ms. Boulware-Talbot and Ms. Talbot,

I would like to speak out on behalf of all of the unpaid and unanswered authors of Torquere Press LLC. You may say I am no longer a Torquere author, but as long as you owe me and my wife the nearly 4K combined you owe us, I am an unsatisfied author of your company.

Therefore, I take it on myself to speak for all the authors who have not been paid, some since 3rd qtr 2015, most since June 2016. I speak out for the author you still owe $18600.00 not including the 10K you paid for a bounced check, which also has not been received. I speak out for the author you owe $35.00 for an anthology story. I'm calling you out for all the authors who have requested payment, rights reversions, or just a simple update and have remained unanswered.

I'm also writing on behalf of your staff, some of whom I hired when I was the owner of Torquere Press Inc, and therefore I feel responsible for. Those staff who worked for you for free for too long while you made promises you didn't keep, then threw them under the bus by telling the authors you paid the staff rather than author royalties. Which is not true.

So, here's my challenge to you both.

Own up to your shit. Give the authors a reversion letter. Even if you do it the cowardly way like Ellora's Cave and put it up publicly for all the authors to grab. Then close the business. Stop stealing. Stop sitting on your butts and making income off the authors you refuse to answer. Clean out your emails and give people their books back. The money is gone. We get it. While it would be a decent thing to do to pay us, you're not going to. But this is people's lives. It's their copyright, their property.

Give it back. Answer for yourself, and for once, do the right thing.

Take down the websites and the distributor accounts and stop acting like you can just walk away. You can't, and doing the right thing now might stop some of the legal actions said authors and staff are already in the act of starting.

Sincerely,

Julia Talbot

How Torquere continues to implode, or, "Good Lord and Butter"

So, here's the latest update from Torquere:

"Sales we (sic) lower from distributors end of October than September. We are paying the editors their invoices from the books that have released. We are not ignoring the fact that we are behind on royalties and we are trying our very best to get things above water."*

Now, let's break this down, shall we?

Item the first. What does it matter to the authors who are owed money what kind of sales in there were September and October 2016? There are authors who are owed money from as early as 3rd Qtr 2015. In the thousands. The money all Amazon vendors received on Oct 29 was for August 2016. TQ still hasn't paid any author that I know of for April, May and June of 2016, and now they're using August money to pay editors rather than putting it away to pay authors? 3rd qtr 2016 royalties are due out no later than Nov 30. Do we think anyone will get paid? No, because by Torquere's own admission the money is gone!

Item second. They're not ignoring that they're behind. Except they are. By the accounts of at least 20-25 authors I've seen on social media, they've stopped answering emails. They're not giving rights back, even though they said in a public update they would. At least when they were issuing reversions they were better than other failing pubs, but now they're playing the we keep your books and your money game just like the rest.

Finally and, I think, more importantly, they're paying their editors with the recent payment from Amazon.

Goggles.

Yes, editors need to get paid for work done. However, as an LLC, it is the owner's responsibility to do that with her own money if paying the authors what they have earned ends up leaving her upside down. The onus is not on the authors to pay the businesses' bills. By contracts that the owners of TQ signed, the money earned by authors is to be paid to them no later than 60-65 days (and in some cases 30 days) after the end of the quarter. That 30-40 percent (with many at 35-45) should NEVER HAVE BEEN USED FOR ANYTHING ELSE.

So. Where is the money? Low sales are not to blame, because regardless of how much or little an author made, they should get paid. I know maybe 5 authors who are owed upwards of 50K all told. That doesn't count the other 100 or more authors and what they're owed for 2nd and 3rd qtr 2016. It's time for all TQ authors to stand up and demand to know where all that money went. Speak out. This needs to be stopped.

* I did remove a few more personal remarks from the email to be as fair as I can.

XXOO

Julia

Terrible Trick

Hey y'all

What an awful trick. I had planned a great Halloween blog for yesterday but I got sidetracked, and I feel shady writing it today and posting it backdated...

Also I feel very grumpy today. I keep trying to honor All Saints Day and live today kindly and with a little humbleness. Instead I'm dwelling on stuff that's not worth my time, because I loathe people who make vague threats against people I love. Even when those threats are empty and meaningless, it makes me mad. So have some good thoughts for me, and send your leftover Halloween candy.

Happy Birthday to my great nephew Boo, who is 5 today, and was a Ghostbuster for Halloween. You make my day, baby boy.

Hugs, y'all

XXOO

Julia

Fall Leaves and Adult Hot Chocolate

The leaves are just starting to turn here in Albuquerque because it's been a warm fall. They cottonwoods all along the acequias and the bosque turn a bright yellow, cutting a swath across the whole Rio Grande valley. We live up on the mesa, and we get to look down on the amazing sight every time we drive down into town.

As the nights get cooler, we love to it out on the front porch or out back by the firepit and have a hot chocolate.

The best hot chocolate is an adult hot chocolate. We've had a lot of variations on this theme, with Kahlua or Baileys or something in it. The best one we've found so far is to get a really good dark chocolate mix and add whipped cream vodka. Oh, y'all, it's fall heaven. Who needs pumpkin spice?

We also bought salted caramel Bailey's to try. We'll report on that as we try!

XXOO

Julia

re-release: In the Hearts of Tigers with Sean Michael

At All Romance Ebooks

Or at Amazon

Previously published in the Shifting Anthology

XXOO

Julia

Dusts off blog

Been avoiding blogging again because of the mess with Torquere, still unresolved.

Too damned bad, Julia. Get up and pull up your socks!

Hugs all the good people out there

XXOO

Julia

blaming authors for publisher failure part 2

Two separate publishers in less than a week, y'all. Two. Both owe me money. One in the thousands. One I have no idea because they never sent statements, but even if I go with the lowest amount they paid me monthly, I guess around the 500.00 range or more. And both have blamed authors for their business issues.

Now, think on this. That 2.5K is my 35-40% net. That means they made twice that as a publisher on my sales alone.

Publisher 1:

"We are just as stressed as [sic] when you aren't making money we aren't either. We have none coming in personally either. We haven't had a paycheck either."

Publisher 2:

We're not swindling money from anyone.For God’s sake, we wouldn’t be closing to begin with if their titles were making money!

Both of them seem to forget a major point. Regardless of their personal or professional debt, THEY HAVE TO PAY ME FOR ANY SALES I MADE! This is not a charity. They signed a contract saying they would pay me and then took my money. Period. There is no excuse or plea for patience that makes up for that, and yes, it is a swindle. No doubt about it.

Don't lie. Don't make excuses. Pay us what you owe.

NO xxoo

Julia

How publishing works redux, or pay your damned authors

So many things to talk on today. Let me gather my thoughts.

Ooohhhhhm

Okay, first I want to talk about the EC-like complaining the owners of Torquere are doing. On Twitter, one says: Cont)but I am pretty fed up.I am done playing nice and trying to pacify people.Things are what they are and ARE being resolved.That is all.

The other says: When people are putting all they have in to try & fix things attacking them doesn't inspire a desire to work harder. Just a thought to keep.

Once again, blaming the authors for their failing. You can't misappropriate thousands of dollars of authors' money, not pay the for books you have a contract to pay them on, and then expect them to believe you when you say things are being resolved.

This is not OUR fault as Torquere authors. We wrote books, promoted them, and helped sell them. Kristi and Joanna then took that money, and spent it. There's no, "Oops, I tripped and lost 20K". There's no overhead that should ever spend the money of a press' authors. This was someone taking the money and spending it, and then not being able to figure out what to do when it suddenly caught up with them because authors began to wise up.

In an update to the author list this weekend, the owners said the payment they were about to receive from Amazon was disconcertingly low. Really? That payment is for July 2016, and has been posted in Amazon since the 15th of August in report form. If you're really trying to make things work, make things right, you should be on top of the incoming revenue as soon as you have access to the information. You should also be putting that money aside to pay the quarter it is actually earned in, not to try to pay off debts you owe from third qtr 2015 onward. That's right. At least one author hasn't received a full payment for anything since 2nd qtr 2015. That's April May and June, 2015. On the Torquere site sales. That qtr paid for Jan-March 2015 on distributors.

Asking for payments and demanding rights reversions for breach of contract are not attacks. They are sound business decisions from authors who have been treated at best unfairly, and at worst criminally.

Pay your authors. Then you don't have to deal with all that nasty hand holding and pacifying people who earned money they will never see.

Julia

Update to the TQ debacle

No payment, no emails to tell anyone what's going on, lots of authors saying they're getting no answer while one of the owners bitches on Twitter about having to pacify those pesky damned authors.

Blaming authors for Publishing Failure

Or, how fast can Torquere Press LLC turn into EC?

Pretty fast.

In a statement issued to authors today, owners of Torquere Press LLC Kristi Boulware and Joanna Talbot admit to having financial problems and basically tell the whole of their authors they're not getting paid unless a loan can be procured. Not only that, they blame the authors who pulled their books between January and April 2016 for this failure, saying those authors leaving TQ caused them to not have enough money to pay overhead.

Pardon me? This is not how publishing works.

The simple equation of ebook publishing is this:

An author writes a book. The publisher edits it and puts a cover on it. The publisher lists it on their site and on distributor sites. Sales happen. The publisher promises to pay a % of sales to the author. This is a contractual obligation, not a gift or charitable act. The author has earned this money based on their hard work writing and promoting the book and on their talent. Payment must happen no matter how many or few sales are made. The publisher is supposed to put whatever percentage the author has earned into an escrow account until it's time to pay and only use the publisher's percentage to pay overhead and salaries.

End of story.

Now, unfortunately, due to the delayed nature of distributor payments, many times publishers don't realize they're in trouble until they have a bad quarter and end up not having enough of their money to pay bills or salaries or for that vacation they took, and they "borrow" from next quarter's author money. This is called robbing Peter to pay Paul. If the publisher is lucky, they have a good quarter next time, or their spouse has a day job, or whatever. They can pay the money back and get back on track. That's sadly not the case here.

Here's a timeline for everyone who thinks this is all brand new.

3rd qtr payments for 2015 were due no later than November 30, 2015. At least 3 authors, including TQ's bestselling author of all time, were not paid. Despite repeated email requests for information, two of these authors got no reply until they caught up with the owners on FB. One was paid via Paypal on the last day of December 2015. One finally received a check on Dec 31. 2 weeks later in January 2016, that check bounced for NSF. That was what was marked on the check. Not stop payment. NSF. Despite repeated requests for payment, the author with the bounced check was forced to turn in the owner for check fraud in late February for nearly 10K. Due to this issue, that author pulled her titles. Since mine and my wife's payment was late per the contract, we also pulled our titles because as former publishers and authors who went through the EC collapse, we could see what was happening. That was at the end of January.

The next round of payment owed were for 4th qtr 2015, payable no later than the end of February. I received my payment March 29. 1st qtr 2016 payments were due no later than May 31. I have not received it, despite a statement balance of $1558.41.

Most authors who were paid for that qtr report being paid June 30. 30 days late.

Other authors who were not paid, or who were again paid late, finally pulled their books.

2nd qtr 2016 was due no later than Sept 3rd, even by the newer contract term of 65 days past the end of the quarter. It has not been paid to anyone to my knowledge and now the letter has been issued that overhead takes priority over author payments and that up until "a few months ago" owners were still drawing salaries, which should have been the first thing to go once a check was bounced.

So I ask this. Where is the money? By statements alone, some 30K is owed to a handful of authors who have been repeatedly stiffed. That is 1/3 of what Torquere received in actual sales for THOSE authors alone. So where did all that money go? Why was author money being spent in the first place, no matter how bad the business was being mismanaged?

My advice to all Torquere authors is this: she offered your rights back. Write today and get them. NOW. Run. Write RWA and report non-payment. Write Writer Beware and report non-payment. Go public. This is theft, and it's unacceptable to ever blame authors, distributors, or advertising contracts for author money being spent on anything other than royalties.

XXOO

Julia

Trying to get back in the groove after the Bad Things

I've never been one for writer's block. I can usually plug away, even through life's crises. Some days I might only get 100 words, some days 5K. But usually I get words.

This last month or so, though, every word is a struggle. It's not a lack of ideas or inspiration. I'm just so TIRED.

We've had medical struggles. Both of us. I usually talk more about the wife, but I have a chronic injury condition of the feet where bones break randomly, and have been in a boot for 10 weeks. Again. I hurt all the time.

Then you add in the stress of not being able to pay bills because publishers are not paying. EC has not paid me since December 2015. I only have one book left with them and hope to get it back in November, but come on! The books were still selling well when they stopped paying. They owe me, no doubt, at least a few hundred bucks. Then there's TQ who, at this writing have not paid me for the wife for 1st or 2nd qtr 2016. This is all they would ever have to pay us as we pulled our books. If they would just PAY us. At this point they owe me and BA a combined $3000.00 and the news is not good. Even the authors who defended them when they went 30 days past the payment deadline for 1st quarter are now wondering why 2nd qtr payments are almost week past due. Where's the money? I mean, she had to stop using my money and BA's and Sean Michael's to pay everyone else because we pulled our books... so now who gets the shaft?

Worrying this to death and just trying to muddle through the day has made it tough to write. I think I need cheerleaders. LOL. Anyone who wants to volunteer?

On the good side, Grizzly List 3 will be in at the publisher this week! I hope for a January release.

XXOO. I do love y'all. Thanks for hanging with me.

Julia

All the Books! A Guest Post from BA Tortuga

Hey, y'all!

BA Tortuga here, taking over the wife's blog.

Did y'all know I have all the books out these last few weeks?

I do. I have a lot. So I want to tell you all about them. Come sit close. We'll have coffee and I'll give you the short and dirty list.

I have Mr. Unlucky at Totally Bound.

Addie is a photographer with a past she wants to forget. Bodie is the unluckiest man in love who ever existed. Can they get their shit together?

Buy Link

See what I mean about quick and dirty?

Reclamation 2 is out at Changeling! No Time to Lie

Marshall and Ben believe their mate, Jakob, has been killed. When Jakob escapes from a cult, there is nothing that will stop them from reclaiming him.

Awful blurb. Good book. Werewolves and kidnapping and weird cults! Buy it here.

Real World is out from Dreamspinner. Sequel to Ever the Same

Dan is ex Army and trying to assimilate to the real world. Weldon is bisexual, a widower, and has a ton of kids. Not exactly a match made in heaven, right?

Buy it here!

Then there's the reprint co-write with the wife, who is so kindly hosting me today.

Link to the Crescent. NOLA. Werewolves. Vamps. Sexay!

get it here or at amazon!

Pant pant. I'm exhausted. I hope y'all are reading!

Much love y'all

BA Tortuga

www.batortuga.com

@batortuga on Twitter

facebook!

Firemen! Smokejumpers!

Ex-lovers who meet up again!

Intrigued yet? I am. Oh, wait. I wrote it.

I love firemen. And Colorado. And old lovers with an ax still to grind when circumstances toss them back together.

Get it here!

Smooch

XXOO

Julia

Why it's so hard to move on

So, rather than go to jail, the owner at TQ forfeited her bail and made restitution on the bounced check. At least according to the docket report. Sean Michael hasn't been informed by the court that it's real, but the judge filed the papers.

Yay. Except I heard through the grapevine that she's bounced some paypal payments. I'm still not paid for 1st qtr let alone 2nd. My wife and I have 2 recent hospital stays and a broken foot to pay off and could with the nearly 3k she says she owes us by her own statements.

It's not going to stop even if she pays me. I remember sitting and brainstorming the name Torquere with my wife. We were so proud. I can't be proud of that name anymore.

I am going to try to move away from posting about it here, and go back to being an author on my blog. Y'all are welcome to email/pm me anytime with your own stories or with questions. My comments remain moderated after someone posted an author's real name. Only someone who signed contracts with that person would know their real name, and that makes you pause, too, you know?

XXOO

Thank you so to all for the support.

Julia

Court Date tomorrow for owner of Torquere LLC

Kristi Boulware has her next court date for felony check fraud tomorrow August 4.

A link to the Magnolia Banner News here shows her arrest June 8, 2016.

A temporary link in the Magnolia reporter shows her court date here. This link may disappear as it is only good until the next docket is posted. I'll post a screenshot if that happens.

It makes me sad that something that could so easily have been settled with even an attempt at payment had to come to this.

FYI, despite receiving another statement from Ms. Boulware, I have not been paid for 1st or 2nd qtr 2016. I get no answer when I email. Please don't support this publisher. This is a person who said she told her authors she was having a MRI when she was sitting in jail awaiting bail. Over and over she had proved her intent to defraud, and she had been reported to the RWA.

I'm very sad for all the Authors involved, and for the industry at large when yet another small pub behaves badly.

XXOO

Julia

Historical re-release-- fun, kinky romp

Did y'all see my new cover for Post Obsession?

The amazing Kris Norris did it for me, and let me quibble about historical periods and shit. I love her.

The book is about Markus, a bored Georgian aristocrat who gets involved with the mysterious E via letters hand delivered to him. What they get up to could scandalize the world of polite society.

Find it here on ARE!

XXOO

Julia

Not a family squabble

I'm so tired and worn down by trying to get people to understand that this thing with TQ LLC is not a family squabble. Yes, the current owner is my SIL, which makes this maddening and horrifying. The simple fact that she would screw all these people over when we trusted her is an abomination. But it's not spite that makes me flog it over and over. It's the fact that (with permission from Sean Michael) she owes Sean AT LEAST 25K. Right now she owes me and my wife $3500.00. She hasn't paid anthology authors since January. She hasn't paid at least 3 other authors who consistently made good money at TQ. I'm sure there are dozens more.

And yet she filed for indigent status for her upcoming trial and claimed to be unemployed. http://circuit027.courtconnect.net/docsdms/?A=123/ck_image.present?DMS_ID=35787c6e-6a24-4fa9-9b53-aa4c6200b747

I want to know where the money went. I want to know how this is okay and someone could say this is me being a bitch because I'm spiteful and bored.

What I really want is for her to close the business and stop fucking people I care about and hurting our community. I would do exactly what she wants and leave her alone if she would just do that.

XXOO

The Very Tired Julia

Faster Bobcat re-release-- expanded!

Hey y'all!

A few years back right around this time of the year we released a lovely little anthology called Designated Bottoms. I edited it and was super proud to have Sean, Kiernan, me and BA, as well as Shannon West, Katey Hawthorne and KC Wells do D/s stories for the anth.

When things began to go horribly wrong with TQ (still not paid sigh) I pulled my story out, and Changeling Press has re-released it. It was about 9000 words before. Now it's 12k and a better story, I think! It was Faster Bobcat then but that's the series name now and the story is called Hot Tin Roof.

It's here at Changeling, or you can get it at ARE or Amazon.

Aleks is a dancer at a nightclub. Rafe is the guy who wants Aleks to dance only for him...

XXOO

Julia

Kinky erotica new release

Hey y'all!

Minerva Howe has a new release! It's a m/m space soldier who has an alien probe kink. It also has a romance element, a manmade pleasure planet, and a bit of cock milking and butt probing.

Here is in on All Romance, where it's on sale this week!

And on Amazon.

And here's an excerpt!

“Welcome to Planet Fantasy, sir.” A small, blue-haired alien with the most amazing mottled pink skin smiled at Sgt. John Decker, recently retired from the United Earth Military Forces, and scanned the wristband he’d been given when he'd boarded the transport shuttle. “It’s our pleasure to make your dreams come true.”

“Thanks.” John glanced around the shuttle station, relieved to see it was clean and comfortable and modern. He kinda expected it to be cheesy, maybe rundown. No, this place had it going on.

“The currency for your weekend has already been debited from your account. You’ll be shown to your private room, where you can relax and have a meal, if you like. We also have several restaurants, if you prefer.” Her monitor beeped and booped. “According to your preferences, I have assigned you a steward for the weekend. He should arrive shortly. Would you like to have a seat?”

She indicated a grouping of low-slung seating about ten feet away, so John grabbed his bag and made his way over to sit. His wristband caught his attention because it glowed green now, a little blue light blinking on it, as well. Activated, he reckoned.

Maybe ten minutes later, a young man arrived. Probably Earth issue, a few inches shorter than John, maybe ten years younger than his thirty-eight, this guy was stunningly beautiful. All tanned skin and golden hair. Ridged abs sported a tiny glory trail leading down into an itty bitty loincloth, which was his only covering.

“Sgt. Decker? Good afternoon. I’m Denis, your steward for the weekend. Shall I show you to your room?”

“Please.”

He’d come in early, his long weekend starting on Thursday night so he could have two days of fantasy played out. Sunday he would recover, then leave Monday morning with the other Earth-bound customers. He rose, and Denis grabbed his bag, leading the way. The loincloth barely covered Denis’ tight, hard-muscled ass, and God knew John would follow that anywhere. They really had taken his preferences into account.

“Did you have a pleasant flight?”

“It wasn’t bad at all. Hellacious better than military transport.” John grinned, thinking of his last trip past the moon. They’d hit some bumps when they did a gravity sling around the big rock instead of stopping at the way station there. Planet Fantasy, which was a man-made, terraformed space station more than a planet, was just a short hop from the moon, so they’d done things the easy way on this jaunt.

“I imagine so. How long were you in the military?” Denis had a pleasant, soothing voice, not too deep, and completely unaccented. Vid voice, they called it. Universal and easily understood.

“Twenty years. Just retired. All the guys in my cadre got together and bought me this experience.” He would never have spent the money to do this for himself, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“That was very kind of them. You’re going to love it here.”

XXOO

Julia/Minerva

Out of the Frying Pan is a bestseller!

Check it out here!

I love my firefighters! I do I do.

XXOO

Julia

Still not paid -edited with links

The owner at Torquere said all payments would be out at the end of June. Nope. I'm not paid, and at least 3 other authors are not for sure. Are there more? Feel free to use the contact form and let me know. I don't care what your personal problems are, if you have 60 days to pay and after 92 you still haven't made the payment (and this is not a paltry sum. If my wife and I got paid for our two statements, we could pay off 2 of the credit cards we've had to use for regular bills because we aren't getting paid!) then you're not just behind on things and I'm not a jerk for being upset.

Public record court case info here.

EC has also not paid me, not since December 2015.

I want to thank All Romance Ebooks, Changeling Press, Dreamspinner Press, and yes, Samhain Publishing for being honest, aboveboard, and paying in a timely manner. I have bills to pay just like everyone else, and I need publishers I can rely on.

So do all the other writers I know.

Author beware.

XXOO

Julia

Author stuff

Hey y'all!

Been trying to leave the information posts up because none of the authors I talk to have been paid. But I also know I need to not let the you know whats get me down. I'm still a writer, and I still have stories to tell and readers to make happy (I Hope!)

July 1 I have a story I hope will make my long time readers happy. I have a novella called Out of the Frying Pan coming out from All Romance Ebooks. It's on preorder now. Find it here!

Isn't that amazing?

I also have a few re-releases to announce! Cereus: Opening is back out, as is my novel Perfect, and my Thatcher Brothers series, Jumping, Landing and Taking.

All Romance Ebooks has all my titles

They're also on Amazon and B&N etc

XXOO

Julia

points to ponder if you're an author who hasn't been paid

1. Where is the money?

I hear TQ isn't promising payment until the end of June... Not from the publisher, natch. But to me, this action suggests that the publisher is out of money until the next Amazon payment comes in June 30. If this is the case, where did 1st qtr money go to? Because April, May, and June payments should have been saved to pay 2nd qtr royalties. The State Attorney General has not informed Sean Michael that the hot check has been taken care of, so it didn't go there. This also means payment will be 30 days past the 60 days after the end of the quarter. For lots of folks.

2. What's with the excuses?

Has anyone else noticed how similar the excuses are to the ones used by EC? The person who does the royalties is sick. No one else knows how to do them. Thing is, according to emails, all statements are out . I did receive mine today as I was writing this post, nearly a month after the rest of the statements went out. So if they're all done, why is it so hard for someone else to write checks and send them out?

3. Worth repeating.

As of right now, the state attorney has not contacted Sean Michael that the hot check has been paid. It's been a week since the arrest and since the claim that it was paid in full. The SAG office has sent immediate updates on the situation at all times until the alleged payment...

4.

If you would like to contact RWA and let them know you haven't been paid, please get a hold of me via the contact form here on Blogger or on my website. I have the name of the person who does these investigations and membership in RWA is not required. Sadly, since someone felt it necessary to put an author's real name in the comments here I have had to moderate what comes in, but you're welcome to reply via comment and I will see that as well.

XXOO

Julia

I want to be positive

But it's tough. Between all the rage and hate in the news, the victims of the Pulse shooting rampage, and the situation with TQ, I'm down, y'all.

On the good side, my girl and I are both on the All Romance Ebooks Bestseller list with 3 books each. That's pretty damned good news. Also, my girl had her eye doc appt today, and it's great news. Much improved sight and less bleeding.

Now if I could just get the news I'm waiting for on the other situation, life would rock!

Hugs to everyone and XXOO

Julia

In the interest of transparency about the latest TQ situation

This will be a long one and not fun. Bear with me.

I have been accused, much like authors asserting they have not been paid at EC, of being "One of those people causing trouble" for no reason. It has also been said I have a teeny bit of malice toward my former company so anything I say is suspect. There has also been the assertion that the new owners of TQ can't tell the truth due to a pending lawsuit.

So here is complete transparency from the side of an author embroiled in this mess and yes, a former owner of the company.

The facts: In December 2015, author Sean Michael, who is in no way family to the current or former owners of TQ, should have received her 3rd qtr check. The check had been "lost" for some time. When contacted, the owner of the press claimed she immediately mailed another check. When asked for the overnight tracking number, the author was told the tracking number was in the truck which had been borrowed by a family member. The check was received in the post Dec 31, 2015 cashed and the week before the MLK holiday in January 2016, it was returned to Sean for Non Sufficient Funds. This was clearly marked on the check. Not stopped payment. NSF. The Friday before MLK holiday, the author asked for a wire transfer was told the bank cut off wire transfers at noon. When a bank representative was contacted at 12:30 central time, he indicated they cut off wire transfers at 3pm eastern which would have been 2 hours after the press owner said she could no longer send money. After weeks passed with no forthcoming payment and no tracking number for a mailed check, Sean was forced to decide to turn Ms. Boulware in for check fraud. She issued the complaint to the Columbia County Arkansas Sheriff and State Attorney's hot check office as a criminal matter. They then issued a citation which was sent to Ms. Boulware giving her notice that she pay the full amount or be arrested. When the grace period passed, a warrant was issued. On June 8 2016 at 7pm, Ms. Boulware was arrested for violation of the Arkansas Hot Check Law. She was held until she posted bail June 9 at 3pm.

This is a matter of public record. http://www.vcafe.info/US-Counties/Arkansas/Columbia-County-AR/Kristi-Boulware-talbot.137400556.html

At no time has Sean been notified that the check was paid. The state attorney's hot check dept. communicates with the author every step of the way with all of the information.

As of this writing, at least 15 Torquere authors have contacted me and let me know that have not been paid for 1st quarter royalties, due no later than May 31 2016. I have not received a statement for my 1st qtr sales and neither has Sean Michael or Kiernan Kelly despite a notice being sent out that all statements had been sent.

Regarding a pending lawsuit, if there is such a filing, I have not been apprised of it, or been asked to address it in any way. Nor can I find legal filings on record of such in a public records search. I did not pull my titles out of spite. Trust me, I could happily have lived on passive income from my backlist had I not received late payments and reports with new releases missing or miscalculated. Now I have more than 40 reprints to sell and about a third of my income gone. Tell me I did that out of malice.

So why am I out here talking about it and not Sean Michael? Sean is in the business of writing and of pleasing the fans. This company was not hers. It was mine and I am devastated that someone who was our business manager for 2-3 years took over and then began to not pay authors. Think about this. Sean Michael, who was TQ's major selling author, has not received a payment for sales later that March 2015 save for one partial payment marked for 4th qtr 2015 in a very small amount compared to the total owed. I feel, as an author and industry professional, that authors need to be warned. Where is the money? Why are authors receiving emails saying Ms. Boulware Talbot was in the hospital for an MRI and then at home passed out on pain pills when she was in jail overnight awaiting bond? The lies have to stop, and if I have to be the one to expose them, so be it. I'll take the hit.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Many of Torquere's former payment policies have been misrepresented in recent emails as well, and I would be happy to clear up how I advised Ms. Boulware to proceed, including how putting 50% of all monies in escrow meant authors would never go unpaid. The simple fact is that it's not acceptable to leave authors worried about the status of their titles and their money.

Sean Michael corrected me on some details and now the timeline is correct Julia

the curious case of filtering

I have an English degree. I've been a professional writer for 15 years. I edited for 12. I've never heard the word filtering pop up so much in the world of fiction editing as I have in the last year, and I have to admit, I'm sick to death of it.

There's an article here that describes what filtering is. Linky!

I like this article because it explains what filtering is but it also explains how sometimes "filter" words are necessary. You see, I don't subscribe to the all or nothing rules of writing theory. If you write deep POV, sometimes the only way for a reader to learn something is because the main character heard it or saw it. Sometimes the writer deliberately chooses to filter information because the POV character is unreliable, possibly lying to himself and others. Or sometimes the author just wants you to know that you as the reader and seeing what the character sees not, just some random, disconnected act.

That being said, I do think that an author needs to examine the instances of the words heard and saw and felt, just to see if they're necessary. Sometimes we find we don't need them at all.

Then again, sometimes we really fell like we do (grins)

XXOO

Julia

caught in a trump rally protest

So. I was on my way to the main hospital last night in downtown Albuquerque. They transferred my wife, BA, by ambulance, and I had to come down in the car.

So, I thought, oh I don't want to take the Interstate when I'm so tired. I'll go the back way, which cuts across at the river and comes through by the convention center.

Had I known there was a Trump rally at the convention center I would have avoided downtown like the plague. As it is, I ignore the bad haired loony, so I had no clue. I got to Central Ave just at Lead or Coal or whatever it is and hit awful traffic, so I turned off with a bunch of other folks and tried to go a few blocks around.

Just as they diverted the protesters and folks just there to make mischief off on the street I was on.

For 25 minutes I sat in traffic as hundreds of people wearing masks and gang colors streamed past me, whacking my car and screaming obscenities. A man with a Mexican flag got up on a rooftop across the way and ran back and forth, pumping up the crowd. Maybe a hundred muscle car racers revved engines and people set off starter pistols and set shit in fire. Between the smoke, the skateboarders whizzing by, and the noise, it was impossible to move more than a few inches at a time.

I finally got a break when I was able to pull off through a bank parking lot. I thought. Then I got stuck behind a car right out of the Fast and Furious, who blocked my way and revved his engine for ten minutes.

About the time I was hoarse from screaming that my wife was in the hospital and I Just needed to get there, a middle aged Hispanic lady popped up next to my car. She tapped my window and asked me where I was going, and I rolled down to tell her I needed to go to the hospital. She jumped out in front of my car and started screaming and shoving, and damned if she didn't get me out of the mess as if she was Moses parting the red sea.

Never mess with the wrath of a Mexican mamacita, y'all. She will mess your shit up.

She was my angel, and restored my quickly dwindling faith in humanity with her kindness.

I may loathe Trump, but riots are not the way, y'all. I have been inside one now, and I promise, I would rather take on a tornado or a sandstorm. Nature is more predictable than the mob.

XXOO

Julia

How small publishing works - a primer for readers

Hey y'all!

With the recent plea from a well known author not to buy her EC books, which I jumped on shamelessly, several people asked me to explain how small publishing works so readers know why we implore them not to buy our books from places like EC, and in my case, paperbacks from Torquere that are still up despite a rights reversion in January.

For our purposes, there are 3 types of publishing going on right now in romance. Major label/big 6 is one (though people argue big 5 pr big 4 these days). That's when you get in with say, Harlequinn or Avon and your book is paperback bound with the ebook as an added value. These ebooks can go for 10-12 bucks and are not the biggest concern for the publisher. Many of those big publishers are looking at e-first lines, but they haven't quite jumped on the bandwagon 100% yet. We're not talking about them right now.

Then there's self publishing. An author writes a story, buys or makes a cover, hopefully pays for an edit, converts book files to e-books and uploads them to Smashwords or Amazon or Kobo or Nook or All Romance Ebooks. Or all of them. Then the distributor, which is one of the previously mentioned places, pays the author all the money they made on the book, less their percentage. For anything 2.99 and over, Amazon only takes 30%. Not bad, right? Ah, but for that .99 price that everyone including me loves, Amazon takes 70%. The author gets .29 per copy, give or take. Seeing as how covers, edits, and formatting can easily add up to about 200-500 bucks, a small publisher, who provides all that for another cut of the percentage, looks really attractive.

So, then we come to small publishers. Yes, EC was a "small" publisher even at several million a year. Some small pubs put out 5 books a year. Some 50. Some 5000. What they have in common is their business model. Unlike the Big 6, most of these publishers have retail websites. They provide cover art, editing, proofreading and file creation at their own expense, unlike a vanity press who charges the author up front for that. They upload the books to the distributors, which stamps their presence on it behind the author. Like a Dreamspinner book? Then you might like Julia's, too! Then they do advertising. Often with blogs, reviewers, or websites such as All Romance, unlike Big 6, who focus on print and radio, even TV a la James Patterson's ads. Word of mouth and repeat customers are important to these publishers, as are their sales on their own websites, so they don't have to pay those commissions we talked about self published authors paying to Amazon, etc. Usually it's the same amount for publishers.

So, what does all this matter? Well, I was asked to explain because some authors and readers have seen people say, "Yes, but I never buy your books from EC. I just buy them from Amazon." This is not an unusual assumption, that the publisher's site is the only place the publisher makes money on a book. But it's not.

In fact, the author, in general, makes more money on a book sold on a publisher's website than they do on Amazon or Smashwords. Since the publisher makes more, they offer the author a better percentage. The money Amazon takes means the publisher makes less, so the author makes less. Often 10-20% less. And what about those .99 books? Oh, man, on Amazon, the author gets about .12. Ouch.

And that's assuming the publisher pays the author. See, this is where people get confused. If you buy a book on any website that lists the publisher as Ellora's Cave, EC gets the money. No matter what site. There's always a publisher listing somewhere in the "information" section of the book listing. On Amazon it's after the blurb and the customers who bought this areas. Don't be fooled when it says Sold by Amazon Digital Services. Look for this: Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publishing Inc (February 5, 2014)

I know it's hard to tell who's doing what with as many publishers and self publishing nicknames (like my own Turtlehat Creatives) out there. But it's easy enough to see an EC book on Amazon. They might not band all their books at the top with their name anymore, but most have the ankh symbol on the top left, and some have EC under that. Then there's that publisher listing that, legally, they can't really hide.

I know some people, sadly, had new books out with this publisher and are still promoting them, so buy those EC titles at your peril. My wife, BA Tortuga, are asking people don't buy our remaining EC books ANYWHERE. EC gets the money, and we're not getting paid. I hope that helps out everyone who asked me to post about this.

Julia

ramblings about chronic illness/injury

tired today

Having hormonal issues that are actually causing gall bladder attacks.

To say I am peeved is the least of it. I eat well, even if my body doesn't look like it. I injured my foot a few years back and there went 3 days a week Zumba and 4 day a week yoga. There went losing half my body weight (I have gained back 25 pounds). I limit red meat. I eat good fats. I try to avoid my nemesis, sugar.

Lately, though, stress and 45 year old hormones have taken their toll. I am hurting, and I hate it.

I know a lot of y'all struggle with chronic illness. Injury. Mental health issues. I just want to say I hear you. I see you. I love y'all. I also want to say thank you to my fellow authors, my readers and bloggers. You lift me up, and I adore you.

XXOO

Julia

Societal Debt

I have lots of long, involved thoughts on Social Media, society and human nature. I usually confine such musings to my time spent in the shower and on the pot, because I know no one wants to hear a romance author wax socio-economic anthropological, but I have too many feels right now to let it go. So bear with me, or just move on to my new releases and ignore the woman behind the curtain.

So. Has anyone else noticed that these days we live in a culture of societal debt? My mom and dad would have called it entitlement, and a lot of people call it melennial culture, but I'm not sure I can lay it at the door of the next generation. (I'm Gen X, the smallest generation, age wise, of any post Baby Boomer gen.) I think it's a combination of causes, but that's a whole other blog post.

What I'm here to comment on is the debt. Let's start with say, the idea that someone in the public eye, someone like Prince or Robin Williams, owes us, the consumer of their celebrity, some kind of access. Transparency is this huge catchphrase right now. So is need to know, or fear of missing out. The idea is that they OWE us the right to know how they live, or how they died, or why. Whether or not their families ask us for privacy or their legacy is prodigious and should be left at that, we have this sense of ownership, and therefore this idea that they're in our debt. That we deserve more than is really our right when it comes to someone we honestly don't know.

As an author, I often feel that people expect the same from me. Readers and bloggers and publishers I have never approached demand to know why I use a pen name, why I write what I write, and what's going on in my private life. All in the name of transparency. I also feel as if this culture of debt produces this enormous pressure to please everyone. With every review I get that says, " Too much sex. Not enough sex. This was handled well. This sucked," I feel as if I have to make everyone happy. That the people reading my books feel like I OWE them a book that ticks all of their boxes. Not only that, I feel as if I have to be sensitive to everyone's triggers, to everyone's needs, to everyone's wants when it comes to their reading, and provide an error free book. Even if that's not my job as a writer of fiction. And I feel like I have to do it all for 2.99 or less, thank you, because books aren't worth what people pay for a movie or some other form of entertainment. Hell, even Redbox charges $1.50

Now, before you get all mad, I need to mention that as authors, we're no better. We act as if reviewers OWE us a good review. If I gave you a book for free I should get a 4 or 5 star review, right? If you bother to go on Amazon I don't want you bitching about the price or the gay or anything else. There's no reason for me to feel as if any reader OWEs me anything. There's no contract that says you'll like my book because you bought it, or got it for free, just like there's no contract that says I have to write a book any specific reader will like.

So what the heck is with this debtor society? I love inclusion, and God knows I have FOMO sometimes. But does that mean I owe anyone anything, or that they're required to include me/like me? Nope.

I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts, but in reasoned discourse if you please.

XXOO

Julia

the state of Julia

been quiet here

I had a bout of GI distress so bad it almost sent me to the ER

The wife's meds keep changing. not good.

I'm tired. I have no time for the constant shit stirring I see on social media and I have no desire to join the kerfluffles. In fact, I kinda want to just mic drop and walk off.

So I'm gonna go sit in my corner and write

Waves

XXOO

Julia

New Release May 1- A Lover of Men from All Romance Ebooks

Get it here!

RT recap part 1 the pictures

Almost time for RT and a Julia round up

So. We leave for RT Vegas 2016 on Monday. We're driving. Well, I'm driving. BA's eye issues make it tough for her to see the stuff on the road at high speed. Been a while since I drove 9 hours and I'm a little wigged ;)

Once we get in, though, we have a whirlwind.

At the minimum, I'll be at:

Cinema Craptastique on Tuesday night

Hosting the Paranormal Carnivale Wednesday at 1:30 PM

10 am Thursday I'll be at the Dreamspinner Reader Party.

Friday at 10 am I'll be at wheel of romance helping the fabulous hosts hand out swag

Saturday I'm signing at the Giant Book Fair and doing Dreamspinner's Fantastic Day Party

Whew. I'm exhausted now.

What else? My Full Moon Dating Collection is out from ARE. It's all four Full Moon Dating novellas in one low priced collection. I'm so tickled about this because I had to pull these down and Gage and Hamish had only been out a few months. If you missed them, go pick up the collection, because the new one is in the works now. I hope to have it turned in as soon as the third Grizzly list is polished and in.

Find it here!

In other news, Dreamspinner Press has contracted my novel Catching Heir for publication in their Dreamspun Desire line. It will be out in December 2016. Y'all, I'm so excited! I also have some reprints they'll be launching soon, some with tons of new content. I'm tickled as a pig in shit, too quote my wife.

I'll be taking A Gentleman of Substance (in mass market!), Elemental Ops and Midnight Rodeo Belonging to the booksigning at RT. However, I'll also have limited copies of Thorns, the Bloodrose compilation, in my room. Holler at me via Facebook or email if you want a copy!

Hope to see y'all there

XXOO

Julia

Full Moon Dating staff chart

I love infographics

Check out the Full Moon Dating Re-release here! All four volumes out now at one really low price.

XXOO

Julia

Did y'all know I write as Minerva Howe, too?

Check her out here!

Publishers. It's not okay to not pay...

I'm not sure what's worse.

A publisher who continues to sell your books and blithely refrains from sending statements and checks while telling you they can't revert your books due to the volume of sales, or a publisher that takes down your titles when you ask, then sends you a statement for your 2nd to last quarter of sales telling you that you sold over 1000 copies of the book you released that quarter and then not paying you for them.

I know which one makes me angrier right now, since with the statement I know how much money I'm getting fucked out of, and you know, a family member being the one to bend me over and fuck me with a chainsaw.

Sigh. Either way I am not chilled, and I want to say, as someone who never once failed to pay out royalties owed, it's not brain surgery. It's also not cool to sit back and say, "Well, I got paid, so I don't care if publisher X is 20K behind in payments to other people." I said that about EC when it all first started and I say it now. I have one title left to get back from them, and I'll keep plugging at it.

Torquere LLC is still pretending all is well. Author beware. It's not. It's not okay not to pay and to owe as much as they do to at least three authors. When our money is all used up who do you think will go down in flames next? I can guarantee, as the one who used to write those checks, I know what order y'all will start to get screwed in.

I'm sorry if I can't be positive, but I also can't just let this go. I depend on my publishers to pay me so I can live. Samhain, Changeling, All Romance Ebooks, Resplendence and Dreamspinner, thank you for being honest and doing good business.

XXOO

Julia

re-release of Gentleman of Substance

Hey y'all!

I'm getting around to re-releasing some of my older titles that I had to pull from the Publisher Who Has Not Paid, and this is one of my very favorites. I wrote Michael and Daniel years ago, and rushed through them a little to fill a hole on the publication calendar. So, while I didn't add a lot, I went through with an editor, took out some deadwood, added a few deleted scenes and tightened them up. I think I also made their time period, which is post Revolution America, a little more clear. Fashions were transitioning from powdered wigs and side panniers to pre-Regency, but change was slow in rural Virginia.

Anyhoo, I love this book and OI hope y'all do, too. It's on sale for 3.99 at All Romance Ebooks here, and regular price at 4.99 on Amazon and Nook.

Michael St. James hates tidewater post-Colonial Virginia with a passion. Banished there thanks to an ill-timed duel, Michael is bored with the countryside, and thinks his new companions are poorly-educated boors. What he needs is a challenge, something to stimulate his mind. Which is why, when Michael meets Daniel Calhoun, he takes such an immediate interest.

Daniel Calhoun is a gentleman farmer who has no time for the social niceties demanded by a man of his station any more than he has patience for changing fashion or politics. When he sees Michael St. James, Daniel sees a man with no substance, and he’s certainly not interested in becoming friends, or more, with the irritating man. There’s more to Michael than meets the eye, as Daniel soon discovers, and the two embark on a scorching affair that might just be the ruin of both of them. Can they find a way to be together, or will Daniel and Michael be forced to hide what they feel?

This title has been previously published under the same title. 2000 words have been added to the text.

XXOO

Julia

PBR ABQ bull riding

I do love me some bullriding. Guilherme Marchi is my very favorite.

XXOO

Julia

Coming Soon: Full Moon Dating re-release

Hey y'all!

Look at the smokin' hot cover.

The four stories are Aiden and Ben, Coy and Denver, Evgeny and Feng and Gage and Hamish. I hope to have the next book in over the next couple of months so y'all have something new to read! I'm thinking Isaiah and Jameson now but that's always subject to change.

The book is on pre-order now for release April 1!

Clicky here!

None of these first four stories have changed significantly, though they have had another round of proofing. Still, if you want them all in one place, this is your time!

dreary weather means good writing time

It's windy and cold and gross. After days of 70 and sunny it's 46 and so windy it's whistling out there. Whoosh, bang, grrr.

Means good writing though. Added a couple thousand words to a reprint I want to put out. Am working on a men in uniform call for ARE. Annnnd one for TEB. O.O

Did y'all know we have a newsletter? Me and the wife, BA Tortuga. We do giveaways every month.

Go sign up. Clicky linky!

XXOO

Julia

Fighting the Good Fight Can Make Me Tired

I try not to get down about watching something I loved and worked so hard on go down the toilet. I really do. No, a certain author has never gotten paid. Yes, proceedings have begun on this. This is not something she can do in small claims. This almost is twice the limit of what small claims court can handle. And to see someone still going on using my friend and colleague's (and mine, as I have yet to see a payment for 4th qtr) money to keep up pretenses? Makes me furious. And tired. And so, so sick of trying to walk the line between keeping my mouth shut for legal reasons and wanting to shout it all to the world.

I am heartsore, y'all. And ready for this to be over.

XXOO

Julia

DSP author workshop

New release: One and Only Bear!

Hey y'all

Your next book boyfriend might be a fireman. Or a phone psychic. Or a bear

One and Only Bear from ARE find it here!

XXOO

Julia

PS 101 days, and Sean Michael? Not paid by TQLLC

Wherein I rant about the inherent gender bias and hetero-normative lingo in the romance community

***Rant warning ahoy. I am PISSED OFF***

I have been a GLBTQ romance writer, and was a publisher, for a long time. I wrote my first f/f story in high school (class of '88 what up?) and I was published in my first gay romance anthology in 2002. My first m/m novel came out in 2003. I have fought the good fight, as a mostly lesbian writer (I fall closer to bi on the Kinsey scale than my wife, but I'm definitely queer) writing romance fiction, to find equality and acceptance for all people in the romance community, gay, straight, bi, trans or asexual. Hell, I've written moose romance. No, not shifter. Just moose.

So believe me when I tell you that nothing ***NOTHING*** disappoints me more than getting an email chock full of advice on how to sit down and shut up in the romance world.

That's right. Grit your teeth, wear a nice dress, and do your make-up and no one in the greater romance world will be mean to you. If they are, just don't tell them you write gay! It will be fine.

Now, I am a huge champion of getting LGBTQ romance to stop being listed as a "genre". My genres are paranormal and historical with a few contemporary bdsm type books. I want queer romance to just be romance. But I refuse to stop looking like a lesbian in order to make people comfortable. I refuse to pretend that people have not asked me at every con I attend, including the supposedly gay romance one, "Why do YOU write m/m? You don't even like dick," because I'm married to a woman.

I go into every opportunity to meet readers of romance with a smile on my face. My attitude is great, even if my inner introvert wants to run and hide. But I refuse to cower behind the hetero-normative language and accept the gender bias running rampant right now in my chosen field. So don't send me an email that dismisses men writing romance, along with trans people or bi people, or anyone not comfy in a pretty dress and lipstick. And the closest thing I own to formal wear is the rainbow skirt I wore to my wedding. Cotton jersey, thanks.

Don't tell me to sit the fuck down and shut up. It hasn't worked at any point in my life, and it's so not gonna work now.

XXOO

Julia

re-publishing some old titles and one new- Bloodrose

Hey y'all!

Most of y'all know now that I pulled my whole backlist from my old company. I had to for various reasons, and it's been killing me, but I'm starting to get a plan in place for re-releasing my old titles. The Full Moon Dating stuff will come back out with ARE in April. The Bloodrose stuff I'm redoing myself, and I just put out An Itch to Scratch, The Werewolf Code, Belling the Cat and Emerald Eyes in a collection called Thorns. I'm tickled to death with the new cover by Kris Norris, and while I didn't make a lot of changes, I cleaned up typos etc. (This one hasn't got any new content but Emerald Eyes was only up for about 4 months)

Print book will be up this week in case anyone wants that! Linkee soon.

The ebook is available here:

Amazon

ARE

Also on Nook and soon on Kobo.

Thanks for all the patience and support.

XXOO

Julia

what the hell, universe? aka medical shit you have to see to believe

Most of y'all know I'm married to BA Tortuga, m/m author extraordinaire.

Recently, she got a diagnosis of a super rare autoimmune disorder. It's a form of vasculitis that closes off major arteries sort of randomly. The therapy for this is the chemo drug methotrexate. Yeah. So we've had some fun with the new normal, which includes nausea and extreme tiredness. And then we went to the eye doctor. Okay, so now laser treatments and injections. Then I got my root canal and crown, and now I have to go to the podiatrist for a big old blood blister that won't heal.

Now, I know someone(s) out there who would say our karma is the reason behind this. Because, you know, we're such big mean girls. Well, at the risk of offending anyone I don't actually want to offend, fuck that. So, I ask the universe, what am I meant to be learning here? I'm ready to figure it out ;)

In better news, my sugars are finally coming down, and my girl's kidneys are not on the arteritis chopping block.

Good thoughts are all appreciated.

PS: 81 days. Sean Michael has still not been paid #notchilled

XXOO

Julia

One and Only Bear on Presale!

Check it out here!

It's the second Grizzly List book, and it's so much fun!

XXOO

Julia

Also, my last blog post is here. No, the situation is not resolved. It's about to hit the fan, too.

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

Coastal Magic round up

Pics from coastal magic! 

I'll have a written recap when my brain works again..

Damon Suede and Sean Michael 

My girl BA at a panel

BA and Kiernan in cock flops

Me and BA at the book signing 

Rainbow butt plug! 

The amazing lunch bunch!

My table at the signing

On the way home

Lord we look tired. Me and Damon suede on Sunday after many days of conning 

Old English Cheese and Mogen David concord wine

What do those two things have in common with cranberry jelly and celery sticks?

My wife was talking the other day about generational memory. About how her parents were 10-15 years younger than mine had been, even though she and I were the same age.

My dad was born in 1932. He stood in line with ration tickets for WW2 and was drafted at the end of Korea. He wore brown shoes in the army not black and his music was all from the late 1940s and early to mid 50s.

So my memories are colored by that. My wife can remember her mom wearing miniskirts and long hair, and her folks listening to 70s music. By the time the 70s came around, my parents were having their last baby not their first and they'd both stopped listening to pop music.

It's the difference between Mogen David concord wine, which my folks thought was the height of class, and wine in a box, which was BA's mom's wine of choice. Old English cheese spread. My dad loved it on celery. All of our juice glasses are made from the jars. We ate it at New Year's on saltines with pickles. BA's mom and dad both like block cheese cut up with grapes and maybe crackers on the side. My mom thought TV dinners rocked. I've never seen BA's folks eat one.

Every so often someone will tell me I'm old fashioned, even for someone my age. And I smile and nod and say yep. It's a family thing.

XXOO

Julia