It's the Worst THING in the World - Smashwords has given in to PayPal's demand that certain pornographic content be removed from the site.
Yes - the fans of Incest, Rape, Beastiality and "Pseudo-incest" are going to have to go elsewhere - Smashwords is not going to host this content. Which means that Smashwords will not distribute that content - which IMO is a step in the right direction.
PayPal, Smashwords, Book Strand and All Romance are taking steps to cover their asses before the Government and Legal systems gets involved. Because once the Government steps in - there is NO going back.
I know many writers who have made a fast buck off these"erotic" stories. They are all screaming 'FOUL' and 'CENSORSHIP' - while other are giving secret sighs of relief.
I'm not making a secret of it. - I'm SO relieved!
For a very long time I've been distressed by the trend for more and kinkier sex in Indie e-books. While the Romance Reader has had to fight harder for the merest shred of respectability, pornography by it's many pseudonyms has been taking up more and more e-book shelf-space.
The writers have been 'loud and proud' - their shrill screams of 'but-it's-what-everyone-wants-to-read' drown out protests to 'turn it down.' Lowest common denominator takes over from there - 'Well So-and-so did it, I can top THAT' takes over and the quality tanks - until someone has to draw a line.
Of course after opening the floodgates of Kink it was only a matter of time before the were-critter didn't change back to human form before 'having at' the love interest. Reports of were-sex started a couple years ago. Human nature being what it is - it was only a matter of time before some sicko decided that 'I Love Dogs' was perfectly acceptable because 'what's the difference, it happens all the time in Paranormal Romances?' So now we have the dubious honor of having to side-step the 'I Did Daddy' (or Mommy) "Erotic Romance" while we stumble around in search of a decent read.
So here's to Pay Pal, Bookstrand and All Romance for their courage in the face of violent denial. Call it Censorship if you like - I don't care - just get the smut off the mainstream sites and back to the Porn Sites where it belongs.
PS - Don't believe it's 'that bad?' Click here for an example.
2 comments:
When I sit down to plot a novel - the first thing I do is to set a goal to write something with the widest possible audience. Which, by definition, means not offending my audience. That means I'm not going to write out a detailed scene of a wiccan casting a spell because it might offend a) wiccans who think I'm exploiting their religion, or b) wiccans because I got it wrong or c) Christians who don't mind a little vague magic, but would rather not have the details thrown at them.
In other words - I adopt a higher standard - "Yep, shes wiccan and she cast a spell" but no details that might take the story out of the mainstream.
The key word here is 'Mainstream' which implies a wider audience.
I challenge anyone to justify beastialty as 'Mainstream' - because isn't not. It's Kink - which by definition is NOT 'Mainstream.'
And to the person who claims they write pornography to 'feed and clothe their families' - I'd like to point out there was no sex in 'Twilight' and I'm quite sure that Meyer's family is eating and living quite well.
Uhhhh. I have no words for what I've seen in following that link. Disturbing. Yep, I'll stick with that one.
I'm a fan of Paranormal romance and a wide variety of romance for that matter, but there certainly are limits to what should be out there for anyone to find on a respectable site. And the outright kink/porn? Yeah, not so heartbreaking that its not easily available.
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