Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 13

A peek at the current project

Don’t tell anybody I shared it.

~*~

Title, release info, etc, to be announced soon-ish.

You are not going to
do this Stockholm shit!

My mind said it over and over and over as his mouth pressed
to mine, as he slid one hand up my knee and his free arm went around my back, a
firm brace that didn’t imprison but also didn’t allow for much movement either.
His taut body was hot and hard and strong, the wiry strength the kind I would
have found fascinating any other time. I could see myself wanting to draw him,
watch him when he wasn’t looking so I could commit the lines of him to memory.

But this wasn’t any other time.

The hand on my knee slid higher, along my side and my breath
caught. Tensing, I braced for him to grab my boob, but he grazed by, going completely
past and to my horror, my nipples drew tight and throbbed in resentment. My
pulse was slamming by the time he curved his hand over my neck and tugged me in
closer, arching my head back.

In the dim light, I couldn’t make out the green of his eyes,
but to me, they seemed darker, so much more intense, so much more dangerous as
he bent me closer.

“He’s ten feet away. You decide what happens, Tia.”

He kissed me then, his mouth absurdly gentle and such a
distraction that I couldn’t figure out what he meant. Ten feet away? Who? O’Halloran?
I’d finally figured out we were heading west—then that phone call.

His tongue came into my mouth, past the paltry barrier of my
parted lips and a startled groan left me.

I didn’t like kissing.

I mean, I never had.

I’d put up with it with one or two of the guys I’d dated,
and there had been one guy I’d been somewhat serious about who had
actually somewhat decent at it so I’d grown to…well, not hate it.

But I never liked it.

Except that weird noise just now? It had come from me. His
tongue toyed with mine, teased, then withdrew and he caught my lower lip. I
shivered as he bit me and that was when I realized my fingers hurt. I’d reached
for him, my left hand clutching at his shoulder and my fingers all but sank
into the hard pad of muscle there, as if I was trying to leave permanent
impressions on his skin.

He lifted his head a bare inch and in the ever-growing
light, he stared at me. He had a faint glitter in his eyes that I hadn’t seen
before. I had no time to process it either because his mouth was back on mine
and the arm he’d wrapped around my back had shifted. Now he played his fingers
over the small of my back and I shivered, the light tough far more erotic than
if he’d dipped his hand between my thighs.

“Everything okay?”

I jerked in surprise.

The man holding me—my kidnapper—let go. His hand fell
from my neck. He stopped kissing me. His head sank back onto the padded
headrest and he gazed at me from under lashes that I could now see were tipped
with gold. We touched all along the right side of my body where I pressed
against him, and my ass, hips and legs. But he wasn’t holding me. His left hand
still danced over my lower back but it was light, gentle stroke, nothing at all
restraining me.

The look in his eyes was clear, his words echoing in my
head. He’s ten feet away. You decide what happens, Tia.

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Published on June 02, 2019 18:26

Back…and exhausted!

We has a great time at Romancing the Falls in Niagara Falls, ON.

The above picture is the view from our room. I took a TON of pictures.

The guy watching Niagara Falls, silhouetted against the window

I suck at getting decent fireworks but these two turned out pretty well. The first one is actually a reflection, shot in the hotel’s mirror, while the guy is looking out.

The signing on Saturday started at 11. The guy & my daughter were in hand to help me haul, then they took off.

Once the doors opened, it was chaos for the first three hours, easy. The readers were amazing, the volunteers rocked and Freya put on a good event.

People always bring fun things to sign at these events. This little notebook was one of them.

another image of a canvas done by a reader, this one painted. Signed by authors

And there are the creative folks.

The plaque was for Freya Barker, the event coordinator.

This canvas was really cool, too.

Then…these…made by author AW Clarke. Aren’t they awesome?

Got a few more nice shots that night…

night shot with view of Niagara Falls lit up by lights

Then it was up & time to go early the next morning.

There was one final stop on the way out. The duty-free shops.

My haul, and FYI… this loot was totally paid for by readers who visited my table. I very much appreciate your support of my whiskey habit.

Bloody Ceasars, chocolate, ice wine and Forty Creek whiskey bought at the duty free store at the border

We had a ball and I can’t wait to go back to Canada…and sign there, too. LOL.

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Published on May 21, 2019 10:36

On the road

It’s a busy weekend for booklovers!

Black & white image of a highway with cars, text reading

Down in New Orleans, the inaugural Booklovers Con is taking place.

I love New Orleans, madly, passionately, deeply…but I’m heading north to Niagara Falls, ON.

Because I also love Canada. Romancing the Falls is happening this weekend, too. If you’re in the Niagara area, tickets can be bought on site tomorrow! This is in Canada, so if you’re in the US, you have to have a passport, if course.

Also…my first international signing. I’m excited. Dorkishly so.

Marriott on the Falls

6755 Fallsview Boulevard

Niagara Falls, ON L2G 3W7

I’ll try to post pics…in between hitting the duty-free shops for Canadian whiskey & other …uh…authorly necessities.

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Published on May 17, 2019 08:51

Kindle Daily Deal…Talking With The Dead, only 0.99!

My FBI Psychics prequel, Talking With The Dead, was selected for a Kindle Daily Deal at Amazon!

It’s only 0.99 today… check it out!

Amazon

Michael O’Rourke’s days are filled with ghosts and guilt. A psychic who can connect lost souls, his life is about finding justice for the dead. Enter Sheriff Daisy Crandall-she sees him, she wants him, but he’s in the middle of a crime scene and she can’t trust him.

Man in black t-shirt and jeans, looking don. Otherwordly background with a woman's face superimposed over it. Shiloh Walker FBI Psychics Psychic Romance.

Surrounded by death, a man with a terrible gift reaches for life.

A horrific tragedy blasted open a door in young Michael O’Rourke’s mind—cursing him with the ability to talk with the Dead. Nearly two decades later, Michael has moved from victim to survivor, using his abilities to seek out those who would go unjudged.

With his gift, he talks to those who’ve died violently and seeks out their killers. Only once he’s found the murderer, can the victims be at rest. After his last case, the only thing he wants is peace and he hopes to find it in the small town of Mitchell, Indiana.

But something is horribly wrong—the dead are waiting for him there, as well.

Small town sheriff Daisy Crandall is frustrated. The murder investigation she’s leading is going nowhere, the few leads she’s had haven’t panned out. She needs a break—this case is personal and when a stranger arrives, turning up where he shouldn’t be, she’s suspicious. Finding out that he is more than what he appears to be should shock her but doesn’t. The fact she’s highly attracted to him at the worst possible time is a hindrance.

Unfortunately, teaming up with Michael is the only way.

Now it’s a race against time before the killer destroys the life of his next victim…

This book has been previously published. A prequel to the FBI Psychics series.

Warning: this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, violence

Michael came awake at the knock on the door.

His neck was stiff, his mouth was dry as cotton and his back hurt like hell after falling asleep at the desk. Slowly, he stood up and stretched, trying to ease the kinks in his muscles. It didn’t do much good.

“Yeah?” He wasn’t going to open that door until he knew it was the innkeeper. That woman made the Bureau look soft when it came to interrogation. Mike wasn’t going through the inquisition again.

“It’s Daisy.”

The sound of her soft, husky voice started a low burn deep in his gut. His cock jerked a little and he pressed a hand against his fly. Just hearing her voice and he got hard. “Just a minute.” He glanced at the computer. He’d bumped the mouse when he woke up and the images on the Bureau’s website glared at him. He wasn’t working this case in any official capacity, but he’d hoped there might be something in the Bureau’s database that might help.

He’d been logged out due to inactivity but he didn’t want the pretty sheriff seeing him there. If he had something to tell her, maybe. He didn’t want her worrying that a lot more feds were going to show up, in an official capacity, and start poaching.

Mike had spent most of the night checking databases, hoping to find something. But no luck.

He padded over to the door and muffled a yawn. Shoving a hand through his hair, he opened the door. She looked a lot more awake than he felt, he thought tiredly. She held up a piece of paper but instead of looking at it, he just stared into her furious eyes. “She was fifteen. Fifteen.”

Michael felt yet another crack etch itself into his heart as he looked at the flyer. Kerri Etheridge. Fifteen. Runaway from Denton, Indiana. The bright red font across the bottom alerted authorities to the fact that she had a heart murmur.

“Heart attack,” he said, closing his eyes. A blessing in disguise.

“You already knew that,” Daisy said, her voice trembling with rage.

Michael glanced at her as he reached out and gently tugged the flyer from her. “I suspected it,” he said, stepping to the side. She frowned at him but came in, crossing her arms over her chest. Turning around, she watched him while he closed the door.

Kerri. Pretty name. “She’s worried about her mom.” Michael closed his eyes. “She wants her mom to know what happened. She just wanted to go to a play.” He crumpled the flyer in his fist, clenching his jaw. Impotent fury ate at him. He wanted to hit something. Anything. But instead of pounding on something with his fists, he dropped down onto the bed and stared at the crumpled flyer. “All she wanted to do was see a play.”

“I can’t say anything to her mom until I find her,” Daisy said quietly. “Nobody has even seen her. If I say something now, without proof—that would be cruel, Michael.”

“I know. Daisy, you don’t seem to understand—I’ve been doing this a long time.” Too long…

“You’ve been doing this too long.”

His eyes flew up to meet hers and an unwitting smile curled his lips. He watched as she moved forward and knelt down in front of him. “This hurts you,” she whispered, staring up at him. “I’m sorry. I wish I didn’t need you to help me.”

Michael reached out and traced his fingers along the curve of her cheek. “This is what I do, ma’am,” he drawled. “Nothing to apologize about.” Dropping his gaze to her mouth, he finally gave into the urge that had been driving him nuts ever since he’d seen her. Threading his hand through her hair, he drew her a little closer, slowly, giving her the chance to pull away.

Amazon

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Published on May 14, 2019 11:56

Happy Mother’s Day

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Published on May 12, 2019 10:16

I’m not your cop

Okay, folks. I thought long and hard about talking about this and I decided I needed to. Don’t take this wrong. But I’m not your cop. Over the past couple of months since I started talking about the scammer shit at Amazon, I’ve gotten a lot of comments, questions and emails about similar practices.

Somebody on a writer loop asked me when I was going to start going after the scammers plaguing the historical romance genre, people pulling the same scamming shit that I’ve been talking about in the MC/Bad Boy romance sub-genres.

Guys, I lost upwards of a month’s worth of work doing this–paid work. And contrary to what some people think, I’m not rolling in the dough. I’m far from it. I’m struggling. If it wasn’t for my freelance work, I wouldn’t be making it.

I started digging into the scamazon shit that I saw on Twitter because readers uncovered it, because it was so blatant, because readers were ignored and because Amazon didn’t seem to be doing shit. But I’ve also outlined clearly how to figure this stuff out. It’s tedious and time-consuming, but if there’s a problem out there that’s concerning some people…well, I can’t be everybody’s advocate. I’ve got my own career to consider, too.

I do know there’s a problem with historicals being hit, and I believe several authors and readers have been looking at the issue, but people who have concerns about it, like those who’ve asked me when I’m going to start looking at it, frex…well, if you’re concerned, do something.

The good news is that I think Amazon is paying attention now, so if you have somebody you suspect of scamming, start doing the work. Look into it–if it’s a regurgitated book, find the original source. Look at my Hot Takes category, starting with this post, and report them. Tell others so they can report them. Amazon doesn’t remove books without investigating the matter and if the book is regurgitated, then the person having the book removed is just reaping his just rewards.

Aside from the requests about checking this subgenre, or that, I’m also getting emails about other stuff, and…again, guys. I’m not your cop.

I’ve tried handling things just one by one as they come up, but they are coming up a lot anymore.

People have to learn how to advocate for themselves. Which brings me to the main reason behind this post.

I’ve gotten a few emails similar to this, although not about this particular person. I’m blacking out the name, because the way this reads, it comes across like somebody wants me to take this battle on. And…I can’t be the one to do that.

Screenshot of letter about suspected plagiarism, text is below the image

The picture is small, screenshotted from my email.

The text, with names redacted,

Comment: There is another “copypastecris” plagiarism scandal you might want to know about.

FYI: Copy and Paste REDACTED. He’s trying to become another Cristiane Serruya.

REDACTED is another author engaging in plagiarism. Take a look at his books, plots, covers, blurbs, advertisements, etc.

The premise and plot for his latest book titled REDACTED is summed up as REDACTED.

This was copied from REDACTED book titled REDACTED. His premise/plot: REDACTED.

REDACTED also copies book covers.

Look at the cover for “ REDACTED” by REDACTED. ASIN: REDACTED

Now look at REDACTED copycat cover for “ REDACTED” ASIN: REDACTED

REDACTED copies, premises, plots, ideas, events, characters, details, etc. from other books.

REDACTED copies dialogue from other books, word for word, and only changes the name of the person who said it.

REDACTED copies wording and ideas from author emails.

REDACTED copies wording from AMS Amazon advertisements.

REDACTED is one of the highest earning “authors” on Amazon, according to the author earnings report that named names and was quickly removed from the internet.

Crime pays, for “Cut and Paste REDACTED.”

email received via website, 5/9/2019

I tried emailing the sender and email bounced back.

But that’s not the only reason I’m addressing this on the blog.

Yes, it sounds like REDACTED is doing all sorts of wrong. But you know who’d be a better person to take him on? The authors he’s plagiarizing.

And if he’s actually plagiarizing content, that can be reported to Amazon. Go to the book’s page (kindle version). Scroll down until you see the box for reporting. Click on reporting poor quality/formatting. I’d say copying somebody else’s work is poor quality. Paste the copied text from his book, then get the original source’s text, the author’s name, the book’s title. Send it.

If the authors aren’t aware, they need to be made aware, because if he’s plagiarizing them, they can get his work removed. All they have to do is show the plagiarized text to Amazon and file a DMCA. If they’re on social media, they can raise hell about it and get people behind them to help raise awareness.

But I’m not the go-to for this. I wasn’t even involved in uncovering Serruya’s plagiarism.

While in theory, it’s great that people think I can help fix a lot of this crap going on, in reality, it’s not possible to tackle all of this.

Before I even wade in, I have to research all of it, because if I get it wrong? Who is to say I won’t be held liable?

And I don’t always have that time. I have to write because I’ve got a career and my family to think of. I’m happy to signal boost things and when it’s a widespread issue like the scamazon stuff I decided to take on when it was being ignored, then that’s time I’m choosing to sacrifice. But I can’t take on everything that gets sent my way and when it’s specific to authors being plagiarized?

Those authors need to take the bull by the horns.

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Published on May 11, 2019 10:02

It’s all a balancing act

image of a person walking a tightrope strung between two cliffs, set against a sunset. emotional balance, struggle.

A few weeks ago…maybe longer…???? I don’t know and I’m too lazy to look, but I’d blogged that I was finally starting to see daylight after this bitch of a fight I’ve had with my depression.

I’m trying to be more aware of…stuff, because there were probably things I could have done earlier on that might have kept things from being as bad as they got. Well, maybe there were things I could have done.

I knew back when things got bad that I needed to be seeing a counselor, but it was a toss-up between making sure my youngest could keep seeing her counselor, then getting my son into see somebody after shit got bad with him…and me. We weren’t all going to get what we needed and the kids always come first.

There were…certain family problems, not with my husband or kids, but on my side of the family that complicated & exacerbated all the grief we were all dealing with from losing my brother and it was affecting my family, my kids, relationships that had existed for decades.

None of these problems were new, of course. Things like this don’t pop up over night, right? They never do.

Arrogant me, though… I’d always assumed I’d dealt with them–or at least I was handling them. On my own, because that’s what I do. I talked to a few people, yeah, including my preacher and a couple of close friends, but never regularly, and I never reached out until I was at the very point of breaking.

It’s no wonder I ended up in a place where I didn’t think there wasn’t an escape from.

Folks…don’t be like me. Don’t let yourself get so far lost that you aren’t sure you can find your way back. The only steadying, guiding influences I had were faith and my husband and kids, and sometimes, even though I knew they were always there, even that didn’t seem like enough. That’s not on them, either. That’s depression. That ugly lying bitch, and it’s because of that ugly lying bitch that I talk about this stuff. People need to hear it. Even when I felt lost, alone, like nothing mattered, most especially me, there were people who cared. If you’re in that place, if you’ve been to that place, if you ever find yourself in that place, remember this… people care and you matter.

I’m stable again after what felt like too long down in that hole and with that stability comes clarity, something I’ve lacked for several years, thanks to depression.

You can give too much of yourself, no matter who you are and find yourself running on empty.

Even with the best of intentions, even knowing there is a need. But when you’re struggling with emotional & mental health issues on top of everything else, it can be a real danger. If you give all of yourself and end up in that pit of self-doubt and emptiness, then you aren’t able to give what you need to those who need you the most, when they need you the most, and you can’t be your best for them at any point in time.

You can find yourself doing the things you never wanted to do–failing them. Not through any intentional neglect or desire to harm, but because you just hit empty and there’s nothing left.

Up until the past few months, I always figured I could balance, could juggle… if I didn’t deal with my issues, it didn’t matter, as long as my kids, my husband, those who needed me were being cared for, right?

That’s a stupid way of thinking because I am hugely responsible for taking care of them, especially my kids. This is something we–I’m talking about moms here–it’s something we suck at, taking care of ourselves.

So I told myself I’d commit to getting better at. I told my husband that I was finally feeling stable again…then I told him I thought it was time I see a therapist. Weird, really. I feel stronger than I have in a couple of years, and for the first time in my very messed-up life, I decide I’m going to see a therapist. Not just to talk about the past few years, losing my brother and all of that, but from all the crap I’ve never dealt with from my childhood on up.

I think he’s relieved, and he knows it’s something I needed to do, but nobody can tell me to do something. I have to figure it out on my own.

I spent a few weeks hem-hawing about the decision and finally made the appointment last week. I couldn’t do it, or so I tell myself, any sooner, because I was trying to help my father-in-law handle things after he had some rather urgent health issues pop up, and during that time, other things became glaringly obvious, which I’ll get to…it’s that balancing act.

So…as is typical for my life–or rather, my family’s life…I think it’s a murphy’s law thing, really.

Right as we start to get things smoothed out? BAM! LOL, really, and thank God, all in one, because a few months ago, I think I might have spent a month whimpering in my room if this had all hit then.

My father-in-law was hovering on the edge of a massive heart attack, with a 70% occlusion of one of the main arteries of his heart and had to have a stent–none of this would have been discovered if he hadn’t gone into the doctor’s office, thinking he had an appointment when he didn’t. When he mentioned he was having trouble breathing and chest pain, they sent him to the ER and he’s undergoing an emergency cath the next day.

Feedback

I’m the person on call–there’s not much family, just my guy, his mom, and his brother. His brother had a stroke a few years ago and there are other things going on that I’ll get to. Needless to say, I’m the one helping with talking to doctors, fielding questions, etc. I mean, what’s the point of having a nurse in the family?.

He has to spend a few days in the hospital and during this time, something I’ve suspected for a while becomes glaringly apparent. My guy’s mom has been showing signs of dementia. Things like this become more obvious if a routine is upset, or if the person is upset or worried.

I can’t imagine how upsetting or disrupting it would be to have my husband in the hospital,, dealing with a cardiac issue that could have ended in a massive heart attack, but I imagine it would be pretty bad.

Now…how in the hell do you tell a man that his wife needs to get see when he’s trying to recover from a serious cardiac issue?

Balancing act.

The guy’s work schedule doesn’t allow for much time off outside of already scheduled days and emergencies, so we have to tightrope it and gauge things until his dad is out of the hospital, and stable, then we talk to him.

We have to wait a bit before we can do anything, because again, he has to be cleared healthwise. This all happened in the past few weeks and last week, just as I finally decided I was going to see about setting an appointment for me to see a counselor, things get a little more erratic with his mom.So…appointment there has to be escalated.

Balancing act. Take time to breath.

Saturday…

Wow. Saturday.

This past Saturday is proof positive that I’m not yet a stark-raving lunatic.

For those who don’t know, my son is a junior in high school and attends an on-campus school a few hours north of where I live. My oldest also attended this school. It’s amazing, a public high school, but it’s geared toward gifted and talented students who don’t enough challenge at their local high schools. It’s also an exercise in trust and faith, because…hello, we’re letting our babies sail out of the nests two years earlr… to a limited extent. He comes home on weekends once a month and in the end, he’ll graduate with an associates degree and likely scholarships opportunities out the wazoo, but he’s also living far away from home.

That can be scary as hell. Especially when you get a phone call from the front desk of his dormitory… Is this XXXX? XXXX was out riding his bike and he was hit by a car. HE IS OKAY…

It wouldn’t have mattered if they’d prefaced it with those words–HE IS OKAY. Just the words, out riding his bike and he was hit by a car pretty much flattened me.

Yes, he is okay, although Saturday is a blur. He’d ridden his bike to take the SAT. On his way back, he was hit by a car. Right now, things are still up in the air, because he had to go the ER so I can’t say much about it, in case I have to get a lawyer involved, but aside from his bike being trashed, him being sore and me losing a few years off my life…well, it could have been worse.

Balancing act.

I lost most of Monday researching lawyers at the advice a friend of mine, then talking to the insurance folks, lost more time Tuesday to it. Work comes sporadically on days on this, but I figured by Wednesday, things would settle down. He’s sore, but he’s doing okay, and that’s all that matters. Things can settle.

And then the guy tells me his mom has been given a preliminary diagnosis, of sorts, of dementia. Yeah, I was expecting it, but expecting it and hearing it…two different things. And it’s now reality for him. He knew I’d thought it was coming, but it sets in now, for real.

And now the balancing act continues and it’s two of us on the tightrope now.

You have to know when to take a break, to take a breather. Tip too far to one side and it’s a long, long way down. And the hard truth is, if you hit too hard, it may be almost impossible to get back up once you crash.

This entire month is going to be a balancing act for me. Come the end of the month, it will be two years since my brother took his life.

It will also be almost two years since I had any contact with just about anybody else in my family, save for D’s wife and a couple of his kids, my mom and my dad.

It’s awful how the loss of a loved one can be so divisive, how it can tear a family apart. I honored a promise I made to D and it cost me almost all the family I have. I don’t regret it. I made a promise and did what I knew was right. But it does hurt. Sometimes it makes me angry.

That’s another balancing act. Learning how to live with the pain, while letting go of the anger…and learning how to not blame yourself.

It’s all a work in progress, too.

It’s okay to be angry. We all know that.

And it’s okay to let the anger go, because it can tear you upside. Sometimes we forget that.

Forgiving is good, because holding things inside tears us up. But forgiving doesn’t mean we’re required to forget the hurts done to us, even hurts done to us by those who are supposed to love us. Forgiving doesn’t mean opening a door for them to hurt us again, either.

Balancing act.

Life is all about balance, really.

When you live a life with depression, it’s even more crucial to know the importance of balance…and sometimes that balancing comes via cutting people out, taking time for yourself and just letting things go.

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Published on May 10, 2019 10:27

Scamazon update…possibly positive?

So a few days after I posted the last Amazon scammer update, I kept an eye on the books I’d posted. You know, all those books from April Lust and Heather West and Paula Cox. I wasn’t expecting much and at first?

There wasn’t much.

But…then something started happening.

Books started disappearing.

If you read that post, you’ll notice that I mentioned some books disappeared after a ‘special kind of hell’ was raised. Well, in that some vein, more books started going bye-bye.

Like… a lot of them. In fact, almost all of these…and nearly all books written by the listed pen names from book packagers like eBook Publishing World, Sopris Page Press & MBK Hanson, Inc.

I’ve got no idea if this is permanent, but I am hearing that more than a few ‘authors’ have had their lists go bye-bye, and at least a couple have been banned. So, maybe something is happening. FYI, this list is long, and there’s nothing else after it, so… TL;DR, just want these names out there for the interwebs to have them.

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Published on May 09, 2019 17:09

The Scammer Shit #Amazon Ignores

These are the times that try my soul.

Amazon Scammers - Hot Takes Scamazon CopypasteCris A picture of a young depressed woman tearing out her hair over white background

I mean, it’s not like Amazon hasn’t been made aware. Readers complained about long before I said anything.

Readers have complained via reviews, although they thought the problem was plagiarism, not just lazy assholes looking to make easy money by conning readers, cheating the system, using dishonest business practices by packaging a book as new even though it’s been pubbed 1x, 2x, 3x already, using reader farms where the people involved will review the same book each time it’s released under a different name & cover, they don’t ever reveal that either.

Amazon always talks about how customer-centric they are, which is bullshit, because they’ve ignored customer complaints about this. They’ve also gone on record and openly stated they do have ways of tracking duplicate content…so, yeah, they could totally stop this bullshit. They just choose not to. When did they admit this…?? Well, if you’ve been following along with the #CopyPasteCris saga, you know that Nora Roberts filed suit against Cris Serruya in Brazil last week. In the US World News and Report article, Amazon gave a statement.

Amazon said that it takes “violations of laws and proprietary rights very seriously.”

“We use a combination of teams of investigators and automated technology to prevent and catch the vast majority of bad actors who attempt to violate our policies before they publish,” the statement reads. “In the rare instance where one gets through, we investigate and remove violating books. Additionally, all Kindle product pages contain a link for anyone to flag suspicious titles and the team investigates all titles that are flagged.” -US News and Report

Bold type is mine. And to these comments, I must say… oh, rly?

Do they not consider people who deceive readers by distributing rehashed book content and selling as new to be the product of bad actors?

I guess not. It’s all about the almighty dollar for Amazon. BTW, there was an update yesterday about the plagiarism case… La Nora won the first round against Cris Serruya.

So, about the regurgitated titles. Amazon has admitted they have ways of tracking duplicate content. I’m almost positive I’ve had to clarify rights on backlist books even after they’ve out of print/unavailable as ebooks, so Amazon shouldn’t have issues addressing these rehashed, recycled works.

After a certain sort of shit was raised, Amazon removed a few titles that were posted to my blog, but not all of them. It’s like they’re acting all unaware of how pervasive the problem is, even though I’ve written several times over, CCing each letter to legal as well as Jeff Bezos. Nah, it’s not like I expect Bezos to really pay much attention, but you’d think legal would, as these asses are using Amazon’s platform to cheat & lie to readers, and they are dancing fast and loose with the FTC’s laws about truth in advertising laws.

There are still a ton of books up for sale on Amazon. I can list scads in the badboy/mc romance trope categories alone. Rumor has it there are problems in historical as well, but I can’t check and look at everything, so that’s up to others to look at and report on and raise hell about.

First, let me point out again that I didn’t stumble onto all of this going on on my own. I saw images of the recycled content by twitter users who no longer want to be involved and I started digging from there.

And…WOW. Did I strike a payload of horseshit. It was so much horseshit, I was drowning in it and enlisted Claire Ryan, the lovely lady who put together an algorithm that detects duplicate content, handy for plagiarism… and regurgitated ebooks. I also asked for help from a couple of dedicated readers, a rather brilliant vet and somebody who specializes in security & investigations. Once they got involved, a lot of shit started turning up, and some of it, I can’t go into, because it ties into something some other parties are looking at.

But this book regurgitation crap? Yep. I’m talking about it. So… these… ‘companies’… These are the umbrellas I’ve referenced before when I mentioned that there are pen names being used to sell uploaded content that has been sold & resold. We’ve been calling them author groups and there are three connected at this point.

ETA: The tables below went a little wonky, so I think I’ll just post a link to the modified google sheets doc I’ll be sharing with RWA. Here you go. Read to your hearts content. If you want to post it, please email me first.

Nick Sopris, Sopris Press, Linked In Page, Screenshot

I stumbled across the first one when i found a book on overdrive via an image search.

May I present Sopris Page Press.

How did I find this? As I said…Overdrive.

They’ve got an entire catalog over there.

Check it out.

I very excitedly told Claire about this,and she quickly connected the dots on more. Like eBook Publishing World.

eBook Publishing World Publisher · OverDrive Rakuten OverDrive eBooks audiobooks and videos for libraries

Of course… the people behind eBook Publishing World seem to be slowly transitioning their books into a new ‘publishing’ company.

There are really just a couple of guys–yes, guys, behind it, which makes sense, because a lot of the book blurbs come off as misogynistic or nothing but pure sexualization of women as little more than playthings–things like, his cock is tearing my world apart and lots of I’m going to bend her over or I’ll give her something to swallow. Sure, I get that works for some women, but it’s an ongoing theme with a lot of these and it’s unsurprising at all to find that the people running this circus are a couple of guys who don’t know jack shit about the premise of respecting the readership or romance in general.

Of course, some are just written with the intent to come over as very dark, and readers will read them and end up like… *What the hell…that’s not the story the blurb promised…*

Anyway, the new group is run by the same guys associated with Sopris Page Press per corporate filings, Max Budovskiy – director/co-founder & Brett Hanson – director/co-founder. Let me present MBK Hanson, Inc.

MBK Hanson Inc Publisher · OverDrive Rakuten OverDrive eBooks audiobooks and videos for libraries

They’ve got a lot of ‘author’ names to spread amongst themselves, and some we haven’t connected to regurgitated books.

Those that have been connected?

And the book list… these are books we’ve verified are recycled. Older books list the GR profile. Newer ones are on Amazon.

This shit is ridiculous. If these stooges want to use this model to package and repackage, the least they can do is make it clear these are republished books. And Amazon should require that.

Amazon has been made aware. Extensively. But frankly, they don’t seem to care that these yahoos who have no respect for the romance industry, for the craft of writing or creativity, or the readership are misleading readers or abusing the KDP system which is harming other authors.

It’s bullshit.

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Published on May 01, 2019 16:55

Coming in Last…available now

Okay, actually, it’s been available since Monday, but Guitar Kid was home from school for Easter weekend, I was running behind on finishing up a freelance project and I’m still collecting info on the monolithic pain in the ass book regurgitation crap and time escaped me.

Anyway! Book!!! Coming in Last is not is not a new release, so but it hasn’t been available for purchase since like… 2014???? Roughly? It was a former EC book and I haven’t had a chance to reissue it until now, so unless you were following me then, you might not have read it. That means you should…

Contemporary romance with some light suspense tones…and…heat

Coming In Last

Coming in last 2019 cover, couple sitting face to face in am embrace, soft golden light filtering in

Private investigator Jamie McAdams couldn’t exactly say the quiet woman running the daycare at his godfather’s factory looked like an embezzler, but all the clues did point to her. She wouldn’t have easy access to the money but out of everybody he’d investigated, she was the only one sticking out and she lived seriously outside her means.

He didn’t like it and not just because things didn’t add up in a way he liked.

Andi Morrow smelled like vanilla, tasted like sex, and moved like sin. Before long, he was hooked. It only took a few more days for him to figure out the obvious–she was being framed. But maybe he should have told her that, before they used her as bait to catch the real embezzler.

Jamie always gets his man, even if it means coming in last with the woman he’s fallen in love with.

This title has been previously published.

Coming in Last

Nearly an hour later, Andi closed her eyes and relived those brief moments in the tiny little office, relived the feel of his hands on her, his mouth on her, and the dazed look in his eyes when he had said, I can’t keep my damn hands off of you.

Nothing could stop the swell of feminine pride that bubbled within her.

As drop-dead gorgeous as he was, as smart and funny and sly as he was, Jamie could probably have damn near any woman he wanted, and probably had. And he was unable to keep his hands off of her.

I want the first time to be someplace quiet, someplace private, where I can make you scream yourself hoarse while I fuck your brains out.

Quiet, ordinary Andi Morrow, who had gone through high school with only a handful of dates. Granted, her sharp tongue and wisecracks had scared more than a few away. Not too many had been willing to risk getting close to her. She had handed out barbs and cold glares the way other girls had handed out flirtations and smiles.

Jamie had not only gotten past that, he had gotten close enough to touch her. To make her yearn to touch him. And he wanted more.

He wants me.

It wasn’t that she had never been told that before. She had. But she had never been tempted before, had never felt this drawn to a man before. And never had she been told that by a man like Jamie, a man who commanded attention simply by walking into a room, a man that had women rolling their eyes and smiling as he walked by. Never by a man who made her mouth go dry and other parts turn wet. Even thinking about him was enough to make her wet, enough to make a slow, aching throb pulse through her cleft.

Her head fell back and she stared at the ceiling. How in the hell would he react to her being a virgin?

She wasn’t too concerned about the actual act. For crying out loud, she wrote romances. She knew plenty about sex. But all of her knowledge was second hand. She had never burned for a man’s hands on her before, had never craved to feel a man’s weight atop her.

Had never thought that just listening to a man talk to her the way Jamie did would turn her on.

She’d been perfectly happy to live vicariously through her heroines.

Not anymore.

She wanted to be in his bed, wanted to wake up next to him in the morning.

She wanted to know if he could actually fulfill the promises his eyes and hands had made. Wanted to lie under him while he made her scream herself hoarse.

And she’d be damned if she let the chance slip past her.

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Published on April 24, 2019 10:03