It's a Good Ol' Fashioned Book Burning

There's been much buzz over the last couple of weeks about Paypal and Smashwords dropping some erotica over content concerns, and I've been meaning to blog about it. Fortunately, Robin Elizabeth Sampson has provided a good explanation and some good links.

Many of these writers publish through various Indie Ebook sellers such as Smashwords, Bookstrand, and All Romance Ebooks (that goes to the page where one should be able to find the anthology my first published piece of erotica is in, but alas, you have to sign in to erotica). These publishers have been pressured by Paypal (and don’t forget credit card companies) to remove certain erotic works or lose their account.

 Nice, huh?

No matter what your opinion on “icky” writing might be, and I know mine is convoluted and confused due to my history, it’s hard not to worry about where this latest round of censorship might lead, if folks don’t speak up.

 It's scary.

Many of these “banned” works are written by women for women. And it’s pretty obvious that women’s sexuality is scaring the s--- out of folks.

You have to wonder about people who act as though women don't or shouldn't like to think about or read about sex. Sounds like they are doing it wrong.

The erotica & erotic romance community is understandably up-in-arms. They’re banding together – and have a formed The Banned Writers, “coalition of writers, readers, publishers, and editors who have come together to fight against the economic censorship of erotic fiction by non-governmental organizations and entities who believe they have the power and the right to determine what adult men and women should be allowed to read.”

 She provides links to much more coverage and reaction.

Just to be clear, those businesses all support literary depictions of serial killing, mass murder, genocide, and the like. You can think the fiction is disgusting and still understand that not everyone wants to read the same things, and that's okay. Free expression is good.