Agony/Ecstasy Anthology: The Sybil by Jean Johnson
Jean Johnson is a long time author of Cindy Hwang, the executive editor of Berkley. Cindy “discovered” Jean by reading fan fiction Jean had been writing and asked Jean if she was interested in writing full length books. This led to the publication of the Sons of Destiny series. (More at Jean’s site) When I asked Jean if she would contribute a story to this collection, I told her she could write anything. I think Jean was fairly excited about that and told me she had a femdom story in mind. The Sybil is the short story of Ai-kan Fen Jul and his submission to one woman, Sybil:
Ai-kan Fen Jul was not inclined to kneel before anyone. Warrior, mage, warlord, emperor, he had swept across half the continent in just five years. Some fought the encroachment of his armies. Others welcomed the order he brought, unifying dozens of petty, squabbling groups barely big enough to be called countries, never mind kingdoms. The emperor had defeated hundreds of would-be champions in personal combat, whether by sword or by spell, and his keen mind crafted strict but just laws, which he enforced for ranks both high and low. He bowed to no one.
No one, except the Sybil.
Next: Overtaken by Sara Thorn
As of the 24th Feb, Smashwords have also come under the PayPal cosh, Mark Coker sent a personal e-mail to all autorhs with the same requirements, that they unpublish the offending material. I was on the receiving end of PayPal’s acceptable use policy last August and have not been able to sell my own work direct yet it is all available through Amazon and Audible.com.PayPal has a virtual monopoly of the Internet merchant scene and their owners/directing minds are using it to impose their own moral judgements under the guise of protecting their brand’. It smacks more of defending the faith’.Any formal legal challenge under freedoms or Human Rights is unlikely to succeed, as these are a balance’. The rights of the individual against the rights of the many. Just as an individual should not be forced to follow a particular path, the courts accept that companies should not be forced to do something disreputable’, publishing erotica is disreputable while murder/ serial killer fiction is not.One of the earlier comments has the kernel of an answer. Voting with the feet. Keep your PayPal accounts empty at ALL times. Use alternative services wherever you can and support the Indie distribution sites using non PayPal services.As an aside AlertPay of Canada had a more relaxed and honest approach to adult material, they charged a little more for servicing it, but they have lost their credit card processing services since January and no prospect of them being reinstated. I doubt they will survive much longer.I am a conspiracist at heart but I also have experience that it is the cock up factor that plays a bigger part in such things. Dominoes start to fall in one place and everyone rushes to follow so they don’t get caught out.It is a difficult time but I am convinced the Internet and the public will find a way around this.