In this increasingly litigious society far too many people are worried about law suits, it seems one can’t say what one feels necessary, even using completely factual information, without worrying about facing a law suit. I am now considering how I can cushion this blog against them and I am one of the least likely to be affected. Free speech seems to be less free than before, let me explain at least in part.

There is a law suit. Ellora’s Cave is a romance publisher and is currently suing Dear Author, a blog about romance books and the world of romance writing. This article is what the case is all about. I haven’t gone into the details but I have read many of the comments on this article and several others so it seems legitimate and factual. Some people are speculating that this is a SLAPP case, a law suit designed to silence people about this topic and if you read further into this it appears to be happening as you can see here in this new blog.

As many of you know I don’t like romance, can’t stand it in any way, shape or form except in real life. That doesn’t mean I can stand back and ignore the whole thing. I see romance and erotica resembling science fiction as it used to be before it became a ‘legitimate’ thing to read.

Some decades ago (my memory tells me pre-1940s or 1950s but I’m not checking this) science fiction was something to be picked up in pulp fiction and wasn’t really taken seriously despite many of the stories being written by eminent scientists such as Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke, something changed around the 1970s and ’80s and I’m not sure what was the catalyst but probably movies such as Star Wars, Star Trek and Back to the Future. Now you can find science fiction books proudly displayed in every bookshop and it has been legitimised.

Romance has been underground just like science fiction and is now being legitimised, many more people are reading and appreciating the genre than ever before. I see so many of my friends enjoying, sharing, and writing about romance and while I don’t understand and have no intention of joining them I do defend their right to read whatever they like. One genre to arise from this is erotica and a sub-genre of romance-erotica. Ellora’s Cave is one of the foremost sellers of ebooks in these genres. They seem to be in some financial difficulty and are suing Dear Author in an effort to silence them rather than finding a legitimate method out of their troubles.

What will happen?

I really don’t know. Some book bloggers will continue to say what they wish and I hope they have enough money behind them in order to hire a good lawyer. Others will become more circumspect. Will this stop people saying what they really feel about a book? Will this stop people being critical of publishers or book sellers? All questions I can’t answer as I don’t have a crystal ball. Until now I was thinking this was a good time to be a reader as you have a much broader range of reviews, you’re not limited to reading them in the newspaper, you can find reviews on a much broader range of topics. If you only read science fiction there are blogs out there who only write about science fiction, others who only write about romance, still others who only write about fantasy. You’re not left with the scanty efforts of a newspaper which is limited to the two or three readers they have who might not read the books you’re interested in.