• Guest please check The Index before starting a thread.

Aspen Mountain Press

jennontheisland

the world is at my command
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
7,270
Reaction score
2,125
Location
down by the bay
I didn't know until I read the following article that the owner of Aspen Mountain Press lives a few blocks away from me.
Battle among local porn authors heats up on facebook as Aurora publisher goes mum
Posted: Thursday, November 3, 2011 8:38 am | Updated: 9:01 am, Thu Nov 3, 2011.
BY BRANDON JOHANSSON Staff Writer
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/email_push/news/article_e7403cde-0629-11e1-822d-001cc4c03286.html


LOL. Porn! PORN!!

Amusing how he uses porn in the title and early on, but focusses his story on an author who writes thrillers.
 

mscelina

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
20,006
Reaction score
5,352
Location
Going shopping with Soccer Mom and Bubastes for fu
Boy am I mad!

This "journalist" bugged the hell out of me for three weeks. I refused to contribute to the article because the owner has a young son and I didn't want anything to happen to him in school. And now this?

AMP never published porn. AMP had a thriving erotica line--like most epublishers--but the standards at AMP were a lot stricter than in other places. Hell, MY books were published there and I am NOT an erotica writer.

Good to know I wrote porn.

What an asshat. So much for journalistic integrity. This asshat has stooped to yellow journalism of the worst kind.
 

Dani

Cuddly sweet teddy bear!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Messages
328
Reaction score
41
Location
Sweden
Oh gawd. What a disgusting human being that reporter is. And I use the term 'human being' loosely. He's diminished the authors of the works because he wanted a headline. I don't know why I'm surprised in today's media, but I guess I expected more from local papers.

And he wonders why traditional news media is a dying breed. It's not because of TV and bloggers, it's because of sensationalism. At least when the other newspapers use a headline to grab attention, you're quickly set straight in the article.

Sad thing is that he could have made a splashy headline without reducing the writers to 'porn' authors. >>>8(
 

frolzagain

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
225
Reaction score
13
Location
Ohio
I'm not involved with AMP but i've been following what has been happening for awhile now. I really feel bad for the authors and staff involved on many levels. That reporters article just made the situation even worse (in my opinion.) I hope the paper ends up pulling the article- anyone with half a brain stem would know better than to call AMP writers porn authors. I'm not even involved and I was offended by it. Sorry this is happening to you guys.
 

Maddie

Roe Draje
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
491
Reaction score
17
Location
lassen on the brain
Website
www.saraville.com
Trust me, porn is in the eye of the beholder. D.H. Lawrence was considered to have written pornography in the day. But in this "journalist's" case, it's sensationalism designed to grab the reader's attention. The header suggests that the AMP authors who write Erotica are part of some underworld cult, armed with their "fictional whips and chains" (as though all Erotica is centered on bondage) rather than regular people expressing themselves in a genre that is not easy to write. What a mischaracterization from the get-go.
 

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
18,604
Reaction score
8,039
Location
Under your couch
Well, I wrote some pretty lame porn then because everyone kept their cloths on.
 

Fallen

Stood at the coalface
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2009
Messages
5,500
Reaction score
1,957
Website
www.jacklpyke.com
Hmm, I wonder how many editors would roll professional eyes seeing that title? I mean, relying purely on the word 'porn' to stimulate readership...

He'd make a shite erotic author.
 
Last edited:

amergina

Pittsburgh Strong
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
15,599
Reaction score
2,471
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Website
www.annazabo.com
Good grief. Calling AMP a porn publisher is like calling B&N an XXX book store.
 

Gravity

Seen 'em come, seen 'em go
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
3,942
Reaction score
965
Age
71
Location
Once you've heard the truth, everything else is ju
"With trembling hands the would-be journalist slowly removed the cellophane from his long, hard pencil. And then with a salacious grimace he thrust its throbbing point into the soft and yielding paper, again and again and again and ..."
 

mscelina

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
20,006
Reaction score
5,352
Location
Going shopping with Soccer Mom and Bubastes for fu
Oh gawd. What a disgusting human being that reporter is. And I use the term 'human being' loosely. He's diminished the authors of the works because he wanted a headline. I don't know why I'm surprised in today's media, but I guess I expected more from local papers.

And he wonders why traditional news media is a dying breed. It's not because of TV and bloggers, it's because of sensationalism. At least when the other newspapers use a headline to grab attention, you're quickly set straight in the article.

Sad thing is that he could have made a splashy headline without reducing the writers to 'porn' authors. >>>8(

Very true. My opinion is that because the AMP authors and staff were not giving him the details he wanted--out of consideration for the owner's youngest child who is still in school in her hometown--he determined that he would just make the situation look as racy as possible without verifying his facts. I edited over eighty books at AMP, and never once edited a story I could have classified as PORN.

I'm not involved with AMP but i've been following what has been happening for awhile now. I really feel bad for the authors and staff involved on many levels. That reporters article just made the situation even worse (in my opinion.) I hope the paper ends up pulling the article- anyone with half a brain stem would know better than to call AMP writers porn authors. I'm not even involved and I was offended by it. Sorry this is happening to you guys.

Yeah, this asshat has made everything much worse. Automatically, now, our position has been weakened and our claims spurious because of that PORN handle.

That's BRANDON JOHANSSON, Staff Writer, right? Wouldn't want to have the wrong guy.

Yes sir. And the newspaper is:

aurorasentinel.com
Aurora Sentinel
Phone number: 303-750-7555
E-mail: [email protected]
Address: 14305 E. Alameda Ave.
Aurora, CO 80012

and complaints can also be sent to [email protected].

Whoa... you mean I've been writing porn all this time and I didn't know it? **headsmack**

Whu? I wrote sweet romances for AMP. PORN? Grr.

Fibber. You wrote porn. It says so in the article. ;)

Well, I wrote some pretty lame porn then because everyone kept their clothes on.

See what I mean? Historical fiction that passed my fact-checking protocols was labeled as PORN by a reporter and newspaper who apparently do not employ such protocols with their stories.

Some people like sexy full-clothed porn, especially if their limbs are showing.

There was no Amish porn at AMP. :roll:

Hmm, I wonder how many editors would roll professional eyes seeing that title? I mean, relying purely on the word 'porn' to stimulate readership...

He'd make a shite erotic author.

Bingo.

Good grief. Calling AMP a porn publisher is like calling B&N an XXX book store.

You mean it isn't? I had no idea...

"With trembling hands the would-be journalist slowly removed the cellophane from his long, hard pencil. And then with a salacious grimace he thrust its throbbing point into the soft and yielding paper, again and again and again and ..."

We'll contract that PORN story later. Sight unseen.
 

Haggis

Evil, undead Chihuahua
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
56,216
Reaction score
18,302
Location
A dark, evil place.
Truthfully, Your Honor, it was just a bunch of horror stories. My characters didn't get naked. I'm fairly certain non of them even had genitalia. And how can you even do the horizontal boogie when you're, you know, undead? Methinks that the writer made shit up rather than investigating. No Pulitzer Prize for you, BRANDON JOHANSSON, of the Aurora Sentinel, aurorasentinel.com, (303) 750-7555, [email protected], 14305 E. Alameda, Aurora, CO 80012.
 
Last edited:

Dominique Eastwick

Registered
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
27
Reaction score
2
Location
Raleigh NC
I am shaking with anger and this is just making me sick. As if the situation wasn't bad enough for those of us who were owed money. Now to be called a porn writer? I write Erotic Romance yes, and now with my name linked to AMP and this porn article, my day job could be in jeopardy. So now I could lose two incomes in one fail swoop. Thank you reporter…just thank you so very much.
 

mscelina

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
20,006
Reaction score
5,352
Location
Going shopping with Soccer Mom and Bubastes for fu
Not doing me any favors either. *sigh*

When I publish historical fiction, I feel an obligation to check every aspect of those stories to make certain they are accurate. I have two historians on staff to implement that policy. I'm very proud of the fact that we do this at Aurora and Clio.

A simple Google search would have let the anonymous author of the Huffington Post know that the titles cited as AMP titles were never published by us. They were published by an entirely different company I've never heard of. Hell, the company's name begins with a "C" for pete's sake.

And now, a simple Google search of my name will bring up the word *porn* and link to my blog. Authors who wrote nothing even close to pornography will run the risk of losing their jobs--like Dominique just said--or, in some authors' cases, prevent them from being published by houses with those stupid morality clauses.

And all because some idiot from a small town Colorado paper decided to sensationalize the plight of a community of international authors with a trigger word in the title, thereby diminishing the very real hardships and trauma caused by their publisher and endangering their livelihoods, reputations and careers in the process.

I guess that's what I get for speaking out about AMP. I couldn't have been punished more thoroughly if they'd posted my social security number and bank account. Yay.
 

Fallen

Stood at the coalface
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 9, 2009
Messages
5,500
Reaction score
1,957
Website
www.jacklpyke.com
When I publish historical fiction, I feel an obligation to check every aspect of those stories to make certain they are accurate. I have two historians on staff to implement that policy. I'm very proud of the fact that we do this at Aurora and Clio.

That's what I don't get. Where's the editorial supervision with these articles? Are they allowed to post any crap without the facts being checked?
 

Chumplet

This hat is getting too hot
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
3,348
Reaction score
854
Age
64
Location
Ontario, Canader
Website
www.chumpletwrites.blogspot.com
That's what I don't get. Where's the editorial supervision with these articles? Are they allowed to post any crap without the facts being checked?

Our Editor wouldn't have stood for that crap. And our Publisher would've made sure it was set right after the comments on the website.
 

mscelina

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
20,006
Reaction score
5,352
Location
Going shopping with Soccer Mom and Bubastes for fu
I have contacted the legal and editorial departments at the Huffington Post. I have also contacted the legal and editorial departments at the Aurora Sentinel AND cc'ed them on the email I sent to the so-called "journalist" with the email chain so they can see our communications.

I'm just sick about this. Really sick. So many of AMP's authors are well-respected professionals in education or industry, stay at home moms and retirees--and now they've been labelled as 'pornographers' by this asshat. And, I have to say this too--even though I'm outraged at the owner of AMP's behavior and treatment of her authors, now she's been branded as a 'pornographer' in her hometown newspaper in front of her kids, her friends, her church. She's many things right now, but she's not a pornographer. A horrible, horrible escalation to this prolonged nightmare.
 

Dave Hardy

Don't let your deal go down,
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Messages
959
Reaction score
87
Location
'Til your last gold dollar is gone.
I just forwarded an e-mail to the web editor. Is there a Colorado-based journalism wach-dog? I think this sails close to libel, it's not true & private persons are involved. At the very least a public retraction & apology is in order.
 

mscelina

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
20,006
Reaction score
5,352
Location
Going shopping with Soccer Mom and Bubastes for fu
That I'm not sure of. I have offered to provide the editors of these papers with the well over a hundred AMP titles I have access to so they can determine whether all those books are *porn*. I'm sure they won't take any action, of course. Why should they? They'll continue to libel good people--and some not so good, but the owner is STILL not a pornographer--as long as they can if they are unchecked.