Thanks to the #notchilled hashtag on Twitter- a very loose affiliation that's been discussing what's going on with Ellora's Cave- here are screens of the email Jaid Black/Tina Engler sent out and contract EC is offering its authors to revert their rights back to them.

As always- we report, you decide. ;)  

Word's going around that EC will be shutting its doors on Dec 31, 2016. 

Nothing official's been posted on their site or FB page, but many authors are already klatching about it.  In typical EC fashion, they/she are trying to hold the revision of author's rights back to them in lieu of waiving any claims to outstanding royalties due.

Sadly, neither of these developments came as a surprise to anyone.

This gets uglier almost by the minute.

Acclaimed author Piers Anthony has a webpage where he lists his thoughts and impressions on two aspects of the publishing business- publishers & sellers. It's pretty bare bones and little more than a collection of anecdotes and secondhand info he's gathered into one place for easy reference. He's even got a nice little disclaimer right at the top:

"This survey has no authority other than my own ornery wish to help aspiring writers make progress; I'm really a writer, not a surveyor. I am Piers Anthony, known primarily for my Xanth fantasy series, though I also do serious writing. I've had a good deal of experience in the publishing school of hard knocks, hence my interest in making it easier for others. Updates directly from publishers are welcome, and so are comments about those publishers from those who use them. I have no agenda other than reasonable clarity, accuracy and relevance. I take publishers' claims on faith until learning otherwise; then I tell truth without much concern for consequences. I do not check with publishers before running positive or negative feedback on them; this survey is of the nature of a review, and anonymity of sources is maintained. If I may summarize the general gist of publisher responses to bad reviews, it is "You're a liar! We'll sue! Tell us who blabbed so we can destroy them. Who the hell are you to make such judgments anyway?!" To which I reply "Tough feces, folk. Clean up your act." But when, on rare occasion, the publisher turns out to have the right of it, I will grudgingly amend my entry next update."

Got it? Good.

This morning there's an update to the Ellora's Cave entry on his page that's both damnable and damn scary if it happens to be true.

His entire post can be found on his site; scroll down to the EC entry. It's a bit of a pain since nothing's pagainated or formatted, but it's all there. All sarcasm aside, that's some real lowdown, dirty shit to pull.

Provided it's true.

And at this point it's hard to believe it isn't.

Many of you are well aware of the disaster that's become Ellora's Cave Publishing (hereafter referred to as EC) and the well documented issue they've been having with making payroll. Well, despite the settlement between EC and Dear Author/Jane Litte, another salvo's just been launched across the bow.

Last Friday Jennifer Kacey posted over on Decadent Divas, asking her fans to no longer buy her books. Reason being: she hasn't been paid any royalites since Feb 2015. Nope; that's not a misprint- those are her exact words. She also poses a good question: in what country on this planet is it legal for any business to get away with not paying its employees- in this case, authors? Answer: there isn't one. She also contends that all her request for arrears and information regarding them were met with misdirection and indifferent silence at best, deliberate baiting and condescension at worst.

"...In any other business that's considered illegal. Guess what? It's illegal in this business too but EC for some reason has decided they're immune to actually paying their authors. Have they paid some in recent months? Yep. Have they paid me. Nope.

So before somebody over there gets a bug up their ass this is my information. Mine. I'm not quoting anyone else, though I could. I'm not dragging the horrible treatment others have received into this, though I could. I'm going to tell you my story. All of this is fact. FACT.

I'm not defaming liabling name-calling or anything else. I'm simply asking everyone, my fans, my readers and anyone else who finds this post NOT to buy my EC titles. I'll be removing them from my site as well. My books. How sad." She also has a message for anyone thinking of signing on with EC: "To the new authors at EC - RUN!!! Not walk, or even speed walk. Grab your shit and leave as fast as you can. They are not a reputable publisher. They've called us bad apples for months because we actually wanted to be paid or we wanted our rights back. Well guess what?

At some point you'll want to be paid, too. Do not sign with them. Do not. We are leaving in droves for a reason. Lots of reasons. Thousands of rea$on$...

And I'm sorry, you are not a special snowflake when it comes to them. You will get stepped on and thrown aside just as quickly as we were. Learn from us. Please. If even one person reads this post and doesn't pub with them then it will be worth it."

You can read the entire post over at Decadent Divas.

Wonder how Tina Engler aka Jaid Black will try to spin this one...?