Good morning!
A small update for you regarding the list prices on this website; everything has been converted from USD to CAD, so everything has been updated accordingly. While it may appear that there is a price increase, it's truly only a currency conversion - my previous blog update with the USD prices is still fairly accurate. The reasoning for the change is that the current limitations with Wix stores will only allow debit/credit transactions in the native currency that has been set up. With most of my viewership being Canadian, it made the most sense to switch over.
(For those purchasing from the US/globally; I recommend utilizing Paypal or other alternative options provided, as your debit/credit card may not work with the revised currency.)
In light of current circumstances, however, I'm also wary of how this book will be perceived by US citizens following certain changes. I won't wax poetic on politics, but the fact of the matter is that books do get banned for far less than what I've written about. Somehow, despite the amount of violence that occurs within A Clockwork Melody, I have always known that the most divisive topics dwelling within those pages are the ones that never seemed divisive to me at all.
The inclusion of LGBTQ characters and relationships was never a decision I made to prove a point or to score points with a particular demographic... this story has always been a reflection of what's important to me, and this was less a conscious choice and simply something that made sense. Would the story be exactly the same without these choices? Perhaps - and yet the inclusion of these roles exactly as they are is relevant to both the plot itself and their own characterization.
Perhaps, four years from now, this will all be something to laugh about. We will jest at how serious we all were at the tail end of the year 2024, fearing the worst... and yet it all turned out to be all right in the end. I hope so. I may be a Canadian citizen, but it would be naïve to suggest that transborder issues will not affect us here. Furthermore, my primary distributor is US-based; whatever laws affect books could very well affect me as well. Whatever happens, whatever decisions are made regarding censorship and what content is deemed legally acceptable in books... I will continue to write the stories I want to write.
Many people choose the option of self-publishing to bypass the limitations of traditional publishing, the bias and risk of censorship - that goal doesn't change simply with the added threat of banned books.
All my love,
JP
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