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If you have ever heard of the author Dara Joy then chances are it might be a long time before you pass by a new novel in a bookstore carrying that name. In 1995 I picked up a book titled Knight of a Trillion Stars and I was hooked. Mrs. Joy had a hit on her hands and it was just one of a proposed nine book series. Her stories while landing in the genre romance also contain tales of witches, warlocks, other worlds, shape-shifting cat people and magic to name a few and they are actually science fiction romances.
She released more sequels to series titled “Matrix of Destiny” which were wonderfully recieved. These novels had the tendency to make you count the days until the next one was released and then for the last 2-3 years there was nothing. For months I and many fans wondered what was going on.
It now turns out that a lawsuit is in motion with her publisher Dorchester Publishing. Dara Joy says that this publisher “allegedly” doesn’t like to be asked questions. She just wanted answers about unpaid royalties and was slammed with a lawsuit. Unfortunately this is NOT the first time Dorchester has had problems. See RWA.
It also didn’t help the case that a few months ago I and many other fans of these novels were sent emails from Dorchester claiming that Dara Joy had initiated the lawsuit. Whatever the truth is and whatever happened and is going to happen the end result is many things.
Fans like myself are stuck waiting for the sequels we crave, no books have come since her novel Ritual of Proof five years ago and with no end in sight for the lawsuit we will continue to wait in limbo. However she has released two books from her website which were printed to order. I missed out on the first novel and was shocked to see what has become of them when you try to find them online since they cannot be found in stores.
Places like Amazon is sure to scare off most fans when they see the going prices of $60, $80 and even over $100 for this hard to find and OOP book. As far as I can see no one is winning and I am just saddened and disappointed.
Dorchester Publishing Co. gave me the same run around way back in the late 80′s, so I guess they haven’t changed any. They got sued in 1998 for about a million bucks. Hatcher et al vs. Dorchester Publishing Co. I’m glad someone got them to finally pay! I imagine they’ve gotten away with theft for years and they got found out by Robin Lee Hatcher. It took a lot of courage on her part to see the battle through. I’m proud of her.