I sat down to talk about a 1995 alien romance and ended up in a six and a half year lawsuit. In today's episode of Reading Under the Covers, a romance novel podcast, we are diving into Knight of a Trillion Stars by Dara Joy. Our July/August Ripped & Ravished Book Club book.
Three words: Highlanders in Space
But then I got curious about what happened to Dara Joy, a bestselling author who simply disappeared for twenty years. That turned into a whole rabbit hole including a contract lawsuit, an argument about whether a book counted as science fiction or romance, a self-publishing attempt that went wrong. And the book at the centre of that scandal sent me looking for where all the dominant women were in 2000s romance.
This episode covers an author's litigation and business history. Everything is sourced and linked below, and I've quoted both sides in their own words.
Timestamps
00:00 The Rabbit Hole
00:53 Book Club Housekeeping
01:41 Meet the Alien Knight
03:02 Sci-Fi Con Fish Out of Water
05:18 Rating and Red Flags
07:11 Writing Style Surprise
09:04 Suzanne's Review, and the Spice
11:41 Series Talk: Rejar
13:14 Where Is Dara Joy?
14:02 The Dorchester Lawsuit Timeline
19:05 The Self-Publishing PayPal Mess
21:33 The Ritual of Proof Twist
25:53 Femdom Market Deep Dive
31:52 Power Dynamics Takeaways
34:01 Wrap Up and Next Pick
Books Mentioned
Knight of a Trillion Stars by Dara Joy (1995), Matrix of Destiny #1
Rejar by Dara Joy (1997), Matrix of Destiny #2
Ritual of Proof by Dara Joy (2001)
Holding the Cards by Joey W. Hill (2002), Nature of Desire #1
Natural Law by Joey W. Hill (2004), Nature of Desire #2
The Vampire Queen's Servant by Joey W. Hill (2007), Vampire Queen #1
Truly Helpless by Joey W. Hill (2017), Nature of Desire #10
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux (1989)
From the blog
Knight of a Trillion Stars review, including Suzanne's original 2011 review: https://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/knight-of-a-trillion-stars-review/
Rejar review: https://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/rejar-by-dara-joy-review/
Ripped & Ravished Book Club: https://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/bodice-ripper-book-club/
How to Read Vintage Bodice Rippers Without Gaslighting Yourself: https://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/read-vintage-bodice-rippers/
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux review: https://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/a-knight-in-shining-armor-by-jude-deveraux/
My review of The Vampire Queen's Servant by Joey W. Hill: https://archive.underthecoversbookblog.com/the-vampire-queens-servant-by-joey-w-hill/
Jennifer's review of Truly Helpless by Joey W. Hill, quoted in this episode: https://archive.underthecoversbookblog.com/truly-helpless-by-joey-w-hill-2/
Sources
Everything in this episode is sourced. Here is where it all came from.
ON THE DORCHESTER DISPUTE
Dorchester Publishing's public statement, 10 February 2005, archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20070208005519/http://www.dorchesterpub.com/DorchSpecialFeatures.cfm
Dara Joy's own 2005 statement, quoted in Maya Reynolds, "Another Cautionary Tale," April 2007. The original page on her website has since been deleted and is not archived: https://mayareynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2007/04/another-cautionary-tale.html
Dear Author, "Authors Behaving Badly: Dara Joy," July 2006. The most detailed contemporary account of the litigation and the self-publishing complaints: https://dearauthor.wordpress.com/2006/07/03/authors-behaving-badly-episode-1-dara-joy/
Dara Joy, "Great news from Dara Joy," 1 February 2008, announcing the settlement: https://officialdarajoy.com/2008/02/01/great-news-from-dara-joy/
Dara Joy's official site and current self-published catalogue: https://officialdarajoy.com/
ON RITUAL OF PROOF
All About Romance review: https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/ritual-of-proof/
Mrs Giggles review, April 2002: https://mrsgiggles.com/ritual-of-proof-by-dara-joy/
Beauty in Ruins review, October 2024: https://sallybend.wordpress.com/2024/10/05/book-review-ritual-of-proof-by-dara-joy-sff-romance/
ON ELLORA'S CAVE AND BDSM ROMANCE
Smart Bitches Trashy Books, "Interview with the Folks from Ellora's Cave," 2006: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/stuffwelike/interview_with_the_folks_from_elloras_cave/
Sarah S. G. Frantz, "The History of BDSM Fiction and Romance," in Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey (2012), via the Romance Scholarship Database: https://rsdb.vivanco.me.uk/bibliography/history-bdsm-fiction-and-romance
Joey W. Hill's Nature of Desire series, publication history and book descriptions: https://storywitch.com/series-nod/
Join the Book Club
Ripped & Ravished is our vintage romance readalong. One book every two months, and a podcast discussion for each one.
September and October is Love Come to Me by Lisa Kleypas. She has a new book out in October, Queen of Lombard Street, her first in five years, so it felt like the right moment to go all the way back to where she started.
Join the Ripped & Ravished email track and you'll get the pick, the discussion link, and a bit of context every two months: https://underthecovers.myflodesk.com/ripped-ravished
And reply to those emails. Genuinely. Reader replies have changed how I've read these books more than once.
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