So... Kira runs all these yaoi sites, right? And is publishing several books, and had several books not just by herself but by other authors available on preorder (as well as normal order, for those that were finished.) There was also a subscription section of the site (Elites/Blondies) that many people enjoyed. Yesterday she was talking about the imminent release of Becca Abbott's novel, Cethe. Kira runs all sorts of sites, which are all hard-core yaoi, with beautifully commissioned artwork and ads all over sites like aff.net. (By hardcore, I mean...there's spanking and NCS and everything... yeah, in her works.)

And then today everything went... weird.

In my inbox there was a letter from the Kirasfic group, labeled as being from Kira herself:

For some of you, this message is going to come as a shock. I must tell
you that I am not the same person I was even last week. I have accepted
the Holy Spirit into my body and as a consequence have had a
life-altering personal revelation from Jesus Christ. One thing that is
very clear to me: what I am doing with these companies and these books
is not pleasing in the eyes of God.

So I am discontinuing everything. This means I will be cancelling
memberships and refunding book orders and Blondie/Elite memberships. I
will also have to pay back my shareholders. I will pay everyone back
eventually, but it may not be right away. I am sorry, but any contracts
for book publications are hereby voided.

It is unclear to me what my future holds, but I have decided that it is
for God to direct, not me. I have been feeling the call to create a new
company to write stories that are more instructive, with an emphasis on
right action.

I know this announcement will probably cause outrage, disappointment,
and alarm. All I can tell you is that when you have felt the fire of God
burn inside you, you can no longer return to your previous life. You
cannot put new wine in old wineskins.

You have all been so incredibly loyal to me, and I apologize for this,
but I must answer to One Higher than myself. Perhaps some of you will
consider reading my new books. I will keep the name Kira Takenouchi, and
I will keep my journal <http://yaoiunderground.com/journal/> , but I
will be changing the skin.

As for returns on money—be assured that I will pay back every penny
that is owed. But it may not happen right away.

I will close with the sincere desire that all of you experience the love
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Shock... would be an understatement.

I went to the Kirafics Yahoo message board, and some people were saying... exactly some of the things I was thinking. Not only were there the obvious questions like—'Is this a hacker'? and 'Will someone else be allowed to take over?' but also... the legal ramifications of something like this.


One message put it very well:

Kira,

While I do respect your right to make a radical life change, I am
concerned about the lack of urgency you show in returning the money
that you have received for membership subscriptions and books sales that
you have not fulfilled. I only subscribed to your site on
February 23 and have only seen one update which I was unable to read at
the time. Also, I have received no books as promised. I'm
afraid that the abrupt cancellation of memberships via the form email
below or one like it without the return of the money paid in good faith
is unacceptable.
————————
Below is your confirmation that we have cancelled your subscription.

Please review the information below and notify us immediately if you have any questions.

Customer Service
The Yaoi Shop
1-812-219-5733
admin@...
———————————————————————————————

SUBSCRIPTION CANCELLATION CONFIRMATION
Subscription No. 871
Cancellation Date: 3/16/08
1 Blondie Membership - USA (Yearly - 1 Year) @ $95.00


Even though you have promised to return the monies owed to your
subscribers/members eventually, since you are essentially in breach of
contract, you need to realize that the money you owe needs to be returned
immediatley unless you want to risk legal action.

I do understand from your journal entries that you have gone through an
ordeal, and, while I sympathize, this is not an acceptable reason not to
1) either fulfill the contracts you have solicited and received, or 2) fully,
and immediately, refund the monies owed.

Since I do not know you or what sort of person you are except from your
journal entries, I'm afraid that I find it suspicious that you so
recently solicited subscriptions citing your illness and
mounting medical expenses to simply cancel these membership
without the benefit of refund.

I, myself, am returning to work after a 5 month recovery from a
major Cervical fusion and bone graft to halt permanent paralysis as well
as to relieve the chronic pain I have experienced for the last 7 years.
This is probably the most painful and diffcult experience of my life
spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially. Even so,
this experience has not released me from any of my financial or contractual
obligations. In fact, it has compounded them.
I view the exchange of funds for a product or service to be a
business agreement which must be upheld. While I upheld my end of the
agreement by providing the funds on Feb 23 required for a subscription and
receipt of 3 books, you have not held up your end of the agreement as
evidenced when I checked to see if there were any credits to my account for
all or part of the subscription price. At best, I feel misled,
at worst, I feel that I have been exploited and conned.
Please resolve this issue with upmost expediency.

A. Smith

yet another note read:

Kira,

I have remained silent, while you have been gathering
your life together over the years, but not anymore. I honestly do feel like
lashing out at you for I feel this “finding of the Lord“ is a
cop out; but I will not. Instead, I have a few comments for you to think on.

People find the Lord in many situations, and in dire times
in their lives, and am pleased that you have also. I am glad that you are
talking to God. I have absolutely no idea, or wants to know, of your personal
involvement with him, however I still have my thoughts to add.

1) Do not rush into things. Jesus thought
things through and so must you.

Before canceling EVERYTHING and disbanding, take a step back, think things
over and wait it out for a week or so. It will give you a better perspective
on things. Rushing never has solved a thing.

2) There is nothing wrong with the story lines you
are doing. God adores us all and loves ALL of us, no matter what their
persuasion.

3) Are you absolutely sure this is God you are talking to
and not your conscience?

4) Have you truly found the Lord or is this a way to avoid
telling us that the company is bankrupt?

If you have in fact given your life to
Jesus, then that is absolutely wonderful and I am very happy about it! I
am very happy for you, for the Lord is indeed everything that there is. BUT if
this is all another illusion for us, then I am very disappointed in you.
Either way, you must live with yourself and what you do.

Perhaps I doubt your faith, your commitment, but as a
follower of many years I have been a witness to your ups and downs.

May God bless you Kira.
I dearly hope this is for real and not another “hoax“

The best to you,
Michaela

Jenna Steele wrote:

Wow.
This is like of those surreal dreams
that you wonder if what you wake up to is really Reality or just a crazy
waking dream

I haven't really said a lot as a
member of this group, but I honestly love the stories that Kira writes. But
this just feels so wrong. I'm not a religious person and I have no intention
of judging someone who has faith in a religious organization, but I just do
not understand how you think that what you have been doing is “wrong.“

From what I know about Jesus and the Bible it pretty much preaches love,
acceptance, and understanding. So why would God forgive and allow serial
rapists, murderers, and pedophiles who repented in prison into heaven, but
would condemn people to hell just because the person they happened to love was
the same gender as them? Correct me if I'm wrong but that just does not make
sense. The bible preaches love and your stories convey the same ideas, so I
honestly don't see the problem.

We all want you to find happiness, in
whatever form it may take. But be careful that you aren't consumed by your
newfound beliefs; because in the words of William Shakespeare,
“Even the Devil can cite scripture for his purpose.“

I sincerely wish you smooth sailing
and calm waters in your life's new course,

Jenna Steele

Vousetnulautrevr wrote:

I've kept pretty silent in this group, but I feel that as a believer I
must say something now: You have not found GOD, Kira, and I'm extremely
insulted that you have the audacity to use the Lord has a way of stealing
money from people. Yes, I said stealing. You run a business and
are required to immediately refund the money that has been given to you for
memberships and books if you aren't going to have a club for people to be in
or send the books. There's none of this “eventually repay
you“ stuff. Your customers money should be available for
immediate repayment since you have no logical business-related reason to
have already spent their money.

For those unfortunate enough to have done business with Kira, I highly
suggest you organize yourselves and get a lawyer. Anyone who claims
that God has told them to rip you off is obviously not going to pay you what
you are owed since they're really sleeping with the Devil. Someone who
is so enflamed by the Holy Spirit doesn't need any material goods and should
be enthusiastically throwing her “inappropriate“ wealth at you,
not sending an IOU.

Now would be a good time to claim the “radical“ is a
hacker, Kira.

and then there was yet another message sent out to the entire mailing list by
Kira! It was titled "good news"... and essentially said 'the end is
near'. Not what I consider good news, but then, she also is hearing God talking
to her, so things are probably understandably becoming confusing for her. Kira's
new message said:

My friends,

I know you have many questions and concerns. I know you are angry. But
I can tell you what has been said by many before me: the Day of
Judgment is approaching. Look into your hearts and make yourselves
worthy. Accept the gift that has been given to you in the blood of
Jesus Christ and avoid the coming wrath.

The wrath is coming! HE is coming! Make your paths straight, for the
Day of the Lord is near.

I have received this revelation from God, but it is not a new
revelation. Rather, I have been given Council to express the urgency
of this news to you.

The Lord knows I care about all of you and hope that many of you will
stand with me in the Light of our Lord.

Look into your hearts and ask yourself if you are ready to face your
Creator. Make yourself ready before it is too late.

For the Lord my God has told me that his wrath will scorch the earth
from one end to the other. Accept the gift of salvation through our
Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy instead the treasures of the Kingdom of God.

Repent!

At pretty soon after, I was surfing through more responses, looking for someone to say something new and interesting (One said something along the lines of "the fire within—isn't that your kidney stones? [she'd had some out, recently] Ha ha ha—- have fun with JESUS"... which was disrespectful, but also one of the more amusing responses. Another response was by a person who lauded her wonderful attitude, and said it was a shame that people weren't stronger, because the bible said gays were an abomination, etc., etc... which made me wonder what this kind of person had been doing on the kinky yaoi fanlist in the first place. Keeping an eye on the deviants? It pissed me off a bit. But I was refreshing the list, seeing what other people had to say.

And then the mailing list stopped existing.

So... okay. That was my weird, weird day.

I'm going to go read some yaoi, now, and cheer up. Screw the fact that I have school early tomorrow—I am so weirded out. I need my equilibrium restored by the pretty. T__T

ETA May 08, 2008: Kira is no longer in the business, but other people have taken over where she has left off. The books are going to be completed by fabulous 'ghost writers', who often write even better than Kira actually did. Subscribed members now also get more updates, because there is a whole team of writers working on the fiction. The books will also still be coming out; the only real difference is where the site is hosted (and who is technically hosting it).

The new site for fics is: http://www.kiratakenouchi.com/

Kira's new site, if you were wondering what she is doing now that she is uber-Christian, is here: http://kiramorningstar.com/
Her journal (explaining what she's doing from day to day) is here: http://kiramorningstar.com/journal/
On Kira's new website, she's writing now, but it's more about people who undergo spiritual movements (and she's going to start charging people to read that as well, anyway).

While the transition for the yaoi site itself was very scary, in a way it was positive; now the site is run by several people, who seem to be much more stable. There's more updates, and a shared workload, so that even if one person suddenly had an 'epiphany' and bailed, other people could pick up the slack.

ETA May 23rd: Okay, so she's randomly trying to take everything back now. Excuse me while I go cry emo tears. She's completely out of line; she already gave up her company, and the minute it seems stable, she comes back, because she's 'on medication' (read: can't stand someone else playing with her toys). I have no idea what she's thinking, and I'm pretty disgusted by her behavior. She seems to expect that, after declaring all contracts null and void, now she can step back in and demand that everyone write for her, and that everything is hers again.

Seriously, this woman is crazy. (And this is supposed to be her on pills.) I don't care if you love her fiction, she is being terrible to everyone and expecting them to pick up the pieces (and then taking away the finished, fixed thing once they have). I know all about the love of slashy goodness -- but her treatment of everyone dealing with her is NOT worth her fiction.

Don't go to 'yaoi house'. Follow all the authors (and the company president) that had taken over in her absence -- go HERE: http://www.slpublishinggroup.com/site/index.html

ETA March 2009
Christian Kira is back. Her site now directs you to something called 'bow before him'. She's re-appropriated covers from her previous books and put them on her christian books (apparently her religious figures don't mind being ex-models for harem boy and such. Amusing only if you know, right?)

She's released the authors like Kiix from their contracts with Yaoi House LLC publishing, for obvious reasons.

No idea what's going to happen to her personal yaoi work-in-progress pieces. If anyone does know, post it here?

That's all from here for now.

ETA
I'm just going to start keeping a timeline [thank you, anons who keep me posted ♥ ]

Around July 2009: Kira returns to yaoi

Around March 2010: Kira returns to Christianity

Early June 2010: (Drama, Drama) Kira posts all her fiction for free in an effort to combat the negative information & demonstrate her good will; does not seem to plan for further writing [ETA: it appears these discussions are no longer publicly available]

Mid June 2010: Kira returns to charging for yaoi at kirafix.com

Early December 2010: Citing personal reasons and illness, Kira is taking a temporary (or perhaps permanent) break, cancelling subscriptions & taking down her kirafix site.

At some point in here, there is some drama about a Yaoi Awards Anthology or Magazine or somesuch notion. Kira and her works are brought up repeatedly; unsurprisingly, sockpuppetry abounds. I don't remember it very well; anyone with a better memory/links to the drama, please feel free to post about it in the comments; I was remiss with recording the incident, and only gave it passing attention at the time.

February 2012: Kira's works become available on a new site, officially under the name Camry. It is an archive, and not updated or for sale, but is free to view. Meanwhile, the last semi-public conversation (an exchange apparently posted between Kira and someone else; I haven't yet read it) ostensibly had with Kira is available here. ETA: the archive is  now under wraps again (as of Sept 2012) 

July 2012: A blog, potentially Kira's, (though not confirmed to be so), found here. It's under the name "yahweh press"; it seems that Kira is conflicted about a return to yaoi, but doesn't announce any intended future direction. (One blog entry implies yaoi writing will resume, but the entry that follows it seems to indicate otherwise -- feel free to read them and draw your own conclusions.) ETA: As of Sept 2012, the site on which the blog was housed is up for grabs, and thus one assumes that it has been abandoned.

Thank you, various anons, for your various tips/heads up.