Last updated: 7 June 2026
These Terms of Use apply to unhiddenlegacies.com, including the main Joomla website and any related archive access at archive.unhiddenlegacies.com or unhiddenlegacies.com/archive.
This site is operated by an individual author using the pen name D. M. Ashford and the imprint name Ashridge Press. Ashridge Press is used as an imprint or publishing label and is not stated to be a registered business name unless otherwise indicated.
Contact:
Location: Western Australia, Australia.
1. About the site
Unhidden Legacies is an author and fiction website. It provides public pages and free registered-reader access to additional fiction material, including the Archive Edition of Book I, which is the shorter story version before the planned expanded edition release on Amazon.
The site may later include newsletters, reader feedback forms, beta or early-access reading opportunities, paid products, Amazon links, Patreon/Ko-fi links, galleries, archive material, or other related author/publishing features. If those features are introduced, these Terms may be updated or supplemented by additional terms.
2. Acceptance of these Terms
By accessing or using the site, creating an account, reading registered-reader content, or submitting feedback, you agree to these Terms.
If you do not agree, do not use the site or create an account.
3. Eligibility and age suitability
Archive access is intended for readers aged 16 or older. Readers under 16 should not register for archive access unless a parent or guardian has reviewed the site and given permission.
The fiction may contain mature themes, including crime, death, psychological tension, violence, spiritual or occult imagery, and related subject matter. Reader discretion is advised. If the material is distressing, stop reading and seek support from a trusted person where appropriate.
4. Accounts and registered-reader access
Account registration is currently free.
Registered-reader and archive access is subject to email verification and manual approval. The site operator may approve, refuse, suspend, or delete accounts where reasonably necessary for site security, access control, misuse prevention, or administration.
Registered readers may access additional fiction chapters and archive-related material, including the Archive Edition of Book I and the private archive area where available.
Users are responsible for keeping their login details secure and for activity under their account. Do not share your login details or allow another person to access private archive material through your account.
Free registered-reader access is offered at the site operator’s discretion. Content, chapters, archive material, and access rules may be changed, removed, taken offline, restricted, or discontinued at any time.
5. No social or community features
The site does not currently provide public comments, forums, public user profiles, user-to-user messaging, social feeds, public reader posting areas, or user-generated public content areas.
Private feedback may be submitted only through approved contact methods if those features are made available. Private feedback is not a public posting area and does not create a social or community profile.
6. Acceptable use
You must not use the site to:
attempt to hack, disrupt, overload, scrape, reverse engineer, or interfere with the site;
bypass access controls or attempt to access private archive material without permission;
share logins or allow unauthorised access to registered-reader areas;
scrape, copy, download in bulk, republish, redistribute, or make public private archive pages or registered-reader material;
impersonate another person or misrepresent your identity;
submit unlawful, abusive, defamatory, harassing, spam, malicious, or harmful material;
upload or send malware;
copy, reproduce, redistribute, sell, adapt, train datasets on, or commercially exploit site content without permission;
use automated tools to harvest, scrape, index, train models on, or extract content from the site without express written permission.
The site operator may suspend or delete accounts that misuse the site, breach these Terms, or create security, legal, operational, or community concerns.
7. Fiction, archive material, and changes
The fiction and archive material may evolve over time. Chapters may be edited, expanded, removed, renamed, reorganised, or replaced.
The Archive Edition is provided as a free registered-reader archive and may differ from later expanded, revised, commercial, Amazon-hosted, or published editions.
Access to draft, archive, early-access, or beta-reading material does not create any right to future editions, paid products, publication decisions, story outcomes, or continued access.
8. Copyright and intellectual property
Unless otherwise stated, all fiction, text, artwork, personal artwork, AI-generated images, archive material, and other original content on the site are owned or controlled by the author, D. M. Ashford, under the Ashridge Press imprint.
You may share links to public pages.
You may quote brief excerpts for commentary, review, criticism, discussion, or similar fair-use/fair-dealing style purposes, provided the quotation is properly attributed and does not exceed 500 words of the total work.
You must not copy, repost, upload, distribute, sell, adapt, translate, train datasets on, or create derivative works from the fiction, archive material, artwork, or site content without written permission, except where legally permitted.
Archive material is not currently subject to separate licensing terms. If that changes, the site will state the applicable terms.
9. Reader feedback, proofreading, and beta/early-access comments
The site may allow readers to provide private feedback through a contact form or similar mechanism.
Feedback may include story theories, comments, suggested edits, corrections, reactions, or expressions of interest in beta or early-access reading for future material such as the expanded edition or Book II.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing:
feedback is submitted voluntarily;
feedback does not create any ownership claim in the fiction, characters, setting, plot, revisions, or future works;
the author may use feedback to improve, revise, edit, market, or develop the work without compensation;
submitting feedback does not guarantee a reply, credit, beta access, publication access, or involvement in future releases.
Private feedback may be read by the site operator. It will not be quoted publicly, used as a testimonial, or attributed to a reader without permission.
Feedback is currently intended to remain private. No public comment or review system is currently in place. If public comments or reviews are later enabled, these Terms may be updated.
10. Contact forms and communications
The site may later include a contact form collecting name, email address, subject, and message.
You must not use contact forms or email communications for spam, harassment, illegal material, malware, abusive content, or unrelated commercial solicitation.
The site may later offer opt-in newsletters. Newsletter subscribers will be able to unsubscribe.
Account-related emails, such as registration, verification, password reset, and user-prompted account notices, may be sent automatically.
11. Payments and future paid features
There are currently no paid products sold directly on the site.
Future paid products or services may include ebooks, downloads, memberships, subscriptions, merchandise, or other author-related products. Payments would most likely be handled by PayPal, with Stripe as a possible alternative. Amazon-hosted content may be advertised on the site but would be handled through Amazon.
The site operator does not intend to store payment card details directly.
Invoices or receipts may be generated for direct paid purchases if such purchases are introduced.
If paid products are introduced, extra purchase terms, refund terms, or platform-specific terms may apply. Nothing in these Terms is intended to exclude, restrict, or modify any consumer rights that cannot legally be excluded.
12. Third-party links and services
The site may link to third-party services, including Amazon or future payment/support platforms such as PayPal, Stripe, Patreon, or Ko-fi.
Third-party sites and services have their own terms, privacy practices, payment rules, refund processes, and security arrangements. The site operator is not responsible for third-party platforms once you leave Unhidden Legacies or interact with those services.
hCaptcha may be introduced later if spam becomes a problem.
13. No guarantee of uninterrupted access
The site is provided as available. Access may be interrupted, restricted, changed, moved, suspended, or discontinued for maintenance, technical issues, hosting issues, security reasons, content revision, or operational reasons.
The archive is currently private. Archive access may be changed or removed.
14. Disclaimers
The site provides fiction, author updates, archive material, and related creative content. It does not provide legal, financial, medical, psychological, or professional advice.
Fictional works, characters, settings, organisations, events, and story elements are creative works. Any resemblance to real people, places, organisations, or events may be coincidental unless expressly stated.
15. Account deletion and termination
Users may request account deletion by contacting
Account deletion is currently handled by the site administrator, not self-service.
The site operator may suspend or delete accounts that breach these Terms, misuse the site, remain inactive, or create security or operational concerns.
Inactive accounts may be deleted after 12 months from the last active date.
16. Copyright complaints and takedown requests
If you believe material on the site infringes your copyright or other rights, contact:
Please include enough detail to identify the material, explain your claim, and allow the matter to be reviewed.
17. Disputes
These Terms are intended to be governed by the laws of Western Australia, Australia, subject to any mandatory laws that apply.
If you access the site from outside Australia, other mandatory laws may also apply where they cannot legally be excluded.
Before starting any formal dispute process, please contact
Nothing in these Terms limits any rights, remedies, or protections that cannot legally be excluded, restricted, or modified.
18. Changes to these Terms
These Terms may be updated as the site develops, especially if newsletters, payments, public comments, reviews, analytics, anti-spam tools, galleries, third-party services, or paid products are introduced.
The “Last updated” date will be changed when the Terms are updated.