Sun > Status Update

Lucy wrote: "Francesca wrote: "I have been an emotional wreck for several hours and have been unable to coherently put two words together since late last night. Let me start with the easy bits: Susan, you legen..."

ehehe today is a day to preach to the choir Lucy love, #nastybirdsunity

Alexandra wrote: "Jann wrote:"I buy a book for the story, not for the person behind the story. "

That's great, do that. No problem. Other people actually care where their money goes when they purchase a book, and what that money is supporting and encouraging. If you don't care or want to know, or whatever, that's perfectly fine. However you feeling that way doesn't obligate every other single reader on the planet to do likewise in every single situation, regardless of what it is."

So true, so true...With all that been happening and coming to light, one has to wonder tho (well, I do now), if the books that have SH's name on them were actually their own or lifted from someone/place else?

First a thank you to Susan. I'm living under a stone it seems.... just understand today all about SH....I'm flabbergasted, I'm hurt, I'm very sad, I'm so sorry for all the people who are hurt by SH I will remove my reviews on GR and Amazon also any posts on Instagram and Twitter. Damn...damn....what a mess .... why ...why...?

Cadiva wrote: "Sakura wrote: "Robin Covington has made a statement regarding removing SH's work from the EXPOSED anthology:

https://www.facebook.com/RobinCovingt..."

Oh this pleases ..."

Yeah but there are 4 other authors included who are now on my "never again" shelf.

Thank you for this post. I was a huge fan of SH and followed him and others in his circle on SM. I started to lose much of my initial devotion when I would see how they would turn on someone with a lot of hate and aggression. I stopped commenting on a lot of things and I think a part of it was because I didn't feel like it was just a fb reader group anymore. It started to feel like he and Megan had their favourite readers/friends they would interact with/bestow their love on etc and it was just one big kiss the authors butt to be bffs with them situation. Also his snapchats?
Something was weird about them that I couldn't quite put my finger on. When he posted in his fb group a few days ago about everything that was happening to him I ALMOST commented my support and bewilderment in what people were doing to him. He was repeating the same things as before - 'people are trying to dox me, they hate me, they are out to get me'. But I stopped and actually read what was happening and when I read about his abuse of so many people I was disgusted and ashamed I didn't look at other information earlier. As soon as it comes to light that someone has been abusing others, it doesn't matter how much of a fan you are anymore.

I have been following everything I can find on this despicable situation. I only recently discovered SH's The Community series, so I didn't know a thing about the toxic events occurring in the background. I don't follow author or celebrity personal lives so I'm late to the table.

I've removed ratings for any books I've read written or co-written by the following authors:

Santino Hassell
Megan Erickson
Piper Vaughn
Sarah Lyons
Karen Stivali
Vanessa North
Amy Jo Cousins
L.A. Witt
Avon Gale
Roan Parrish

Unless I discover something to change my mind, that's final.

At the moment I'm trying to locate the screenshot of LA Witt's statement to naysayers who started trying to blow the whistle on SH some time ago. Facebook? Twitter? It was one of most acidic, cruel examples of bullying and silencing readers I've ever personally read. Does anyone have a link or the screenshot?

All my love and support to those affected...I cannot imagine your pain. :(

Aimee my queen also posted about it guys!!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?stor...

Hayley Walsh too:

https://www.facebook.com/skylerfoxe.m...

And Meredith king:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?stor...

Kathleen wrote: "I have been following everything I can find on this despicable situation. I only recently discovered SH's The Community series, so I didn't know a thing about the toxic events occurring in the back..."

I feel like she must have deleted anything, because I went through her entire FB, back a few months, and didn't see anything about SH.

Kathleen wrote: "IAt the moment I'm trying to locate the screenshot of LA Witt's statement to naysayers who started trying to blow the whistle on SH some time ago. Facebook? Twitter? It was one of most acidic, cruel examples of bullying and silencing readers I've ever personally read. Does anyone have a link or the screenshot?"

https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/stat...

is this it?

I’ve been following this thread for the last couple days and first saw things regarding SH on Tuesday. At first I was confused and bamboozled because, while I’ve been reading mm since 2009, I only really started seeing (maybe being part of??) community in last several months, and in that time I’ve really only seen praise for SH. When SH made “The Post” in January I tried to google information, but found nothing and continued to support SH on patreon. All that said, see everything for the last few days, I am in awe of the bravery everyone speaking out has shown, and the absolute tenacity of some. I’m happily amazed that your voices are being heard and actions are being taken by publishers. Thank you for speaking up; I know how hard that can be when no one wants to hear, but I can’t even imagine when the person in question has as much power as SH has/had. I’m sorry for everyone who has been hurt and suffered, and I just hope voices and stories keep coming out so this author can’t change handles and continue perpetrating this cycle...

Kathleen wrote: "I have been following everything I can find on this despicable situation. I only recently discovered SH's The Community series, so I didn't know a thing about the toxic events occurring in the back..."

https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/stat...

@ Kathleen, I made your list of names clickable:

"I've removed ratings for any books I've read written or co-written by the following authors:

Santino Hassell
Megan Erickson
Piper Vaughn
Sarah Lyons
Karen Stivali
Vanessa North
Amy Jo Cousins
L.A. Witt
Avon Gale
Roan Parrish

Unless I discover something to change my mind, that's final."

Line wrote: "I don't know if this is beating the dead horse, but:
"

EUGH. They are pure garbage dumpsters.

Just to avoid any confusion, those LJ posts are satires written by Nikki in a further attempt to gain awareness after she gained access to Alicia/Aya's old LiveJournals to compare IP addresses that exposed multiple "people" being run by the same human from the same computer, including "Sonny" and several other personas. A few people have thought those posts were written by Alicia, but Nikki's intent was never to mislead with sarcasm.

Tiffany Reisz who has a story in the Exposed anthology posted about this situation on her IG account. Hopefully her statement will get this information out to a larger audience.

Here’s her post:

https://instagram.com/p/BgHHjS4nWwA/

Kim the Strange wrote: "Tiffany Reisz who has a story in the Exposed anthology posted about this situation on her IG account. Hopefully her statement will get this information out to a larger audience.

Here’s her post:
..."

Thank you so much for posting the link, Kim. I didn't know about this

Sakura wrote: "Just to avoid any confusion, those LJ posts are satires written by Nikki in a further attempt to gain awareness after she gained access to Alicia/Aya's old LiveJournals to compare IP addresses that..."

I'm just gonna delete it and tell the person I got it from, the origin of the pic:-) Thanks for correcting me:-*

No prob!

I had been planning on messaging her yesterday to let her know about all of this but I got caught up on all the heartbreaking posts on Twitter. I told her this in the comments.

I see a lot of name calling on the referenced twitter thread by Nikki. The cursing people out is a bit off putting and not someone or something that I would normally follow or volunteer to read on my own. Also the web page that someone has a screenshot of earlier in this thread does not exist.

I have two jobs and less and less time to spend on the internet, so I expect proof of this to be found by several internet searches. However, I haven't found anything. Which is why I came to this 'learned' group.

I do not doubt that people have been hurt, but if you are to believe one person then why not all? Instead you only want to believe those who you call 'friend' because they are speaking like you.

Bullying is when you make author lists as above and by excluding people from your group. With or without the harsh words. Like the recent posts on the referenced Nikki's twitter thread. As I said above, her verbal abuse is very off putting.

I am truly disappointed in this community that you claim proof! and show me a thread name calling the same authors you are name calling in this thread. A twitter account is NOT proof. But it doesn't matter because so many of you have attacked many who do not go by Santino. The mob has spoken so it must be so.

I think that when you drag down other people to make a few feel better, you are hurting the victims. The victims that have spoken in this thread. The bullying and animosity to authors because they haven't said what you wanted them to, because they aren't violent enough for you, is very disheartening and disturbing.

Good luck to all of you, and I hope that all the decisions made by all of you were with the best of intentions instead of based on the malignant mood of the mob.

Also, Nikki joined twitter in July of last year, so how is that she has a bunch of twitter proof from years ago? Is this from other's twitter accounts. Her twitter tag line of "Santino Hater" surely sums everything up.

Jann wrote: "I see a lot of name calling on the referenced twitter thread by Nikki. The cursing people out is a bit off putting and not someone or something that I would normally follow or volunteer to read on ..."

Ok. So if screenshots aren't proofs to you, if the publisher statement doesn't ring a bell, if countless testimonies do not matter, what can we do.

Edit : Yes, I know of course that they can be fake. But why would EVERYONE BUT SH lie? Doesn't make sense.

By the way. What you're doing is gaslighting at its finest. Do go search for proof on an online dictionary, if you may. Calling people "a mob" and "malignant" to derail accusations is just nailing it. Congrats.

Jann wrote: "Bullying is when you make author lists as above and by excluding people from your group."

Uh, no. That is not what bullying is.

Really, I get so very, very tired of people saying stuff is "bullying" when it isn't. It's insulting and harmful to victims of actual bullying, and it needs to stop.

People can, and do, put authors on their Do Not Read, Do Not Buy lists for whatever reason they please. Consumers have that right. Not only is it not bullying, there's nothing wrong with it, at all.

Excluding people may not be nice. It might hurt someone's feelings. Depends on the situation. We have freedom of association, we don't have to hang with people we don't want to hang with. Either way, it's not bullying.

*waves hello* As some of you know, I have health issues that make it difficult for me to (figuratively) walk and chew gum at the same time. That means my emotional bandwidth is often pretty limited, and so I've been mostly off SM for a few years and entirely off GR. I've missed many of you and have often thought of returning, but it was just easier/safer to stay in my quiet little hermit hut and try to take care of life's bare necessities. I didn't even go to GRL when it was here in Denver, to give you and idea how hermity I've been.

But now that I've stumbled across this I feel like I have to say something. I have yet to read all the comments on this thread, but I've read enough to see how badly so many people have been hurt. Including, and maybe especially, people I consider friends and to whom I apologize for disappearing.

I had no idea y'all were going through this and I'm so sorry! I would've been there for you if I'd known, and I will be there for you now if you want me to. Please DM, text, or call me if you want to. Maybe it'd be helpful to talk to someone who was around years ago and so has some historical context but nothing recent. I never did end up reading any of SH's books, and now I never will. I also never interacted with "him" much, so I have no personal investment beyond caring about the people who have been hurt.

This is truly horrifying, and seems like it goes beyond any of the MM kerfuffles I remember from years past. I'm sending big virtual hugs, and virtual pints of Ben & Jerry's. I would say I have no words, but obviously I just typed a bunch of them. I guess what I really mean is that I have no idea what to say, but want you to know I care for whatever that's worth.

Marbles wrote: "Alienor ✘ French Frowner ✘ wrote: "Jann wrote: "I see a lot of name calling on the referenced twitter thread by Nikki. The cursing people out is a bit off putting and not someone or something that ..."

Yes exactly, that's what I meant! Of course I know that we can manufacture them, but why would all thse people do that?

Marbles wrote: "None of the apologies/statements mean jack. They concede nothing and reek of scorched earth ass covering."

Yeah exactly.

Jann wrote: "I see a lot of name calling on the referenced twitter thread by Nikki. The cursing people out is a bit off putting and not someone or something that I would normally follow or volunteer to read on ..."

With all do respect. It is obvious nothing will convince you of the veracity of these claims, so why keep coming here? I don't want to speak for anyone but, if I were one of the victims who have shared my heartbreak on this thread, I'd be offended by your passive-aggressiveness. As far as Nikki's tone, let's not forget she endured all kinds of attacks for a long time. No one is in a position to call her out on her tone or her ways. She lashed out several times. So what? Some people react like that out of frustration and emotional pain.

Peace.

SH himself joined and quit twitter several times over the last few years, Jann. At least, that is what he told me, so Lord knows. I myself didn't join twitter until the Cheeto became president, yet, I can see tweets from years ago on anyone's profile. Twitter doesn't cut off my access to archives at my joining date. You're grasping for straws.

Daniel, so happy to see you! I remember Noah too and remember wondering what had happened to him. This is one hell of a fucked up situation. All those books we beta'd, the blurb writing...

Gotta go delete some stuff from gaybookreviews...

Just wanted to post here to say that I believe everyone who has been hurt by SH. Though I wasn't as emotionally involved as some people, I was drawn in by the SH persona and initially believed him or them both last year and this year when they said that people with grudges were spreading lies. It didn't help that people I trusted were vouching for SH, so why wouldn't I believe them and therefore SH? I have been acquainted with a number of the authors involved and frankly don't know what to believe about who knew what when or whether they were all duped and were/are in denial. I'm definitely thinking about some of their behaviors in hindsight--behaviors that (back then) I thought were justified out of anger for someone they cared about. But if they don't fess up and apologize for doing/saying shitty things while sticking up for a charismatic persona they thought needed defending, I'm going to have make some choices about whether to buy any more books from those authors in the future. Giving it some time because I'm trying to give some people the benefit of the doubt and time to make full (genuine) apologies.

Edited to add: I am sorry for not initially believing the people who were hurt by SH. It shouldn't have taken the flood of firsthand accounts in this thread and elsewhere for me to believe you. I am sorry for being part of the problem.

People can choose not to read a book or not to read an author's entire catalogue for whatever reasons they like. They don't need to justify it, but I've seen more than enough accounts of bullying and sexual harassment and lying and manipulating in regards to SH on this thread alone that I have no issues at all with believing the people who say they were victimised by SH.

And when you consider that two publishers have now dropped SH, that's certainly telling. I find it hard to believe that a single publisher would drop a money-making contracted author over nothing more than rumours, and when two have done it? I don't imagine this was a decision they made lightly, so I can certainly respect that they have damn good reasons for doing it.

As someone who pretty much hides under a rock when it comes to social media, the first I know of any of this was Riptide's statement. I'm sorry that people have been hurt, and I'm sorry this has gone on for years now, and hope that this community can once again be a safe place for SH's victims even if it's failed them in the past.

I haven't read everything about this yet, but to Jenn and Noah, I'm so sorry this happened, and I believe you.

Marbles wrote: "Lisa wrote: "People can choose not to read a book or not to read an author's entire catalogue for whatever reasons they like. They don't need to justify it, but I've seen more than enough accounts ..."

Bottom line I think - even if/when an author is using a pseudonym to publish under they need to be very, very careful to ensure whatever they do under that pseudonym is done in a professional manner, is respectful to their readers and fans, as well as all readers in general, and they operate as a business in an ethical manner.

When they don't do this it puts their publishing business at risk.

Jann wrote: "I see a lot of name calling on the referenced twitter thread by Nikki. The cursing people out is a bit off putting and not someone or something that I would normally follow or volunteer to read on ..."


All right. I have been quietly following this for the past couple of days, quietly shedding tears for the victims in this, and quietly deciding to do what I felt was right.

However, Jann, I cannot let this statement go. This is not bullying. Bullying would be for people who have posted on this thread to threaten or coerce everyone who has ever read a book by anyone on these lists to do what they say: take down reviews, contact the publishers, harass them on Twitter/SM, etc. Bullying would be telling people what to believe and threatening them if they don't.
I've read EVERY POST, and a lot of the extraneous material and I have seen none of that. I have seen people letting other people, who are upset and hurt and angry, decide what they want to do. They are letting people know about other authors who they can then decide what actions they want to take, if any, with regards to their reviews and buying trends. I have seen people, who have horrible stories with regards to this author, be heard, and understood.
Whether or not you believe what has been offered as proof, that is your prerogative. Just as it is my prerogative to look at the same evidence and come to my own conclusions. However, IMO, that does not mean that you can belittle what people have gone through, and what they are feeling. This conversation has become less about the author, and more about the healing from years of hurt inflicted by the author. Again, whether or not you believe what is being said, the hurt is real. I think everyone should respect that.

ETA: I admire the courage and the fortitude it took for people to stand up and be counted.

He'll just rewrite his shit as Het, change most of it and self-pub on amazon. Problem is, if he/she gets famous again, people will end up reading books that match.

AnnMarie wrote: "Cadiva wrote: "Sakura wrote: "Robin Covington has made a statement regarding removing SH's work from the EXPOSED anthology:

https://www.facebook.com/RobinCovingt..."

O..."

Actually that's a good point. I may just see about cancelling the pre order and supporting the other authors directly.

Wow. This thread:

https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/sta...

CM's friend: Strong Signal
Noah: Illegal Contact
SHConfession: 5 Boroughs

...all without permission.

Catching up on all this and desperately sorry for everyone who's been hurt. I wish I could say this is the first time I've seen this, but it's not. Back in my LJ days we had many scammers who had wonderful sob stories, fake lives, and manipulative, verging on plain evil, methods of turning people against each other.

With the one I was personally involved with, the truth came out when people were brave and spoke up, including me, and the spiderweb of lies couldn't take the weight of our voices.

Still ppl who stuck by the woman responsible (who I met in person and counted as a friend for the longest time), but people she'd turned against each other reconciled and a lot of healing followed the hurt.

Don't know SH, never read their books, but I hope the same holds true here.

Susan wrote: "Wow. This thread:

https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/sta..."

This is the third or fourth account that i see where someone says that their personal lives ended up in one of his books. This is bullshit, girl. I am fucking enraged by this.

I am deeply sorry that this happened to anyone. I just... I have no words.

*hugs* honey.
I can’t even begin to understand how you guys feels because I don’t read his/her books but I stand in support of the truth coming out.

Hi. I've been following this thread from the very beginning and I've been struggling ever since to comment, because I think GR is a very dangerous and toxic place.

But I just cannot keep being quiet right now and watch from a distance. Right now, I just wanted to let all of you fabulous and brave people, who stood up and raised your voices, know: I applaud you. I'm in awe. Susan, Noah, Jenn and each and every one of you.

I've never been more proud to be a part of this community, and it just shows that if people stand up, raise their voices and do the right thing, changes can be made.

So thanks again to all of you who shared their (so very horrible and personal) experiences and for being so brave and courageous.

If anything good comes out from this whole mess, then it's that this community is there for each other when it counts, and that at the end of the day, good will triumph over evil.

PS: This may be very well be my first and last comment on GR, because I'm pretty sure my account will be deleted once I go public (GR has it out for me, don't ask, long story), but I don't care in this case. The urge to show my complete and utterly support to Scamtino Harrassell's victims is way stronger, so consequences be damned.

xoxoxo

Susan wrote: "Wow. This thread:

https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/sta...

CM's friend: Strong Signal
Noah: Illegal Contact
SHConfession: 5 Boroughs

...all without permission."

If you read Noah's post again, his name (and his cousin's) are used in Illegal Contact, but his story is used in Strong Signal.

Susan wrote: "Wow. This thread:

https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/sta...

CM's friend: Strong Signal
Noah: Illegal Contact
SHConfession: 5 Boroughs

...all without permission."

I'm scared to know how much of that there is. SH and I were "friends" before I ever read anything he wrote, in fact I avoided reading a lot of SHs work to avoid any awkward issues in the event I didn't care for it. I don't think I want to know if they stole any of my life for SHs books.

Daniel wrote: "I'm scared to know how much of that there is. SH and I were "friends" before I ever read anything he wrote, in fact I avoided reading a lot of SHs work to avoid any awkward issues in the event I didn't care for it. I don't think I want to know if they stole any of my life for SHs books. "


Holy shit. You're me, Daniel. LOL

Jann,

Nobody was thinking, when they were being defrauded and catfished, oh, let me document this for the future so that I will have "proof".

No, the proof presented here is the testimony of the many posters here, who are speaking from their own memories and experiences. They're telling us that they were defrauded, lied to, catfished, threatened, or witnessed it happening. In a court of law, direct witness testimony is given a lot of weight. You seem to be the only one who doesn't find it sufficient.

Marbles wrote: "Yeah. It's all possible. But why would ALL these people make this stuff up? Surely it's more logical to believe that the common denominator in all of it--SH--is the liar?..."

I agree and so does Ajax Bell, for example:
https://twitter.com/AjaxBell/status/9...

edit: for Jann and others who find it hard to believe

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet (I apologise if it has been, I may have missed it!), but for folks like Jann who want a collated site of much of the evidence thus far (not updated to include DSP's statement etc) including links to all of the receipts (including some I hadn't previously seen), this has been pretty amazing:

https://thesaltminers.tumblr.com/post...

It doesn't include the 'apology' post by SH (most classical fake apology ever) nor many other more recent developments. But does provide a lot of the screencaps and anonymous testimonies that initially got folks here.

Jenny Trout has some really good points that I've been thinking about today as well, when I've read some of the 'I don't care if the writer is a woman or a man, I just like the books."

http://jennytrout.com/?p=12013

LenaLena wrote: "Jenny Trout has some really good points that I've been thinking about today as well, when I've read some of the 'I don't care if the writer is a woman or a man, I just like the books."

http://jenn..."

Yeah, that's a great post. You wouldn't think it all needs to be spelled out like that, but I guess for some people it does.

I think it is easy to not care if the writer is a woman or a bisexual man if you are a woman. However, if you are a bisexual man and you have this other bisexual man representing your minority, and it's all fake, that is a shitty betrayal. Representation matters. I wouldn't have choked up at "Wonderwoman" if it had been Wonderdude. Black people wouldn't have felt so intensely about "Black Panther" if it had been White Panther.

If you are a woman, and you write M/M, that is not the issue (there can be issues depending on the way you do it, but that's another story). As long as it is clear that you are a woman. If you're a woman and you write M/M under a male pseudonym, that's dubious. Pretending to be a member of a marginalized group is not okay, building a whole fake persona like SH did is beyond disgusting.

It was equally not okay for Rose Christo to claim she was Native American, considering the setting of so many of her books. And considering the way she was representing a marginalized community she was no part of.

Which reminds me I have another few reviews to correct.

LenaLena wrote: "I think it is easy to not care if the writer is a woman or a bisexual man if you are a woman. However, if you are a bisexual man and you have this other bisexual man representing your minority, and..."

Honey, *claps* tell it!!!!

i was waiting from yesterday Avon Gale statement, (I love her books, I still have not decided what to do concerning her work)

https://www.facebook.com/avongalewrit...