Sun > Status Update

Sali Mes wrote: "Btw, the "nasty bird" are the one who exposed SH for who they are.
And they did respond on twitter."

Do you have a link handy, by any chance? :)

I'm with Sali Mes on this. I find myself to be overly cautious and mistrusting about whatever I read on social media these days.
If Cole/Xen really felt threatened and forced to out himself before he was ready to, it's a horrible thing and I'm deeply sorry for him. That's a choice everyone should be able to make in their own time. However, I'm not so quick to jump on the bandwagon and throw Nikki and the Nasty Birds or whoever else under the bus as I might have been before the SH debacle. Now, I'm actually trying to listen to both sides. (I haven't gotten very far yet since I've only heard about it today.) I know trying to be objective can be hard when it's a favorite author of yours. We've seen that during the SH shitstorm and there are still a lot of people who believe them whatever they say, ignoring all the evidence speaking against SH.
That said, I think it's a slippery slope for both readers who are mistrusting for good reasons and authors who want to protect their privacy - especially trans* authors who aren't out in RL, often also for good reasons.

edit: I find it hard to believe that Cole, who evidentially played a big role in exposing SH, would do something similar himself. But like I said, I haven't had much time yet to actually "listen" to both sides. Right now I'm still a bit confused about what exactly caused Cole's post and what he is "accused" of.

Elena wrote: "Sali Mes wrote: "Btw, the "nasty bird" are the one who exposed SH for who they are.
And they did respond on twitter."

Do you have a link handy, by any chance? :)"

The only things I've seen so far are these:
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/stat...
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/stat...
https://twitter.com/angela_s2526/stat...

Josy wrote: "Elena wrote: "Sali Mes wrote: "Btw, the "nasty bird" are the one who exposed SH for who they are.
And they did respond on twitter."

Do you have a link handy, by any chance? :)"

The only things I'..."

Thank you, Josy. :)

I get what you're all saying, but why start on Cole who as you say, seems to have played a part in exposing SH?? I found it very ironic indeed that Vanessa North sent Cole/whatever his real name is [you know, THE Vanessa North who was one of SH's biggest bullying allies], lots of love in that thread. 😯

I'm in the camp that says author's private lives are just that...private, unless they're actually courting publicity or monetary gain. And outting someone the way they have is just plain wrong, no ifs, buts or maybes. The only problem is...who/what do you believe?? What is fiction and what is fact?? Who knows?? Social media sucks donkey balls most of the time. 😔

Bev wrote: "I get what you're all saying, but why start on Cole who as you say, seems to have played a part in exposing SH?? I found it very ironic indeed that Vanessa North sent Cole/whatever his real name is..."

From what I've heard about Vanessa North, she seems to be always there, where there is trouble. And also from what I've heard about her, I have decided I don't like her and I don't put any stock in whatever she's saying.

So far, I haven't seen any mentions of Cole in any tweet or whatever other than from Cole himself. I've seen nothing about someone wanting to out him - only in his blog post - but I'm also not very busy on SM because I find it exhausting. I only remember that when Nikki was trying to expose SH, the name was always mentioned so that people would actually know who she was trying to expose. I've seen nothing like that about Cole but it's entirely possible that I've missed it.

I fully agree with you that an author's private life should remain private if they choose so. But if authors are sharing details from their private life it's out there for anyone to read and yes, also to form an opinion about this author. I also agree with you that it's almost impossible to know what is right and wrong. That's why I mostly stay away from SM and authors in particular.

Bev wrote: "I get what you're all saying, but why start on Cole who as you say, seems to have played a part in exposing SH?? I found it very ironic indeed that Vanessa North sent Cole/whatever his real name is..."

What you said stands, but so far we haven't seen any proof that the Nasty Birds did anything, only Cole's conjecture. Maybe he jumped the gun in implicating them?

As far as I can see (and I'm in the middle of reading his post) he mentioned he has screenshots, but I saw none that prove anything and what he did post could have easily taken out of context or not directed at him at all.

Bev wrote: "I get what you're all saying, but why start on Cole who as you say, seems to have played a part in exposing SH?? I found it very ironic indeed that Vanessa North sent Cole/whatever his real name is..."

Hi, Bev. So sorry to jump in, but I want to ask you something: where is the proof that Nikki or Angela so much as threatened to expose Xen/Cole? I urge you or anyone’s else to ask him that. And what he THINKS doesn’t count, because he can’t just go on internet saying people threatened to out him as a trans man and not provide evidence of that. It’s a very serious accusation.

It’s precisely the same thing Santino did when he used to claim Nikki was threatening his family and friends, but he never provided any proof because there weren’t any. He was just afraid he was going to be exposed and was eager to change the narrative and make himself into a victim.

Which is not the case here, because nor Nikki or Angela or no one else accused Xen/Cole of anything. He took two subtweets that never mentioned his name and aDM that was shared a long time ago and spinned this into some sort of which hunt. If you or anyone else care enough to look for, go ahead, aside from yesterday, you won’t find any tweet referring to him on their accounts of any kind.

I just people wouldn’t jump to conclusion so fast and instead of going all “OMG IM SO SORRY”, they be more like “yes, if that happened to you it is a shitty thing, but I’m gonna need evidence of that.”

Thanks. Bye.

I'm just starting to see stuff about this so I really don't know all of what's going on but just to maybe play a bit of devil's advocate here...as I once read it a book...

sometimes the hero of one person's story is the villain in someone else's and looking at what's happening here that can be said about both Cole and the angry birds...but regardless of who is the hero and who is the villain if Cole has been forced to out himself when he wasn't in fact ready or comfortable doing this than maybe it's also a case of the ends don't justify the means...nobody and I mean nobody has the right to out someone when it comes to their sexual orientation or identity.

I guess the other consideration is that unless there's some kind of irrefutable proof that Cole McCade has done things that are illegal or at the very least morally and ethically reprehensible all that seems to be happening is a smear campaign by someone to ruin a person's career and reputation.

So yeah, until I see something that's undeniable proof one way or the other I'm sitting on the fence not out of any kind of fear but out of a desire not to make a rash judgement that at the very least could be wrong and at it's worst could destroy the career of a promising author.

Maybe this is a case of a private argument that should have remained between the parties involved, becoming a public event that now has too many cooks stirring the broth...I don't know but I do know that the m/m genre has seen way more than it's share of unnecessary drama and somehow we all need to find a way to bring it to an end.

Karen wrote: "I'm just starting to see stuff about this so I really don't know all of what's going on but just to maybe play a bit of devil's advocate here...as I once read it a book...


sometimes the hero of..."

^^THIS^^ All of this! 💜

Bev wrote: "I'm in the camp that says author's private lives are just that...private, unless they're actually courting publicity or monetary gain. And outting someone the way they have is just plain wrong, no ifs, buts or maybes."

Have you been given any evidence that they have indeed outed anyone, though?
Because nothing in the screenshots he posted supports that. I'm not saying it isn't true, but so far it seems like a case of his word vs their word and I don't know any of these people personally. I've no reason to believe them on their words alone.

I’m wondering when Angela or Nikki tried to ruin him though? This is where people seem to overlooking it. Him saying it? Sound familiar except for change it to doxxing. When is the last time they spoke to him? Oh that’s right, when SH was exposed. Since then there has been no interaction at all. Angela published her review of his book. She called out Lina for being a scammer because it is an amazon scam to put your books in categories they don’t belong in order to be a “best seller”. Nikki and Angela have always been vocal when addressing authors for being scammers or stuffers. Yet, suddenly Cole believes a few tweets are proof they are after him. Have y’all seen all the problematic authors lately? The list is endless. There are more popping up daily who are scamming and stuffing books. Yet, he took it upon himself to write out a blog post without any tweets showing where they plotted to out him. People blindly defended Santino and look here we go again with it. That is all I’m going to say about it.

Lucy wrote: "I’m wondering when Angela or Nikki tried to ruin him though? This is where people seem to overlooking it. Him saying it? Sound familiar except for change it to doxxing. When is the last time they s..."

Everything Lucy said. I’ve never once seen anyone in that group try to out Xen as trans or question his gender. What I did see was a scorched earth response to their criticisms of author behavior and some giant assumptions made. And then to throw J under the bus again because...I dunno, reasons? What the hell? Same shit different day.

Karen wrote: "I'm just starting to see stuff about this so I really don't know all of what's going on but just to maybe play a bit of devil's advocate here...as I once read it a book...


sometimes the hero of..."

Exactly!! I will be joining you on that fence Karen, and yes Elena, I don't personally know any of the protagonists either, but I do know my author is hurting badly, and someone is responsible. Why would he bring up any of that past history unless it was relevant, or has he done it to deflect attention away from something he has done?? Will we ever get to the bottom of whatever?? Probably not. 😕 And I am definitely staying away from any further nonsense...once bitten etc.,

Lucy wrote: "I’m wondering when Angela or Nikki tried to ruin him though? This is where people seem to overlooking it. Him saying it? Sound familiar except for change it to doxxing. When is the last time they s..."

Seconding all of this.

I read Cole's post twice, if only to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. And I was left confused as to his reasons for accusing Nikki and the Nasty Birds.

It is true that Nikki has what some might consider an abrasive personality, that the Nasty Birds did a lot of detective work while building their case against SH, and that Cole himself was involved in offering a safe place for victims to speak up anonymously.

However, I have never seen Nikki, Angela or the rest of the Nasty Birds tweet anything against Cole. Not once.

The so-called "evidence" he offers in the post is of the vaguest kind at best.

I understand that he's been a victim (rememeber what went down with Sarah from Riptide), but I resent how he drops, rather casually, the Nasty Birds' name among possible bullies/harassers

Which, again, it's a random accusation that doesn't hold up.

At best, it makes Cole look like some pouty author who is upset that someone gave a negative review to one of the his books.

At worst, it makes him look like a manipulator who uses other people's dislike of the Nasty Birds (for taking down/unmasking Scamtino) to paint himself as a victim.

It's a disgusting move no matter how anyone tries to frame it.

I tweeted that I wasn’t going to give Cole any mentions again but I’m going to do it one last time here. I follow Nikki and Angela on twitter and we chat and all that. There has never been any mention of Cole in any of their interactions. If you go and look through the twitter history there is no mention of him or any “targeted attacks” that he proclaimed.

He called these women TERF, bullies of POC and mentally ill authors in a time where even I was calling out scammers and authors cheating the system (and so a few of his friends were in there). First these authors went into their safe spaces as readers and attacked them and they defended themselves and suddenly they are the bad guys!

That blog post is pure speculation and what he thinks is happening and without knowing for certain he condemned these women to online hate by his followers. Nikki and Angela have always been vocal about Authors behaving badly so there is no reason for them to suddenly be all secretive if they suspected him of something.

While I’m sorry he felt he had to out himself, his accusations are tarnishing and is causing real hurt. You don’t say things like that on assumptions and then add a few vague tweets and private conversation which doesn’t back your claim. I suggest you all be critical and think about why Angela and Nikki are fighting this so aggressively.

He says they were outing him and attacking him, ask to see these attacks and bullying before you “attack” and hate on these women.

Lyra wrote: "I'm going to be honest: my ability to deal with this situation went down the tube when Nikki responded to what Cole said with,

"Xen jumped in on the Santino thing because Santino rejected him and..."

You also can’t erase the abuse that Nikki suffered and a heated response to someone calling you a TERF, Bully, and all the phobics. Then also dealing with his followers attacking and calling them “fucking assholes”and doxxers.

Nikki and Angela have been far kinder than what he deserves, because if someone wrote a blog post about me based on a few subtweets and then I got attacked for it. You best believe I would be bringing some heat.

Through all this is like everyone forgot the abuse they suffered for more than a year from SH followers and now mr author has created his own narrative where he paints them to be the bad guy and the same people who attacked them previously is back at it again.

Then also went as far as to bring up another person who suffered abuse at the hands of SH in his post who he refers to as J but no one is rallying behind that. You can’t call out someone for attacking an abuse victim while defending the person who is doing the exact same thing.

The hypocrisy is real in this one. The hypocrisy is real!!

Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "I'm going to be honest: my ability to deal with this situation went down the tube when Nikki responded to what Cole said with,

"Xen jumped in on the Santino thing ..."

And again you’ve disregarded that Cole brought up another person who suffered abuse in his blog post. If you’re about the victim be about all the victims.

How I feel cannot be adequately expressed, by your complete disregard for all the damage he’s caused by his post.

I saw what happened with Sarah and I’m sorry he experienced that. But that doesn’t give him the right to bring up others suffering after they shared things with him in confidence, but again no one is looking at that.

You saying something but you ain’t really saying anything. My “heat” is based off his post which has led to them being attacked. How Nikki or Angela express themselves is their right 🤷🏽‍♀️

Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "I'm going to be honest: my ability to deal with this situation went down the tube when Nikki responded to what Cole said with,

"Xen..."

We’re gonna have to agree to disagree I guess. I found the post harmful and without facts and he’s labeled two women in a very aggressive light. How they react to it (and emotions are volatile right now) is in their right. While it might not be ideal, his post has had real repercussions and they have all the right to be angry about it.

Upon further research (i.e. listening to the other side of the story via Twitter threads), this appears it very well may be, or at least stemmed from, authors attacking readers for reviews they didn't like.

Which sadly is nothing new, but 100% wrong and unprofessional. Readers have the right to express their opinions about books, regardless of what anyone, author included, thinks about that opinion. They don't need to think about what the author did or did not do on purpose, or intend, or whatever.

They also have the right to voice opinions about ploys they feel are inaccurate, deceptive, marketing.

Lyra wrote: "It comes from watching people be willing to only allow someone to use the mantle of "abuse survivor" if they "deserve" it and hurt those they feel don't, and then turn on abuse survivors they previously felt deserved it and no longer do.."

Aren't you doing the same thing though? Nikki was personally abused by Santino and their cohorts for over a year, and Xen is the one trying to do exactly the same thing to her (or at least it's what it looks like to me). And you blame her for being triggered by that and not being "sensitive" enough to consider her abuser's feelings.

I am truly sorry that anyone may feel like Xen is justified in his accusations against Nikki, Angela and others. For him to say he would rather have Santino back, the whole reason this thread was created, is a major blow to every person in this thread that came forward. If you want to believe Nikki and the rest of us would ever out him, then you think very low of people you don’t even know however, let me remind you to please go find evidence that any of us had any interaction with him once the book review was done. Angela should not have to censor herself because Xen followed her on twitter. So please, remember as you sit here and put us down, he mentioned one of the many victims of SH in his blog post and his indication that he would rather SH be back, is backhanding every single person who came here to share their stories and spoke out. Being a victim himself does not mean it is ever ok to use another victim like that in a blog post. He promised her he would keep her information safe and yet he basically made her sound like the person SH had convinced her she was. So if you want to be angry with Nikki and the rest of us, fine but we will always stand behind these people in here that shared with us and we will continue to be their friends.

DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "I'm going to be honest: my ability to deal with this situation went down the tube when Nikki responded to what Cole said..."

I saw zero evidence in that blog post to support the claims made. I personally would not repeat or jump on something just because it’s claimed.

Alexandra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "I'm going to be honest: my ability to deal with this situation went down the tube when Nikki responde..."
I haven't actually said anything in relation to the claims Xen made, only one of the claims Nikki made, so . . .

Lyra wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "I'm going to be honest: my ability to deal with this situation went down the tube w..."

My comment was not to you or about you, so...

Alexandra wrote: "Lyra wrote: "Alexandra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "DarienMoya wrote: "Lyra wrote: "I'm going to be honest: my ability to deal with this situation went do..."
Ah, it quoted me, so I thought it was. My apologies.

🤔


(Sep 13)


(Sep 15)

I just discovered all of this scandal about SH. There are things in life I can be lenient on but reading Noah’s account was so heartbreaking and that is clearly not something we can be lenient on. It made me cry to read what happened to him.

The Internet and writing community are supposed to be safe spaces where you can find people you can connect with. True friends. True support. Where you can evade when sometimes everyday reality is too harsh on you. There are times you are the person needing support and other times when you are the one that can hear and help others.

So I’m asking why Noah didn’t have this chance of meeting great people here to support him and not someone here only to hurt and abused him. I just hope he had since the chance to be with better persons and that he’s now better and happy.

The writing community is not always butterflies and there are some shitty persons but I didn’t think it could be at this extent. Maybe I’m naïve but I still want to believe this kind of persons is truly rare and most of the community is sincere.


For the French publisher part, I have several friends I got over the years in the fictionpress community who since published with them and from what I could hear they really care about not working with toxic authors of the community. They also refuse to publish stories with wrong values and messages. I think they were sincere about doing their best at the time.

I am sorry i've read this (plus google for short explanation, 48 pages of chat mother of god!).
ICoS is my favorite series all time and probably will be. To read everything SH did.. doesn't change my love for the series but it is like a pigeon pooped on your book. The stain is there, forever.

Susan wrote: "I know this is all A LOT to take in. But if even ONE of these things resonates, or if the total of all these things makes you feel like something is off, I suggest considering if this is worthy of ..."
Thanks so much for explaining this. It's been two years, and as a person who just started MM Romance, I wasn't understand the "rating withdrawn"'s on Goodreads. But thank you for explaining everything soo clearly. All your words resonate and I will take everything you've said into consideration. Preach, girl!!

Wow where the heck have I been? I was wondering why I hadn’t seen any new releases.

Oh my, this whole debacle is a perfect parable on the downside and dangers of fandom in general… With fandom I don't mean loving a writer's / actor's / musician's / athlete's / artist's … work but the - sadly - often concomitant unhealthy attachment to that celebrity's personal life.

The best precautionary measure to prevent from falling into a pit like this one: People, get you own lifes!

Sure, watch or read the work of gifted people, it will spruce up your existence, but don't make the mistake of thinking, that if you own a book or a film, you also own the author or actor.

You don't know them. They are not your friends, you just admire their work. There's a difference. Find your own friends.

It's time to dust off this update and bring it to circulation again. 🧹🧺
I have noticed new users digging up books from Santino Scamsell.
It makes me wonder if they are aware of all this dirt.🤔

Jan wrote: "It's time to dust off this update and bring it to circulation again. 🧹🧺
I have noticed new users digging up books from Santino Scamsell.
It makes me wonder if they are aware of all this dirt.🤔"

I second this. 🙌🏾🙌🏾

Shile wrote: "Jan wrote: "It's time to dust off this update and bring it to circulation again. 🧹🧺
I have noticed new users digging up books from Santino Scamsell.
It makes me wonder if they are aware of all this..."

Completely agree that this needs recirculation!

Jan wrote: "It's time to dust off this update and bring it to circulation again. 🧹🧺
I have noticed new users digging up books from Santino Scamsell.
It makes me wonder if they are aware of all this dirt.🤔"

Good thinking, Jan. I guess it was to be expected, everybody who knows isn't talking about it anymore, so the newbies have no way to know. 🙈

Jan wrote: "It's time to dust off this update and bring it to circulation again. 🧹🧺
I have noticed new users digging up books from Santino Scamsell.
It makes me wonder if they are aware of all this dirt.🤔"

YES, this! That whole thing was a nightmare I'd rather forget. Because I was vocal about the many, many egregious lies SH spread for their personal gain, one of SH's squad at one point accused me of harassment that of course never happened, and I had to hire a lawyer to write a cease and desist letter and threaten a lawsuit for defamation of character.

The worst one in my eyes was the lie about having liver cancer. My husband had liver cancer at the time and passed away from it a year later, so I know how this horrific disease destroys the body and mind of the sick person. One of the worst symptoms is hepatic encephalopathy, which is caused by ammonia not processed by the liver crossing the brain/blood barrier and causing the person to act like they have dementia/schizophrenia.

No way could a person with advanced liver cancer (which SH claimed) write novels, spend all day on social media, be a "fuckboy," etc. Never mind that the 5-year survival rate, even if the cancer is caught in the early stages, is only 34%.

It's just so awful, hurtful, and demeaning to watch someone you love waste away from a disease some healthy person is lying about having so they can steal money from their fans. Disgusting. I still get so angry thinking about it.

No one should be buying/reading any books by SH, Megan Erickson, and Vanessa North. There are other authors too that have been flying under the radar, pretending they had no knowledge of SH's deceit, which is doubtful, but the three mentioned were the main offenders.

@Ele,

IKR? There is a lot to unpack here and sadly, many links are no longer working. But there is one in particular that I would like to share again, in case new users want to know at what price illegal contact was published, a book that was written exposing the private life of a real person.💔

https://twitter.com/sweetsakuradoll/s...

@dani,

First of all, I'm sorry for all you've been through. 💔
SH hurt a lot of people!
I know this is not something nice to bring up again, but I have been seeing his books going around lately and I genuinely wonder if readers are not aware of all this or if they just don't care. 🤷‍♀️

Jan wrote: "@dani,

First of all, I'm sorry for all you've been through. 💔
SH hurt a lot of people!
I know this is not something nice to bring up again, but I have been seeing his books going around lately and..."

I bet most readers just don't know. Why would they? The scandal has passed, and it's not like SH advertises that they're a fraud.

Honestly, it's too bad because I genuinely loved their books (Megan Erickson's and Vanessa's too). All these authors are talented writers. Why would they choose the deceitful route? I guess for the money. :(

@Dani - my mother died of liver cancer so I have very similar feelings to you.

She was diagnosed and dead within three weeks so SH's lies were very personal for me too.

I agree, that people should know. If they still want to read the books, well, that's them. but they should be able to make an informed choice. Dani and Cadiva and anybody that was personally hurt by all this mess, I'm so sorry you had to go though all that. It didn't hurt me but really disappointed me, because as Dani said, I really loved their books, they were tremendously talented and would certainly have been a success otherwise anyway. Why lie at all? I've never understood that.

I never removed my ratings because I did enjoy the books and the ratings were honest, I just simply stopped supporting or reading them. But maybe I should go back and put a caveat including the link above.

Jan wrote: "It's time to dust off this update and bring it to circulation again. 🧹🧺
I have noticed new users digging up books from Santino Scamsell.
It makes me wonder if they are aware of all this dirt.🤔"

Thanks for dusting this off my friend. I didn't realize it was necessary but then again, I didn't realize it was over 3 years ago!!! This dirt should never settle.

And...Lisa said it best but Dani and Louise *hugs* I'm so sorry that someone mocked your pain. Because that's what happened. Their firestorm of lies was not only malicious but a disgrace. It makes my blood boil all over again.

Louise, I didn't know about your mum. I'm so sorry. Believe me, I understand. My husband passed away following a two year battle with liver cancer. The last few months were horrifying. His body was there (what was left of it, since he wasted away to nothing), but his mind wasn't. He was a completely different person: paranoid, accusatory, angry. He couldn't remember conversations or recalled conversations that never happened. I just can't fathom how anyone can lie about having cancer or any illness really. It's pure evil.

And thank you, Lisa and Sheri, for your kind words. ❤

Thank you all, it was beyond the pale for me. The final breaking straw. The other lies were bad enough, but to try - and succeed for quite a while - to scam money off people with the alleged cancer treatment was reprehensible and without any kind of redemption.

Cadiva wrote: "Thank you all, it was beyond the pale for me. The final breaking straw. The other lies were bad enough, but to try - and succeed for quite a while - to scam money off people with the alleged cancer..."

Yes, I feel the same. 😥

~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semi-colons~✡~ wrote: "Yes, I feel the same. 😥..."

Biggest hugs Dani 💗

Sheri wrote: "Jan wrote: "It's time to dust off this update and bring it to circulation again. 🧹🧺
I have noticed new users digging up books from Santino Scamsell.
It makes me wonder if they are aware of all this..."

Some of the SH gang have been publishing again or still. There are new-to-MM readers out there who don't know the damage they all caused, who will support these bullies by buying their books.