Sun > Status Update

I feel like I'm in the Matrix, and I've just taken the red pill...this is absolutely mind boggling. The more I read, the more I feel like my head is going to explode.

guys, Megan just told scamtino fans to report us here on GR if they see we are talking about this situation. wtf? the nerve of that woman.

AGandyGirl wrote: "Brad Vance just posted this on FB... "Well I deleted the Santino Hassell posts as I just got an email from Santino denying all charges and that "this exchange will be forwarded to my attorney." Nev..."

Forwarding to his attorney...okay. On what basis? What is SH claiming? Defamation? Because, lol, good luck with that.

I'm an attorney. It drives me up the wall when people use empty legal threats - not just because it makes people hate lawyers more, but because I find it one of the more vile abuses of the legal system. It has nothing to do with right versus wrong, or truth, or justice. It is intended to silence and shame people. A vile intimidation tactic, but an often effective one.

Remember how many people Donald Trump promised to sue last year? And how many has he sued? Right.

Dani, at least that number has gone down because it was closer to 500 within this last month.

Anne Boleyn's Ghost wrote: "Forwarding to his attorney...okay. On what basis? What is he claiming? Defamation? Because, lol, good luck with that..."

You stated exactly what I was hoping someone would!

Anne Boleyn's Ghost wrote: "It has nothing to do with right versus wrong, or truth, or justice. It is intended to silence and shame people. A vile intimidation tactic, but an often effective one.

Remember how many people Donald Trump promised to sue last year? And how many has he sued? Right. "

THIS.

SH's last lawsuit was dropped for lack of evidence.

River wrote: "guys, Megan just told scamtino fans to report us here on GR if they see we are talking about this situation. wtf? the nerve of that woman."

What a bully. I'm so angry at myself for ever promoting her books. I'm taking down all those reviews.

~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semi-colons~✡~ wrote: "Anne Boleyn's Ghost wrote: "It has nothing to do with right versus wrong, or truth, or justice. It is intended to silence and shame people. A vile intimidation tactic, but an often effective one.

..."

But wasn't that lawsuit also the one that was copied directly from someone else? So it doesn't even excist? Or are there more lawsuits?
Good grief a tool!

Anne Boleyn's Ghost wrote: "My understanding is that Riptide is blocking and "blacklisting" readers who make inquiries."

Yes, they are. I can say that for certain. But I also hear you on innocent authors. Kim Fielding just published with them, and she is in no way involved.

Lucy wrote: "Someone mentioned it being discussed here on GR and Megan (co author/SH supporter) suggests reporting us for abuse."

Oh, that's funny. Discussing the truth is abuse now? No one is posting any private information or making any kind of threat.

The statement is nothing new:

Hey GH Squad!

I know some people are waiting for a response to some of this rumors going around on social media, but I've said it before and I've said it again that the previous post I made is the last time I'm addressing this situation on a larger scale. The story being circulated is the same story that was being circulated a month ago was the same story being circulated a year ago, and it's just different people saying it now and in more places. Me, and everyone else being dragged in, has expected this to happen, so I'm not surprised and I am not interested in engaging in public arguing. I'll continue promoting my books and posting on Snapchat.

Anyway, the only response I will ever have is that I'm a bi dude writing romance, I've been married, I have kids, and yes I do things that are bad for my health. That's about it. My co-writers, friends, and publishers are not engaging in a vast conspiracy. It would be great if people would stop harassing them, dragging them, and doxing them as well (and yes, another author was doxed).

I have made my publishers (all of them, including my editor that I will be working with for my next series) aware of this situation, and their advice, and the advice of my agent, has always been to be professional and ignore it, so that's what I'm doing. At the end of the day, people will either engage in this and stop reading me or they will continue reading my books because they enjoy them. That choice is their right, and I have no interest in continuing to prove myself to people.

As for public appearances, I'll be at The Origin event in November, and Shameless in October. You'll see me on FB here and there, but mainly I'll be on Snapchat and Instagram for the moment. I am frankly done with Twitter, not just because of this situation, but because I don't support it as a platform.

Speaking of Snapchat, since a couple of people I added from here are screenshotting and sending pics to others in order to ridicule me/my appearance/voice, I'll just post my handle: thatguysantino

Feel free to follow if you want. I enjoy posting there and have fun with it. I also post a lot of music, so be prepared to be annoyed by that!

At the end day people have to make decisions for themselves. They obviously don't want to open their eyes to what's right in their face. To them it's still about author privacy. All they have to do is a google search. It's like a cult.

#churchofhassell

That's pretty much word for word what they put out last time, apart from him "leaving Twitter".

TBH I'm surprised this thread's stayed up on Goodreads for as long as it has.

~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semi-colons~✡~ wrote: "River wrote: "guys, Megan just told scamtino fans to report us here on GR if they see we are talking about this situation. wtf? the nerve of that woman."

What a bully. I'm so angry at myself for e..."


I just removed all my ratings and reviews for those two.. I'm going to see how the situation develops for the other authors but for now I just don't have an ounce of respect for scamtino and megan.

Did anyone see this?

https://ayamaxwell.livejournal.com/17...

Or is this what started it all?

Steven wrote: "Did anyone see this?

https://ayamaxwell.livejournal.com/17...

Or is this what started it all?"

I think that's meant to be a spoof of SH's confession.

Steven wrote: "Did anyone see this?

https://ayamaxwell.livejournal.com/17...

Or is this what started it all?"

That's not SH's writing.

Oh okay. I just noticed this status by accident and then delved in a little further to find out that it's an author I am new to but enjoyed. I didn't read a ton of MM until recently, and the first two Barons books by Santino Hassell are the only ones I've read out of all of "his" stuff and I've never even heard of all the rest of the ones mentioned as being involved. Just trying to get my head around what's going on. LOL

Susan wrote: "Wow...it's been busy over here. :)

I wasn't going to come back on to this post, because the original intent has always been to make this about the WORDS and PICTURES that SH himself put out there..."

Thanks for your post, Susan. I never cared for SH's books much, but it's disheartening to find out about yet another case like this, especially in this community and because friends are personally affected by her antics.

My take away strategy from now on should probably be to only trust people that YOU have personally met. ;D

Katerina wrote: "Is Ais (ICoS co-author) actually a real person or a personality by SH. Many years I don‘t hear or read about her, but in September 2017 she opened a patreon account?"

I've wondered the same thing. Once SH finally accepted the horrible truth that they were indeed a romance writer, Ais disappeared. Most of her tweets are random and odd or to/about SH.

I had a friend who got fired from every job, and it was always something or someone else's fault: the boss hated her; the work was beneath her; she was sick and HR just didn't understand; her colleague stole her ideas. She was late because: the power went out; the bus didn't stop for her; her car broke down; her mom's car broke down.

It was never her fault.

And after a while and endless sympathy, I realized that SHE was the common denominator. If you get fired from EVERY job, alienate EVERY friend, YOU are the problem.

There are authors in this genre who share very little about their private lives, and what they share is mundane stuff (cute pictures of their puppy, a funny post about coffee) and authors who share a lot (transitioning from F to M; losing a loved one), yet not one of those authors has been doxed or attacked or had to sue someone.

Incredible, isn't it?

Why is that?

Why has SH been supposedly violated/attacked/bullied/doxed for "his" entire career? Why does this happen to "him" over and over again? Always the victim, never at fault. Someone is always out to get "him."

That's what I wish people would see: SH is the common denominator here. There is no "other," no bad guys waiting in the woods. It's SH who tells the stories, obfuscates, manipulates, threatens, and attacks.

If you're in deep shit, point some fingers, start a war, draw attention away from undeniable facts. And go back to pretending climate change isn't real because it snowed in Chicago a lot this year.

I'm speechless about all of that.

Katerina wrote: "Is Ais (ICoS co-author) actually a real person or a personality by SH. Many years I don‘t hear or read about her, but in September 2017 she opened a patreon account?"

No, Ais is categorically a real person and a really great one at that. You don't hear from her cause she is not involved in m/m at all. She is writing a fantasy series which she is publishing via Patreon.

I want to say thank you to you Susan and everyone else contributing to this thread and in exposing these people. I first heard about this two days ago, before that I had only heard what I perceived as general gossip, but yesterday I got confirmation from someone on GR that I trust and she led me here.
And though this might seem selfish, it really helps me to read all of this as I have felt and still feel so betrayed. I found SH’s books during a really tough time and to now know that someone I intensely identified with has outright lied and deceived so many, well it’s kind of mind boggling. So yeah, thanks to everyone sharing.

Earlier today, Alexandr Voinov commented on FB how pretending to have cancer to get money is shitty.

He didn't mention any names, though it seems it was enough.

Now that status is deleted, and Voinov announced

"Going on a bit of a social media detox . Things are just too ugly right now."

Seems like nobody's safe...

Just in case anyone was worried about comments made on this thread:

"In order for something to be considered defamation (or libel in written, online form) the statement must be presented as true but, in fact, be known to be untrue.

Further, if it is stated as opinion (which most online comments are), it is not defamation.

To note: public figures cannot sue for negative comments posted about them unless they can prove actual intent to harm with malice which is defined as knowingly making statements that are false or acting with reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of your statements."


All comments on here are responses to what we believe to be true or requests for more information to direct us to the truth.


The ability to obtain a lawyer isn't exclusive to SH. Just sayin'...

Ais writes in a completely different style. I just beta'd her massive fantasy novel. It's good, and nothing like Santino's work.

Thank you Susan. There is now another “statement” from his Patreon that someone shared where he is putting out additional “threats” and sending to my lawyer sentences.

Lucy wrote: "Thank you Susan. There is now another “statement” from his Patreon that someone shared where he is putting out additional “threats” and sending to my lawyer sentences."

SH has literally no leg to stand on. Nothing anyone has said constitutes grounds for a law suit. It also takes money to sue. It's just more bullying and fearmongering.

OMG I'm in shock, I've been reading SH for many years now

Susan wrote: "The ability to obtain a lawyer isn't exclusive to SH. Just sayin'..."

Thank you again, Susan!!

Thank you to Susan and everyone who's been talking about this. Someone mentioned they'd been living under a rock and apparently I was their next door neighbor two rocks over and nine rocks down. I had NO idea about ANY of this SH business until today and I'm actually shocked.
I really only liked the ICoS series, all the rest were just meh, but I know a lot of people followed him/her because they loved the books. As I read these posts, I took my reviews/ratings of those books down and will never consider another book by SH or whatever she's called. Her or Megan Erickson for that matter.
If there are any other authors that know about this deception, I'll remove those ratings as well.
Thank you so much for bringing this to light - all of you.
I'm genuinely sad right now.
Sigh

~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semi-colons~✡~ wrote: "SH has literally no leg to stand on. Nothing anyone has said constitutes grounds for a law suit. It also takes money to sue. It's just more bullying and fearmongering."

Exactly!!

This is just beyond words. I had decided earlier to day that I was going to leave my past reviews for this author alone but would no longer read or review their work or joint works with other authors in future. After reading what's here, I'm no longer comfortable with that decision and I guess I have some reviews that I'll be removing.

I have to admit other than reading SHs books I've never really delved further than that. I'm not interested in the private lives of authors. I've always held that I never wanted to know to much about an author because I was afraid I'd find out they weren't as awesome as I wanted them to be and it would spoil my reading experience and I guess I've just been proven right at least in this instance.

To all of you who have been burned by this person just know that being a kind and generous person is never bad. It hurts when you get taken advantage of but there are people who your kindness has touched and it has meant the world to them and right now you are proof that it takes heart to also be brave.

Susan thank you for opening up what is a much needed discussion.

I’m so shocked and confused. I just heard about this 2 hours ago.

I need to process all this information. Thank you, Susan.

Just wanted to add a little something. Someone shared on twitter the statement he made on Patreon and he numbered the health issues he has had and cancer was not among them. I just feel the need to say that once and again he is LYING. He’s trying to get away on technicalities and threats and playing the poor victim who is again being harassed by crazy obsessed fans.

Not this time, sweet pea. I have actual screenshots of various conversations in which he discuss having liver cancer and its treatment.

I and 3 other friends sent him gift cards that could be used to buy food because he told us he was going through chemo and had no one to cook for him. Again, I have screenshots.

So make no mistake, this person won’t stop lying. They will never admit to what they have done but we have to keep fighting them.

Tammi wrote: "I’m so shocked and confused. I just heard about this 2 hours ago.

I need to process all this information. Thank you, Susan."

same here o.o

Monica wrote: "Just wanted to add a little something. Someone shared on twitter the statement he made on Patreon and he numbered the health issues he has had and cancer was not among them. I just feel the need to..."


I am truly baffled by all this. I have no words. I'm sorry that you were used like this.

ETA: Since the author of the tweet has since deleted the screenshots in which SH discusses having undergone chemotherapy, I'm removing the link. I'm keeping the post to the Goodreads thread, although I'm sure that will get deleted too.

In which SH responds to someone expressing condolences after hearing about the cancer with, "Thanks Vicky. I'm doing better ATM so hopefully it stays that way :]"
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Anne Boleyn's Ghost wrote: "The author of this tweet shares a screenshot in which SH discusses having undergone chemotherapy:
https://twitter.com/Mallytweets/statu...

The Twitter thread also includes a link..."

Since I'm in that thread and the one who pointed out the Meatworks review (That will surely disappear soon) There is also screen shots of SH's Patreon post explaining why they created it and what they need money for. In case anyone has doubts.

Suzanne wrote: "Has anyone had any luck contacting the publisher? I want to know who to send questions/concerns to. I know the agent is just blocking people and not addressing the situation and SH is threatening l..."

I have pre-ordered two books by SH; yesterday I wrote from my Riptide account requesting a cancellation of those orders. They have not answered me yet, they have 48 hours to do it and so far only 24 have passed.

Could be interesting to see what they will do, although my guess is that they will access my request without any kind of comment; I'm not a reader that they can block on Twitter or Facebook, nor can they ignore my message, right?

Sara wrote: "Since I'm in that thread and the one who pointed out the Meatworks review (That will surely disappear soon) There is also screen shots of SH's Patreon post explaining why they created it and what they need money for. In case anyone has doubts."

Thank you for finding and sharing that! I just read about the cancer denial shortly ago, and I went to Twitter to see if anyone else had responded.

Anne Boleyn's Ghost wrote: "Sara wrote: "Since I'm in that thread and the one who pointed out the Meatworks review (That will surely disappear soon) There is also screen shots of SH's Patreon post explaining why they created ..."

When I first found their books I remember reading that review and asking friend if they knew the author had cancer considering all the posts of drinking etc. When I saw that cancer was listed in their statements I had to make sure I remembered right.

Since I'm getting DMs about this, I just want to say four things:

1. Santino Hassell has always been kind TO me. Whether he was that way about me, I don't know. Nor do I care. We stopped talking for no other reason than we just lost touch.

2. Santino Hassell directly pitted me against two people involved with this whose stories made me question all our(mine and sonny's) interactions. It made me angry but ultimately, I go back to 1) he was kind TO me. I SHOULD have been kind to one of them (though I was always kind to Susan)

3. I'm speaking out ONLY because the claims of cancer and thus donations really bother me. People can see my tweets and make their own decisions on whether he's been or being honest about that.

4. Sonny spoke to me about his cancer but has never once, EVER, asked me for anything other than a spot on my blog (when people actually knew who I was).

So, that's me being 100% transparent and honest. I like Sonny. I probably will continue to like Sonny. Do I believe he had cancer? No. Is he who he says he is? I don't know and I honestly don't care.

What people should only care about is how they were treated by him. How he treated others. And if he lied about cancer/illnesses to get money (not attn, MONEY).

I am sad right now. I didn't want to speak out about a friend even one whose done some terrible things, it appears. But people should be listening to victims. That's really really important.

If you want to hear what some of the victims have to say, you can read about it on twitter: (#shconfessions)

https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&a...

I am not trying to argue Dani because you did post what he had said about cancer however, you have also seen and replied to a post from someone he treated cruelly. You even sent her images of him talking about her. So I’m a bit baffled that you would say you will continue to like him/her/them. Its just a bit cruel, in my opinion to show someone who was already vulnerable, posting about their experience with Santino pictures of him purposely out casting her and then turn around here and say you’ll continue to like Sonny.

Lucy wrote: "I am not trying to argue Dani because you did post what he had said about cancer however, you have also seen and replied to a post from someone he treated cruelly. You even sent her images of him t..."

That's a really honest and fair assessment of what's going on in my head right now. I feel bad for how he treated people. I feel bad for how he treated Jenn. That, for some reason, doesn't negate all the times we talked.

This isn't just some random person I messaged once in a while. This is someone I confided in during a particularly vulnerable and miserable time in my life. I was going through chemo, my brain was a mess, then I was going through radiation and being bald and being unable to think cuz my brain was fucked up, thus I couldn't write, thus I shrank away from the community. This isn't an excuse, this is the reasons. I can't make myself hate someone. If life was that easy, people still wouldn't like Louis CK.

I started off today just livid about this. I spent the better half of a day going through those messages (we talked a LOT over a lonnng period of time). I read our conversations and the truth is he WAS kind to me and he was AWFUL about Jenn but I can't reconcile those two things to make them mean only one thing. You ask me how I can like him? I dunno. How do I turn that off? I can't as far as I can tell. What I am trying to do is believe Jenn about the gaslighting, and I back up her story. It was the least I could do. Not that I was mean to her personally. I just didn't spend any time getting to know her because of what he'd said and because I was dealing with treatment.

I can only be honest. So that's what I'm gonna do. I can both like Sonny and support victims speaking out, and maybe pave the road ahead for them so it's not so rocky. That's not to say that I won't wake up angry again in the morning.

Dani wrote: "I am sad right now. I didn't want to speak out about a friend even one whose done some terrible things, it appears. But people should be listening to victims. That's really really important.

FWIW Dani, I admire your courage and conviction. So much so, I just bought Shattered Glass. Thank you for putting yourself out there. You have my respect for standing by your principles while supporting others.

Amy wrote: "If you want to hear what some of the victims have to say, you can read about it on twitter: (#shconfessions)

https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&a..."


This is shocking.

I appreciate the reply Dani. It’s a bit personal for me because I have developed a friendship with Jenn and I know it was extremely difficult for her to open up. I’ve seen conversations of the vile things he’s said about people. So I’m grateful he was nice to you. I have seen the ugly side of Santino and for me, there’s no reconciliation of that part. There are things that haven’t been shared and won’t ever come to the public light of what he has said and honestly, it might be the silver lining that some people still hold hope this person isn’t purely deceitful.

This is all mind-blowing , wow