So I spent close to 2 hours over the last few days trawling through the Santino Hassell debacle...
Catfishing being what it is, some things will never be definitively proven or disproven. Some things have been verified with screen shots or the like but some things have to be taken (or not taken) at face value. I don’t know any of the participants (authors/victims/readers) in real life or online.
That being said: Santino Hassell does not exist. It is a brand or persona involving at least 2 people (probably a married couple) and maybe more, with the deceptions going back 15+ years. SH portrayed “himself” as a struggling single father with 2 kids (that probably don’t exist) and liver cancer and addiction issues. Chemotherapy and being on the liver transplant list were discussed and used to drum up Patreon members. SH cultivated online relationships for source material and at least a couple of these personal stories made it into his books without permission or consent. Author Courtney Milan confirms (again, I don’t know her) that she knows someone who revealed personal info to SH that was later in one of the books.
Other authors: Megan Erickson and Piper Vaughn both co-authored with SH. Both have posted that they didn’t know and the coauthored books have been removed/cancelled. ME seems to have known there was a team involved and participated (or at least turned a blind eye) in the coverup.
Avon Gail and Roan Parrish: Traveled with SH to New Orleans and interacted with SH at several conventions. Questions remain of how much they knew, I guess.
Karen Stivalli and Vanessa North: The word “vicious” came up more than once in relation to both of them. Even if they didn’t know, their online behavior of bullying, name-calling, and general nastiness is despicable. With the possible exception of Gail and Parrish, all of the above authors have had varying degrees of reprehensible online behavior.
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Riptide Publishing is revamping/restructuring. In addition, one of their editors (Sarah Lyons) has resigned amidst allegations of sexual harassment. There’s a statement on their website about being closed to new submissions and returning rights to authors who wish to end their contracts. Alexis Hall, KJ Charles, and Lisa Henry have all pulled their books. I’m sure there are others I didn’t see. If there’s any book you are interested in, you might want to get it now cuz no telling how many authors might follow suit. I’d be cautious about starting an unfinished series too. I had my eye on Cordelia Kingsbridge’s Seven of Spades series but there are 3 scheduled releases over the next 6 months or so and I’m not sure if that can be counted on.
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I’ve tried to be accurate but mistakes are possible and I don’t really want to go any further down this particular rabbit hole.
I've been following this the past week or so, and lots of authors have made it to my never ever list. I don't blame authors for also being snowed my whoever is behind Santino, but I do blame him for how they've acted since things started coming out. I'm giving Piper and Avon and Roan the benefit of the doubt, because I've never seen them be mean, but Megan Erickson, Karen Stivalli and Vanessa North are now on my hell no list. I didn't much like the one Stivalli book I tried, but I really loved some of VN and Megan's, so that's sad. But, plenty of other authors on the shelf! Authors who don't lie, scam, or bully readers.
I started looking into the SH debacle a few days ago when I first became aware of it on GR. While I did read through a few GR posts, Twitter conversations, and the publisher's letter, I did not spend a lot of time digging. I went through my books and discovered I've never read an SH book although I did recognize the name as being a popular author. I knew nothing about him/her/them until the catfishing accusations. Thanks for summarizing what you found. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth when scadals like this hit the book world. In a genre that still struggles to find acceptance in the larger scheme, the fallout may take longer than usual to overcome for other authors.
Vanessa North is the only one I’m really upset about but even that is no big loss. I loved Sweater Boy (YA novella from an anthology) and Bluberry Boys and High and Tight were pretty good, along with one of the Lake Lovelace series. Other than that, she’s inconsistent IMO.
Avon Gail and Roan Parrish Eh, they do have 1 or 2 I’ve liked but the more recent releases from both of them have been mediocre. I’m not too broken up about it.
I haven’t gone to the individual author pages, I’m just going by what is no longer available in my account/wish list at Riptide. FYI...If you’ve already purchased the pulled books then they’re still in your Riptide account. It is just an inactive title and cannot be viewed on their site. Still, if you haven’t already backed up your library and/or sent the books to your Amazon account, I’d recommend doing so. I’m also leery of doing any preorders.
Too bad really:( I love their Bonus Bucks program.
I genuinely enjoyed several SH books, especially the gaming series they co-wrote with Megan Erickson. As a semi-gamer girl myself, it's rare to find books that get everything right, and these just really hit a good spot for me.
Off the Ice (Hat Trick Book 1) coauthored by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn has been pulled from Riptide but is still available on Amazon and is still listed as being published by Riptide. Maybe it is just a delay in pulling it from Amazon?
I dunno...I’m still questioning their level of involvement.
According to her website, The Magician Murders was going to be released on March 27th “come hell or high water”. In what comes as no surprise, the release is now delayed until April 3rd but I’m not holding my breath:(
I don’t know why I do this to myself. I’m really just waiting for all the releases that were promised last year— the Magician one, the next Holmes & Moriarity, the next Dangerous Ground novella, and The Ghost Had an Early Check-out (though I’m pretty sure this one is a lost cause). I’ve been watching because I want to get the preorder price cuz I don’t think she’s worth full price anymore.
She really has a lot of hutzpah complaining about Amazon revoking her preorder listing privileges.
Kim Fielding has left Riptide. Heidi Belleau is gone too.
I *really* don’t want them to go under but they’ve lost most of their best writers. I’m not sure how much more of a hit they can take. I have Bonus Bucks waiting but the Cordelia Kingsbridge series is the only one I really want right now, I think. Not sure I should risk getting that if there’s a chance it’ll go unfinished.
I have to admit I couldn't really follow the whole blowup. So one author was faking and catfishing like hell, one editor was sexually harassing people and now every rat leaves the ship. Seems harsh to me, but I'm probably missing a vital step somewhere.
I just hope I won't miss out on any books I'd like to read, because they get pulled and never republished. My list for those works is long enough as it is.
The Riptide situation is mostly separate from the SH debacle, other than being one of “his” publishers. One of their editors has a history of harassment and other sexual misconduct. I don’t know the extent and didn’t know anything about it until it came to light after the SH stuff. SH seems to have been the straw that broke their back in terms of what authors were willing to tolerate for the sake of their career. I kinda think it is harsh too but I don’t know anything of what went on behind the scenes. Maybe complaints were made but ignored, dismissed, or inadequately investigated? If that’s the case, then they’re justified in pulling their books. I just really hope they can recover and books don’t get “lost” in the shuffle.
Kim Fielding has a book out tomorrow I'm looking forward to: The Little Library
I really liked Rattlesnake so I will probably get this tomorrow when it comes out. Or I'm debating whether to wait a couple of weeks to see if the price drops -- I hate that we have to even think about that but I guess the author doesn't want to lose any momentum.