Addressing Some Serious Bullsh*t Talk about Samhain Publishing

Over the years I’ve seen a few negative comments regarding Samhain Publishing surface on social media sites and forums (natural, for any prolific company). But today I received an email, forwarded to a number of other recipients representing similar themed websites, and what I read was downright despicable (and quite frankly, awkward and mistimed… not that there’s ever a great time for negative chatter).

Let me give you an idea of what the email was about, to begin with.

This author, whose name I will absolutely never mention on this website, was attempting to submit a digital copy of his debut novel for review consideration. Right off the bat you should be realizing that this certainly isn’t the stage to shout out qualms with any specific company. This guy mentions the fact that another publisher (that I’m sure plenty of you are familiar with) picked up his work after Samhain rejected his manuscript.

Right there, is where the backstory should have ended.

But after mentioning Samhain’s rejection notice, things got really weird. This guy proceeds to then piss and moan for a full paragraph (I wouldn’t call it a full blown tirade, but it was one paragraph too many, just the same) about Samhain’s poor business practices and even worse novel releases. He dug in pretty deep there, and while he didn’t send any profanities my way, he may as well have included an extra nail. It was an extremely unprofessional, uncalled for message that accomplished absolutely nothing other than ensuring HNR will never, under any circumstances cover the man’s work.

Let me tell you about my experiences with Samhain. Any queries I’ve had have been answered in timely, polite fashion. They were happy to add HNR to their media list. They’ve never given me any reason to issue any form of complaint. Above and beyond all, they’ve published some excellent work from some excellent authors. And that’s an important issue because this guy said some very negative things about the authors (he generalized) being published by Samhain (amusing that he’d submit a manuscript to a company whose talent he so despises, eh?).

I’ll tell you right now, Samhain sends us a whole hell of a lot more quality novels than poor. And they’ve got a roster of talent that cannot be scoffed at. I can sit here and name you all kinds of talent being published by the company, right off the top of my head – with absolutely no problems. Hunter Shea, Frazer Lee, John Everson, Brian Moreland, Jonathan Janz, Eric Red, Rod Labbe, Tony Richards, Ronald Malfi – that’s nine excellent authors with no site referencing whatsoever. Those names immediately jump to mind. And those authors are really, really good. They’re not average. They’re not okay. They’re crazy good. Who does erotic horror as well as Everson? Who tells as thrilling a monster story as Shea? Who is as thorough with research as Moreland?

These guys are awesome.

These guys are having novels published by Samhain. The same Samhain that’s been a pleasure to work with, and have never once given HNR any troubles of any sort. The same Samhain that this clown felt compelled to berate mercilessly.

I’m not going to tell you that every genre fan is going to enjoy every Samhain novel published. That’s not going to happen because we’ve all got different preferences. I am going to tell you that in general, this is a reliable company worthy of the utmost respect. They’ve released some of the best novels I’ve read over the last few years. And most importantly, we here at HNR will not cease to support them. We’ll continue to wave the Samhain flag high, because that crew is worthy. I know what it takes to operate a business. While this business isn’t remotely near as established as Samhain, we’re growing in some wild ways, and the behind-the-scenes work that goes into this kind of entity is every bit as time consuming and exhausting as the front end work the site viewers see. It’s hard work, for all of us. And Samhain probably handles – literally – 10 times the load, if not more.

So here’s the deal: I won’t say your name dude, because you’re an asshole – flat out, and you don’t deserve the promotion. I marked your email address as spam, and I will not entertain any contact you attempt to make in the future. I chose to put this quick note together in the hopes that, at the very least, a few of you who received the same message will catch wind of this (you’re all likely savvy enough to know that this guy is a complete joker). I don’t know the status of any of your relationships with Samhain, but I will vouch for the company, 110-percent, all day – every day. Samhain has been nothing but professional, honest and reliable. They consistently deliver impressive packages that we work hard to get covered because they deserve it. They’re dedicated, they’re passionate and they keep the machine running as smooth as we fans could hope for. Unlike you, they conduct themselves properly.

I’m very firm in the belief that you don’t share emails or personal messages with the masses. I was also very tempted to post a screen shot of that miserable email, but email should remain email. It’s obviously intended to be somewhat personal, and I’ve got a serious pet peeve about any asshole willing to take personal messages and make them public. You certainly deserve to field an onslaught of hate mail for your disappointing antics, but I won’t be the one to expose that with photographs. Posting pics of email exchanges is a major no-no. You just don’t do that.

And don’t get me wrong, I understand that we’re human beings, and sometimes we get worked up. We let our emotions get the best of us. I don’t know if you deserve a second chance or not. I won’t be offering that up, but I don’t actually wish to bury any potential future career you may have. I’m not the executioner. But in this case, I am acting as the judge.

You’re guilty of being a massive tool, and the babble you’re spewing is wrong. It’s completely wrong.

Samhain is a great company. We’ve long campaigned for them as well as many of their authors. We’ll continue to do so. We’ll continue to wish them success, and hopefully, help bring them a little bit more of that success by providing exposure for their awesome authors who continue to entertain.

My point has been made. I hope that those of you who received that same piece of shit email I received will not be fooled by the inane bitching of a sour author who had his novel turned down by a company clearly focused on delivering high caliber stuff, because that man (in my opinion) does nothing but come across as the literary equivalent of an immature, scorned lover. Samhain fucking rocks, plain and simple. One loser’s words should do nothing to alter any opinion of the company.

To all the HNR followers, I apologize for kicking off my own rant here, but that email really worked its way under my skin. The fact that it was sent to a sizable number of individuals just completely, completely set me off, and I felt compelled to address the situation. The last thing Samhain deserves is one douche bag planting an unnecessarily toxic seed in someone’s head that could – somehow (I hope that’s not the case; I believe my fellow recipients will see through it) – grow.