(no subject)

[jasonandrew]

There’s been a lot of talk about the incident with Harlan Ellison and Connie Willis. My summery of the incident is simple. Don’t be an asshole to people. There’s a difference between being an asshole and being funny.

Speaking of which, something else has happened which I think maybe should be discussed. First, I’m the sort of guy that can get along with almost anyone. I rarely get into fights with people. I get along with the unlikeables for some reason. I think sometimes I collect lost souls. [Note: I will admit that the exception to this was a certain vampire LARP club I was in for a while where it was difficult for me to get along with some of the members.]

There are a ton of people that loath Nickolaus Pacione. While I have had friendly discussions with him, I can’t really blame anyone else for hating him as he’s a fairly unlikable guy. If you want to engage him in a flame war or make fun of him on your livejournal/forum, go ahead. If you hate him with the red hot passion of a thousand suns and it works for you, then great. There is still a guy that I can’t stand from the vampire LARP that I try to avoid.

I recently visited http://www.nakedsnakepress.com/. Naked Snake Press is going to publish one of his books and it appears that they have been getting harassing emails. Harassing Naked Snake Press because you don’t like Nickolaus Pacione is childish.

I’ve never read anything by him so I don’t know if he is a good writer or not. Maybe he is the worst writer ever as many claim and I’m sure he has poked enough bears to make people mad at him. Some of the complaints that I have heard say that Nickolaus is insulting, threatening, and he harasses people. I can’t and won’t defend that. However, I can point out that whoever is sending the harassing letters is insulting, threatening, and harassing Naked Snake Press. If you become the very thing you are fighting against, you lose.

Here is my story.

I started writing seriously a year ago after my wife encouraged me.

When I started, I didn’t know anyone. I found ralan.com and started sending out my stories. At first, it is very scary sending out your stories into the abyss. I edited several of my old stuff and started sending it out while writing new stories. One of the stories was “the Art of the Deal.” I love this story, but it is a bit of an albatross. It was the first sale I had ever made way back in the early 90s to Aberrations. It folded and it took me a while to realize it. I started sending it out to the big boys, but no one was interested in it. I saw a posting for Tabloid Purposes III on www.ralan.com and submitted it. I had never heard of Nickolaus Pacione. Six months later, I received a reply that he was accepting it, but that people really hated him and I should be warned. I pointed out that I had never heard of him and that he was likely exaggerating things.

And then I started seeing posts about him on live journal, in forums, and almost everywhere. I’ve only recently started networking and working my way up the ladder. The sheer amount of vile kind of surprised me. There’s even a “national I hate Nickolaus Pacione live journal post day.” And yet, when you act like an asshole to people, you can’t be surprised if they respond in kind. Nickolaus Pacione has been an asshole to people so I don’t really feel all that sorry for him.

Does that mean that Naked Snake Press deserves harassing emails? Am I going to get e-mails for submitting a trunk story for Tabloid Purposes III?

Comments

[shawn-scarber.livejournal.com]

Pacione has never been anything but nice to me, of course I've never given him reason to do otherwise. I wouldn't even say he's a terrible writer. It's just that what he does write is very different. I think he's just managed to make himself an easy target, but I agree that that doesn't give people the right to harass a publisher just because they accept his work.

[porcupinedays.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've got something in Tabloid Purposes III as well and I came across all this crap when I googled it. I think part of the problem is that he actually responds to his critics and that works them up into a frenzy. Same thing happens every time Vincent Gallo makes a movie because he responds to his detractors. A big part of writing is separating yourself from your work and letting things slide off your back.

My two cents...

[(Anonymous)]

Nick's an interesting character. While you have to admire his enthusiasm for the craft and for the genre, you can't help but cringe as you watch him go down in flames. Also I think his antics are disrespectful to his contributors. While he may warn potential associates of his reputation, he never mentions the aspects of his personality which garner this level of attention. I won't speak for anyone here, but I want to know beforehand that I'm attaching my name to an apparent bigot. Again, speaking for myself, I want no part of a person telling homosexuals that "society hates you", that EMTs "would let people like you bleed to death", or "doctors would dissect you on a gurney", not to mention the innumerable amount times Nick has thrown the words "faggot" and "dyke" out there. In some instances, yes, his anger is justified. But no amount of harassment justifies a 30 year-old writer/publisher spouting that kind of vitriol on a public forum, completely ignorant of the potential damage done to the unsuspecting, (and all too often) fledgling-writers who've stumbled upon his guidelines and who now have their name associated with this type of behavior.
Also, I'd be shocked if Nick doesn't make the 'Predators & Editors' list by year's end. His practices are very questionable. What concerns me most is that all the money flows towards him. Obviously as grand-high poobah of the anthology he gets a bigger share of the pie. But I find it funny that his guidelines often request new-ish writers. I think that's because they're easier to swindle. The new writer is too busy looking at their printed name to notice.
Another aspect of his reputation he fails to mention is that he's notorious for not paying his writers. He pays some, but the rest have to resort to emails and badgering on public forums. This is because he doesn't have money in the 'budget' to buy enough of his books to photograph himself with AND pay his writers. Of course he figured it was best if you guys, the contributors, just paid him instead. So he charges for the guidelines, charges for submissions (depending on how you submit it), and perhaps on a good day can even manage to pilfer a CD-RW or two. He gets your money as well as customer money, and you get...an e-copy (sent to you on your own CD-RW if you submitted via pony express!!).
I'm not writing this to give you anyone's side of the story. I'm writing this out of genuine concern for the craft, the genre, and the writers whose names are tarnished merely by being on the same page with him. In the end, the potential damage done to your name because of this person is just not worth it. There are better PROFESSIONAL anthologies to be had. It would behoove all of you to either walk away from his project or suck it up and just forget it ever happened.

Thanks for reading.

[porcupinedays.livejournal.com]

Well, hell. I don't spend a lot of time on message boards either and didn't know about a lot of this stuff. Now I'm kind of glad he misplaced my story or changed his mind or whatever (some notification from him would have been nice though)