A friend shared this rant by Ben Babcock, and I have to say that if we got hate mail like this every week, our digital morale would never waver, even amidst minefields of super-magnets and EMP grenades.

I despise Angry Robot. Because of them, I have a massive backlog of DRM-free ebooks in my Dropbox, which I can read anywhere from my phone or tablet. Because of their stupid subscription model, where I can pay in advance and download their new titles every month, I have reliable, consistent exposure to new voices in SF/fantasy and fascinating new novels. Because of their terrible habit of actually responding me to me as a person, not just a consumer, their customer support has always been responsive and satisfactory—they always seem to reply to me on Twitter, and in emails they are courteous and helpful. I seldom have this experience with any other company, and so, naturally, this made me angry.

Also, they lie. Never once have I interacted with a robot instead of a real person, and even if I did, it certainly wasn’t very angry. This is false advertising in the worst possible way.

That’s why when they started their Strange Chemistry imprint, I immediately bought a subscription for that as well. I hate them that much, that I needed to use my wallet to make sure they heard my vocal displeasure with their business model.

In short, Angry Robot is doing an awful job emulating the bigger publishing houses. They have ruined my life by making available more books than I can possibly read in any reasonable amount of time. I’m sure that my eyesight will eventually go from staring at my tablet screen for so long, and when it does, I will blame them.

Don’t make the same mistake I did, people. Don’t fall into the Angry Robot’s trap. If you buy from them, you will soon drown in books, go blind, and be immensely satisfied.