Amazon shut down Jon Del Arroz’s Glorified novel along with Declan Finn’s Deus Vult novel from publisher Silver Empire.
Publisher Russell Newquist was informed that both books, which were scheduled to be released on November 1st, were removed from Amazon and Kindle.
In an email provided to Bounding Into Comics from Newquist, Amazon explained that the pre-order for the books was “cancelled because no manuscript was provided by the submission deadline.” The email continued, “We have notified customers of the cancellation.”
They added that Silver Empire will no longer be allowed to set-up a pre-order for an eBook another year:
“To ensure a good customer experience, we require a manuscript file to be uploaded before the submission deadline. If you don’t upload your file on time, we will cancel the pre-order, and you won’t be able to set up a pre-order for any eBook for one year.”
If you attempt to visit the Amazon pages for either book, you are met with an image of a dog who tells you, “Sorry we couldn’t find that page.”
However, Newquist details that he submitted the manuscripts on time. He tells me, “Amazon’s claiming I didn’t get the final files uploaded in time, but that’s total BS. I had the files for both uploaded weeks ago.”
He reiterated that he submitted the manuscripts on time, “Unfortunately, they’ve locked those books down on me so I can’t prove that the manuscripts were actually uploaded. But I assure you that they were.”
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When he attempted to contact Amazon he details they gave him the runaround.
“I called up tech support literally the second they opened this morning. Got a lot of runaround.”
While Amazon claims the pre-order for the books were cancelled because of missing a deadline, Newquist believes it’s suspicious that Amazon “canceled two controversial Christian Fiction books at once.”
Jon Del Arroz’s Glorified is the third book in his Saga of the Nano Templar series. The book sees Drin and his Templar brothers facing down a Sekaran fleet that now wields a weapon that can destroy worlds. With the entire Elorian fleet mobilized to take on the Sekarans, the risks have never been higher. Not only will Drin and his brothers face down the Sekarans, but he must also seek out the power of the mysteries of faith in order to combat a number of deadly secrets from ancient races that had been hidden away throughout the galaxy.
Del Arroz describes the book as “an allegory for revelation in a military science fiction setting.” He notes it is his “most heavy Christian theological work” to date.
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Declan Finn’s Deus Vult is the sixth book in his Saint Tommy NYPD series. The book follows Tommy Nolan as he is once again recruited by the Vatican to investigate a grisly murder scene. This time a monastery has been desecrated and the exorcist monks who called it their home have been butchered.
Tommy will have to reach out to an old enemy in order to confront the legion of demons that is growing. However, can he trust this old enemy and will he be able to track down the demons before their plan is enacted?
To be clear Amazon has not removed Jon Del Arroz or Declan Finn’s other books. They just removed the pre-orders for their upcoming books. The first two books of Jon Del Arroz’s The Saga of the Nano Templar, Justified and Sanctified, are still available via Amazon.
Declan Finn’s Saint Tommy, NYPD series is also still available via Amazon. Hell Spawn, Death Cult, Infernal Affairs, City of Shadows, and Crusader can all be purchased through Amazon.
However, Glorified and Deus Vult can only be pre-ordered through Silver Empire’s website at this time.
This isn’t the first time Amazon has removed books from their platform. Back in February, Vox Day reported that Amazon had removed a number of books published by Castalia House. After issuing an appeal, Amazon would reinstate the Castalia House books that were removed.
Amazon also removed nine of Roosh V’s books back in September 2018. In a blog post on his website, Roosh detailed that he believed his books were banned because of their success:
“I believe the bannings began because the launch of Game was extremely successful. I sold 2,000 books in the first two days and hit the top 700 on Amazon paperback on the first day. Even before Friday’s launch, Game was already in Amazon’s top 10,000. As far as I know, Amazon didn’t receive a single complaint about the content, but they removed it anyway.”