I’ve been asked to post the contents guidelines from Amazon so that you get an idea and maybe will be able to tell me what’s wrong in BUSCAFUSCO: Fun & Games.
This is indeed an interesting read, I guess, because after all it has to do with my writing life.
The actual document is pretty large, but what’s pertinent is – I think – the following, that goes under the Offensive & Controversial category:
Violence, Intolerance, and Hate
- Products that contain violent or offensive material that has no historical significance. Amazon reserves the right to make a determination on the historical value of the item.
- Products that promote, incite, or glorify hate or violence towards any person or group. This includes products that contain violent or offensive material that has no historical significance. Amazon reserves the right to make a determination on the historical value of the item.
- Products that promote or glorify suicide
- Products related to terrorist organizations
- Products that promote or glorify people that have been found guilty of violent or sexual crimes.
Intolerance
- Products that promote intolerance based on race, religion, and sexual orientation.
- Products that contain racially derogatory language
Human Tragedies and Disasters
- Products related to human tragedies and natural disasters
Child Abuse and Exploitation
- Products that depict child abuse/exploitation
- Products intended for use by children that contains adult content, profanity and/or sexual references
- Products depicting children or characters resembling children in a sexually suggestive manner
- Products marketed to or targeted at kids or teenagers that are age-inappropriate
And really, I can’t say there’s anything like that in my Buscafusco stories. Granted, this new story marks the first appearance of the Chinese Triads, but there is no racist content I can think of. I purposefully avoided derogatory terms, despite the fact that one of the characters is the sort that would use them. Because only a fool chooses to risk and offend his readers on a matter of authenticity.
Anyway, we are still here waiting.
The plot thickens.
Karavansara 
11 December 2018 at 19:34
I bet it’s a matter of cover. Tools that evoke violent contents and the word fun and games. Wich is idiot, of course, and really alarming. Someone in Amazon doesn’t get black humour at all!
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11 December 2018 at 19:37
But all the Buscafusco ebooks have the same cover. And “Women & Children”, featuring work tools, could be interpreted as even worse than “Fun & Games”.
I really think this is some AI filter going bonkers.
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11 December 2018 at 19:57
The first point is interesting because there is a bit of violence in Buscafusco – at least there was in Witches and Saints – but, really, it comes with the genre.
Either that, or Buscafusco’s opinions on his fellow citizens have grown so strong that they now count as hate speech.
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11 December 2018 at 21:30
I never considered Buscafusco’s violence excessive – and there is no graphical violence or any glorification of violence, so… I don’t know.
And he’s not particularly nasty about his fellow citizens.
Matilde the Younger is a lot snarkier.
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12 December 2018 at 04:34
Yeah, either the Copyright Gestapo or the Chinese Triad are the best bets. Although the middle aged Cougar bar could be running a distant 3rd.
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12 December 2018 at 13:56
In the end, turns out there was some glitch in the file I uploaded, and the Amazon servers didn’t like it. I re-uploaded it, let’s see what happens.
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12 December 2018 at 11:35
According to the guidelines, you can’t write a book about an earthquake. Weird.
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12 December 2018 at 14:00
The guidelines are pretty… ehm, generic.
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