ILONA ANDREWS

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On Inciting Violence, Peculiar Methods Of

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For those of you unable to view the image, Arizona Department of Corrections is warning us that ONE FEEL SWEEP might be taken out of circulation in their prison libraries because it “promotes Acts of Violence.”

We are, of course, planning to appeal the decision. We are a little puzzled as to the promoting part, since violence in that particular book is perpetrated against alien assassin by a woman with a magic broom, a space werewolf, and a space vampire.

Maybe it’s the cans of beans the nice Texas woman throws at the alien creatures in Costco? But no, that would be the wrong book…

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Comments

  3. I thought the Costco incident was in _Clean Sweep_ ?

    Could it be the attempt to get into the Muckrats’ fort?
    or the fart gun??

  5. Maybe The Kate Daniels series is more suited for prison libraries, after all the main heroine tries valiantly to peacefully resolve altercations, but unfortunately sometimes results to violence. That’s a positive outlook!

  7. This is real? This isn’t say, a fellow friend and author blowing off some creative steam? I admit my first reaction was to laugh and check Ms. Frost’s blog.

  8. I’d like to know:

    A) Who in the Arizona Department of Corrections is reading paranormal romance and getting their knickers in a twist over it?
    B) If this is what they censor, what in Heaven’s Name are they letting through? Nursery tales? Can’t be, those are much more violent.
    C) What is the process here? Did an inmate request the book?

    I hope you’ll let us know how this goes. It’s hilarious 🙂

  10. I’m a little perplexed how fictional violence involving homicidal aliens ‘incites (human on human) violence’? ?

    • Awesome!! my two fav authors.. well three. I’d like to see collaboration from you all.
      That would sooo ROCK!!!

  14. I wonder if it is because the aliens attacked Officer Marais. Really, that’s all I can think that it might be. (And if so, do they allow inmates to watch MEN IN BLACK?)

    • You know… that may be the underlying thing. Someone took offense to the treatment of Officer Marais… even though readers know how that part turns out!! Who knows…

  15. Well, so much for Little Red Riding Hood! If all two of the censor’s two neurons manage to collide, perhaps your appeal will succeed.

  16. Wow!
    What next?
    Burning of books?

    I am glad you are appealing. While you are at it, have your attorneys request a list of what is in their libraries…

    • I’m not losing sleep over the possibility that innkeepers , vampires and werewolves are going to go on a rampage. The good guys won. I am losing sleep over increasing intolerance and censorship. The Authorlords are being banned as are dead authors such as Mark Twain and Laura Ingalls Wilder whose racist views reflect the times they lived in. Laura lived in the frontier during the times when there were attacks against settlers. Manifest Destiny is wrong. The settlers had no right to invade. The answer is not censorship and rewriting history by deleting parts of it. You need to discuss it and learn not to make the same mistakes. The next step is book burnings which aren’t just fictional like Fahrenheit 451. Hitler and Stalin were quite fond of them as is ISIS .

        • Where do you think those people come from? You all send them here. I’m pretty sure you’ve got plenty left where these came from.

  17. Maybe the whack-a-mole toy? I think prairie dogs are protected. Maybe listed as endangered. Good grief! 🙂

  18. Uhhhhh…..thinking of proper response……uhhhhhhh (a bit gobsmacked here). No, redaction should not be allowed as it’s a work of fantasy fiction. Apparently there are very silly people at the corrections department who’ve had their brains redacted. This is unfortunate and a tad scary.

  22. I was thinking along the lines of lying to an officer of the law or disobeying orders. I cant remember if this is the book where they cut his car up. Anyway I had to think really hard to come up with that reason.
    Let us know how it turns out

  23. I’m cleaning out my book collection. My cousin (who has been in jail a lot…long story) says “Bring them to the jail! They really need books there, all they have is crap!” So I ran into the sheriff at lunch and said “what restrictions do you have on books at the jail?”
    He said “restrictions? uh… no porn, I guess.”
    I’ve donated about 500 books (so far) and they haven’t had any issues with any… and we’re particularly happy to get the woodworker encyclopedias .

      • When I moved I took two large boxes to the local jail and sent same to the prison. The only stipulation they had was no hardcovers. But if you donate blackout any name information you might have in them. I used to use address labels in my books – got a letter from an inmate. Freaked me out, very happy I was 3000 miles away!

    • That is so thoughtful of you!

      500 books though, that sounds like the plot to a prison break story lol

    • When my father died, a friend who visits prisoners asked if Mom would donate his books to the prison library. They were so grateful they even put his name on a brass plaque honoring him. Dad had the complete works of John Grisham, lots of westerns, and lots of WWII novels. The only requirement was that the good guys had to win at the end.
      This was in Alabama.

  24. Well, that takes Tucson off my list of where I want to move next. A shame; I think I would’ve liked it.

    • Ahaha, yeah – I’m probably visiting my aunt and uncle in Tuscon next month, and this just makes me wince. (They blame everything on Phoenix… my uncle, who is particularly politically active, at length and in great detail.)

  25. Just when I thought I’d seen the height of bureaucratic foolishness…please keep us informed on this one, I’ve a feeling it could be entertaining to say the least.

    From a loyal, non-violent fan ?

  27. If you read their Code, I can’t imagine what their inmates are allowed to read without heavy redaction, including the Bible. Maybe textbooks as long as they don’t include any hint of sex or violence.

  29. I tell you, I’m absolutely gobsmacked! It makes me wonder what kinds of books are on the shelves in our prisons. They must be pretty limited if they object to One Fell Sweep.
    My mind immediately turned to other literature they might find objectionable. Any fairytale like Jack and the Beanstalk, Any Star Wars book, Isaac Asimov’s Dune, Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I could go on and on but you get the picture. The last time I heard of something so ridiculous was when they wanted to ban To Kill A Mocking Bird. Don’t let them get away with this. If the news got wind of this they would be the laughingstock of the nation.

  30. This made me chuckle. Can’t say they weren’t looking out for the inmates. Buuuuuuuutttt….. really!? Ahhhh bless their fragile minds. 😀

  31. Unbelievable! I know we live in perilous times where it might be hard to distinguish fact from fiction but really……

  33. Maybe the acts of violence are because they are so bored with the books in the library they are fighting over Clean Sweep.

    • Like Nancy below, this must be it! They finally have something interesting to read and they all want it and are fighting over it.

  36. Maybe the inmates were using the book for their book club and they got into violent altercations discussing the book. Lol!!!!

  38. I’m a little puzzled whether or not they even cited the correct section because DO 914.07 (unauthorized content) – 1.2.16 says “Pictures, depictions or illustrations that promote acts of violence including, but not limited to, murder, rape, sexual assault, assault, amputation, decapitation, dismemberment, mutilation, maiming, disfigurement, crime scene/autopsy photographs, or cruelty to animals.”

    Unless they mean depiction in written word? I mean, if they actually banning all of that, I can see how the fight when they went to rescue Maud would probably violate the assault, decapitation, etc…and maybe the later discussion of eating sentient beings could come under cruelty to animals? Having read the whole policy, there’s apparently a lot they can’t read in AZ prisons…

    It surprises me that they’re this strict, since I worked for CDCR and never heard of book censorship. I can only imagine either some employee had too much free time, or that they received a complaint from an inmate and are overreacting because of lawsuits.

    It’s here if anyone is interested: https://corrections.az.gov/sites/default/files/policies/900/0914.pdf

    • Makes me realize that most of the books I (like to) read contains most everything mentioned under DO 914.07 (unauthorized content) – 1.2.16 and worse 😉

  41. Wow! People are weird. Yes protest, cause censorship is bad.

    Thank you for all the great books!

  43. This is the most idiotic thing I have every read… for goodness sake this is a book about a fantasy world and the events therein. Have these brilliant people every read a comic book?? Talk about inciting violence … Superman and Batman, oh my. Archie and Veronica Comics wouldn’t even make the cut, I bet.
    The real stuff that creates violence is not in fiction… try some of the non-fiction how-to books … that would make more sense.
    Heck…. who am I kidding banning any book is a darn tricky thing.
    Is it 1984? ( Shouldn’t we be worried about that one?)

  44. I believe you mean ONE FELL SWEEP. There are a lot of jokes to be made on the title ONE FEEL SWEEP however, so carry on.

  45. As someone who works within a bureaucracy, I would just buy myself a nice frame and hang the letter up in my office as a conversation piece. Save yourself some frustration. You can’t fight stupid.

    • +1. Write a nice, satisfying letter back and then frame their letter so you can have a good laugh every now and again.

  46. Your appeal is limited to agreeing to redactions of their choosing? I think it may be time to call your lawyer. Stupid shouldn’t be allowed to flourish, and neither should censorship. I agree that you might consider framing it, though. Ghlargh!!!

  47. This is a good example of a group deciding that their views are more important than the views of others.
    In my view, their view is particularly stupid. The good guys win against the bad guys who incited the violence. I’m not losing sleep over the possibility that innkeepers, vampires and werewolves will go on a violent rampage.

    I am concerned about censorship and the right to free speech even when the content is offensive. They are banning the Authorlords. Mark Twain and Laura Ingalls Wilder are also under attack for racism. In their cases, it’s valid. They reflect the times they lived in. The right to free speech includes the dead. Laura has a strong bias against Native Americans. She lived on the frontier during the times when there were attacks against settlers. She knew people who were killed. Her family was in jeopardy. Manifest Destiny is wrong – the settlers had no right to invade America. I’m a third generation Scandinavian immigrant. My ancestors invaded Europe on a regular basis, notably France where they became the Normans who then invaded England and ousted Saxon rule. The Vikings were wrong too. But you can’t change history by deleting parts of it. You need to discuss it and learn not to make the same mistakes. Censorship of free speech is a seriously bad symptom. It leads to hatred and the view that people who don’t agree with you aren’t entitled to the same rights. Book burning aren’t just fictional, like Fahrenheit 451. Hitler and Stalin were quite fond of them as is ISIS. This does cause me to lose sleep.

  48. Well I think the horde should buy and send one book each from our “Dear Authorlords” to all the Arizona prisons in protest. I wonder what else they object too? Crazy place AZ, my Mom lives there and I’m not a fan of the desert or of “red state politics”.

  49. I worked at Borders for 10+ years and for 3+ years I did corporate sales, which meant working with jail libraries and librarians. The librarians were wonderful (of course), how ever, the policies, rules, and procedures were very frustrating.
    I would be brought a list. After we prioritized the list, James the librarian and I would talk about options books, if some didn’t make it. I could see some of why they were banned books i.e murder/serial killer or horror books but Louis L’amour westerns? John Grisham – some were banned and some were ok. Mind boggling. I truly believe it depends on the person deciding that day, the phase of the moon, which way the wind is blowing, what they had for lunch (or breakfast), and how they are holding their mouth, as to whether or not a book will be allowed in the correctional library’s system.

  50. There’s been a fair amount of coverage of the restrictions, both absolute and financial, on what inmates can read in various states. (I think I’ve gotten most of mine through the NYT, but it blurs together…) I’m all around pretty appalled. Of course, it’s not the only way in which people in prison (or, often their families) are abused – another obvious one is some of the systems of extremely expensive telephone or video call systems.

    Once we imprison people, they are our responsibility, and their care reflects on us.

  51. This is how it starts, you know. The book ban people figure “who’s gonna know?” if they take books out of a prison library. Like the inmates are going to protest? Probably not. Then they get bolder.
    I say – file a complaint; you have rights as an author, and you could be defending the inmates’ rights as well.
    And yeah, the senior staff running that place obviously need more chores to do!!

  52. Maybe it’s due to the “rescue” of Wing (the Ku), which involved tricking the police and shooting a missile at them?

    My son is going for his master’s in Library Science at Simmons in Boston, and as part of one class, they went to work at a group that sends books to inmates; he was appalled to learn the list of books the inmates weren’t allowed to have was greater than the list of allowed. And that’s in Massachusetts! Makes you wonder about Mississippi.

      • I realize that, but while AZ has its share of of weirdness, I tend to think of MS and other deep south states as having more oddities, especially as regards inmates. (My apologies to those who live there – many of such laws date back to post-Reconstruction).

        • I live in Southern Georgia, and this just baffles me. This is a thing? We pass out Bibles like Tic Tacs (I love me some Jesus) but a lil’ ol’ fiction books gets the no no?

  53. Did the prison officials actually read the book? I wonder how it even got on their radar. If they object to this book what about the others in the series? This seems stupid and I feel bad for you having to deal with stupid.

    • Some groups collect used books and donate them to the prison libraries, in hopes that some of them will actually reach the inmates. Of course, access to the libraries is more limited than it once was, when they even exist. (I am going to stop there before I get on a soapbox and start an off-topic rant).

    • On what planet does intelligent life not have to deal with stupid? Even intelligent life has its moments of stupid. Especially pre-coffee.

  54. Do they allow Lee Child or Karen Slaughter’s books? Mucho violence there. They are worried about space aliens?

  56. I want to know what caused this. Now I have visions of maybe a food fight {bean scene} with an inmate yelling “Dina made me do it”

  57. My view is that this is particularly stupid. I’m not losing sleep over the possibility that innkeepers, vampires and werewolves are going to go on a violent rampage.

    I am losing sleep over the fact that groups are successful in banning ideas that they don’t agree with . I don’t understand why they feel that their rights to free speech supercedes those who have different views however offensive. The Authorlords are being banned. Mark Twain and Laura Ingalls Wilder are also under attack in their case for racism. There views reflect the times they lived in. Laura lived on the frontier during the times when there were attacks against settlers. She knew people who were killed. Her family was in jeopardy. Her characters did say that the only good Indian is a dead Indian. I don’t agree with that. The settlers had no right to invade. Manifest Destiny is wrong. I’m from Scandinavian stock – third generation American. My ancestors invaded Europe on a regular basis. For example, France. They became the Normans who then invaded England and ended Saxon rule. They were wrong too. You can’t rewrite history by deleting parts of it . You discuss it and learn not to make the same mistakes. Banning books leads to book burnings which are not just fictional like Fahrenheit 451. Hitler and Stalin were quite fond of book burnings as is ISIS. This increasing intolerance of others does cause me to lose sleep .

  58. Reading the comments is almost as good as the post!!! Gonna have to go and read the book again now, just for the Coffee and Fart guns hehe. Definitely thought it was JF though….maybe she has friends in the Library?????

  61. But Orro only serves human when he knows there are connaisseurs and can appreciate it. Also, only if their morals and ethics allow it.

  62. WTH? The crazy crap you have to deal with is mind boggling.
    Makes me wonder what books are allowed?

  63. It must be because the magic broom can be used as a weapon, which can give inmates the idea of turning cleaning products into weapons of destruction ☺.

  64. I’m interested in how it got there. A gift, donation, purchase? Regardless, this silliness is … silly.

    • I’m thinking gift.

      My son can receive 2 books per month and he has all of the Ilona Andrews books and is constantly asking if the next one is out yet. This is in Alabama.

      He has all the Sweep books and as far as I know there has been no problem with any of them. The inmates in his dorm have started their own library and I send books to two other inmates also. I’d send them all my books here at home (I’m almost totally ebook now) but they can only get packages from businesses like Amazon or bookstores like B&N. I could fund the entire library, otherwise, lol.

  68. Without checking I can’t remember but isn’t this the one where the police officer gets attacked/threatened and his squad car gets damaged? If they’re going to object to something I’d guess it would be that.

    still bullcrap of course

    • Maybe they only let them watch the Brady Bunch and Happy Days. Makes as much sense as considering this book problematic.

  73. Probably the jail break from the vampire prison planet was too much for them. That’s probably as far as they read. Oh and the lying to the local police about said aliens. Seriously though? Because help in the form of Alien Vampire Marshals of prestigious Houses so often arrives from outer space to assist a jail break??? And evil crime lord alien chickens so often try to break in (and fail I might add)? And if they read far enough, the local police actually figures it out and ends up being a good guy and helping them defend a species from genocide and being a hero.

  76. When I saw the letter, I started laughing. Then I thought “Uh? What in the world?!”

    Ooookay…act of violence. Hmm…. I would like to see the prison’s library list to see what is acceptable.

  77. I initially thought this was talking about Hugh’s book. When I realized it was Dinah’s…as a lawyer, my first response was to track down the department order language. Here is the specific section cited:

    1.2.16 Pictures, depictions or illustrations that promote acts of violence including, but
    not limited to, murder, rape, sexual assault, assault, amputation, decapitation,
    dismemberment, mutilation, maiming, disfigurement, crime scene/autopsy
    photographs, or cruelty to animals

    And it falls under unauthorized content as it pertains to Inmate Mail. This is fascinating. I wonder if someone tried to mail a copy of One Fell Sweep to an inmate. What is the definition of “promoting?” From what I can recall of One Fell Sweep, if that’s covered due to the mere inclusion of violent acts, then there can be no Harry Potter or even arguably, the Bible (mutilation, disfigurement, etc).

    In any event, good luck! Baffling and ridiculous, but please keep us posted of how it unfolds.

  79. Bwahahahaha. Oh the notoriety! Still, any publicity, right ?
    They obviously haven’t actually read the book….. maybe it’s the destruction of the Police car by an alien (vampiric) race….. but that was reconstructed, so that’s alright…..

  81. Hmmmm, my very first thought is that something smells very FROSTy here. There seems to be more BONES than meat in the objection.

    On the other hand, I think that Ilona’s words are the perfect official response to this: “We are a little puzzled as to the promoting part, since violence in that particular book is perpetrated against alien assassin by a woman with a magic broom, a space werewolf, and a space vampire.”

  85. Silly, Embarrassed, Ridiculous, thus speakth a free community. Folks who abide by laws cause they make sense and are things we want to get by with & for each other.

    A Prison (oops) Correction facility has communities made up of people who for that particular moment in time thought; ok, alright, why the hell not. What can they do to me? Believing there would be NO consequences for their decision to act out.

    Acting out against an officer of the law by action or deed/by thought or by incitement to act written, verbal or pictorial is actionable in the face of intent.

    A witch with a broom, a werewolf, and a space vampire acting out in a story MAY not be intent and would not be perceived as intent in a FREE community.
    THEY (documentaries, news, expos) say correction facilities are over crowded melting pots of the anti social criminal (career& juvie). They say, badges are not loved, liked, respected or safe.

    Your handling of the resolvement of the surveillence of our L E O, who risked exposure of the secrets held by the INNKEEPERS is brilliant. Marco turning the chickens rite round with the molecular (thing a ma hooie) is damn near P Y P hilarious. BUT . . .
    before you get there you had to restrain a LEO in lawful pursuit of his duties … cause within the story itself it is made clear … there is a clear & present DANGER to the PUBLIC good.

    Looked at, out here in freeland … WTF, are they insane? Looked at, in there in D O C Land … you have to factor in the insanity.
    The REDACTION is (should) not be about your story. It is about that moment in time when folks proven to lose their grip MIGHT go somewhere YOU could NEVER imagine.

    I mean really … god was busy so he told you to chill wit
    O F S and Dina … did . . .

  86. It’s git to be the issues with Local Red Deer Law Zinfourcment,not to mention giving them ideas about finite resources like fossil fuels….actually one of my favorite parts of the book…..
    Gosh they may demand Tesla’s…..
    Oh my……

  88. When I read ‘promote’ and consider its from a corrections department I’m wondering whether they mean ‘glorify’, or ‘contains’. The latter would be weird because there aren’t a lot of books that don’t contain violence in some variation, not just physical. If they didn’t contain violence there would be a hell of a lot of dull books around.

    I mean, they do want the inmates to *want* to read books, right?

    Gawd I hope the inmates are allowed more than mills & boons.

    That said, I once read a mills & boon once that I swear must’ve been printed in the 70s, or possibly the 60s and the male love interest basically raped the heroine. When I say basically, I mean did … and it was part of the mistaken identity love story plot!

    I would go the legal eagle route and ask them:
    (i) could they clarify in what context they mean ‘promote’?; and
    (ii) could they reference the passage which caused them concern?

    • Scrub what I’ve written above.

      I see others have actually gotten you some useful info in relation to the actual policy on what cannot be included, so I’d go with their advice ^^.

  89. Well somehow I can see the government of Arizona being that stupid. They have no sense of humor and obviously they can’t tell true crime from paranormal fictional crime. But I’d like to know if they have copies of Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. There is some bit of violence in both of them for goodness sakes. I’d say let’s sic Arland on them and see what a Holy Anocracy vampire could do to them. *ROFL*

  90. This a result of a prisoner taking offense of either the title or description of the book and filing a complaint. I would think maybe family member sent it to the person sharing the cell and they wouldn’t let the cell mate borrow it. Sad to admit I live in this state.

  91. Hahaha! I rarely read comments but glad I did for this post! Humor is the best defense against idiots.

  92. I’m pretty I know why. The inmates are duking it out, Team Sean vs Team Arland.

    I was Team Sean in OFS, then SotB pushed me into indecision again.

  93. I’m from Arizona and was really shocked by this. Arizona is sort of half nice normal people (who enjoy Ilona Andrews stories) and the other half are kinda crazy (who, I’m sure, also enjoy Ilona Andrews stories). This is surprising. I thought it was a joke at first. ?

  94. See Spot. See Spot run. See Spot catch a rabbit.

    Uh oh. Too violent.]Seriously? Any fantasy at all in there? Mysteries? Bugs Bunny?

  96. I know the real problem is s north is an inmate, that’s why his cat was in a shelter…or they might be getting him, and afraid where the rest of the story is going.

  98. Well that’s weird, I’ve read One Fell Sweep at least 3 times and not been incited to violence. Not so that I’ve noticed anyway. Maybe I’ve missed something. I’ll just have to start reading the whole series again.

  100. Well, I guess I’ll have to re-reread the book (for the dozenth time) to see where the call to violence is. “Incite” is a verb and therefore there must be an act of urging or persuading someone to violence. Dina, et al, defend.

  101. Oh, for crying out loud. The front of corrections has bigger worries than that book, surely. Sigh.

    • Oops…should have been “department of corrections”. Auto correct did not want me to abbreviate “department”, it changed it twice again here. Weird.

      • I like “front of corrections”…Maybe the department of corrections is a “front” for who knows what? 😀

  102. It’s the shippers… always fighting over who the heroine should end up with… A tale as old as time. Some people can get really worked up about that stuff.

  103. I’m having a brain dead moment, but isnt that the one where the bad guy fires a nuke? Maybe thats it? Which I still think is stupid.

  104. Sadly in Arizona Order 914 says in section 914.08 paragraph 1.2.6 Depictions, descriptions, instructions on the use of hands, feet, or head as
    weapons, fighting weapons and techniques, self-defense and martial arts. Are banned from inmate publications

    • I guess I could see the argument that you don’t want to provide any additional instruction/inspiration on how to fight with what weapons prisoners have readily available (body parts), even if it comes in the form of a fantasy novel. That said, I would think that fellow inmates would be both more effective and more probable sources of such information.

      Are they allowing Kate Daniels in their libraries?

      • As I see it, if we are agreeing with the rule against martial arts etc. in inmates’ libraries, then any book, no matter if fantasy, should not contain any reference to those techniques to be applicable. There is some (just a scene I think) explicitly described hand-to-hand violence in one fell sweep, which is why it is perhaps attracting this notice.

        On the other hand, the morale compass of this book (like all their work) is completely on the up and up. It prescribes violence as a last resort, cautious against excessive use of force against even a despicable enemy, uses a justice system to punish captured offenders. And also shows how goodwill and good sense can help a person overcome overwhelming odds (being outnumbered). On its own merits, without being reduced to the purely objective presence/absence of specific content, the ban is unwarranted. There is for sure NO inciting of any negativity.

        But I say this only because I take my fiction seriously. I take to heart the moral, cultural constructs in books and use the choices the characters face to shape my own internal value system. Maybe that’s too odd a thing to do. But maybe enough people do it that the prison system thinks it worthwhile to enact a ban on a book that has a slight mention of ‘inappropriate’ content, which only if taken out of context can be summed up as ‘too violent’. Am I completely off mark?

        • Okay, as I read more commets, I realized people were talking more about the ‘why’ of the ban and less about how the book may fall into that category. I think the reasons behind such a rule need to be questioned, so that good books like this automatically don’t come under its ambit. And that if such a rule still exists, it shouldn’t be placed arbritrarily, but transparently and equitably across all media.

  106. First – wow. Just – wow. I hope you win the appeal. Two – I’m embarrassed to admit I got ridiculously excited for a moment hoping that the reference to the lady in Costco throwing beans meant we’d see her in an upcoming installment, then I remembered that Bush’s baked beans was in her original aresenal. I have a strange need to know what happens to her after Clean Sweep…?❤️

      • I keep expecting her to be Mrs. Maraise. Since Officer Maraise earned a few “usefull” weapons and full disclosure….well they need to drop by for BBQ. Maybe in Maude’s adventures.

        • THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME!!!!!

          “honey, you wouldn’t believe what happened to me at Costco this time!”

        • Yes! That would be funny! She comes to a BBQ and recognizes Dina and hilarity erupts. I would like to hear Officer Marais explain the situation to his wife.
          “Well, honey…..uh..uh…hmmm…..”

  107. Does Arizona have capital punishment? If not, perhaps it is the leaders of the Dzaziri’ s punishment/imprisonment…on a planet that is dying and returning before total mental breakdown and extinguishing his life…in about twenty years. Perhaps this act could be the culprit? Seems like justice to me. But others not so.

  108. Wow. Going to have to echo what was said, I’ve read the book and didn’t feel any more violent after lol.
    Hope you win the appeal

  109. It sounds like Arizona law thinks a good gun fight is preferable to hand to hand combat. Because heaven knows karate excites violent people, where guns settle them right down.

  110. Huh… I wonder if the part that gives those pompous blowhards the heebie-jeebies is little Helen slitting the Draziri’s throat with one of her “fangs”.

    I certainly didn’t miss the irony in “By appealing, you consent to allow OPR to redact any unauthorized content…”. It takes a hefty amount of bureaucratic gall to say “Should you protest our censorship of your publication (the reasons for which we don’t have the cojones to actually describe), we are using your complaint to assume the right to screw around with it.” The Arizona OPR are asshats that need a good boot in the butt to re-activate what brain matter that hasn’t yet dribbled out.

    • Now, don’t be contemplating violent acts like that. Shooting them is okay, kicking isn’t.

  111. **face palm**

    Did they remove Harry Potter, the cartoon “Aristocats,” and The Chronicles of Narnia, too? As I remember it, there are fight scenes in all of those, too.

    • The chronicles of Narnia echo the bible a lot. C.S. Lewis being a theologian. Kids fighting with swords in several of the narnia books. Or the Screwtape Letters. The complaints about an honest demons hard life trying to corrupt Christians. Very tongue in cheek. I believe he was an atheist before writing the Narnia books. Then he became a believer and eventually a theologian by the time he finished. Can’t see how they could say Narnia was a bad influence. Not when they pass out Bibles. Those have all kinds of R rated stuff in there. Lot and his daughters for one, David coveting someone elses wife, etc… etc…

      • Actually it looks as if what she’s doing is going through “her” Kindle recommendations and 1 starring everything that comes up under paranormal romance. I’ve had a bunch of the same books recommended by the algorithm but I just ignore them.

    • Amanda is a fake reviewer as her review history shows. I recommend clicking the “report abuse” button next to the review and complaining direct to Amazon as well. Sadly I have seen her one star review (its the same on each time) on other pages but as they were published novels I did not realize at the time that she is a troll/bot reviewer. Hopefully she didn’t do those authors too much damage.

      I’m always suspicious of one line reviews as they are generally useless if you don’t know the reviewer. Anyone with real likes/dislikes is usually prepared to explain their reasoning and that way you can tell if you care or not. For example a review that complains about the audio-book narrators accent is pointless to me as I don’t use audio-books but my partner would find it a helpful review.

      On a more amusing note – an anonymous person has left an answering and amusing 5 star review on Amazon. Wish I’d thought of it first.

      • Two 5-star reviews now, both making clear they’re on spec based on prvious experiences with the authors.

        I clicked on Report for clever little Amanda. May it do some good.

  113. Heh. If I had to guess, the objectionable scene is the “stressed Sean works out his emotions over hearing that his girlfriend is prophecied to fall into despair by beating up a bunch of assassins” scene, but that’s just a guess.

    They’re actually pretty nice to the cop in this one, so that’s probably not it.

    Maybe the bar fight?

  114. Best of luck in dealing with the hissot (great word btw, thank you) legal red tape. Maybe the corrections crew needs to read it again. If that ending isn’t a huge wake up call on the ineffectiveness of genocide what is? And being able to recognise, “I was wrong.” Really does happen. Is surely something inmates could use.

  115. Hmmm…I’m going out on a limb and say that it has something to do with the aliens threatening the cop (can’t remember his name).

  116. I wonder what fiction IS in their library. One can only read the collected works of Jane Austen so many times.

  117. Well, so the worst thing that happens is that OFS may be taken out of prison libraries in order pacify the general population? In Arizona. Without attempting to count the dozens, nay, potentially flock tons (yeah, you know exactly which tons I’m talking about) of incarcerated IA fans, shouldn’t we really focus on what’s important here?

    Concrete proof that aliens and/or time travel exists! Because who else would be idiotic enough to waste their time and energy on this, unless ….
    THE UNIVERSE AND LIFE IS WE KNOW IT is somehow threatened by Dina going middle evil on the Draziri.

    Little cousin is indeed watching you. Sheesh.

  118. At first, I thought it was a joke, I was looking everywhere for clues that it was coming from Jeaniene Frost. But looking at the comments it seems real ? Hope you’ll win the appeal
    PS: I don’t understand their logic, your book has violent scenes and it’s not acceptable, so following that logic : what about Game of Thrones ? On the violent scale I think your book is ok ?

  119. If any of you live in Arizona, please go check out the Director of the Office of Publication Review. If it’s an angelic looking man with golden skin and white hair tipped with black, and as you get closer you realize it’s not skin, it’s feathers, PLEASE notify someone immediately! Preferably the nearest ad hal.

  121. So my son was a detention officer in that facility for 5.5 years and says

    ‘Which is odd because you can get all sorts of books in there, including ‘Infinite Jest’, where the author advocates universal entropy and suicide and literally killed himself after writing it.’

    • He killed himself 12 years after writing it. (it was published in 1996, he died in 2008) He had severe depression over 20 years, and his meds had stopped helping. He was writing another novel at the time.

  122. You know that series is one of my favorites. It’s funny but when I get into the story it doesn’t register as particularly violent. However, as I was reading through the comments I was like wow that is a lot of stuff going on. That being said I don’t get the whole notification thing. If they want to remove it just remove it. Now it’s a big deal. I agree with an earlier response too, I bet the folks in prison have more info to gain from each other than anything in that book.

    • Carol, that’s exactly what I was thinking. I would think they would offer the prisoner(s) a chance to appeal. What’s the point of involving the author in this? If I were an author, I wouldn’t care, but to each their own.

  123. What can you expect when “they” (insert here “better people”) are moving The Diary of Anne Frank to the fiction section in many libraries.

    • Really? I hadn’t heard that one. Good grief… that is as bad as people claiming the holocaust didn’t happen or the moon landing… and the best one lately, the world is flat.
      Sigh. Sometimes I think the whole PC culture is effecting brain cells of people in general.

        • We read “Diary of Anne Frank” in jr. high, and at the end even the boys cried. But it was the early 1970’s, and it was different then: teachers were allowed more latitude in the choice of reading lists. And WWII was a fresher societal memory, too. Moving that book to “Fiction” does a serious injustice to the living as well as the dead.

  124. Wow! Now you’re right there with To Kill a Mocking Bird and other deadbeat American banned classics! Good grief. Who knew canned beans and bleach could be weapons of mass destruction??

  125. Sorry, this just made me laugh…. So… if they can’t read about violence, I suppose most movies are forbidden as well. I can just imagine inmates watching My Little Pony since everything else is “violent”…. It might be a good deterent for them to avoid jail at all costs in the future… LOL
    I do hope that the appeal goes through and that your book will be available to read.

  126. I dont know much about laws in the States but… couldnt anyone (including children not able to read yet) look for any violent video in youtube? Why complain about a book they would have to put some effort to understand when they could just check for anything they want on their or anyone else’s phone? I dont get it.
    And even though… who complained about this particilar book? Unbelievable

  127. I live in Arizona. I admit it. I keep thinking I MUST MOVE. I do not know how much more embarrassment I can take. I wonder if Arizona pays people to read all the books ever written just to keep our inmates from learning new ideas on how to harm others. Hmmm. “Farenheit 451” anyone?

    • That book in itself is probably on the banned list – could incite prisoners to set fire to the jail’s library. 😉

  128. Typical example of people in power thinking they can make other people “conform” to their desired idea of society by restricting access to information and knowledge. Shades of 1984. I happen to think the opposite is true.

  131. This is beyond absurd and feels like blatant censorship to me. What other books are they getting rid of, as mentioned Harry Potter, because all the prisoners have access to a magic wand!

    AZ has no room to talk having allowed this to go on for years:
    He forced inmates to live in a “tent city” where temperatures reached 135 degrees.
    This is what Arpaio is perhaps best known for, and was something that garnered praise from conservative voters, as it was a workaround to having budget-strapped correctional facilities. But the Phoenix New Times caught him proudly referring to his “tent city” as a concentration camp, and then later lying about having done so.

    He bragged about spending more to feed dogs than human inmates, and letting the inmates watch The Food Network to exacerbate their hunger.
    It’s worth noting, as this 2009 New Yorker profile by William Finnegan does, that most of the so-called “criminals” in Arpaio’s jail were awaiting trial, and had not yet been convicted.

    Prisoners in his jails died at alarming rates, with no explanation given.
    The Phoenix New Times investigated the high rate of suicide in Arpaio’s jail, and also reported on his staff’s abuse of a paraplegic, how a stay in his jail caused a woman to lose her baby, and nearly killed a young man with Crohn’s disease.
    Let us know if there is any way we can support you. I have read all of the Kate Daniels books as well as Iron and Magic and have not felt the urge to go on a rampage nor sacrifice a cow to gain more powers. 🙂 It’s a farce and the fact that you will have to spend money to defend this is obscene.
    PS LOVE love love the new book… I hated Hugh and now I adore him have an understand of why took the actions he did and it’s nice to see his redemption arc. I am hoping for a HEA for him at some point where his marriage become real not just a marriage of convenience. They are so snarky it’s hilarious, however, I love their soft moment, too.

  134. Prison librarian here not in AZ. It depends on who is reviewing the book and what they’ve decided is violence. In mine I’ve shaken my head over some rulings. It is all subjective to the individual who reviews the item.

  135. This is such a massive endorsement! The Innkeeper series is such a bad-ass piece of fiction, with so much violence and fighting, that the Arizona PRISON service is banning it!!!!

    Don’t appeal it. Celebrate this milestone in your career. You join the fellowship of D H Lawrence, Flaubert, Byron, and – would you believe it – JK Rowling

    Tell the world.

    Your sales will go through the roof as every one will want to know why your books are too violent for even the worst of Arizona’s prisoners.

    I didn’t know they could read.

    I am definitely going to re-read the series for the violence.

    Also very intrigued about the ‘redaction’ (meaning censorship) the prison system is going to introduce. Which naughty bits or violent bits are they going to cut. It does mean the Arizona prison system will have to delegate a person to actually read your book, which they haven’t done yet. So that might be a good thing.

  136. LOLOLOLOLOL, in this case, those inmates can read only stuff like Pride & Prejudice no? Or total romance flicks with zero activity XD

    I’d almost feel sorry for them

  138. Hello there,
    I know my post has nothing to do with the topic. Just need to share this pic and a smile for I know there are a lot of cat lovers in the BDH.
    Jimmy got himself into the box and managed to have the lid lying on top as well! I have no clue how he did it. But no worries, he is save and still gets air! 😉
    Have a great day!

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