Hi friends. I know, it’s been a while. Like, a loooong while. Since the publication of my last blog post, my father became very ill from Lewy Body dementia, declined quickly, and went on Hospice. Lewy Body is an awful affliction, even worse than Alzheimer’s in our family’s experience, and he was very ill when he died in the fall of 2024.

Being an adult orphan after caregiving both parents is a whole, entire thing, and I have definitely been on quite the grief journey. I had little interest in writing fiction or even blog posts for many months, and I busied myself with house projects and spending time with my family, all while wondering, “What next?” But recently, I’ve been sensing the old writing vibes stirring. I have notes on two new projects, and I’m actively researching one. I don’t think it’ll be long before I have sample chapters to share with my Patreon folks.

Alas, that’s not why I’m writing. This blog post is to explain why my book about my mother’s end-of-life journey, The VSED Handbook, has gone missing suddenly from Amazon, the only vendor I’d sourced for the paperback version. Ebook copies are still available through Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and elsewhere, but of course, Amazon is the biggest bookstore in the world, so that’s where I get most sales, for better or for worse.

Over this past weekend (January 11, 2026), I received an automated email from Amazon KDP explaining that my book, The VSED Handbook, had been removed from publication due to violation of Amazon KDP’s content guidelines. In the days that followed, I requested more details a handful of times. Finally, I received confirmation that the book was blocked from further sale and its product description page–along with all of its ratings and reviews–had been wiped from the site due to its “subject matter” providing a “poor customer experience.” After four years on sale, the book had somehow triggered a quality review that determined VSED is a violation of KDP guidelines, despite the fact it is a legal end-of-life option specifically for terminally and seriously ill people, not for the general public.

It’s not just my book, either. I know of at least four other titles that share information or personal stories about VSED that have been banned from Amazon’s catalog as well. In discussions with these other authors, we have agreed that it is likely the result of an AI bot/algorithm programmed to exercise heightened sensitivity around suicide after the recent uproar over AI encouraging users to end their lives. That doesn’t make it right, of course, and we’re all still disappointed that something like this could happen. Unsurprised, but disappointed.

I’ve tried to reach a human at Amazon to resolve the issue every day this week, to no avail. But today, after multiple points of contact, I finally received an email that might actually have been authored by a human indicating that they were researching my request for an appeal and to allow five business days for an update.

Fingers crossed this works out soon! In the meantime, I am producing another paperback version through my account at Draft2Digital. It’ll be the same book with a different ISBN, and since D2D uses IngramSpark’s print-on-demand (POD) services and distribution for its print book offerings, the end result (I hope) should be that The VSED Handbook is available from even more distributors, not fewer–including independent bookstores and libraries.

I’ll keep you posted…