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lkh_lashouts2006-07-25 08:23 pm
darksongtrilogy.livejournal.com) wrote in lkh_lashouts2006-07-25 08:23 pm
Entry tags:
Selections from the Pages Online interview
My brain went splody. :(
Linkage: http://www.pagesmagazine.com/current/dansemacabre.htm
Pages Online in bold, me in plain; the pain, oh, THE. PAIN.
Linkage: http://www.pagesmagazine.com/current/dansemacabre.htm
Pages Online in bold, me in plain; the pain, oh, THE. PAIN.
Diehard fans of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series-the latest volume of which is Danse Macabre (Berkley)-might be surprised to learn that Anita's creator, Laurell K. Hamilton, isn't quite as tough as her alter ego.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Really? LKH doesn't have a gun, the sex-fu, and wishing power?
"I'm phobic of every sort of transportation known to man," the author admits while relaxing in her St. Louis home after her first successful overseas book tour. From planes to automobiles, Hamilton avoids them all. "I hate to travel, and I'm afraid of flying." Fear of flying is one phobia shared with her alter ego.
Along with build, coloring, religious beliefs, interest inmenage a trois triumvirates, woeful fashion sense, and propensity for mental masturbation, BUT DON'T GET CONFUSED THE REAL THING IS DE EBIL.
In fact, by the third chapter of Micah, a paperback original published last February in which Anita and her were-leopard lover are called to Philadelphia to do some corpse reanimating, Anita draws blood from Micah's hand by absentmindedly digging her nails into his skin during a flight.
It's not enough to read about the experience in blogs. It must be relived in Purple Prose, which I will henceforth refer to as Puce Prose: LKH's isn't pretty enough to qualify for purple.
While Hamilton did have to fly to Italy, she didn't bloody up her husband's hand. But she does come by her phobias quite naturally. "All my fears are grounded in real-life incidents," Hamilton says. An incident with an airliner that managed to flip upside down led to her fear of flying. And her fear of automobiles can be traced back to 1969, when her mother was killed in a car crash.
And LKH/Anita makes sure the world is aware of all of the above.
Hamilton's father left when she was quite young, so she was raised by her maternal grandmother, Laura Gentry. Her mother's death, her grandmother's role in raising her, and an absentee dad are "three things that made me who I am," says Hamilton. In fact, her grandmother may be responsible for inspiring the interest that would spawn a successful career based on things that go bump in the night. Mrs. Gentry often entertained young Laurell with ghost stories. That led to an interest in fantasy fiction when she was an adolescent and, when she reached high school, a chance encounter with a book entitled The Natural History of the Vampire. She read it so many times she nearly memorized it. "I wasn't like most girls" Hamilton notes.
Hamilton notes many things. Repeatedly.
And she also wasn't like most novice writers who might have given up when faced with as many brick walls. After her first novel, Nightseer (a fantasy inspired by Robert E. Howard's work), didn't bowl anyone over, Hamilton found herself harnessed to a slowly dying career.
VERY slowly.
More than a few publishers told her they wouldn't be able to sell her second novel-a book about a vampire hunter-because the market wouldn't bear any more vampire-related fiction. Little did they know that Hamilton's series would be the hottest thing to hit the genre since Stephen King or Anne Rice.
It's interviews like these that encourage her. *head desk*
Begun in 1993 with Guilty Pleasures, Hamilton's Anita Blake novels have increased in popularity over the years, moving from the arena of paperback publishing to hardcover releases beginning in 2000 with Obsidian Butterfly, which landed on the New York Times bestseller list.
"Then, Hamilton promptly blew the fame and respect she'd garnered by turning a formerly edgy, action-packed, tightly-woven series into a repetitive sex romp with the least erotic sex this side of porn circa 1876."
Hamilton even found time to write a second series-involving the dark side of the fairy world, featuring private eye Merry Gentry, who happens to have royal blood running through her veins.
Otherwise known as, "What if Anita dyed her hair and got over the sexual hang-ups?"
That's a scary, scary thought now. Please God, don't ever let LKH see that question and decide to answer it.
For a while, she was turning out two books a year. But lately, Hamilton has eased up a bit. In fact, the publication of Micah, the new paperback original, wasn't something Hamilton had on her schedule.
But Hamilton bravely rose to the occasion and squeezed it out over a weekend, then turned it over to her curiously diminutive, red-headed, submissive husband to pad out into something resembling a full-length novel, thereby fleecing many a sucker into purchasing the short story.
"It was one of those serendipitous things," Hamilton recalls. "I had an idea for a story that was pushing at me so hard it was making it tough to finish Danse Macabre. So I finally stopped and decided to take a couple of days, write out the beginning of the idea, and then go back to the book. Two days later, I had 50 pages." When Hamilton's publisher contacted her about a new paperback line they were issuing-using original work written by all of their big-name, bestselling authors-she presented her finished novella.
Thereby beating out the previous two "short stories" she produced for prior anthologies, as this one actually involved an original plot line approximately two pages long, B.P.*, rather than a cobbled amalgamation of a novel in progress.
"I feel compelled to write," says Hamilton, "but I finally realized that, for too long, I've been doing it back-to-back, deadline-to-deadline. I'd lost that compulsion. It was becoming more that I had to rather than I wanted to-and that's never a good place to be."
I find it very hard to believe that this isn't precisely the ongoing problem. She's overcommitted, undermotivated, and the Muse has gone off on holiday with Edward.
Even with a less frenetic publishing schedule, Hamilton's Anita Blake novels remain as popular as ever-perhaps more so. "Not a week goes by," says Darla Cook, Hamilton's full-time assistant, "that I don't get at least three letters from people saying, 'I just found your books; a friend or a coworker gave them to me." Subsequent New York Times bestsellers seem to bear out the insatiable hunger for all things Anita.
Or the horror of the withdrawal process in former fans of the series, who are lining up for their methadone shots as we speak. Dr. Cornelius Worth, lately of the Harvard School of Medicine, has announced plans for a study of this curious phenomenon, and is taking volunteers beginning in September of 2006. For the present, he prescribes Rachel Caine, Jim Butcher, and regular reading of LKH Lashouts.
But explanations for the increasing popularity of her books escape the author. Is it the rough and tumble action? The supernatural element? Or the increasingly erotic sex scenes that often involve several partners?
Is it the mechanical, passionless, but omnipresent sex? Is it the predominantly illiterate and notoriously involuntarily chaste readership? Inquiring minds want to know.
For her part, Cook says, "I like kick-ass women. In a lot of books, the female is always waiting for somebody to save her or do something for her. I've always liked the fact that Anita would take care of things herself."
When nagged into it by her wives, browbeaten by Damian's constant state of near-death, or trapped into it by vampire politics that curiously no longer include violence as a solution. What ass has Anita kicked lately? The sex-fu requires limited skill. Lay back, spread legs, scream "fuck me!" Right on, sister! You show those men who won't be their sex object anymore!
Wait...
Indeed, the tough-as-nails but still-quite-feminine character of Anita-to which Hamilton is often so closely linked-may be the overriding reason for the series' popularity.
Sherlock Holmes is still searching for the solution to the mystery of Why People Think LKH is Anita. Or vice versa.
Rett MacPherson, a St. Louis author of mystery novels, close friend, and member of a writer's group the two authors attend, believes Hamilton's strength as a writer lies in building characters. "She's really good at character development," MacPherson says. "Her main characters-like Anita-are so real, so alive."
WERE. Use your verb tenses correctly. LKH is currently reanimating the corpse of the bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series in secretive skyclad ceremonies involving blood sacrifice, old mayonaise, and a rubber chicken.
Husband Jonathan Green also believes the popularity of the Anita Blake novels-and those of other authors who have ridden a new wave of popularity in the subgenre of vampire fiction-can be explained from a literary and historical standpoint.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, Diety, have mercy on us all. Let us turn now to the wisdom of husband Jonathan Green, reknowned for his mo-Blog, eloquence, funny hats and nail polish.
"Dracula first came out toward the end of the 19th century, a time of great change," Green notes. "There was a great deal of uncertainty of what the coming century would bring, and it was a time when sexual mores were much stricter, much more controlled. During times of great upheaval, people have always turned to escapist literature."
Dracula was Bram Stoker's social commentary. And Ms. Hamilton, O Loather of the Soapbox, speaks through Anita.
One element of Hamilton's novels that many critics and readers haven't touched upon is the theme of family and its importance to Blake. Green agrees but says astute fans "see the family elements and themes in the books: The difference between family you're born into and the family you build around yourself, with your friends and others you are close to."
And via mo:blog, the readers are also uncomfortably familar with LKH's commentary on her own family. It's a hidden undercurrent, very hidden.
Even though she "shacks up" with more than one lover at various times, the males living with Anita-shape-shifter or otherwise-and all other close friends are seen as part of an extended family.
That has sex regularly in various combinations so that someone won't die after reading Charlotte's Web and bashing their ex viciously.
It's something reflected in Hamilton's own life. Over the course of 15 years, she has maintained a strong relationship with her editors-Ginjer Buchanan and Susan Allison-at Berkley. And her friendships with Cook and MacPherson-both of whom visit and work within Hamilton's St. Louis abode quite often-extend back for nearly the same period of time.
But there are NO PARALLELS BETWEEN LKH'S LIFE AND ANITA'S, and why would you ask such a thing?
Her marriage to Green sounds like the stuff of romantic novels; and, Trinity, their daughter, is the apple of both mom's and dad's eye.
Her marriage to Green sounds like the stuff of Misery-esque novels, and it's really classy how Trinity's father doesn't rate a mention.
"My husband I are one of those odd, or lucky, couples that spend almost every waking and not so waking hour together," says Hamilton. "We thrive on it. It's very, very different from my first marriage. Jonathan and I both crave intimacy. I'm one of those people that needs and wants a lot of attention and interaction."
I definitely buy that last bit. Notice the dig on her ex-husband. Oh Gary, you poor, wise man.
Hamilton may find herself the center of lots of attention when her fans learn the latest about their beloved Anita in Danse Macabre. One of the things she discovered about her more conservative (usually American) fans is that they aren't shy, or necessarily polite, when voicing their complaints.
But damn are they ever well-read, eloquent, and discriminating in literary taste. And hands up, you conservative prudes, who were just horrified by the notion of premarital sex--because that is ALL WE'RE MAD ABOUT, RIGHT? RIGHT? ANSWER ME!
When Hamilton introduced the Ardeur as one of Anita's new powers-"It was as if sex were food, and if I didn't eat enough I got sick," Anita explains in Micah-a small but disturbed following of fans voiced their disgust, even confronting her about it at book signings.
Ah, well, that clears it up. LKH decided to use a plot device that treated sex as food with her formerly Catholic vampire hunter, so it's all right that the same Anita that had sex with no one for the first six books of the series is now screaming "Fuck me!" at the pizza delivery boy. Gotcha.
So one has to wonder what they'll make of the latest development: Danse Macabre begins with Blake mulling over the possibility of being pregnant.
Not much, since LKH announced it was a pregnancy scare, thereby solving the "mystery" of the whole fucking book six months before it came out and leaving the fans to remark on which would be worse, having Anita for a mother or Nathaniel for a father. It was a fascinating discussion.
Hamilton says, "I tried to keep it hidden, but Anita, in my head, was just screaming, 'Oh my God! I'm pregnant?!' And I thought: If this was me, it would be all I was thinking about. So I put it at the beginning because that's where it belongs. This book is a totally different plot structure for Anita."
There was no plot structure, Thus Astonishing The Literary World. The fact that this pile of crap got published remains a source of shock, and a source of inspiration, to many of LKH's frequently insulted former fans.
"Well, I figure if she can get published, anyone can," remarked on former fan, turning away from the spell-check on their computer.
"Oh, yeah," agrees another, looking up from highlighting the first draft of a finished manuscript. "I'm dedicating my first book to her--Danse Macabre really inspired me to give writing another try."
"There are mysteries, but none of them are murder mysteries." Longtime fans needn't worry: There'll be plenty of interaction with vampires and shape-shifters (the title of the novel refers to a traveling vampire ballet);
For the price of a hardcover book, longtime fans can read about the abortive vampire ballet that appeared for three and a half pages, before more vampire politics necessitated a quick bang in the back of a limousine. Nothing's changed, longtime fans!
and for those who regret their absence in Micah, both Jean-Claude (Anita's vampire lover and master) and Richard (Anita's werewolf lover) return in Danse Macabre.
For those who regret the existence of the pissant little spotted midget known as Micah, no, Jean-Claude and Richard still haven't executed their plans for his messy execution. The Ulfric refused comment when asked, but Jean-Claude's enigmatic smile was answer enough.
"Je ne sais pas," The vampire replied, with a Gallic shrug. "Mon loup is a practical man; he understands our situation."
An unnamed assistant was then witnessed to mime firing a gun.
And until book signings force Hamilton to confront any of her sexually uptight fans,
Let me pause my snark for a second.
FUCK YOU, YOU TALENTLESS SELF-AGGRANDIZING BITCH, AND ALL YOUR LITTLE ASS-LICKERS WITH YOU. Sexually uptight my ass. How about "literacy demanding"? That's nearer the mark.
she'll keep herself busy trying to overcome that persistent fear of flying. As Cook notes, Hamilton may get a little help from her alter ego.
It wakes her in the night. Sometimes she forgets that she's not really Anita.
"It's fun being around Laurell when she's writing Anita," says Cook, "because she becomes more Anita-ish. If something bothers her, she chases it down and beats it into submission."
And thus is explained the character assassination of Richard.
*Before padding
NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Really? LKH doesn't have a gun, the sex-fu, and wishing power?
"I'm phobic of every sort of transportation known to man," the author admits while relaxing in her St. Louis home after her first successful overseas book tour. From planes to automobiles, Hamilton avoids them all. "I hate to travel, and I'm afraid of flying." Fear of flying is one phobia shared with her alter ego.
Along with build, coloring, religious beliefs, interest in
In fact, by the third chapter of Micah, a paperback original published last February in which Anita and her were-leopard lover are called to Philadelphia to do some corpse reanimating, Anita draws blood from Micah's hand by absentmindedly digging her nails into his skin during a flight.
It's not enough to read about the experience in blogs. It must be relived in Purple Prose, which I will henceforth refer to as Puce Prose: LKH's isn't pretty enough to qualify for purple.
While Hamilton did have to fly to Italy, she didn't bloody up her husband's hand. But she does come by her phobias quite naturally. "All my fears are grounded in real-life incidents," Hamilton says. An incident with an airliner that managed to flip upside down led to her fear of flying. And her fear of automobiles can be traced back to 1969, when her mother was killed in a car crash.
And LKH/Anita makes sure the world is aware of all of the above.
Hamilton's father left when she was quite young, so she was raised by her maternal grandmother, Laura Gentry. Her mother's death, her grandmother's role in raising her, and an absentee dad are "three things that made me who I am," says Hamilton. In fact, her grandmother may be responsible for inspiring the interest that would spawn a successful career based on things that go bump in the night. Mrs. Gentry often entertained young Laurell with ghost stories. That led to an interest in fantasy fiction when she was an adolescent and, when she reached high school, a chance encounter with a book entitled The Natural History of the Vampire. She read it so many times she nearly memorized it. "I wasn't like most girls" Hamilton notes.
Hamilton notes many things. Repeatedly.
And she also wasn't like most novice writers who might have given up when faced with as many brick walls. After her first novel, Nightseer (a fantasy inspired by Robert E. Howard's work), didn't bowl anyone over, Hamilton found herself harnessed to a slowly dying career.
VERY slowly.
More than a few publishers told her they wouldn't be able to sell her second novel-a book about a vampire hunter-because the market wouldn't bear any more vampire-related fiction. Little did they know that Hamilton's series would be the hottest thing to hit the genre since Stephen King or Anne Rice.
It's interviews like these that encourage her. *head desk*
Begun in 1993 with Guilty Pleasures, Hamilton's Anita Blake novels have increased in popularity over the years, moving from the arena of paperback publishing to hardcover releases beginning in 2000 with Obsidian Butterfly, which landed on the New York Times bestseller list.
"Then, Hamilton promptly blew the fame and respect she'd garnered by turning a formerly edgy, action-packed, tightly-woven series into a repetitive sex romp with the least erotic sex this side of porn circa 1876."
Hamilton even found time to write a second series-involving the dark side of the fairy world, featuring private eye Merry Gentry, who happens to have royal blood running through her veins.
Otherwise known as, "What if Anita dyed her hair and got over the sexual hang-ups?"
That's a scary, scary thought now. Please God, don't ever let LKH see that question and decide to answer it.
For a while, she was turning out two books a year. But lately, Hamilton has eased up a bit. In fact, the publication of Micah, the new paperback original, wasn't something Hamilton had on her schedule.
But Hamilton bravely rose to the occasion and squeezed it out over a weekend, then turned it over to her curiously diminutive, red-headed, submissive husband to pad out into something resembling a full-length novel, thereby fleecing many a sucker into purchasing the short story.
"It was one of those serendipitous things," Hamilton recalls. "I had an idea for a story that was pushing at me so hard it was making it tough to finish Danse Macabre. So I finally stopped and decided to take a couple of days, write out the beginning of the idea, and then go back to the book. Two days later, I had 50 pages." When Hamilton's publisher contacted her about a new paperback line they were issuing-using original work written by all of their big-name, bestselling authors-she presented her finished novella.
Thereby beating out the previous two "short stories" she produced for prior anthologies, as this one actually involved an original plot line approximately two pages long, B.P.*, rather than a cobbled amalgamation of a novel in progress.
"I feel compelled to write," says Hamilton, "but I finally realized that, for too long, I've been doing it back-to-back, deadline-to-deadline. I'd lost that compulsion. It was becoming more that I had to rather than I wanted to-and that's never a good place to be."
I find it very hard to believe that this isn't precisely the ongoing problem. She's overcommitted, undermotivated, and the Muse has gone off on holiday with Edward.
Even with a less frenetic publishing schedule, Hamilton's Anita Blake novels remain as popular as ever-perhaps more so. "Not a week goes by," says Darla Cook, Hamilton's full-time assistant, "that I don't get at least three letters from people saying, 'I just found your books; a friend or a coworker gave them to me." Subsequent New York Times bestsellers seem to bear out the insatiable hunger for all things Anita.
Or the horror of the withdrawal process in former fans of the series, who are lining up for their methadone shots as we speak. Dr. Cornelius Worth, lately of the Harvard School of Medicine, has announced plans for a study of this curious phenomenon, and is taking volunteers beginning in September of 2006. For the present, he prescribes Rachel Caine, Jim Butcher, and regular reading of LKH Lashouts.
But explanations for the increasing popularity of her books escape the author. Is it the rough and tumble action? The supernatural element? Or the increasingly erotic sex scenes that often involve several partners?
Is it the mechanical, passionless, but omnipresent sex? Is it the predominantly illiterate and notoriously involuntarily chaste readership? Inquiring minds want to know.
For her part, Cook says, "I like kick-ass women. In a lot of books, the female is always waiting for somebody to save her or do something for her. I've always liked the fact that Anita would take care of things herself."
When nagged into it by her wives, browbeaten by Damian's constant state of near-death, or trapped into it by vampire politics that curiously no longer include violence as a solution. What ass has Anita kicked lately? The sex-fu requires limited skill. Lay back, spread legs, scream "fuck me!" Right on, sister! You show those men who won't be their sex object anymore!
Wait...
Indeed, the tough-as-nails but still-quite-feminine character of Anita-to which Hamilton is often so closely linked-may be the overriding reason for the series' popularity.
Sherlock Holmes is still searching for the solution to the mystery of Why People Think LKH is Anita. Or vice versa.
Rett MacPherson, a St. Louis author of mystery novels, close friend, and member of a writer's group the two authors attend, believes Hamilton's strength as a writer lies in building characters. "She's really good at character development," MacPherson says. "Her main characters-like Anita-are so real, so alive."
WERE. Use your verb tenses correctly. LKH is currently reanimating the corpse of the bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series in secretive skyclad ceremonies involving blood sacrifice, old mayonaise, and a rubber chicken.
Husband Jonathan Green also believes the popularity of the Anita Blake novels-and those of other authors who have ridden a new wave of popularity in the subgenre of vampire fiction-can be explained from a literary and historical standpoint.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, Diety, have mercy on us all. Let us turn now to the wisdom of husband Jonathan Green, reknowned for his mo-Blog, eloquence, funny hats and nail polish.
"Dracula first came out toward the end of the 19th century, a time of great change," Green notes. "There was a great deal of uncertainty of what the coming century would bring, and it was a time when sexual mores were much stricter, much more controlled. During times of great upheaval, people have always turned to escapist literature."
Dracula was Bram Stoker's social commentary. And Ms. Hamilton, O Loather of the Soapbox, speaks through Anita.
One element of Hamilton's novels that many critics and readers haven't touched upon is the theme of family and its importance to Blake. Green agrees but says astute fans "see the family elements and themes in the books: The difference between family you're born into and the family you build around yourself, with your friends and others you are close to."
And via mo:blog, the readers are also uncomfortably familar with LKH's commentary on her own family. It's a hidden undercurrent, very hidden.
Even though she "shacks up" with more than one lover at various times, the males living with Anita-shape-shifter or otherwise-and all other close friends are seen as part of an extended family.
That has sex regularly in various combinations so that someone won't die after reading Charlotte's Web and bashing their ex viciously.
It's something reflected in Hamilton's own life. Over the course of 15 years, she has maintained a strong relationship with her editors-Ginjer Buchanan and Susan Allison-at Berkley. And her friendships with Cook and MacPherson-both of whom visit and work within Hamilton's St. Louis abode quite often-extend back for nearly the same period of time.
But there are NO PARALLELS BETWEEN LKH'S LIFE AND ANITA'S, and why would you ask such a thing?
Her marriage to Green sounds like the stuff of romantic novels; and, Trinity, their daughter, is the apple of both mom's and dad's eye.
Her marriage to Green sounds like the stuff of Misery-esque novels, and it's really classy how Trinity's father doesn't rate a mention.
"My husband I are one of those odd, or lucky, couples that spend almost every waking and not so waking hour together," says Hamilton. "We thrive on it. It's very, very different from my first marriage. Jonathan and I both crave intimacy. I'm one of those people that needs and wants a lot of attention and interaction."
I definitely buy that last bit. Notice the dig on her ex-husband. Oh Gary, you poor, wise man.
Hamilton may find herself the center of lots of attention when her fans learn the latest about their beloved Anita in Danse Macabre. One of the things she discovered about her more conservative (usually American) fans is that they aren't shy, or necessarily polite, when voicing their complaints.
But damn are they ever well-read, eloquent, and discriminating in literary taste. And hands up, you conservative prudes, who were just horrified by the notion of premarital sex--because that is ALL WE'RE MAD ABOUT, RIGHT? RIGHT? ANSWER ME!
When Hamilton introduced the Ardeur as one of Anita's new powers-"It was as if sex were food, and if I didn't eat enough I got sick," Anita explains in Micah-a small but disturbed following of fans voiced their disgust, even confronting her about it at book signings.
Ah, well, that clears it up. LKH decided to use a plot device that treated sex as food with her formerly Catholic vampire hunter, so it's all right that the same Anita that had sex with no one for the first six books of the series is now screaming "Fuck me!" at the pizza delivery boy. Gotcha.
So one has to wonder what they'll make of the latest development: Danse Macabre begins with Blake mulling over the possibility of being pregnant.
Not much, since LKH announced it was a pregnancy scare, thereby solving the "mystery" of the whole fucking book six months before it came out and leaving the fans to remark on which would be worse, having Anita for a mother or Nathaniel for a father. It was a fascinating discussion.
Hamilton says, "I tried to keep it hidden, but Anita, in my head, was just screaming, 'Oh my God! I'm pregnant?!' And I thought: If this was me, it would be all I was thinking about. So I put it at the beginning because that's where it belongs. This book is a totally different plot structure for Anita."
There was no plot structure, Thus Astonishing The Literary World. The fact that this pile of crap got published remains a source of shock, and a source of inspiration, to many of LKH's frequently insulted former fans.
"Well, I figure if she can get published, anyone can," remarked on former fan, turning away from the spell-check on their computer.
"Oh, yeah," agrees another, looking up from highlighting the first draft of a finished manuscript. "I'm dedicating my first book to her--Danse Macabre really inspired me to give writing another try."
"There are mysteries, but none of them are murder mysteries." Longtime fans needn't worry: There'll be plenty of interaction with vampires and shape-shifters (the title of the novel refers to a traveling vampire ballet);
For the price of a hardcover book, longtime fans can read about the abortive vampire ballet that appeared for three and a half pages, before more vampire politics necessitated a quick bang in the back of a limousine. Nothing's changed, longtime fans!
and for those who regret their absence in Micah, both Jean-Claude (Anita's vampire lover and master) and Richard (Anita's werewolf lover) return in Danse Macabre.
For those who regret the existence of the pissant little spotted midget known as Micah, no, Jean-Claude and Richard still haven't executed their plans for his messy execution. The Ulfric refused comment when asked, but Jean-Claude's enigmatic smile was answer enough.
"Je ne sais pas," The vampire replied, with a Gallic shrug. "Mon loup is a practical man; he understands our situation."
An unnamed assistant was then witnessed to mime firing a gun.
And until book signings force Hamilton to confront any of her sexually uptight fans,
Let me pause my snark for a second.
FUCK YOU, YOU TALENTLESS SELF-AGGRANDIZING BITCH, AND ALL YOUR LITTLE ASS-LICKERS WITH YOU. Sexually uptight my ass. How about "literacy demanding"? That's nearer the mark.
she'll keep herself busy trying to overcome that persistent fear of flying. As Cook notes, Hamilton may get a little help from her alter ego.
It wakes her in the night. Sometimes she forgets that she's not really Anita.
"It's fun being around Laurell when she's writing Anita," says Cook, "because she becomes more Anita-ish. If something bothers her, she chases it down and beats it into submission."
And thus is explained the character assassination of Richard.
*Before padding
no subject
(I guess LKH is living proof that the ultimate Mary Sue can be published.)
no subject
I thought LKH's repsonse to why she likes the vampires was "I just came that way.
I'm special" In other interviews she insisted that her upbringing and grandmother had nothing to do with her growing interest in the supernatural.no subject
JonMicah must go.Great flogging. I can't believe any person can seriously write such a gushing interview. ::shakes head:: The human race is SO going to get killed off by some "diety" with taste one of these days.
no subject
Wordy McWord sandwich with Word sauce.
Dear Hamilton,
See icon.
We are not jealous. We are not uptight. We want a goddamned plot and for you to get the fuck over yourself and get a fucking editor. You want to work out your daddy issues by having every man in the entire world want to love/do you? Do it on your own time.
no subject
~snerks, then giggles~ Okay, I'm sorry, but that just needs to be an icon, it's so good. :)
no subject
But I have no fear of cars. Neither does she. I am perfectly comfortable in them, and would drive cross country to avoid planes, which I have never been on and frankly don't want to.
I can see why Laurell might be anxious about cars. Not really afraid; was she in the car when her mother died? And if so, wouldn't fear translate into an avoidance of cars as much as possible? Anita would be walking everywhere.
And what "theme of family" is this now? Maybe at the beginning of the series, but the only family that comes up lately is Anita's sex on tap. That's not family, that's a fucked-up co-dependent relationship every which way. And it would almost be nice to hear about Anita's family again, or at least their reactions to Jean-Claude (at the very least; one can only imagine what they'd say about the "stable").
no subject
For those who [. . .] firing a gun.
Okay I nearly woke my mate laughing at that one. XD If only, if only! ...Well, there's always fanfic, right?
And until book signings force Hamilton to confront any of her sexually uptight fans,
*TWITCH* *SPAZZ* RIIIIHIHIGHT, all the porn-drawing, erotica-writing, pansexual fetishists are sexually uptight these days. It just goes with the territory, y'know?
What a fucking copout. I wonder what it's like to be that severely deluded. The woman seriously makes me look well-adjusted.
Besides, they're ignoring something painfully basic: "sexually uptight" and "LKH fan" are mutually exclusive things.
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And of course, very, VERY true. My hat's off to you, DST.
It's not enough to read about the experience in blogs. It must be relived in Purple Prose, which I will henceforth refer to as Puce Prose: LKH's isn't pretty enough to qualify for purple.
Actually, I would like to call it Puke Prose. That's another good word for it, right?
Her marriage to Green sounds like the stuff of romantic novels; and, Trinity, their daughter, is the apple of both mom's and dad's eye.
..Excuse me while I digest that bit of information and then go and vomit. Just...Yick. For God sake's, the guy was the HEAD OF HER FANCLUB. That's not romantic, it's FUCKING CREEPY.
"My husband I are one of those odd, or lucky, couples that spend almost every waking and not so waking hour together," says Hamilton. "We thrive on it. It's very, very different from my first marriage. Jonathan and I both crave intimacy. I'm one of those people that needs and wants a lot of attention and interaction."
I definitely buy that last bit. Notice the dig on her ex-husband. Oh Gary, you poor, wise man.
I really do feel sorry for Gary. No wonder he divorced her. Geez Laurell, attetion whore much? Somebody, please, get this woman some therapy.
Hamilton may find herself the center of lots of attention when her fans learn the latest about their beloved Anita in Danse Macabre.
Hmmm. Wasn't it said somewhere that even bad publicity can be good?
One of the things she discovered about her more conservative (usually American) fans is that they aren't shy, or necessarily polite, when voicing their complaints.
Nooo, we conservative prudes DARED to criticize the books? For shame! It couldn't be the poor quality of the books, could it? No, not at all, it's because part of LKH's fanbase are a bunch of PRUDES! Oh yeah, THAT'S it! It ALL makes sense now.
Sure Laurell honey, you just keep telling yourself that.
For those who regret the existence of the pissant little spotted midget known as Micah, no, Jean-Claude and Richard still haven't executed their plans for his messy execution. The Ulfric refused comment when asked, but Jean-Claude's enigmatic smile was answer enough.
"Je ne sais pas," The vampire replied, with a Gallic shrug. "Mon loup is a practical man; he understands our situation."
An unnamed assistant was then witnessed to mime firing a gun.
YES! DIE MICAH DIE! GO JC AND RICHARD! *gives them silver ammo*
Go get the midget bastard! He should make a lovely rug in JC's living room. ;)
FUCK YOU, YOU TALENTLESS SELF-AGGRANDIZING BITCH, AND ALL YOUR LITTLE ASS-LICKERS WITH YOU. Sexually uptight my ass. How about "literacy demanding"? That's nearer the mark.
AMEN. You said it, sister. You said it.
Remember what I said about Karma...:)
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Also, holy shit, I didn't realize Micah was set in Philadelphia. Now I'm even more glad I don't read her any more, b/c I'd hate to see what she did to my hometown.
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*punches the book*
I want the Master of Philly to go medieval on her ass.
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I'm sure as hell not a prude, and I hated DM because of the lack of plot, the lack of anything other than everyone wanting to fuck Anita. And then of course, there was the badly written sex. The sex scenes were just boring and they sucked. And there were no real supernatural politics in that book, it was just bad sex left and right. Bleh.
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and that is not even that point.
i agree with you
One of the greatest fault beside a turn of 180 in the series is the the execution is so bad boring repetitive with a lot of character assinisation and in a humorless marysue world
erotica/porn or not there are a few "quality standarts" which should be achived
there is also the question if perople with a less interestin sex life are reading or watching erotica... to make a contrast or have a kick in her normal life
i think so
maybe this also a point with a part of the current LKH fans(i mean no offence to anyone) means that they are reading the books makes them less pruder in real live ????
i think the discussion sex , sexfantasy can be interesting
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My personal theory is that she's got it all backwards -- her more liberal fans are the ones who enjoy reading about or have some knowledge of erotica, so they have the advantage of knowing what's crap when they see it. It's her more conservative fans, who don't often read explicit sex, who only feel its acceptable to read about explicit sex when the heroine is compelled to have it (because she shouldn't have rampant sex for fun and games, oh no), who are really beginning to back the series. It's a stroke book they don't have to feel dirty buying, because it has a tasteful cover and hey, they're NYT Bestsellers!
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this is the formula for success for the latest books
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Uh huh... Never mind the fact that Trinity existed before this man came into their lives, and she isn't his biological daughter...
Sorry, just needed to say that, truth is I actually have no problem with it, it's the same with my family, but I at least acknowledge the fact that I have a biological dad and introduce my step dad as my step dad to people. Even if he is more of a dad then my real dad.
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Am I the only one to fantasize the journalist starting to switch the focus from LKH's 'omgtragicpast' (not to mock the crap she's gone through, but her outcast complex rivals that of... any whiny emo teen I've ever seen), and switch it onto more pertinent questions on plot and character development?
"Ms. Hamilton, do you realize that your sex scenes tend to get repetative? Does it seem to you that preventing any character deaths whatsoever of your harem is holding the series back? Does the fact that you seem to have put yourself and your husband into the books as the lead and her consort worry you at all? Are we going to have any further books in the series that either have minimal amounts of sex, or no sex at all like the first six books? Do you realize that YOU ARE NOT YOUR CHARACTER?"
Sigh. And the whole family theme. Jon and Trin are not related. Darla is not the long lost sister creature. "My husband I are one of those odd, or lucky, couples that spend almost every waking and not so waking hour together," Codependency alert! Codependency alert!
FUCK YOU, YOU TALENTLESS SELF-AGGRANDIZING BITCH, AND ALL YOUR LITTLE ASS-LICKERS WITH YOU. Sexually uptight my ass. How about "literacy demanding"? That's nearer the mark.
Thankyou! They can't handle that we have genuine criticisms, so of course there has to be something wrong with us. I've been reading trashy romance novels for -years- man. We tried to persuade my highschool drama director to let us put on Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sexually uptight? Bitch, pease.
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We want PLOT. Sex and the ardeur are not PLOT. Were there PLOT, we would not be upset, though we might begin to demand BETTER sex scenes, were that the case...
-Dira-
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I don't see myself as sexually repressed at all (poly-kinky-bi-switch), and her sex scenes just suck. I always thought having sex with Jean-Claude & Asher should be hot, instead of... well, the crap she writes.
Yes, we want plot :)
We don't mind if there's some sex, and it's even encouraged, provided it is GOOD SEX, and not the crap she's been doing.
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Has anyone hear of or read anything by Rett MacPherson?