[identity profile] dwg.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] lkh_lashouts
Wow, I'm surprised nobody's taken to this one - I found the link on the LKH.org "hot news" page.

Whole article: The Alien Online: Laurell K. Hamilton on moonlight seduction, Merry Gentry indulges after dark.

For the most part, it's a gushy overview of the MG books up to SBM with a few LKH quotes - but it has to start off with the most unfortunate introduction.
Laurell K Hamilton's stories ooze sensuality. Both her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series and the Merry Gentry novels can make those of a delicate disposition blush deeply. When you mix in Hamilton's smooth and expressive prose to this raunchy approach, you've got a book that glues itself to your fingers and refuses to be put down.
Oh, honey, I don't quite think it's the prose, that made the pages all sticky. :S

I'm also horribly amused by the word "ooze" appearing in the first sentence (*titters madly*) and the whole concept of "smooth and expressive prose" - twenty pages of repetitive wangst does not count as expressive, nor is having the Man Meat spontaneously burst into tears and declare his undying wuv for Merry. As for smooth, I think the gack on my mouseball has more going for it.

Now, onto what LKH had to say about writing MG:
"I wanted to create a world that was not Midwestern, middle America, which is Anita’s mindset. I wanted to do with the fey something that was totally different, totally alien. I wanted them not to think like any human culture I could find. I researched anthropology, archaeology and folklore (mostly Celtic and some non-Celtic that predates them). Then with my foundation firmly under me, I jumped out into the realm of the fantastic."
Uh, so totally having the Sithen in Cahokia and making Merry et al. go through Missouri was just a big huge coincidence?

Not to mention, excuse me while I die laughing at this whole, "Totally different, totally alien, totally researched. In conclusion: totally," idea. This is even funnier if you read her "bibliography" at the bottom of the page.
And in that new and exciting realm, Hamilton made sex an important political tool.
PUNMASTER!
"Sex is like everything else, it must move the plot forward, develop character growth, reveal some aspect of the magic system, or be a part of world building. It must do at least two of those things to be included in a book.

"I actually try for three of those aspects. To leave sex out completely could mean you could miss a clue, hinder the character growth or stifle world building. And that is not acceptable."
*dies laughing* Oh man, the Gods of Irony do smile upon this woman, no?

Plot? "You keep saying that word - I don't think that word means what you think that word means." - really, Inigo Montoya is a retort for all occasions.

Character growth? =/= an erection, okay Laurell? No, I'm quite sure on this.

Reveal some aspect of the magical system? =/= giving Merry a new superpower, levelling up the guys to no avail. After the last few level-ups, have the guys gained any actual useful powers? I mean, other than freaky tattoos of the Salmon of Truth?

WORLD BUILDING??? I think it's safe to say that the MG world is pretty much made of fail, because I'm pretty sure that there's no real way that the fey courts as LKH has them would actually function - on any level.

Then again, if MK is anything to go by, she's being quite literal about this whole sex = world building thing. Which just makes mart of my writerly soul shrivel up and die right there.

The kicker of the whole article is this - scroll to the bottom of the page and look at LKH's "bibliography" for writing the MG books. A quick perusal of the amazon links tells me that this is a bunch of really generic mythology stuff.

This, to me, is like trying to cite Encyclopedia Britannica as a source in an essay. One thing biology has taught me is to reserach like crazy and use things like those compendiums and dictionaries as a step toward a more specific text. What she's got there is a list of great starting points - nothing substantial. I know given the topic it's hard to sort out all the crud to find the good stuff, but hey, that's what the research process is all about.

Also, Brian Froud & Alan Lee. Someone page Jareth and get him to smite her. A lot. Please?
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