Something that has been bugging me...

[aerofish.livejournal.com]

Hello, all. I'm new to this group and this is my first post. I figured I'd introduce myself with this peeve of mine.

I was reading the sample chapters for the next Anita book, and it was mentioned Anita is 27. This made me back up and go WTF(well, more than I already was). I know Anita is supposed to be in her twenties, yet that fact just never seems to stick, and I constantly find myself envisioning her as mid-30s with the mind-set, perhaps, of someone much older, if not the maturity. And giving her the age of 27 in this upcoming book really drove home the point to me, as that is my age.

Anita does not act like any twenty-something I know. For any of you around Anita's age, do you feel the same way? And I know I'm making a sweeping generalization about how a 25-30 year old should act, but shouldn't there be some consistencies with the popular culture for this age group? I have so many examples, but here's two obvious ones:

-Does she dress like someone my age dresses? Maybe if it were the 80's or early 90's, with her silk shell blouses and pantyhose and power jackets. Maybe she's going for a retro-ironic hipster thing, and I'm too dull to see it?

-She speaks with none of the slang commonly used. And while yes, "nifty" is a, well, nifty word...it's not exactly the cornerstone of a young person's vocabulary, right? Doesn't she, in one book referencing her brother's opinion of her line of work, even say something like "he says it's cool, or whatever the kids are saying these days?" Uh. Right.

In general, this is such a minor pet peeve, what with the many many MANY issues with her books I am having these days. But still, shouldn't there be a least a few references here and there anchoring Anita to the age she is supposed to be?

Nathanial as a street kid.

[kuzunoha.livejournal.com]

A previous post that spoke of slang made me think about how Nathanial is totally not a beleivable street kid.

Even though he's out of the "lifestyle" he would still have some basic mannerisms and speech patterns of someone who lived on the street for most of his life.

I live in a liberal, not intimidating, fairly low crime area... And even here Nathanial would not survive. Throw in that he has to eat a lot to maintain his beast... And no. Not possible.

A friend of mine lived on the street for a while by choice. It was an expieriance the culture thing. She did it for about five months and she still has a "street mode", which is disconcerting to see her switch into at times. Nathaniel supposedly grew up in the streets... He would have this times a million.

But he doesn't.

There is nothing about him that reminds me of anything but an abused child... But even severely abused children that live on the streets are forced to at least ACT tough.

If LKH knew anything about street culture she would play with Nathanial's background for more then sympathy. She could make his character so much more colorful and less two dimensional with it...

You know... I think lately I'm starting to think that LKH comes up with really awesome characters... With good background stories(though all the stereotypical tragic) but just doesn't know anything about people that actually live with this stuff. I mean... Even if she just bought someone a meal and talked to them minimally... She would have a better feel for what Nathanial would actually be in the real world.

Is there such thing as character abuse? The woman should be prosecuted for neglet and overall ill treatment.

Kill her Darlings: Here's the wind up....(Lead in to Anita, etc.)

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

The characters are mostly Laurel K Hamilton's, as is the actual background. The current happenings are entirely fignewtons of my own derranged mind.

Dunno if you can call anything in here a true spoiler. Y'all know who Asher is, right? Well, this kinda continues my first postie, in which we find out how JC really feels, and that Micah has been screwed unto death. This time, we flash to Asher's take, and the beginning of the end of an Anita. Now, I will warn, there's a hint of slashy goodness, but just a hint.

Let the games begin!

( Let the Games Begin! )

(no subject)

[bites-the-sun.livejournal.com]

Random thoughts about LKH and AB:VH

- LKH is essentially a very mediocre writer who had the luck to find her niche in the marketplace in the mid-nineties when empowered, ass-kicking heroines and the hip, supernatural mystery genre were the new black in popular culture. I'm just sorry that a better writer didn't get there first with the same basic premise.

- Where the LKH books went wrong - and I mean so wrong you couldn't ignore the sheer wrongness anymore - was when the authorial presence went from a polite indoor voice to a hectoring, raging shriek. I just skimmed the sample chapters from Incubus Dreams and am quite sure now that not only do I know to the decimal point LKH's stance on abortion, I am also certain I can discern her, rather than Anita's, disdain for commitment-phobic women through the text. You could always smell the author in Anita through the details, but later on it got to the point where Anita had basically become nothing more than a shrill mouthpiece for LKH's opinions/issues/hang-ups/prejudices. It's the self-importance that seems to come with some authors when they achieve success and start believing that their message is more important than their craft.

- LKH's take on sexuality in AB:VH reeks of the Madonna/Whore complex. There's no middle ground regarding sex in the AB:VH series - one is either a frumpily-dressed, born-again virgin (early Anita) or a raging whore (late Anita) who'll do anyone at any time and dresses like the world is their gynocologist, or if male, out of the 'Do Me' section of the International Male catalogue. Of course, this being LKH, even the raging whores can't have good clean fun - we can neatly divide the shagsters into the ranks of Sexy, Irresistible, Empowered Whores (basically Anita and her lovemuffin du jour) with everyone else who so much as thinks about cock herded into the Pathetic, Needy, Out-of-Control Whores catagory, where they get sighed at and periodically worried about by the Sexy Irresistible Empowered Whores. It's such an immature version of sexuality it makes my teeth ache. Nobody in LK:VH has their sexuality integrated into their character to the point where it isn't a huge issue or a great, big, important lifestyle choice. It reads as the work of someone who discovered the pleasures of shagging late in life and has to squee publicly about it in the manner of all converts, whilst still retaining a core of Judeo-Christian-based sanctimony in regards to the subject.

(no subject)

[bites-the-sun.livejournal.com]

Any (ex)fans of Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series here?

I ask because it just struck me that the Scarpetta books have declined in quality in a very similiar manner to AB:VH - each series featuring a decent character who rapidly disintegrated into blatant Mary Sue-ishness and with angst replacing plot after the series had achieved some measure of success.

Thoughts?