A small rant and vague self-justification.

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

According to amazon.com, A Stroke of Midnight is due out in paperback March 28th, 2006. Micah will be out sometime in February, and of course Incubus Dreams is scheduled for paperback release September 27th--two months from now.

I know I shouldn't be looking forward to these. I know they're terrible wastes of paper and intellectually devoid offenses to the English language. I know they won't improve or even change, and the author is a deliberately wanky cow. I know that I shouldn't reward her for writing them by buying them a day or two after they're released and thus increasing her rank on selling charts. With the exception of Micah, I don't even have the excuse of never having read them before.

But...it's like I almost can't help it. They're just so goddamn entertaining. Not necessarily in a good way ("rainmaker" much?), more in a train-wrecky sense. Morbid curiosity, that's the word. The books are TERRIBLE, and I think the main reason people recommend them to others is that they don't want to suffer alone. I no longer have any kind of emotional or intellectual investment in the books or the characters, so bitching about the books and the author is more enjoyable than actually READING the books themselves.

Plus I'm a completist. There are few things more satisfying in life than looking at a bookshelf and knowing you have every single book in a series (or darned close), especially when said series hits the double digits. Gives a vague (if slightly pathetic) feeling of accomplishment. LKH is currently the only ongoing series I read and collect faithfully (well, not counting Harry Potter, and that has only one book to go), so it's a small luxury I allow myself. At the current rate of eight dollars each, one or two books a year will not break my budget.

So, when the above dates arrive, I will indeed be lined up at the register of my nearest Barnes and Noble, supernatural porn in hand, forking over hard-earned wages just so I can continue ranting bitterly about LKH's downfall as a writer. Traitorous? Perhaps. But without the books, this community would not exist. And I, for one, plan to do my part in ensuring we're here for a very long time.

Comments

[dragonfanguk.livejournal.com]

For collection purposes, I recomment Terry Pratchett and Robert Rankin. They have actual characters and actual plot-lines. I pimp also: Poppy Z Brite, Robin Jarvis and Robin Hobb... some of the best.

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

I've wanted to read Pratchett for a while now, except that there are so many of them and I never know where to start. Any recommendations?

[dragonfanguk.livejournal.com]

Well, for the most part, the books don't follow any real thread... they're sort of mini stories of many people... though there is the witches trilogy and the death trilogy.


The Colour of Magic is the first book... probably the best place to start, though some of his later books are more fun to read: Carpe Jugulum, Going Postal, Monstrous Regiment, and Night Watch are all good ones to be going on with.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I have Carpe Jugulum - one of my friends (she's trying to convert me to the Discworld and Harry Potter fandoms) keeps telling me I should read it, for the monk with the axe-whirling. I kinda just prefer to see the Discworld plays and let her fill me in on all the books.

Though, I will admit that I like drawing Death.

[klmorgan.livejournal.com]

Jumping in just to particularly reccomend (in this order):

Mort
Reaper Man
Soul Music
Hogfather
Theif of Time

They're connected in that all deal with Death and his, er, family.

Susan Sto-Helit alone is worth the price of admission.

Ta!

[harpergrey.livejournal.com]

I kind of started right in the middle with Feet of Clay, and then jumped all over the place from there until I'd read them all. I don't think it really matters where you start -- it's not a very linear series, but I personally recommend Guards, Guards for a good setting out point (though I think everyone who reads Terry Pratchett will probably tell you something different). But definitely read them -- all I can say is that you won't regret it! ;)

[in10sity.livejournal.com]

I have all the books up to and including Obsidian Butterfly. I consider that to be the full Anita Blake Vampire Hunter collection.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

You're...not alone. When these things finally make it to my favourite book store in the world (though, less than favourite right now because they haven't got Dead Beat by Jim Butcher) - I will be buying them.

I consider it taking one for the team, on behalf of a lot of people in here and on my f-list, who either can't be bothered, or have strong moral objections to giving money for such a thing.

Some days, I'm just too damned nice.

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I've written reviews of the first four Merry Gentry books, and I plan to continue through the series--four, six, eight books t go--however long it takes.

It's like I already have a vested interest in the books--the books, mind, not the characters or the style--and as long as they're churned out, I'll keep getting them, out of a sense of grim duty. Besides, I enjoy complaining about things, and LKH's books are fish in the proverbial barrel.

I do feel a bit guilty about it, since it seems a lot of other ex-fans seem determined to see the author go down in flames (or at least want her off the bestseller lists), and I'm technically keeping them from their goal. I don't want LKH's books to shove other, more deserving titles off the New York Times top ten, but my purchase is partly responsible for that.

It's like being a carnivorous animal rights activist: You know it's wrong and hypocritical, but you can't make yourself stop.

[junipersgame.livejournal.com]

Just wait like... three or four weeks after the books have come out. That way, you still get them, but you haven't helped her first few weeks of sales (which is usually around the only time she's on any lists) ^.^

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean, though I'm probably worse because I buy the hardcovers. I had some fun pulling ID apart, I'm now going back through the rest of the series, and I'll attack the Merry Gentry books too. It's entertaining to rip them apart figuratively. I'd probably have a seizure if I had to do it literally, I was raised to respect books and get upset about creases in the covers.

I don't want to support LKH by giving her money, but I don't want to stop buying the books. They're wayy too entertaining, though now for all the wrong reasons.

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

I know. I feel the same way, though I'm looking for ways to not pay for them this time, or at least not pay full price. I certainly do not want my purchases added to her stats as a best selling author on any of this...

-Dira-