Anita - Setting

[dan-lian.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking a bit about LKH lately (mostly because I'm looking fora MUX or two to play in, and ran across some Anita Blake ones). I think she had a fantastic setting--it was modern without shooting into the future, it was realistic and intelligently formed, with realistic bias and prejudice. Where did that go? When did it go away?

I think LKH got to the point that she felt people knew enough about her universe, Anita's world, to not need the constant setting material, and then flung us into Anita's sex life. By doing that, I think she forgot a lot of the things she developed and where she went with it, and it's been disappointing.

What are your thoughts on it? Do you like the world, minus Anita's sex life?

Comments

[wickedmommy.livejournal.com]

I have always loved the setting. It is one of the things I remember fondly about the books. I mean people make a living raising zombies! That is so awesome!

Vampires can vote and own businesses. You can major is "Spooky stuff" in college. I would love to play in that world. I would so be on RIPT. LOL

[zombiexbunny.livejournal.com]

I also loved the setting. My boyfriend digs it because it's set in St. Louis, which is where he is from ;)

I enjoy the concept of vampires being citizens, running businesses, voting, etc. I agree with wickedmommy about raising zombies for a living - pretty cool. Also the college degrees, police squads, different types of shapeshifters, witches, fairies, gargoyles, trolls, and other creatures.

It's very disheartening that all that has fallen to the wayside and Anita's sex life has taken over and characters are being assassinated left and right.

While waiting on other books to show up in the mail, I started reading Lunatic Cafe.

It was crazy. All story. No sex (well except for the shapeshifter porno/snuff film).u

[oui-je-danse.livejournal.com]

The prejudices and negative social ramifications were the best part. They're not (in most of the U.S.) actively hunted and killed for being what they. Yey neither are they accepted or acceptable. Like prostitutes who aren't coffin bait and hiring discrimination against werewolves. You don't get the cool stuff without personal and social drawbacks. That is, until everyone got Mary Sued to all hell. The setting had a good mood to it. It wasn't way overblown or super full of itself.

[juuchan.livejournal.com]

The setting is one of the main reasons why I read AB for as long as I did (before it all disappeared into her ignominious hooch). I liked the fact there were real issues like xenophobia, acts of domestic terrorism and whatnot. I like setting up new social systems to see how and why certain groups function as they do-- and it was disappointing how LKH just sort of bowed out of that, waving it off with less and less explanation as the proportion of shitty sex got higher and higher.

I would write fiction for the universe it's set in, but that would be self-indulgent. Le sigh.

[saucyirishlass.livejournal.com]

I would write fiction for the universe it's set in, but that would be self-indulgent.

Plenty of other people have. Honestly, some of the Anita Blake fanfiction out there is so much better than the author could do with her own characters and world.

[oui-je-danse.livejournal.com]

I've never tried any AB fanfiction, odd since I'm a huge fan of... er, fanfiction. Can you recomend one of these better than LKH stories?

[jadelioness.livejournal.com]

I have no idea where this was, but I did read one about J-C, Asher, and Juliette way back before Anita was even in existence. It was really good. I'll have to see if I can find it again.

[saucyirishlass.livejournal.com]

I'm with everyone else, for the most part. Though I've always had some questions about how lycanthropy and vampirism work. She tries to apply both biology and metaphysics to them, but sometimes it didn't come together so seamlessly. And these days, those lines between biology and magic are even further blurred by the fact that she ignores blatant rules she has set for it all.

But the major issue I had, even before the 180, was with the lycanthropes and pop culture references. It was like only Richard and Jason understood references to things like The Wizard of Oz. Fine, they're lycanthropes, but they don't spend all their time in animal form, with the pack, or out of the house, do they? They've got jobs, families, homes. Is it really so hard to believe that most of them have seen a movie or watch TV on a regular basis? At least before they became infected, did they ever see a movie?

That was always the most implausible part to me about lycanthropy, socially speaking. That, and the wereleopard social structure deviated so much from "natural" leopards (who are some of the most solitary animals on the planet).

[wonderbink.livejournal.com]

I posed a question earlier in this comm about why deliberate lycanthropy infection seemed to be so rare in the AB universe, when, given what one gets with it (superpowers and your own 'pack') lots of outcast/social deviant types would practically be lining up to get furry.

She does have some interesting world-building ideas, but then she ignores all the potential aspects that could be explored and just goes for sex and angst. Which is one reason why she's simultaneously so fascinating and so disappointing to me.

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess the Church of Eternal Life has a bit of that going on, so I don't see why there aren't werewolf groupies.

[electra310.livejournal.com]

I love the setting, it's one reason I stuck with the Anita Blake books so long after they were obviously getting crappy. My friends and I started up an Anitaverse RP, but one that takes place far, far away from Saint Louis, so that it's highly unlikely that any canon characters will ever show up. It's been funny trying to puzzle out the mechanics of things that LKH never really explained, or explained once and then explained totally differently after she lost the sticky note. We basically cut off the canon after Obsidian Butterfly or so, because things got so inconsistent (and none of the mods wanted to comb the books for the world information like we did with the early ones).

It's a shame that there's such a cool world out there, and all we ever see is the view from between Anita's legs.

[wickedmommy.livejournal.com]

It's a shame that there's such a cool world out there, and all we ever see is the view from between Anita's legs.

I couldn't agree more!

Totally OT...

[catskin.livejournal.com]

... HA! 8-Bit Theatre!

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

Do I like the setting? Well... sort of. I like the way she describes ordinary people trying to deal with the supernatural, like that Christian family in Bloody Bones that didn't want their daughter to rise as a vampire. I like there being vaccins against lycanthropy, people going to vampire stripclubs, that there are college courses in the supernatural. I like the feeling of weirdness intruding on normal life.

However, while I like the humans dealing with supernatural stuff, I don't like most of the supernatural stuff in and of itself. Vampire politics are stupid, since the rules never get reinforced except when it's convenient for the plot - Belle Morte plays slavishly by the rules when the plot demands it, and breaks them without a second thought when LKH wants to demonstrate how evil she is. The vampires themselves are icky, walking corpses, not sexy in the least. Werecreatures seem never to do anything but grunt and growl at each other, except when LKH wants them to be sexy and endearing, at which point they stop acting like werecreatures at all.

And let's not forget my pet peeve, the issue of "power." LKH loves that word. Someone's "power" is forever filling the room and crawling over people's skins and pulsing through their grip. What can you do with "power"? Apparently, everything and nothing. I have yet to have it explained to me (within the books) how a vampire's "power" is different from a werewolf's "power" or a faerie's "power." LKH loves to make those swooning descriptions of overwhelming, all-consuming "power," but she seems to have little use for it except as a device to show that her characters are incredibly cool and unique.

This is the complete opposite of how I want things to be in fantasy. I want people to have discrete abilities, not some faceless, shapeless "power." There is some of that in AB:VH, and I enjoy it - vampires being able to "roll people with their eyes" is very cool, for instance - but all in all, LKH seems not to be very interested in what her characters can actually do, but rather more interested in explaining that they're, like, really powerful and stuff.

End rant. =]

[zombiexbunny.livejournal.com]

Lots of good points, especially regarding power.

It has always annoyed me that Anita is the only one to grow in power (except in those rare instances where Richard and JC get something because of being in the triumvirate). After all these years, none of the weaker have gotten stronger at all. Surely someone could have learned SOMETHING. Like Damien. I have never been able to swallow the fact that he is what, over 1000 years old and yet someone snaps his fingers and he's dying all over the place. He's in a triumvirate with Anita and Nathanial and has gotten nothing but a whole lot of almost dying.

I also have trouble with everyone wanting Anita's protection. All these creatures who can bench press cars and move faster than you blink need her protection? Because she has a gun? I mean...shouldn't they be able to get to her before she can shoot or use their super powers to yoink the gun out of her hand? Yeah?

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

someone snaps his fingers and he's dying all over the place

I love this line.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I heart the setting. I'm a vampire fangirl, so I do have to sit back and admire the rough outline of the power structure and politcs that they have -- but that's as far as it goes, because most of the RPGs I've been involved in actually pick up the scraps that LKH has given us and runs away to the wild to nurture and feed them until they grow into great big monsters of awesome.

Generally, it's when the porn sneaks in and takes over that the game is dying.

So as a political thriller junkie, I really, really, reaaaallllly hate that LKH can be so goddamned stupid with the rules that she's set up and frankly assumes that all the monsters will be good and play by them, and keep their claws and fangs to themselves. Because Anita. Is. Right! Even when she's wrong, she's right! *facepalm*

God, so much potential gone to waste. These books could be awesome with a side of awesomesauce if only the author paid more attention and maybe respected them a bit more (I'd say love but, well, we all know she's far too attached to certain aspects).

[zombiexbunny.livejournal.com]

100% agreed.


Also - House! :D

[catskin.livejournal.com]

I thought the setting was best demonstrated in The Laughing Corpse. There were so many great ideas and nuances in that book.

That said, I prefer my monsters undercover, hidden away with only a few members of society aware of their existence. I loved it when Anita came across some really obscure creature like nagas or lamias. On the other hand, I now think she's gone overboard on that, what with her werehyenas, werecobras, werelions, werebears, werefoxes, wereswans, weretrilobites... Aren't there are any humans left in St Louis?

[plum-arden.livejournal.com]

I so agree with you about all the "were" animals. I'm so sick of werefish, werebutterflies, werecatipillers (that don't turn into werebutterflies) and werewhateverelse LKH can think of. Enough is enough already.

[catskin.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I keep thinking - all those werewolves getting together every full moon - someone would notice, right? There's like, six hundred of them? And just as many werehyenas, if memory serves me correctly.

It's an epidemic! SOMEONE WOULD NOTICE!

[catskin.livejournal.com]

LMAO

Followed by a rousing chorus of wereswan-songs.

[rianax.livejournal.com]

Which is actually a pretty cool were.

Who wouldn't want to fly and not turning into something big and nasty with teeth works better on the PR front.

I find it laughable parents would be worried if their kids' teacher turns into a waterbird.

[jycaegima.livejournal.com]

I dunno--swans are pretty nasty buggers honestly.

[sophonica.livejournal.com]

I was a fan of the setting, though it was more of its potential than anything else. I stopped reading at Obsidian Butterfly, because I was beginning to realise LKH had stopped exploring what she had already created and was relying on the addition of new things to keep the books alive. It's much more interesting (for me personally) when an author creates a universe, and then proves how flexible it can be without changing one iota of its groundrules.

And all this is reminding me I haven't read any good 'modern' supernatural fiction in forever.

[summersdream.livejournal.com]

Lkh annoys me with her setting everything in St. Louis. Because dammit, I heart Illinois and I could see all these supernatural whats-its hanging around a couple hours south because Southern Illinoi and Southern Missouri (especially south MO) are kind of excuciatingly rural in areas. Oh, and all the tunnels under St Louis? She never uses that really. And the folk tales of southern IL are freaking AWESOME. But now she took that setting and has killed it dead and no one will ever be able to fix it. /sulk

Vampires an were-animals in ST Louis itself though- no, not much sense made there.

[windiain.livejournal.com]

because even in St. Louise

The trans discussion has eaten your brain. ;)

And yes, I'm starting to think that humans may be in the minority in St. Louis, because there seem to be a large proportion of supernatural bodies taking up residency there.

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

My public confession -- I've only ever read the first book, on gleeful and repeated berating recommendation from a friend, and I didn't like it very much. But yes, the setting/the world was the most imaginative and best part, for me -- it made me respect Hamilton, raised her above the "fluff" level, a bit.

(And my heart did sincerely break for Philip, when she raised him and he was all confused... but I think I might have been more into bishounen then... ^__^)

Judging from online excerpts, though, this seems to have gone completely by the wayside, and that's really a shame. The pregnancy scare in particular just bored me to tears, tears I tell you. I can flip on any given soap and see that, what's interesting about that? I wanted more of the unique politics and government and class warfare and crap!!

(Yes, yes, I know, it's not my series, I don't get to decide what it focuses on. *grumbles quietly*)

[missamii.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with the people that love the stuff about how the supernatural world meets the human world and the social ramifications there of. I think a lot of the reason I hate the books after The Killing Dance is that Anita's complete absorption into the supernaturals' world makes less and less sense. Sure, I guess as human servant and lover of Jean Claude she'd get pulled into vamp politics, but he is such a wussy master of the city that I can't believe that no one has dethroned him. Anita is still just a human so I find it so unbelievable that she manages to scare the pants off all the vampire big wigs and yet it doesn't provoke them to go all out to kill her and JC. I still don't get why she's got a place in the werewolf pack and they need her as the pack assassin. I get that before Richard was in charge the pack was so dysfuctional that they needed someone who would come in and start busting heads, but why would Richard let her stay when she causes him so much grief? The issue boils down to the fact that Anita is still just a human. If one of those werebeasties really wanted to do her in before she could kill them, I'm sure they could. It's just the monsters always seem to play by some set of gentlemanly rules. There never seems to be a surprise attack, and by this I mean when Anita is completely and totally off guard and unarmed. No one ever attacks her before she gets an inkling from someone that trouble's a-come'n. At least in the early books Anita made sense as a vampire/werewolf hunter. She had to hunt vampires with caution by engaging them during the day. Werewolfs don't have any magical powers so I can buy that you can take them down with a few slugs if you can get the drop on them. I just can't believe that now that Anita is tangling with some increasingly powerful monsters that a gun trumps all their intangible power.

[zombiexbunny.livejournal.com]

Yeah. You would at least think that in the midst of one of those orgies, someone would be able to come in, bust some ass, and then leave before she could even untangle herself from her 5 (hundred) guys and grab a gun.

As much as I love the concept of the books, I have trouble wrapping my head around the stuff you just mentioned. Although, with Jean Claude, I really don't think he was all that powerful as he pretended to be. I honestly believe that is why he keeps Anita around - she feeds his power base. He doesn't love her, he loves the power she brings.

Regarding Richard: he should have dropkicked her ass to the curb a LONG time ago. Like you said, why on earth does he keep her around as Bolverk and Lupa? That just makes no sense whatsoever. I understand they will always have the tie of the triumvirate, but come on...enough already.

And the fact that she insists that all these men be monogamous to her and yet she can screw anything that moves just pisses me off to no end.

[missamii.livejournal.com]

The Anita-in-the-wolf pack makes less sense the more you think about it. Richard is the ulfric and strength in the pack is paramount. You'd think that Richard would have banished her long ago seeing that all Anita does is bust his chops. By taking her crap he looks weak but throwing her out might be a good tactical move on his part because it show everyone he's capable of removing a thorn from his side.

[queenettefallon.livejournal.com]

It wasn't really the setting that made me love the books. To be honest, the setting itself was just icing on the cake.*

I'm actually a vampire buff and I thought Hamilton had done something almost completely original and totally interesting with them. And to a lessor extent shifters themselves, because werewolf stories tend to bug me. Why just werewolves, why not werecats, dogs, etcs? To be fair, some have tried to explain why just werewolves. But I'm just not the werewolf fan that I am of vampires.

Anne Rice had some good vampires, but the idea of a vampire as a solitary being bugged me. And to be honest, Hamilton with Anita wasn't the first to come along with the idea that vampires could hang together. But to her credit she gave it a believable structure and form. So, I'm more prone to getting into something that has a vampire structure (pack, if you will) rather than something with the vampire as a lone hunter.

Sadly, that was one of my gripes in the earlier books, I felt the shifters were taking over and I wanted to see more of the vampires.

* So, it wasn't the setting itself which drew me in and make me love. To be honest, sometimes I actually felt vampires and other things being known and legal made things (sometimes) more tedious than they needed (or should) have been. But at least that kept things real, so for the early books I was happily along for the ride.

[longtail.livejournal.com]

I really loved the setting, but one thing has always REALLY bugged me, and that's how completely freakin' INEPT the police are on preternatural matters. What the hell are they paying these guys for? They don't freakin' know ANYTHING.

Ok, I get that Anita's the specialist and her coming out to the crime scenes is really important for the plot and it makes for some cool reading. But come on, humans have supposedly lived for their entire species alongside with preternaturals, and lycanthropy and vampirism even seems to pre-date homo sapiens.

And the modern day police of 199? have almost NO systems or procedures or departments or databases or libraries or training developed in place for their officers, detectives, forensics teams, and so on? They have to rely on ONE specialist?

One that has to tell them something so basic that a master wereshifter can pop it's claws without shifting their whole bodies? AND this werewolf still managed to kill two armed *SWAT* team members?

Nope, not buying it. Police DO use specialists, but Anita's job is so bloody simple *I* can do it. To make this more realisitic she'd likely only be called once in a while for raisings, and maybe doing nitty gritty work doing body matchups and helping with zombie interrogation, not spouting off trivia to the police about every preturnatural creature there is.

This isn't going to be washed away with the explanation of "Oh, you could just kill a vamp/were anytime you wanted to before they got laws protecting them." That just doesn't make any sense. Then Anita should never have gotten her job in the first place. There would be no such thing as a dedicated "vampire executioner." The police would just do it themselves.

So yeah, I can ramble on, but that's my thoughts.

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

The setting totally rocks. That's what got me hooked on the book (aside from a few characters) and why I'm currently working on a 100+ page fanfic in which Anita shows up in about 3 scenes. *eg*