The Genre Pool is Getting Packed...How is LKH Coping?

[hooks-pet-otter.livejournal.com]

With the recent surge in horror/paranormal romance books and series coming out the yang this past year, one has to wonder how Laurell feels about not being the only queen in town. Especially with the emminant filming and release of Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series-based movie. Along with that, Tanya Huff's Blood Ties success, CBS's Moonlight and the slow but sure hostile takeover(in the literary world) of JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood. The latter being a much better example of erotica than Hamilton's. Ward uses spell-check and doesn't repeat "hot, wet, and tight" over and over until my eyeballs are "hot, wet, and tight".

I haven't been able to find anything on LKH's reaction and feelings. At least, nothing that resembles the great "Underworld" meltdown.

Has anyone witnessed to the contrary? Or is the Queen of All That Sucks actually staying mum for once on her precarious situation?

Comments

[caiyene.livejournal.com]

You left Sherrilyn Kenyon's book out, because she was around when LKH started writing as well and her books are hot stuff. She has good writing and erotica down pat.

But yeah, I wonder how she's doing... though I still believe it was a bad move to make Meyer's books into movies. Some things can't be captured on film and I'm afraid it would give the Dark & Urban Fantasy genre a bad name.

Filming Meyer's books is a little bit like trying to capture Anita's books on film. Definitely not going to work!

[eldestmuse.livejournal.com]

On that note...

if I find one more - ONE MORE! - of my perfectly not-romantic urban fantasy books in the Romance section of the bookstore,

I swear to christ above I'm going to scream.

The closest thing to a sex scene Darkfever had was when she was forced to strip by a fey (the bad guys in the book), realized she was being mindf**ked (not in the sexual sense, in the make-you-do-stuff sense), and threatened to kill him.

The closest thing to romantic tension was with a man who has a girlfriend and kissed her on the cheek when she was nearly unconscious.

Romance?
SF/F section, please.

[eldestmuse.livejournal.com]

I can handle a bit of romance in my SF/F so long as it's not the primary plot. Tanya Huff has some really good SF (the Valor series), which is all of her's that I've read, and I've got a fair amount of respect for Kelley Armstrong's world.

The rest of 'em I'll give you.
Though you have to concede (as much as it pains all of us!!) that LKH started out pretty hardboiled, so I can see why they'd just go with the flow of keeping putting her where they had her. (oh for the days of Chaste!Anita)

[eldestmuse.livejournal.com]

The Paige books were pretty terrible, yeah, but the Elena books (especially post-Bitten, since Bitten does deal a lot with Clay and her) aren't romantic in the least.

I guess Armstrong is about half and half. Book one of a narrator involves some kind of relationship set-up, then the later ones rarely do. I wouldn't call it primarily romance, especially not ala Nora Roberts' Three Sisters paranormal romance stuff.

And, for the longest time I refused to read the Charlaine Harris just because of the cover.

[hellozombies.livejournal.com]

The local Waterstones here, happily, puts all that chick lit in the "horror" section,

When I worked at Half-Price Books, we had a new employee that started. She dealt with the non-current hardbacks. She put all of LKH into horror.

When I pointed out that it would be better suited for sci-fi or possibly erotica, she said that I obviously have never read the books and didn't know what I was talking about. She said that since they're "scary," they belong in horror.

I laughed kind of hard.

[hellozombies.livejournal.com]

Her first books were pretty good. They weren't fantastic, but they kept my attention. They made me want to read more. And after The Killing Dance, I was kind of like, "Whoa, man, what is she doing to Richard?"

One of my biggest issues with her books is that the characters aren't even remotely consistent. If they're going to have vastly different personalities from one scene to the next, I want an explanation for it. Instead of just "I hate my ex."

[bubblefaerie.livejournal.com]

The Books-A-Million where I live has LKH and Charlaine Harris in general fiction and Stephenie Meyer in YA. They really make it so I have to hunt for the books I'm looking for.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_shadowstalker_/]

Why would Tanya Huff be placed anywhere other than the Fantasy section?

see:

Wizard of the Grove
Of Darkness, Light, and Fire
Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light
The Fire's Stone
Summon the Keeper
The Second Summoning
Long Hot Summoning
Sing the Four Quarters
Fifth Quarter
No Quarter
The Quartered Sea

etc.

[jeza-red.livejournal.com]

sooo... because you know like, a five of her books, you can decide that she should keep away from the fantasy section? When the MOST of the many books she wrote are exactly that genre...

Maybe I don't get something, but WTFF?!O_o

[jeza-red.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, got carried away.
It just happens that I'm her fan, I've read a lot of her stuff and have to admit that it's pretty decent stuff. Also I was rised with a strict rule that a person who has a little/partial knowledge on some subject should keep himself/herself from declaring any "definitive statements" according to that subject.
Add those two together and more times than not I'll blow up on said person-___-

Sorry for the snippy tone of the post above... just please, don't judge things you don't know with that definitive tone.

[darkese.livejournal.com]

Jeza-red meet Winterfox. Most of us aren't sure why she is here but she is and she'll try to goad a fight out of anyone.

[ladyvy.livejournal.com]

LOL! I nearly died laughing at that comment. It's glad I am to see that I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

[jeza-red.livejournal.com]

well, that's bad, 'cos I'm not easy to goad into a fight^^ At last not for a small thing like that.

[drygo.livejournal.com]

I like Tanya Huff too. Though, I think the bookstore section an author belongs in really should be based on what she's writing about. I don't think her vampire series should be fantasy...not necessarily horror either. They didn't scare me. But, when I think fantasy, I don't think vampires...it's a different subgenre.

As for the whole chick lit thing...well, maybe. But, the thing about Tanya Huff is the relationships she writes may have elements of romance. But, to compare them to what LKH does is insulting. I mean, Tanya Huff actually has believable characters that aren't obsessed with sex and psychological melodrama. She's much better and more subtle when it comes to writing about relationships. I don't think I've ever once gotten irritated with any annoying bs with Tanya Huff like I have with LKH.