Beauty

[dwg.livejournal.com]

It's only taken a small eternity for the Amazon page to be updated with some kind of information as to what this even is - and the publication date has changed from April 24 to May 8:

The steamy outtake that takes readers even further into Laurell K. Hamilton’s bestselling novel, Kiss the Dead.

You’d think I’d get used to seeing such a beautiful man and knowing he was mine, but it never grew old, as if his beauty and the fact that he was mine, and I was his, would forever surprise me.

With a vampire like Jean Claude around, it’s far too easy for Anita Blake to doubt her own appearance—and the hold it has on those who love her. But one hot tub and two incredibly sexy men—Jean Claude and Asher—will make her feel like the most lusted-after woman alive…or undead. Not bad for a mere human…

“Hamilton remains one of the most inventive and exciting writers in the paranormal field.”—Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

Includes an excerpt of Kiss the Dead, the new Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel.

[source]

I'm starting to wonder if this is what we get instead of the first chapter posted free on LKH's website? Given the revised drop date, Beauty comes out one month before Kiss the Dead. There has been zero chatter about what Beauty even is -- the closest I've found was just a couple of days ago over at the forum, and even then the mod couldn't actually confirm what the book was about unless she got word from Laurell herself. This whole thing strikes me as incredibly weird.

That said, yes I am going to try to get my hands on this as soon as possible. For science or great justice or something.

Comments

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

it’s far too easy for Anita Blake to doubt her own appearance

GAH so it's actually a novella about how Anita is so OMG hot and sexy and irresistible but suffers doubts because blondes were mean to her for being insufficiently blonde/tall/cheerleaderish when she was young, so Jean Claude and Asher have sex with her in a hot tub and there is much spilling and tight-wet spurting and screaming for an entire book?

What an unusual and inventive direction for LKH to take.

[missingvolume.livejournal.com]

Do you think that maybe she actually had to edit some of the book and then someone saw a way to recycle what was cut out?

[ex-naomi-ja.livejournal.com]

So much WTF. First of all, I'm sorry, but that's an ugly cover. Although I think it's appropriate that whereas most UF covers have women in active, or at least upright poses, Anita always appears to sprawled on the floor nowadays. But yeah, ugly cover.

Second - who cares? I mean, there's usually a good reason scenes get cut from books. Either they're not good enough or they're good but don't serve the plot. In both cases, I have no interest in reading something deemed not right for the final book.

THAT SAID. It gives me a tiny, fragile glimmer of hope that this is apparently a big old sex scene and somebody decided to slice it from the book. Maybe that means KtD has actually been, you know, edited for content? I still maintain this is just going to be Anita wangsting over being half-Mexican and not blonde and skinny, and JC and Asher being all, "no, no, you are the most super speshul snowflake ever and we'd take you over a million blonde soccer moms and whatever." So, yeah...I look forward to your thoughts.

[c-l-craft.livejournal.com]

So, an entire book that revolves around the main character who happens to be a woman doubting her self only to have her fragile self esteem saved by her steamy manfolk. Great.

That being said, I could see someone taking the cut material from a book and turning it into a short story. But an entire book/novella? That's a bit much.

Do you have any idea how much they're going to be charging for this? From the sounds of it they might try to slip it in at a fairly low price, maybe even a packaged deal with KtD, but you never know with her.

[world-dancer.livejournal.com]

Based on her last few releases, I'm mighty suspicious that this is nothing more than some random chapters from her book. I think Bite's "The Girl Who Was Infatuated With Death" was the only short story she's actually published like this. Starting with Craving, they've all been parts of a book.

Note: "The Girl Who Was Infatuated With Death" is an earlier story, and I do recommend it for a read.

[evewithanapple.livejournal.com]

You’d think I’d get used to seeing such a beautiful man and knowing he was mine, but it never grew old, as if his beauty and the fact that he was mine, and I was his, would forever surprise me.

The Department od Redundancy Department is on the phone for you, Anita.

I don't think there's anything especially wrong with making cutscenes available but $2.99 is a pretty damn steep price to pay for it. Kelley Armstrong (who also releases cutscenes) put out three brand-new novellas meant to supplement her YA trilogy, and they're on Kindle for ninety-nine cents. And she puts other novellas up on her website for free. Nothing wrong with sharing treats with fans, but the way LKH is going about it seems kind of . . . mercenary.

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

I haven't rad an AB book since Danse Macabre. The funny thing is that I would have loved a book about just her, Asher and Jean Claude back when their balls were still attached. I think I really lost my love for the Anita-verse when NiC came out. Between the rape scene and the 15+ pages it took for her to feed the ardeur or however you spell it just did me in. Remember that? Seriously there were like...she was in bed, then about to get naked, then didn't get naked, then had to talk/beg Asher into joining them, then...and I was like STFU already and just do it!!!

Kind of surprised that her editor was able to actually edit for a change. I still hope and pray for the day that someone gets through to LKH and points out her many faults with regard to this series. At least with Merry, we knew she was a slut going in.

[everstar3.livejournal.com]

Holy God, how long and pointless is this scene if even LKH's editors looked at it and thought, "You know, this really detracts from the taut, hard-thrusting erection narrative of Kiss the Dead?"

Edited because apparently I can't even remember the name of the book versus the name of the porn.

[neriah.livejournal.com]

The whole thing is who really cares anymore? ABVH is pretty much done. Her board is less active than I have ever seen.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

So is the story just about how pretty Anita is? Because that's really all I'm getting from the description.

[nialla]

Sounds like this is going to be an e-chapbook. Publishers used to do print versions of them as promos for some upcoming books, but with e-books, they don't have to deal with the printing cost.

I read an e-chapbook recently that was essentially a prequel. I haven't read the actual book yet (I'm on the waiting list at the library), so I'm taking a guess that it's a backstory that's explained but not shown in the book, so it's a plus but not essential to read.

In this case, I'd be willing to bet the publisher is using it as promotional material as they usually do, but it sounds like it's recycled scrap material from the book. Not something that really expands the story (unless you're talking about expanding cocks).

Also, I'm thinking it needs a subtitle. "Beauty: The Author Has Issues."

[poor-toms-acold.livejournal.com]

This wee book would be improved if Anita was edited out. Just sayin'.

[yaoihuntresse.livejournal.com]

Once I read about what Beauty would be about, I couldn't help thinking of this scene in an episode of Family Guy. It was the episode where the Griffins' get their own reality show and Meg is eventually replaced with some sexy piece of jail-bait who says, "I'm going to my room and write in my dairy how I'll never have breasts as big and beautiful as these."