The Works of Laurell K. Hamilton

[Deleted]

sunnyhorse said:

I just went back and found the article, and I think I got her upbringing wrong, even if I got her education right. Enjoy.

This part of the article is ridiculous:

Because Hamilton’s books are so vivid and her characters are so real, some fans have trouble differentiating the author from her main character. They somehow assume that Hamilton and Blake are the same and that Blake’s experiences mirror Hamilton’s personal life.

Excuse me? We "somehow" assume that they're the same? The reason that some readers treat Anita and LKH as one in the same is because LKH has admitted various times--including in the afterword of one of her own books, The Killing Dance--that Anita is strongly based on herself. She's also admitted that Micah is based on her current man and Richard is based on her ex. Not to mention the obvious parallels between LKH's and Anita's strict, sexually-straitlaced upbringings, and how both have started to find their inner sex beasts.

Either this writer didn't do her research into what LKH has said about her own characters, or she was paid by LKH to write off the disgruntled former readers as immature idiots.

[Deleted]

marchingpenguin said:

I hate her way more than is healthy. Her writing teacher probably hated her because she did and still does use descriptions like "his eyes were a stormy blue, like the sea after a storm." And I love genre stuff, but those stories she named aren't "just" monster tales, they're stories (with actual plots and themes and junk, Laurell!) that use supernatural elements to good effect. LKH's type of writing is the reason why genre fiction has a bad name - "Beowulf had monsters, and so does my book! Therefore it is legitimate art, harkening back to the very roots of storytelling, and I do not have to bother with things like style, coherence, or character development!"

Between what I've read of her books and what she posts on the internet, I can't believe she earned an English degree and actually worked as an editor. For a textbook company! Those poor students, with all those spelling and grammar errors that must have flown by unchecked.

That's what happens when an author's ego gets too big for editors. Which totally explains the existence of the latter Anita books. Honestly, she should just drop all pretenses of serious writing and start writing erotica, instead of trying to insert nonsense plot lines into descriptions of Anita screwing everything that's male. When Anne Rice was still sane, that's what she did-wrote the Beauty erotica trilogy under a different name.

[Auroranorth]

So does the fact that, at various times, the main character has dated vampires, werewolves and wereleopards. Would Hamilton?

“If all safety concerns were off the board, I’d probably date all of them at least once,” she says. “For something long-term, my considerations would be practical: I’d choose one who wouldn’t wreck my life.” One top candidate is Micah, a wereleopard: “He told Anita, ‘I will do anything you want, just to be in your life.’ He’s a walking yes. More and more, I am attracted to people who do not make me fight constantly to have a relationship.”

Codependent men may apply, all others run away.

“I don’t know if I’m fearless,” Hamilton counters. “Sometimes it scares me quite a bit. But my characters—it’s like trying to give advice to your friends. Sometimes they take it, sometimes they don’t.” Which character surprised her most? “Well, I didn’t count on Jean-Claude becoming a romantic lead,” she confides. “He was a walking corpse. You don’t date those.”

Buffy. The Vampire Lestat. Why would this not occur to her?

Hamilton says people wouldn’t believe some of the questions she is asked—in public—about her personal life and her husband’s. “I begin every talk I give with a caveat: ‘Please don’t ask me things you would not ask in front of your mother or your great-aunt or your best friend,’” she says.

Considering what she's already telling, she doesn't get to go halfway and stop.

[Margo]

yuna said:

When Anne Rice was still sane, that's what she did-wrote the Beauty erotica trilogy under a different name.

And while I can't say I loved it, it was definitely better than Hamilton's stuff.

[shawnalanne]

margo said:

yuna said:

When Anne Rice was still sane, that's what she did-wrote the Beauty erotica trilogy under a different name.

And while I can't say I loved it, it was definitely better than Hamilton's stuff.

Way better. I just can't believe what a hose beast she is. Laurell and Rose should get together and have an obnoxious off to see who is the bigger mary sue.

[venusdiva429]

yuna said:

marchingpenguin said:

I hate her way more than is healthy. Her writing teacher probably hated her because she did and still does use descriptions like "his eyes were a stormy blue, like the sea after a storm." And I love genre stuff, but those stories she named aren't "just" monster tales, they're stories (with actual plots and themes and junk, Laurell!) that use supernatural elements to good effect. LKH's type of writing is the reason why genre fiction has a bad name - "Beowulf had monsters, and so does my book! Therefore it is legitimate art, harkening back to the very roots of storytelling, and I do not have to bother with things like style, coherence, or character development!"

Between what I've read of her books and what she posts on the internet, I can't believe she earned an English degree and actually worked as an editor. For a textbook company! Those poor students, with all those spelling and grammar errors that must have flown by unchecked.

That's what happens when an author's ego gets too big for editors. Which totally explains the existence of the latter Anita books. Honestly, she should just drop all pretenses of serious writing and start writing erotica, instead of trying to insert nonsense plot lines into descriptions of Anita screwing everything that's male. When Anne Rice was still sane, that's what she did-wrote the Beauty erotica trilogy under a different name.

Erotica's pretty "serious" - to the tune of millions of dollars worth of business, a huge fanbase, and a presence that's forcing mainstream romance to do a lot of changing. It's not Faulkner, but, then again...there's a lot of junk in general fiction, too. I write erotica, and that's a sore spot.

She would, probably, add to her fanbase if she just went and embraced the nasty. Better to be honest and appeal to the people that are actually looking for that kind of thing! Then again, she'd be against people that write erotica really, really well- so, yeah, her suck would show through.

LKH's fucked either way. Or, aaaargh. Let me change that. She wishes that she...oh, let me shut up.

[Auroranorth]

LKH's fucked either way. Or, aaaargh. Let me change that. She wishes that she...oh, let me shut up.

Hee.

I've read erotic fiction, and her stuff is just dull and repetitive in the Merry Gentry series, and seriously nasty in the Anita Blake books. She wouldn't sell, IMO.

[Deleted]

venusdiva429 said:

Erotica's pretty "serious" - to the tune of millions of dollars worth of business, a huge fanbase, and a presence that's forcing mainstream romance to do a lot of changing. It's not Faulkner, but, then again...there's a lot of junk in general fiction, too. I write erotica, and that's a sore spot.

She would, probably, add to her fanbase if she just went and embraced the nasty. Better to be honest and appeal to the people that are actually looking for that kind of thing! Then again, she'd be against people that write erotica really, really well- so, yeah, her suck would show through.

LKH's fucked either way. Or, aaaargh. Let me change that. She wishes that she...oh, let me shut up.

Sorry, NB, didn't mean to offend you at all! I should have written better. What I mean is that apparently LKH thinks of her work as some kind of great body of literature (and grows all indignant when told otherwise), while they are more suited for bad porn scripts (the latter books, anyway) since Anita has sex All. The. Time. The problem is that she tries to do heavy smut and plot at the same time, and she can't handle it.

I didn't mean to insinuate that erotica is not serious in its own right. I wouldn't admit I'm a reader of erotica to someone I've just met because I'm a flakey flake, but I've read some really good stuff. And yeah, the really good erotica authors would so own her.

[venusdiva429]

It's okay, Yuna! ;D The smut draws us all in...unless, well, it's candy-colored and mindlessly in love with Anita what's-her-name...

[Auroranorth]

I had to go buy Skittles because of this thread.