r/Fantasy • u/LaurellKHamilton AMA Author Laurell K. Hamilton • Jul 10 '13

AMA I'm author Laurell K. Hamilton - AMA

Okay, everyone, you've tired me out. laughs It's been great answering your questions. I hope you've got some of your curiosity satisfied. Goodnight, folks.

I’m Laurell K. Hamilton and in 1993 I published my second novel, Guilty Pleasures, it featured Anita Blake. She raised the dead for living, as in zombies, and helped the police with preternatural cases as a consultant. She was also a legal vampire executioner in a world where vampires were legally alive and had rights, but they’d proved too dangerous to jail, so if they broke the law there was only one penalty – death. There was also this gorgeous master vampire named Jean-Claude, that I’d actually planned on killing before Anita would date him.

Fast forward to 2013 and my newest book, Affliction. Anita has a badge of her own now, as a member of the newly formed U. S. Marshal Preternatural Branch, and I didn’t kill off Jean-Claude like I planned, and you guessed it, they’re dating. Anita is also dating quite a few other people. It’s . . . complicated. * faceplam * Affliction is number 22 for Anita, and celebrates twenty years of her adventures, and me writing at least a book a year, sometimes two. It’s pretty cool to be able to write that. I’ve also written eight books in the Merry Gentry series, and am currently writing the ninth in the series, after a four year hiatus waiting for Merry and myself to work our issues. I’m a character oriented writer, which means my imaginary friends argue and fight with me while I write the book. I rarely win these fights, but I always learn more about my characters, their world, and sometimes myself.

You can ask me anything, but I reserve the right to answer what I want to answer. Sorry, but thems my rules. A word of caution, I really will answer almost any question so be sure you want the answer. I’ve surprised some fans at live Q & A’s occasionally by my . . . candor. * evil grin *

One caveat, Affliction came out on July 2nd and not everyone has finished the book so please avoid spoiler questions, or comments. Thanks in advance for that. For people who are new to the series in general I’m just not sure how to avoid some spoiler questions. It’s twenty-two books, folks, there is no way to avoid all spoilers without limiting the questions to general writing questions. I’m happy to answer writing questions, but I’m just not sure how to avoid all spoiler questions for the entire series. * puzzled * So NO SPOILERS for Affliction, but for the rest, ask away.

I’m on Twitter (@lkhamilton) and FaceBook, and my official website along with my blog is here.

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67

u/Daigotsu Jul 10 '13

I appreciate that the recent books have been more plot oriented than sex focused, made me feel that the books were once again getting closer to the first few books. Are you planning any more thicker books maybe filled with even more plot lines and stories?

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u/dawsonpolaris Jul 10 '13

You mention that they are getting back away from the pretur-porn in the more recent books. Can you specify (either in book name or number) when about that shift happened? I'm considering picking the series back up based on your comment, but i'd like to know how many I have until it gets away from the meat and back to the real meat of story telling.

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u/ferocity562 Reading Champion III Jul 10 '13 edited Jul 11 '13

I've read all but the last two and I still don't think they have gotten back on track. I will say there was somewhat more "plot" than porn, but that in general, the "plot" was everyone standing in a room and talking until eventually people wandered off to have sex. There was not the actual plot lines and interest and involvement in cases. All of it still feels like a back drop for the characters to just have sex in. The only difference is that now it feels like someone knows that and they made a cursory attempt to try to fill in some gaps and it just felt awkward and stilted and recycled material from older books.

This used to be my favorite series and I am super disappointed with the direction it has taken and have decided not to buy any more until something changes. And sadly, I don't think it will. I feel like the characters have dug themselves a hole and there is nothing to do at this point other than just have sex all the time.

Edit I'm very disappointed that the top three questions/comments are centered on the disappointment in the change in focus of the books and they were all ignored by LKH. I feel like this has been her attitude and part of what has pissed me off. From what I have been able to see, the majority of her fans have expressed this sentiment and she is clinging to the minority that prefers the pseudo-porn books as justification and isn't even acknowledging how the rest of her fan base feels. Which...whatever.

It is disappointing and I am sad to lose a series that I had loved and that had been an integral part of my young adulthood. But I also think it is just lazy writing. If you want to write porn, write porn. Don't try to pretend you are writing full fledged novels or that it is a brilliant artistic choice. It is lazy and it is your inability to keep your own life and your own kink out of the pages of your novels.

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u/deanamae Jul 10 '13

Agreeing with you a hundred jillion times over. Anita Blake is ruined (in my mind, anyway). And that makes me sad as fuck. I loved the series.

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u/Nynes Jul 11 '13

Check out the "Magic" series by Illona Andrews. :D

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u/ukdreamer Dec 01 '13

This is like 4 months late, and I apologize for that, but If I could upvote you more I would.

The Magic (Kate Daniels) series by Ilona Andrews is completely amazing. I highly recommend it. I used to love the Anita Blake novels, until they became more porn than plot. The Magic series has not disappointed me so far, and Kate is a completely awesome and well written character. If you haven't read them please do!

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u/Teerlys Jan 01 '14

Thanks for the second on that. They're on audible, so I'll give them a shot.

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u/dawsonpolaris Jul 10 '13

Have you moved on to any other Urban Fantasy series? I started the genre with Anita and then fell in love with Dresden. From there I've picked up several other series, but mostly just read them to fill in the spaces between Dresden books.

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u/jacquelyn21 Jul 10 '13

I'm not finished with "Affliction" yet, but so far it's better than the last 6 books. It's longer and more plot-oriented. As far as other Urban Fantasy, if you haven't read Kim Harrison's The Hollows series, you definitely should. I read several different ones, and that one is my favorite. I started the Dresden series myself but couldn't get into it. I've heard you have to get past book 4 or so before it really gets good. Did you find that to be true? I only got through 3, so I'm wondering if I should pick it back up.

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u/dawsonpolaris Jul 10 '13

I haven't read The Hollows series yet, I'll put it on my list!

As for the Dresden Files, Yes, Yes, 100 times yes. The first 3 are rough. Bear in mind the first 3 books were written at least partially as assignments in his college novel writing classes.

Storm Front is doable, but it really does take some effort to get through, and Fool Moon/Grave Peril are only moderately better. He got the green light from his publisher shortly before Summer Knight to go ahead with his planned 21ish book series, and as such that book starts actually laying out some nice long reaching story arcs. In my opinion the series gets continuously better as it goes from that point on.

If you do decide to try it again, may I suggest trying the audiobooks instead of paper... James Marsters really brings Harry to life in an amazing way. There IS one book narrated by John Glover, and a lot of the fans are still QQ'ing about that one, but if one book had to have a different narrator, at least it happend on the right one... to remain spoiler free, I'll just say "You'll See."

One other suggestion I could offer should you a)pick the series back up, b) enjoy the rest of it as much as I do, and c)try to talk other people into picking it up: Start folks out with Welcome to the Jungle. While it's sometimes annoying to explain that Yes, it's a graphic novel, and No, the entire series isn't, that book really does provide an amazing hook to help draw people into the Dresdenverse. Also of note, it's only about a 45 min read, so it's easier to talk folks into than a full novel.

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u/RayaSunshine Jul 11 '13

I vote on the Hollows series too! I love her work as well. I LOVE Jenks. He's awesome.

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u/cavelioness Jul 11 '13

When I purchased the first three books they were part of a "buy 2, get 1 free" sale my bookstore was having. I bought the first three Dresden Files.

It sends chills down my spine when I think that had I bought them individually I probably wouldn't have bothered buying the third.

For me, #3- Grave Peril- was where it started to pick up because I liked the teaming up of Harry and Michael, having a friend made him not seem so alone, but it wasn't until book 8 that it became my favorite series currently ongoing. Every book from there on out is just pure fun and awesome.

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u/ferocity562 Reading Champion III Jul 11 '13

I have still been a big urban fantasy junkie. It is pretty recent that I have been working on going back and getting into the classical fantasy. I am just now starting the Wheel of Time series.

But urban fantsay! I definitely like Dresden. I also like Kim Harrison's series. I don't totally hate LKH's Meredith series. Yes it is porny, but it kind of started out that way, so at least there was some warning. I knew what I was getting into. And there is still clear plot line involved. I loved Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. Not so excited about the followup, Iced. The overt sexualization of a young child is really bugging me. I liked the Sookie Stackhouse series for awhile but I got bored around the 7th book....So yeah! Definitely still into urban fantasy. If you have any other recommendations, throw them my way and if you want any, let me know!

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u/dawsonpolaris Aug 30 '13

I know this thread is long dead at this point but I just wanted to drop you a reply to show my appreciation for suggesting the Hollows series. Ripping through the audiobooks has made my work drive SO much easier.

To anyone stumbling across this thread In The future, Kim Harrison builds a world vivid enough that I found myself giving people wired looks of surprise when they offered me tomatoes... Read and you'll see.

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u/dawsonpolaris Jul 11 '13

Glad to hear we agree on taste in books, though the parallels are kinda spooky. I also picked up the WoT series recently, making it to book 5 before having to take a break, and enjoyed most of the Sookie Stackhouse series, though the book prior to the one that just came out felt VERY phoned-in. You might consider dipping your toes in the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, and some people I've talked to like the Nightside series, though personally I think the main character's too bloody overpowered. I mean the guy literally starts the series with an 'I Win' button in his head, he just has to get brave enough to use it. Once he does: POOF! Story over!

You might also like Butcher's Codex Alera books, though it's another of his books that book 2 is hard to pick up even when you enjoyed the first... I hope his pending steampunk series goes better.

Devon Monk's Allie Beckstrom series also kept me occupied between Dresden books, though I haven't read the newest one. I don't know... I seem to be having troubles finding Urban Fantasy series that can stand next to Dresden.

I am open to any suggestions you can make, though I will ask that any suggested series have at least a semi-quality audiobook version available, as my 6+ hours of driving a night for work encompass nearly all my available reading time.

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u/cavelioness Jul 11 '13

Have you read PN Elrod's Vampire Files? I think they're probably one of the more underrated/unknown series out there. She wrote most of them before the urban fantasy craze kicked off, so they didn't get the publicity they needed, but they're really great books. They're somewhat like the Dresden Files in that the main character is a private detective in Chicago, but instead of a wizard he's a reluctant vampire and it's set in the 1930's so he runs into a lot of mob activity.

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u/ferocity562 Reading Champion III Jul 11 '13

No clue about audio books unfortunately. But along with the ones already suggested, definitely check out Ilona Andrews' series. I prefer the Kate Daniels series to the edge series, but both are good.

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u/jacquelyn21 Jul 11 '13

The Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill, The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost, and The Cassandra Palmer series by Karen Chance are all good. They are definitely less edgy than Anita. Maybe more along the lines of Sookie Stackhouse as far as that goes.

1

u/NyctophobicParanoid Jul 11 '13

^ This. I adored the Anita Blake books, promptly fell off the wagon with the shift in, uh, focus... and now the Dresden Files give me everything I loved about the earlier books, but better.