Laurell K. Hamilton
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Laurell Kaye Hamilton (born February 19, 1963) is an American horror and science fiction/fantasy writer. She was born in Heber Springs, Arkansas but grew up in Sims, Indiana. Her mother was killed in a car crash in 1969.
Today Hamilton resides in St. Louis County, Missouri.
Her principal work is the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, published by Penguin Group (USA), originally under their Ace Books imprint and now under Berkley Books. In 2000, she branched out and started the new Merry Gentry series about a fairy princess turned private investigator.
Hamilton's writing is characterized by vivid prose, strong first-character viewpoint, and complex worldbuilding. Hamilton has been critized for the explicit violence and (in recent years) sex in her novels. Hamilton has cited her antagonism towards how people feel a woman "should" write and what topics are "correct" for a woman writer and/or female characters. Both sex and violence are often seen as things women not suited to do or write about.
Her writing style is unique enough (and successful enough) that some publishers have begun asking for 'Hamilton-esque' writers (such as Jim Butcher), something Hamilton herself laments in the hardcover re-release of The Laughing Corpse.
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Hamilton and Genre
The initial Anita Blake novels were usually classified as alternate history (a subset of science fiction), fantasy, or horror. They have also been termed "supernatural thrillers". They have been compared to Robert B. Parker and Steven King.
The Merry Gentry series and later (post-2000) Anita Blake books have added sex to the mix, with the result that later books are sometimes shelved in romance.
Hamilton's choice to mix genre conventions is considered part of the 'Hamilton-esque' style.
Sex and Change in the Anita Blake Series
Some fans of the earlier books are upset that the sexual content has significantly increased in the later books.
Anita Blake is celibate during the first 5 novels. She has her first "on-screen" date in book 3 (Circus of the Damned). Book 6 (The Killing Dance) has her first sexual encounter since the beginning of the series. Sex goes "off-screen" in book 7, returns on-screen in book 8, and off-screen in book 9.
Beginning in book 10 (Narcissus in Chains), the sexual content increased significantly. Sadomasochism, dominance and submission, multiple concurrent relationships, and lycanthropic sexual fantasies are all explored. Previous sex scenes were explicit but rare. Some longtime readers are upset with the types of sexual relationships explored and/or the number of pages devoted to sex in the later books.
In writing a series, the challenge is to keep people reading while keeping things the same. In that respect, the Anita Blake series has failed to keep things the same. In the early books, Anita considers vampires untrustable monsters; she fears and pities lycanthropes. Over time she meets and befriends vampires and lycanthropes. She begins to trust some of them. She also learns more about their respective cultures and becomes involved in their communities and politics. This has all changed the books. More politics, relationships and sex means less pages for action-adventure and mystery. Hamilton has stated in her blog that she split the Incubus Dreams mystery plot in half and postponed the rest to the next book because Anita's relationships don't leave room.
Comparison of themes in Meredith Gentry and Anita Blake novels
Appropriate expressions and uses of power are explored through themes of eroticism, violence, life, and death.
Meredith Gentry is a part-human, part-fairy fertility deity/avatar. Among the powers she develope are calling forth blood from a target's wound [Hand of Blood], and or turning a target's body literally inside out [Hand of Flesh]. She race against her cousin Cel to have a child before him. The first to produce an heir for the Queen of the Un-Sidhe will gain the throne of the 'dark fey'.
Anita Blake is a professional necromancer and licensed vampire executioner. At the series' beginning, her only power is to temporarily raise and control the dead (as zombies) and she uses this to procure a job raising the dead to settle wills and estates in dispute; however, she soon discovers that this ability also extends to control over the undead (vampires) as well. Subsequent books depict her manifestation of other powers as well.
Both are strong feminine lead characters who more than hold their own with male characters in the balance of power. Both acquire and inspire loyalty in followers from multiple competing camps, and thus have a unifying effect. They act unhesitatingly and ruthlessly to protect their followers when threatened. Both experience unsettling growth in their powers as their series progress and are confronted with the issues of what will they use their powers for and how far will they go to protect their own.
Published works
Anita Blake series
- Guilty Pleasures (1993) ISBN 051513449X
- The Laughing Corpse (1994) ISBN 0425192008
- Circus of the Damned (1995) ISBN 0515134481
- The Lunatic Cafe (1996) ISBN 0425201376
- Bloody Bones (1996) ISBN 0425205673
- The Killing Dance (1997) ISBN 0425209067
- Burnt Offerings (1998) ISBN 0515134473
- Blue Moon (1998) ISBN 0515134457
- Obsidian Butterfly (2000) ISBN 0515134503
- Narcissus in Chains (2001) ISBN 5558612703
- Cerulean Sins (2003) ISBN 0515136816
- Incubus Dreams (2004) ISBN 051513449X
- Micah (2006) ISBN 0515140872 (released February 28, 2006)
- Danse Macabre (2006) ISBN 0425207978 (To be released on June 27, 2006)
Meredith Gentry series
- A Kiss of Shadows
- A Caress of Twilight
- Seduced by Moonlight
- A Stroke Of Midnight
- Mistral's Kiss (December 2006)
Others
- Nightseer
- Night Shade (Star Trek: The Next Generation authorized novel #24)
- Death of a Darklord (TSR's Ravenloft series, to be released July 2006)
- Club Vampyre (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club)
- Midnight Cafe (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club)
- Black Moon Inn (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club)
- Out Of This World (1st 100 pages of Narcissus in Chains)
- "A Clean Sweep" (first story in Superheroes, a 1995 anthology)
- Cravings (anthology, 2004)
- Bite (anthology, 2004)
- Strange Candy (14 published and unpublished short stories, to be released November 2006)
External links
fr:Laurell K. Hamilton it:Laurell K. Hamilton no:Laurell K. Hamilton