My only New Year’s resolution? To become reinvolved in this site and my favorite romance genre Listserv, RRA-L. But where to begin? Luckily, Laurell K. Hamilton did me a favor. She posted on her blog a trying-so-hard-to-be-rational-but-coming-across-crazy-delusional message to the fans who’ve hated on her books on some message board.
There are books that don’t make you think that hard. Books that don’t push you past that comfortable envelope of the mundane. [...] Put my books away with other things that frighten and confuse or just piss you off.
Mmm hmm. It’s not that her books have become crap; instead, there’s something wrong with the readers. There’s much more goodness where this came from. (via Whatever)
I’m in the camp that stopped reading her Anita Blake books several years ago, when it was clear OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY was as good as it was getting. I know many still love the series. Feeling let down by Hamilton, however, I am just a tad—maybe more—gleeful at witnessing her self-defeating outburst. That is, even though I no longer read the books, I cannot resist the opportunity LKH has given me to state once again how maddeningly, ridiculously bad the Anita Blake books have become. And now LKH has provided material to mock not just the books but herself. Oh, dear.
Watching bitter, hurt, thin-skinned authors lashing out is trainwreck-fascinating. I’ve never seen a positive result for an author for indulging in her emotions in this way. But maybe browsing through blog search engine results will turn up a lode of reader sympathy for LKH?
Where do you fall? I’m curious about current reader levels of passion for or against the Anita Blake series among this site’s readership (presuming this blog still has any after such long hiatus.)
Here’s a link to our most recent LKH book review, of DANSE MACABRE. You can find links to older reviews in the review index.