Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Dear Ms. Hamilton:

I specifically requested this book despite the fact that I have not read the Anita series since Obsidian Butterfly. I am somewhat of an apologist for the Merry Gentry series. I actually had to create my own mythology regarding the characters in this series in order for me to continue enjoying the series. My frame is that - Merry Gentry has been picked to be the goddess incarnate to bring life back to the Sidhe. The whys and wherefors haven’t really been worked out in my mind (and I haven’t had alot of help from you on this either), but it is the one way I could get over the Mary Sue-ish issues and enjoy the fantasy aspects.

I think its also important that I began reading the Merry Gentry series at a time that there wasn’t alot of mix between fantasy and romance. You’ve really been a genre leader in some respects.

The star in the Merry Gentry series is the first book, followed closely behind by the second. The next two books began to show some wear in the story and while …

Apparently, Ballantine and Penguin aren’t doing a good enough job with their publicity efforts on Laurell K Hamilton’s behalf. LKH’s assistant, Darla, purportedly posted the following two pictures on MySpace:

I don’t even need to explain how terrible (and wonderful) these are. I pondered many a title for this post:

Bam Ruins Anita Blake and Merry Gentry for All Time. (she emailed the dang thing to me).
The Number One Marketing Tip for Authors, Both New and Established
When Mary Sue Goes Wild

Let’s give thanks to Flo_over at Livejournal who saved these pictures for all time.

This, of course, is in the vein of the “news” at the Onion. K. Greer has noted that there is a new disease that seems to be infecting bestselling authors who primarily write sexual brooding vampires. If you are an author with such a character or know of an author with such a character, you may want to pay close attention to the research on RHD (Rice-Hamilton Disorder).

Read more here.

Dear Ms. Hamilton:

Other than really funny (albeit unintentionally so) excerpts from your blog, I haven’t read anything by you in a year. Unlike other readers who can’t quit you, I have weaned myself off the Anita series. I haven’t read the last two books. This is quite an accomplishment for me. Unfortunately, despite my desire to free myself from your clutches entirely particularly given that the Merry Gentry series is now expanded to 15 books and not the original 8, I am still a helpless fly on your terrible, sperm covered web which is why in a weak ebook shopping moment, I bought Mistral’s Kiss in ebook format. damn that one click shopping anyway.

This book has no plot and consists of four episodes or scenes, three of which are sex scenes. I read that you couldn’t figure out what genre you were writing in. It’s erotica. E-R-O-T-I-C-A. It’s not, as you put it, “more like hard-boiled mysteries, or horror novels in tone of writing, but the romance and the magic … there, too.” Say it with me, erotica. See, a …

Okay, not the character, but the series. According to a transcript provided by author, E.E. Knight, Laurell K Hamilton said at Archcon:
LKH: “Gave myself enough toys” * (guns mythology folklore) and let “series go in a direction I didn't forsee” * Meredith Gentry series is looking to be 15 books too.
The loud moans and wails? That’s me. I had given up on Anita but I still liked Merry Gentry. I accepted from the beginning that this was an erotic fantasy series with Merry Gentry as the reincarnated (or at least vessel for) the goddess. But this was planned as an 8 book series with Merry getting pregnant, choosing a consort and coming to a conclusion. With this announcement, I think I am done for.