Laurell K. Hamilton

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Laurell K. Hamilton
Born: February 19, 1963
Heber Springs, Arkansas
Occupation(s): Novelist
Nationality: American
Writing period: 1993- present
Genre(s): Fantasy, Horror, Erotica
Website: Official website

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 with her grandmother Laura Gentry (her mother died in 1969).[1] Her education includes degrees in English and biology from Marion, a Christian college in Indiana.[2]

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 faerie princess turned private investigator.

Contents

[edit] 'Hamilton-esque'

Hamilton's writing is characterized by vivid prose, complex worldbuilding, and a mix of genres.

The initial Anita Blake novels were usually classified as crime fiction, alternate history (a subset of science fiction), fantasy, or horror. The dialog and hard-boiled first-person viewpoint has been compared to Robert B. Parker. They have also been termed "supernatural thrillers" and compared to Stephen King.

The Merry Gentry series and later (post-2000) Anita Blake books have added more sexual content, with the result that later books are sometimes shelved in romance.

Hamilton is also noted for strong female characters. Hamilton has said:

I started reading a lot of hardboiled detective fiction—Robert B. Parker in particular—and I read a lot of strong female protagonists. But there was one problem, a difference between the male and female protagonists of the different series—even the strongest of the women did not get to do some of the things the men got to do. [...] I thought this was unfair. So I wanted a heroine who would be as tough as the men or tougher, who would be able to address all these issues, and I wanted to strike a blow for equality. I may have gone a little far in that direction.[3]

Her writing style is unique enough (and successful enough) that some publishers have begun asking for 'Hamilton-esque' writers of 'Paranormal Romance'[4], something Hamilton herself laments in the afterword of the hardcover re-release of The Laughing Corpse.

[edit] 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-faerie fertility deity/avatar. Among the powers she develop 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 races against her cousin Cel to have a child before him. The first to produce an heir for the Queen of the Unseelie will gain the throne.

Anita Blake is a professional animator 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. They also have fond, close relationships to their respective grandmothers, as well as share several resemblances in their physiques. (Pale, short, large-breasted and hair leaning toward dark. Anita's is black, whereas Meredith's is "blood-red" and often described as almost dark.)

[edit] Published works

[edit] Anita Blake series

  1. Guilty Pleasures (1993) ISBN 0-515-13449-X
  2. The Laughing Corpse (1994) ISBN 0-425-19200-8
  3. Circus of the Damned (1995) ISBN 0-515-13448-1
  4. The Lunatic Cafe (1996) ISBN 0-425-20137-6
  5. Bloody Bones (1996) ISBN 0-425-20567-3
  6. The Killing Dance (1997) ISBN 0-425-20906-7
  7. Burnt Offerings (1998) ISBN 0-515-13447-3
  8. Blue Moon (1998) ISBN 0-515-13445-7
  9. Obsidian Butterfly (2000) ISBN 0-515-13450-3
  10. Narcissus in Chains (2001) ISBN 5-558-61270-3
  11. Cerulean Sins (2003) ISBN 0-515-13681-6
  12. Incubus Dreams (2004) ISBN 0-515-13449-X
  13. Micah (2006) ISBN 0-515-14087-2 (novella, released February 28, 2006)
  14. Danse Macabre (2006) ISBN 0-425-20797-8 (released June 27, 2006)
  15. The Harlequin (2007)

[edit] Meredith Gentry series

  1. A Kiss of Shadows
  2. A Caress of Twilight
  3. Seduced by Moonlight
  4. A Stroke of Midnight
  5. Mistral's Kiss (Just released)

[edit] Others

  • Nightseer
  • Nightshade (Star Trek: The Next Generation authorized novel #24)
  • Death of a Darklord (TSR's Ravenloft series.)
  • Club Vampyre (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club, includes the first three novels in the series: Guilty Pleasure, The Laughing Corpse, and Circus of the Damned)
  • Midnight Cafe (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club, includes the fourth through sixth novels in the series: The Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, and The Killing Dance)
  • Black Moon Inn (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club, includes the seventh and eighth novels in the series: Burnt Offerings and Blue Moon)
  • 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, released November 2006)

[edit] Interviews

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] References

  1. ^ From Missouri Center for the Book, October, 2003.
  2. ^ From Locus Magazine, September 2000.
  3. ^ Quoted in an interview by Missouri Center for The Book.
  4. ^ USA Today characterizes Danse Macabre as 'Paranormal Romance'. Penguin describes her work as 'Paranormal Romance'. The Juno Books Blog discusses 'Hamiltonesque' and 'Paranormal Romance'.

[edit] See also

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