Ardeur- for free!
Awhile ago- I have no idea when, and I'm too lazy to double-check- I entered in Smart Pop's comment raffle to win a copy of the essay book on the Anita Blake series. A feather could have knocked me down when I got the email saying I had WON
( Read more... )
1) The characters make every decision with reflection on how it will affect their relationship.
2) It has a happy ending with the couple together.
Anita does not spend every last second in the early books thinking about how it will affect her relationships. The later books, I can buy that, but not the initial 6-9 books.
#2, however, is the huge problem with the books being romances. They don't have an ending because they're part of a continuous series. They certainly don't have a "happy" ending. She loses Richard, tortures people and becomes more monstrous. Successful completion of a mission isn't a happy ending.
By that definition, I'll side with LKH that what she writes are not romances.
Reply
Sure, it's not riding off into the sunset with her beau - but she's hardly missing out on dates.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
As I think everyone here agrees, sex and submission do not inherently make a romance.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Reply
LKH would like us to think so. That sex & submission equal love & romance, I mean, not that her books are romances, which she vehemently denies. After all, Anita never lies down for anyone she doesn't luuuuuuurv, so of course it's romantic and loving!
Reply
I like, too, the definition that Saintcrow uses to throw the latter books into Romance: Every decision Anita makes now has to be considered in terms of how it will affect her relationships. Everything Anita does comes back to her boyfriends and how they will react or how they will be involved. That definitely fits your first classification.
Reply
That's essentially the problem though. The entire series doesn't qualify book by book. If we only looked at aspects, most books would be "Romance."
But then I take the position that the reason they're so hard to classify is that we've actually eliminated the old classification for where the books go. They should be a subset of Gothic, but no bookstore has a Gothic section, it's been eaten by fantasy, horror, and contemporary fiction.
Reply
As for Anita she gets a lot of Happilies...how many times have we argued that about half of her harem should be dead by now? Her mens don't die, no matter how much danger they get into, they all come back to her and want her, even after break ups and such. Richard may not be happy, but how often does he show back up in her life wanting to try it again? If she'd really lost him he would have shacked up with a nice woman who wasn't nuts and be happily spitting out babies and eating rare steaks together. :P
~J
Reply
Personally, I'd be in favor of a reclassification, but what I cited is the guild standard of the moment, and therefore best definition. Things that end in tragedy or indifference get classed as contemporary fiction unless they belong to some other genre.
"As for Anita she gets a lot of Happilies...how many times have we argued that about half of her harem should be dead by now? "
I don't consider them living as the sole definition of happy. I still remember some of the better Anita points like when she tortured a man for info on Richard's family and lost part of her humanity. Winning doesn't make that happy. Nor is continuing to have a bitter ex-lover follow you around to fight with you.
Reply
Leave a comment