Interviews with LKH

[dwg]

They're worth the read despite being a lot of the same ol' same ol' from LKH. I've included some of the more...special highlights. This is a great time to start playing LKH bingo. Or drinking.

Ten Terrifying Questions via Booktopia:

6. Please tell us about your latest novel…

A Shiver of Light is the first Meredith (Merry) Gentry novel in over

Comments

[ravens_shadow]

My issue is that she equates a change in the series with character growth and change, which I don't think is quite the case. The series changed with the addition of the ardeur and the situational need (excuse?) for more sex. However, the attitudes Anita had in the beginning of being uncomfortable with intimate relationships and sex are still kind of her attitudes now. She still (from the most recent books I've read, somewhere around CS and ID) doesn't eat regularly, so the ardeur is something she has to feed all of a sudden and more often than necessary; she's always uncomfortable adding a new person to the harem, at least initially; she still is highly critical of other women, especially if they are human or blond (heaven forfend if they are both); and she often resorts to big guns to deals with problems, but sex as a final solution (usually because the ardeur has to be fed or someone is influencing her metaphysically).

(A note than I am drawing a distinction between how I recall Anita behaving versus how we are told she feels, which I think has a huge discrepancy.)

Also, and this is just a personal irk, I don't like how she throws around "hate" and "angry". To me, those are strong emotions. Disappointed and irritated might better fit those who dislike the change in the series, and I suspect those married women are more disbelieving than actually angry. Granted, I'm not there to see or hear them, but the whole 'women are angry because you can't enjoy sex' strikes a weird, discordant chord for me.

[dwg]

A note than I am drawing a distinction between how I recall Anita behaving versus how we are told she feels, which I think has a huge discrepancy.

You're not wrong. There's a massive disparity between what Anita says she feels vs what's going on. This probably is best illustrated with LKH's claim about writing "women owning their sexuality." Anita does not own her sexuality. Merry does not own her sexuality. Anita's forced to have sex with people she doesn't know or care about thanks to a magical roofie, whereas Merry's forced to have sex with multiple people she doesn't know or care about in the name of getting pregnant in order to win the throne.

That their partners squabble with each other over who gets to have sex with them and how just...makes it skeevier. They may as well be talking about a blow up doll.

I wouldn't have so much of a problem with this if we were shown that Anita and Merry actually enjoyed what they're doing or actively pursued/maintained their relationships. Mystical bonds are a poor substitute for date night or lazy weekends in front of the tv with leftover pizza.

[ravens_shadow]

Whenever I see a post like from LKH, my brain screams "Show, don't tell." It's a pet peeve I have as a reader and as an editor, when the author has spent pages and pages telling me how someone felt when X happened, but I don't actually see any of it in the character's body language, facial expressions, or behaviors. Anita says she's happy and accepting, but she never acts like it.

[dwg]

THIS THIS THIS. And with added bonus that the body language actually happening in the scenes is really skeevy, like when she's struggling to get away or for air or describing her face like she's screaming in pain but then turns around to say BUT I LOVED IT AND THEY DID TOO. There's nothing about how Anita is into what's going on or getting a thrill from her partner(s) being into it.

The other problem LKH runs into is that she infodumps all kinds of interesting things that happen between books or off screen rather than showing those things happening. It would count as character and plot development.

[ext_1626743]

All of this. And it creeps me out that she seems to be trying to say that this is just what BDSM is like, and that people who are into BDSM get it. But she writes the scenes like Anita is either not feeling anything at all or is feeling miserable, which of course is utterly wrong. It gives me the impression of someone who wants to be edgy and so forces herself into situations she hates, or who is trying to deal with being forced by others into situations she hates.

[dwg]

And then she handwaves it off as well she likes being a sexual submissive so it's all part of the game and naturally she's into it. Which...no. A thousand times no.

I wouldn't mind so much if everyone involved were enjoying themselves. Everyone having orgasms isn't necessarily an indicator of that, and seems to think quantity is quality. Everyone just gets back up and goes to work like it's no big deal. I don't think there's been any aftercare in the books either. This doesn't scream EXCELLENT SEXUAL ADVENTURES to me.

[ravens_shadow]

The number of times someone on this comm has mentioned an event or plot point that occurred off-screen or in passing, and someone jumping in with "That would be really cool! Why didn't she focus on that?" is too many count.

Also, her "negotiations." I am not poly, but this feels like she took something like the importance of communication and making sure everyone is comfortable (which is important in any relationship, really, though I imagine especially so when multiple partners are involved), and turned it into these long, drawn out negotiations that take as long as the sex (if not longer; and usually when something dire is on the horizon and really, they shouldn't be wasting time). YES! to the comment below about the lack of aftercare, too.

[ext_1626743]

One other thing about the "negotiations", too -- I can't remember even one time when they ended up doing what they said they were going to do. She seems to only have people agree to things so she can have them do different things.