Ardeur- for free!

[naeko]

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

Comments

[devilmet67]

So far, so good! Thanks for taking one for the team! I'm kinda amazed that LKH allowed some of that stuff to make it through- Anita Blake: PNR Seeker!

[naeko]

I laughed at the claim that the book is "edited" by Hamilton. For one, Hamilton didn't even seem to edit her own intros (in one, her grammar mistakenly insists that I should make sure I'm equal in her marriage). Plus, the grammar in some of the essays was bad- not something you would hope to find in something that's been legitimately edited. And, of course, one of the essayists claims that Anita was 27 at the start of Guilty Pleasures; Anita was 24 in GP!

(edited because I typ gud)

Initial stuff

[world_dancer]

"The abject- the idea of simultaneous attraction and revulsion- is in play, and this notion is essential to good vampire stories

Re: Initial stuff

[naeko]

The part about Burt, though, (as I remember it) is a point against Anita's strength because she believes that the reason Gaynor is willing to throw a million dollars her way is that he wants her to take part in a human sacrifice. She is, at that point, not willing to kill another human, not even for her job which means that her meeting with Gaynor isn't just about following what her boss tells her, it's about her backing down from her own morality and just doing what Burt wants her to because he bugs her enough.

Anita was in no danger of losing her job; she was one of the best Burt had and he wouldn't have fired her over that.

Granted, it's been over ten years since I read the book, but that's how I remember it.

Re: Initial stuff

[world_dancer]

I don't believe she knew beforehand that it would be human sacrifice. That came up in the middle of the interview. Even if she did guess beforehand, though, she had no proof. There is nothing wrong with your boss saying go and check it out.

I also seem to recall her refusing and Burt being willing to back her on it once it became obvious that it was human sacrifice.

Re: Initial stuff

[naeko]

Because I couldn't remember how it had happened, I went back and read the scene; turns out that my brain had completely rewritten it. Bert and Anita show up at Gaynor's and he tells her what he wants, using White Goat as the euphemism for human sacrifice. Bert's all over it until Anita explains what that means; then he suggests that Anita kill a whole bunch of animals instead. Anita insists they're leaving and Gaynor offers more money, which makes Bert sad, but doesn't make him actually agree with it. Then, of course, the bullshit "look how tough I am" scenario is forced down our throats, with Gaynor's bodyguards threatening Anita and her leading Bert out, telling him that they probably hadn't been in any danger. Then Bert disappears from the book completely

On Romance

[world_dancer]

Modern genre classification determines what is romance based on two things:

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.

Re: On Romance

[booster_blue]

I'd argue that the later books still qualify as romances on point #2 because even though Anita does all these inhuman things, her men still love her. And she still keeps a vast majority of them (and then gains more).

Sure, it's not riding off into the sunset with her beau - but she's hardly missing out on dates.

Re: On Romance

[world_dancer]

"On the other hand, her dicks-with-legs all adore her and don't mind "sharing" her with each other. They coexist more or less happily. They all give her perfect screaming orgasms, and obey her every whim. "

As I think everyone here agrees, sex and submission do not inherently make a romance.

[ellenel13]

How did Hamilton introduce the Saintcrow essay?

[naeko]

She talked about herself, natch.

Unless I'm getting the intros mixed up in my head (I am at work and didn't think to bring the book with me), she goes on a rant about how women constantly try to belittle other women, but that she's better than that because she's such a man. She tells a story about how a friend of hers tried to convince her to hate another friend of hers because the second friend was tall, blond, blue-eyed and sexy.

Then she goes to say that the first friend stabbed Hamilton in the back by insisting that a business dinner they attended together was casual business wear, but it turned out to be formal attire. Hamilton claims she learned a lesson right there, standing in her business attire, about how girls suck and like to treat each other like shit. She states that the backstabbing friend MUST have fucked Hamilton over because she thought Hamilton would be prettier in formalwear than she was and wanted to make sure it didn't happen.

It's pretty ridiculous.

[magdalen77]

Mostly not, unless you show up for something formal in the same clothes that you cleaned the outhouse with. I wouldn't have stressed that much as long as I was dressed neatly and my hair wasn't a mess, but none of that applies to casual business wear.

[acrimonyastraea]

while Bertha and Britney failed at life, Anita is a strong, stand-up women that gets her groove on and takes no names. i>

...and English professors everywhere weep. Dear Ms Swain, please be reading on the racial politics of Jane Eyre and Bertha. See also, Madwoman in the Attic.

Anita and masochism

[world_dancer]

See also masochism and beater/beaten scenarios.

This is definitely an indication of mental problems on the part of the essay author if she's trying to approve the violence.

Re: Anita and masochism

[acrimonyastraea]

Yeah, that sounds really messed up.

[naeko]

Yeah, I wasn't really sure what she was trying to convey with even bringing Bertha up. Like I said, I haven't read Jane Eyre, but the way that Swain talked was very confusing. It took an arc of, "Bertha was a Creole woman who seduced Rochester, but went insane when she was brought back to the States. Oh, but she wasn't really crazy! Edward was just a douche who locked her up! She smashed Jane's veil- Jane was all over her man, after all- but she wasn't crazy! She was just like Anita! Now picture Anita in Jane's place beating up this woman who just escaped imprisonment by her husband!"

As to Britney, she did start to head into making a point by stating that Britney was originally pressed into the role of Southern Virgin by her agent/manager/handlers, but that she went the opposite way to rebel. That makes sense, but then Swain goes on to pretty much list all of Britney's faults, call her a horrible mother and then say she's crashed and burned (along with Bertha), while Anita is still going strong and has beaten the odds.