Vampires pay well....

[alfreda89]

I wish I liked writing about vampires. I simply don't find vampires sexy. **Sigh** But Laurell works very hard for her money, and I am pleased all her hard work is paying off. Still, I confess -- the money would be Very Useful right now... .

Anita Blake Headed to the Small Screen
By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 4/1/2009 1:10:00 PM

Proving that the steady stream of vampire fiction headed to Hollywood shows no signs of abating, Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series has been snapped up by the Independent Film Channel in a deal that marks the cable network/film distributor's first foray into made-for-TV movies.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/dddoao

Comments

[lem0nb0mbs.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I feel vampires have jumped the shark. Then again, they never did thrill me all that much. Plain old humans are as dangerous as they need to be to interest me!

[treebyleaf.livejournal.com]

TV?

But, even Cable-

Nevermind, I keep forgetting the explicit sex doesn't start until several books in. (All I can hear in my hear right now is a paraphased version of Bill Hick's monologue complaining about porn, except in my head the words go, "Hairy bobbing Vamp ass")

No, the rush is nowhere *near* over. I was standing in front of science fiction in the big grocery store the other day staring slack-jawed at a collection of I Kid You Not SIX different books, by different authors, all with "Dead" in the title. Undead, Dead Red, you name it. All sexy paranormal special detective in major city. And all serials. And then I took a step sideways into movie & t.v. tie-ins and there was a whole series from Sci-Fi Channel. Exit book aisle, stage left, except I stopped dead in shock in front of the *Harlequinn* quarantine zone where the pink was punctuated by a grouping of black and red covers, and there were four MORE of them! Spine Genre as "Paranormal Romance". So I turned at looked at the kiddie and... there they were! A whole series of young adult lusty vampire at the beach mysteries.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Things don't start going into the instructional sex until after book 8 -- before then, things could be hot but not TMI, or so it felt to me. I think it's interesting that the Men's channel bought this -- either they outbid the SF channel, or SF didn't want it, would be my guess.

I'll stick with humans, shamans and magic...with an occasional dragon. I prefer to examine the species Homo sapiens through that lens.

[janni.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, when Laurell sold those books, they weren't--at first--considered all that easy to sell: the mix of vampires and a mystery was an issue to many publishers (where to shelve it!), and if I remember right there was even a sense that vampires themselves were somewhat past their time.

Things have this way of cycling round ...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Absolutely true about the cycling. So now I write what I want to write. If I'm lucky, a house will buy it. If not so lucky, I'll publish through Lulu. But I'm done chasing trends (or, worse -- offering something ahead of the trend, no one wants it, I don't write it, and then a year later they all want that sort of thing.) So...I'm writing for the future market, this time!

And Laurell's one book at ROC shows you can have the carpet yanked out from under you at any time, with any series. She may write different shades of the same character in each series, but she tells a great story (disclaimer -- I've read Anita through 8 only, and Merry all the way through, so I base my thoughts on those, and the ROC book) and her audience keeps growing.

She's earned it all.

[random-stabs.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the first few Anita Blake novels. Unfortunately, for me, the series developed two problems: the "Superman" problem, and the "musical" problem.

The original Superman comics had a problem that Superman was too invulnerable. It became harder and harder to have believable confrontations. Eventually, they had to find a way to kill Superman and re-think the entire work.

And, I generally don't like musicals. Well, I enjoy them when they're well done, but part of me chafes at the fact that the plots sometimes suffer to make room for the music. I've seen two-hour musicals that would've only lasted 30 minutes if the plot had been allowed to proceed normally. After the first few Anita Blake novels, things devolved to the point where there'd be a certain kind of "scene" where I'd have to flip forward about three pages to find a place where the plot moves again.

Thankfully, Laurell seems to have addressed the "musical" problem in her most recent books... but she still hasn't dealt with the Superman problem.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, Laurell seems to have addressed the "musical" problem in her most recent books... but she still hasn't dealt with the Superman problem.

I know what you mean. It was actually from reading her Anitas that I tell students to beware the Superman Syndrome. Everyone has an Achille's heel...or should.

Yes, even Allie! But she hasn't hit that wall yet.

I liked the paranormal mystery seasoned with romance...or in the Merry Books, well thought-out culture and politics for the "fey" folk. You're right -- without that strong plot string, we're just waiting for someone to say: "Let's put on a musical!"

[random-stabs.livejournal.com]

Kat Richardson has a similar series with a strong supernatural heroine. She doesn't seem to have the "musical" problem, and hasn't put out enough books to have the Superman Syndrome yet...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I'll keep an eye out for her books.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Superman, Q, Phoenix and Dark Phoenix -- they're all aspects of the same thing, and what it comes down to is conflict. If you have an invulnerable or omnipotent character, you lose any meaningful conflict; if the super-character is on your side, there's no risk of losing, and if it's on the other side, there's no chance of winning.

This is Writing 101, guys! Even I know that much, and I'm not a writer. Why do so many people forget how it works?

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Partly because writers want to have a character who can win. The supernatural aspect spiking a bit does not necessarily mean poor planning. For example, I suspect that if you go back to the very beginning, where (SPOILER ALERT FIRST ANITA BLAKE BOOK!) the climatic scene in the graveyard happens, what we've witnessed is a change in understanding what people with her talent do. Can any re-animator do this? At that point, we don't know.

And many of those discoveries are new to Anita/the reader, but small populations know about the possibility of people/supernaturals manifesting the traits. Anita doesn't always expect more power -- in fact, several times she tries things out of desperation. Sometimes they work, and sometimes it's a mess.

One of the nice things about OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY is not only getting to know more about Edward, but that most of the time, Anita has to depend on her knowledge of people, law enforcement, profiling, her ability to use physical skills at just the right moment -- the supernatural is not tinsel, but it shares the stage.

Also -- in a shorter book, giving someone a larger share of powers means touching bases without creating another character to shepherd through the story. I have something I'm writing that has certain powers that crop up strongly as sole traits in people. They can still lead a normal life, more or less, if they push for it. They have lives before the power manifested. Most of their people/nation are terrified of the traits, and some won't marry into certain families because of its presence. But what about a child who reveals himself to be a born healer, with laying hands to heal? That shows up first. If the child has ten years behind himself of learning about healing, and suddenly a power manifests itself? So he ends up with only minimal training to physically protect himself, and needs others for that. And people are so frightened of this collection of talent, he becomes isolated. And for his people, isolation is NOT good.

There are many reasons, including the oldest reason of all -- the Hero's quest. With knowledge comes wisdom, and also some things are lost -- maybe forever. I know Anita became pregnant in one book, but did she deliver a healthy child? That may be difficult, if not impossible, for her now. And how could she protect children from the many enemies she's made?

Loss is necessary in good fiction.