User:Philcha/Sandbox/Anita Blake

Gen

• Benefiel - Reading Laurell K. Hamilton - ath: Candace R. Benefiel - Work: The Pop Lit Book Club - Pub: ABC-CLIO - 2011 - IBSN 9780313378355 - pp. 160
  • Ch. Laurell K. Hamilton and the Media - p. 119-130
    • p. 119: Review details listed in ch. 15
    • Guilty Pleasures
      • p. 120: In Locus Carolyn Cushman said: "All that's missing is real romantic tension, but the characters are generally too unpleasant to be involving. Still, there are plenty of kinky plots twists, lots of dark humor, and a slap-dash pace to keep things going."
      • p. 120: In the same issue of Locus, Scott Winnett said, "Hamilton takes her world by the teeth and runs with it, devising a whipcrack adventure that moves like the wind ... this not really a horror story, but a dark fantasy thriller set in a carefully-constructed alternative world.
  • ch. Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter - Part 1: The Early Novels: Meeting the Hunter - p. 27-36 - not shown

• Ardeur: 14 Writers on the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series - ed. Laurell K. Hamilton, Leah Wilson - BenBella Books - 2009 - ISBN

9781933771472 - pp. 224

• • ch. Giving the Devil Her Due (by Nick Mamatas) - p. 3-

• Encyclopedia of the Vampire: The Living Dead in Myth, Legend, and Popular Culture - S. T. Joshi - ABC-CLIO - 2010 - ISBN 9780313378331 - pp. 453 - ch. Hamilton, Laurell K.

• [www.sfsite.com/10a/ab209.htm The SF Site Featured Review: Guilty Pleasures / The Laughing Corpse / Circus of the Damned] - 2005 - Nathan Brazil

Lead

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Plot

The main and viewpoint character, Anita Blake, lives in St. Loius, in a world where vampires, wereanimals and practitioners of the occult have legal rights and, like normal humans, work, marry and in some cases have children. Many types of supernatural beings are organized into councils.

Blake is an animator, an expert in temporarily raising the dead to answer questions about matters such as crimes, disputed wills and disputed insurance claims. She is also has a license to execute vampires. Blake is hard-boiled, combative, and rather opinionated.

The leader of the local vampires, titled the "Master of the City", is Nikolaos, a female. Nikolaos wants retribution for a serial killer who is preying on the local vampires. Blake's best friend, Catherine, is in danger after flirting with vampires. To save Catherine's life, Blake makes a deal with Nikolaos. One result of this is that Blake meets Jean-Claude, with whom she forms a strong relation in later books.

At about the same time, Blake must decide whether to help Edward Forrester, a top-notch assassin, to kill Nikolaos.

Edward Forrester

Major themes

~thematic description, using the work of literary critics (i.e. scholars)~

Literary significance and reception

~description of the work's initial reception and legacy based on the work of literary critics and commentators over the years, give citations; if no literary significant should just be called reception~

Hamilton's "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series has been a bestseller among fans of the horror genre, and her blend of noir detective thrillers, eroticism and ribald humor has appealed to a wider audience.

Nathan Brazil called Guilty Pleasures "a slickly realised occult themed action thriller". Laurell K. Hamilton "knowingly sets aside the depth and finesse usually employed by authors writing about vampires, in favour of an all out, adrenalin fuelled rampage of supernatural slaughter, cleverly interspersed with a frisson of forbidden desire."

Nathan Brazil wrote that the book shows a convincing alternate world, in which readers can easily learn the rules, and where the supporting characters have their own lives and pasts.

Awards and nominations

~lists awards the work received, and significant nominations, if applicable; include in reception if brief~

Development history

Hamilton's first published novel, released in 1992, was Nightseer, set in an alternative universe of witches and sorcerors. Her second, Nightshade, also in 1992, was a novelization of part of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She first wrote Guilty Secrets as a set of short stories, and in 1993 these were released as a novel.

Publication history

~*year, country, publisher ISBN 1234567890, Pub date DD Month Year, binding~   

Explanation of the novel's title

"Guilty Pleasures" is a nightclub run by Jean-Claude, an urbane, charming vampire raised in Europe.

Adaptations

Marvel Characters, Inc. published Guilty Pleasures as a series of comics and then in October 2009 published the set as a hardback book.

Plot introduction

Guilty Pleasures introduces the character of Anita Blake, vampire hunter, and her world, an alternate history where magic, vampires, werewolves and other supernatural elements exist. Blake, a zombie animator and licensed vampire executioner, investigates a series of vampire murders, and in the process comes into contact with many of the supernatural characters of her home city of Saint Louis. The novel blends elements of supernatural and hardboiled detective fiction.

"Guilty Pleasures" is the name of a vampire strip club operated by vampire Jean-Claude, one of the main characters. Hamilton has continued the pattern of titling the novels after a location for most of the books in the series.

Plot summary

Anita Blake lives in St. Louis, Missouri, in a world where magic, vampires, werewolves, and the like are, and have always been, "out of the closet" and, in some cases, even legal. Anita is an "animator," with the ability to raise or inter zombies. She uses this ability in employ at "Animators, Incorporated," where she raises the dead for various purposes including murder investigations, will explanations, and other legal services. Anita also works as a "vampire executioner," killing vampires (by court order) and advising the police on supernatural crimes. This first book takes place in July when Anita is 24.

In Guilty Pleasures, Anita is blackmailed by Nikolaos, the vampire master of the city, into investigating a series of vampire murders. During the course of this investigation, Anita begins her relationship with Jean-Claude, another master vampire, and receives two of the four marks necessary to make her Jean-Claude's "human servant." Ultimately, Anita identifies the murderer, but by that point has sufficiently antagonized Nikolaos and her underlings that she is forced to confront them. Ultimately, with help from Jean-Claude and Edward, a human associate who specializes in assassinating supernatural targets, Anita kills Nikolaos and many of her followers, making Jean-Claude master of the city.

Characters in Guilty Pleasures

Major characters

Guilty Pleasures introduces the following characters.

• Anita Blake: Anita is a hardboiled animator — contrary, sarcastic, and has a protective streak — with the ability to raise the dead. While she is a respected vampire hunter, Anita still has a healthy fear of their superior strength, speed, and metaphysical abilities. She strongly believes that vampires are irredeemable monsters, which will change as the series progresses.
• Nikolaos: The primary villain of the novel, Nikolaos is an 1,000 year old, very powerful, and very threatening vampire. She was changed over when she was only a pre-teen. Her animals to call are rats.
• Jean-Claude: The novel also introduces Jean-Claude, and offers hints of some of his defining qualities, particularly his manipulative and strategic personality, his seductive charm, and his attraction to Anita. By the beginning of this book Jean-Claude is the third most powerful vampire in the city, and the owner/manager of Guilty Pleasures, the strip-club the book takes its name after. He is of French origin and delights in calling Anita "ma petite" (much to the annoyance of our heroine)
• Edward: A mysterious, cold sociopath that helps Anita confront Nikolaos. He was previously a human assassin, but quickly tired of the ease at which he killed humans. He soon switched over to werecreatures and vampires for the extra challenge. Anita and Edward have been acquaintances for an undisclosed amount of time, having met sometime before the first book.

Other recurring characters

• Guilty Pleasures introduced a number of recurring characters including Anita's civilian boss, Bert, best friend Ronnie, coworkers Jamison, police officers Dolph and Zerbrowski, and recurring characters Malcolm, Willie McCoy, Dead Dave, and Luther.

Non-recurring characters

Burchard

Nikolaos's human servant, Burchard was 603 years old. He was bald, skilled with weapons, and carried himself like a soldier. Anita killed Burchard in Guilty Pleasures by stabbing him in the back and slitting his throat.

Phillip

A former pomme de sang (literally: "blood apple"; a person who regularly donates blood to a specific master vampire) to Jean-Claude. Phillip was a "vampire junkie" and a stripper at Guilty Pleasures, and was the first in a long line of beautiful but wounded strippers who have looked to Anita for healing and protection. He was killed by Valentine and Aubrey, raised as a zombie, and then re-interred by Anita, all in Guilty Pleasures.

Winter

Built like a circus strongman, Winter was a human employee of Nikolaos. He nearly killed Anita, but Anita killed him in Guilty Pleasures.

Death toll

• The death toll in Guilty Pleasures includes murder victims Theresa and Phillip and a long list of victims of Anita and Edward - Nikolaos, Aubrey, Valentine, Zachary, Burchard, Winter, and an unnamed vampire.

Adaptations

The Anita Blake series is being adapted into a monthly comic book by Dabel Brothers Productions and Marvel Comics. The first issue, adapting Guilty Pleasures, was released on October 20, 2006.