25 Years Since Guilty Pleasures Was First Published

Oct 14, 2018

We’re celebrating twenty-five years since Guilty Pleasures was first published. It came out in time for Halloween that year, and I got to add that to all the other reasons October is my favorite month. I love autumn. Late summer as the weather begins to turn cooler all the way through the end of October is my favorite time of year. I was raised without air conditioning, so the heat and humidity of summer going away was part of my love of fall. It’s easier to bundle up in jackets and sweaters for warmth than to stay cool in less clothing. But September was the beginning of fog. Sometimes the fogs were so thick that the start of school would be delayed for hours. Once I was old enough to drive, the fog wasn’t so fun; but when I was younger I thought fog was magical. It turned the ordinary into something mysterious. A foggy world was full of hidden dangers, monsters, or maybe a fantasy world that you could accidentally walk into through that soft, wet, gray cloud cover. From the trees blazing with color, fog, rain, cooler temperatures, it always made my muse happy even before I realized that I wanted to be a writer.

But now autumn means something else to me: boot weather! Boots and shoes in general weren’t that important to me until after I created the character, Jean-Claude. He walked on stage fully formed and very who he was from the first scene. He was a serious clothes horse from the beginning and elegantly fashionable. I was none of these things. I have pictures to prove that I dressed by picking the T-shirt on the top of the pile, jeans, and tennis shoes. I never wore makeup. I just didn’t care. I was raised that what I looked like didn’t matter, what I could do was what mattered. And then Jean-Claude came into my life and onto the pages of my novel. To be able to design his clothes and keep him dressed in the style to which he demanded. I bought my first copy of Vogue and other fashion magazines. I watched fashion shows on TV. I so could have used Fashion TV back then, but it was the late 1980s, so I went to the library to find research books on clothing through the ages, and costuming. I’d never worn a pair of stilettos, but researching for Jean-Claude opened up the world of shoes to me, and his voice in my head was what helped me learn to walk in heels higher than three inches. Writing him as a character made me more interested in clothes, makeup, even trying to gain control of my curls. I don’t think I would have needed a second closet just for shoes if it wasn’t for researching clothes, and especially boots, for Jean-Claude. So, now autumn doesn’t just mean, “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,” as John Keats wrote, or apple picking and apple cider, or a dozen other wonderful things. Now it means boot weather.

10 thoughts on “25 Years Since Guilty Pleasures Was First Published”

  1. Congrats on the anniversary! I am a huge fan! I started reading this series 17 years ago when I was 17. I was at a bookstore in South Carolina where we had driven 10 hours to see my husband, then boyfriend graduate from basic training. It was a very long drive and I read The Green Mile on the drive there but desperately needed a book to read for the drive back. The guy in the bookstore asked me who I liked to read and I said Anne Rice. She was the only paranormal author I knew then. He pulled out Guilty Pleasures. I devoured it on the drive home and bought all of the books that were out. When they were released on Hardback, I bought those. I have every first edition hardback in that series except the first three because I let my sister borrow them and when she left her boyfriend, she left my books. I can’t replace them and it is the biggest book loss I have ever suffered from. I am still a huge fan and I can never ever repay you for opening my eyes to this genre. I have so many authors that I read and love because of you and these books. Thank you!

  2. Congratulations!! I was introduced to your world by my mom when I was a crazy teenager. Your world help me escape mine. 2 years ago I reintroduced my mom to your world and it has created an incredible bonding thing for us again. Love your worlds and everything about them.

  3. 25 years! What a milestone! I remember reading “Guilty Pleasures” and how it created my desire for erotic fantasy. Your books have taken me places and introduced me to beings that stay with me today. And oh yes, I love boots!

  4. What can I say about guilty pleasures? It took me to a place I wanted to be to be with the people I always needed to be around. I still read it when this world doesn’t measure up which is often. Thank you so much for your world on paper. All your book are wonderful but the first is always the best.

  5. I started out reading true blood before it came to HBO, grew bored and wanted something different to read, a friend suggested guilty pleasures, and I have been a fan of your books every since, thank you for writing such wonderful stories.

  6. I started reading your book 11 years ago when I was 17! It’s my favourite series!! I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve read them all!! Thank you! You introduced me to this genre and I have read so many amazing books and series because of you!!! (Your still my favourite though!) Much love, and keep em coming!!!

  7. I love those boots!!! Where did you get them???

    I want a pair of my own and I shall call my my “Laurell Boots”

  8. I love all the Anita Blake books but was sorry to find out that “Narcissus in Chains” was not available in a talking book. Is there some reason for this? Guilty Pleasures hooked me from the start and just can’t seem to get enough.

  9. I still have a copy of Guilty Pleasures and Circus of the damned, and all your books in original paperback. Loved the cover with Jean-Claude . You brought something original in your writing. I still remember the gasps and OMG from the necromancer scenes in the graveyard. People didn’t realize what they were asking when they wanted their husband back and then part of him came back . It was the combination of horror and pathos and damn funny when Anita was in the graveyard in a formal suit and high heels. Usually royal blue or red .
    And your descriptions of vampire bites and mauling of people was just “real” and no one was doing that.
    I am so glad you were brave enough to write Anita’s story, and John Claude, and Nathaniel and Richard. And Edward,
    And the small things, the penguins, the cofffee mugs, the slippery bed sheets, all the little things that make it real.

    and there were times in my life that I called on Anita to help me through a bad situation. It sounds like a cliche ,but it helped me. Although ,I still can’t were heels . But I do love boots.
    Thank you

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