News

Bullet the next Anita Blake novel hits the shelves June 1st! I thought I’d blog about what the book is, and what the book isn’t. This will be the first book that I’ve tweeted and blogged, and Facebooked, extensively. One of the interesting things about Twitter is that it’s very immediate. I could write my pages of Bullet and get on-line. I did that with the emotion still fresh, the scene still bleeding from my finger tips. A lot of people loved the feeling of being so involved with the process, but a funny thing happened on the way from the first draft of this book to the finished one. Somethings got cut, and a lot of things got added. The main plot went pretty much where I thought it would go, but the secondary plots surprised the hell out of me. Haven has a lot of on-screen time, and we explain the appearing and disappearing Regina from out of town. This was all planned, so trust me, it’ll make sense, well in that Haven had a bad plan kind of way. Not every man in Anita’s life is going to figure out how to be in her life without causing problems.

Jean-Claude: Yes, and lot’s of him in Bullet. For all those that have missed him on-stage you will be very happy campers.

Asher: Very much on stage, in fact this may be the heaviest Asher book yet. In fact, we get a lot of questions answered about him, him and Jean-Claude, him and a lot of people in Anita’s life. No more avoiding the subject. Pretty much any subject for Asher.

Micah: Yes, but not as much on stage as Jean-Claude, but when he’s on stage, he’s both pivotal and active. It is Micah, after all.

Nathaniel: Yes. We get to see him in a new roll in this book, and settling into his life with Anita and the gang. In fact, he seems to be pulling off that near impossibility of being sexy, loving, great domestically, and doing that magical thing that women are more likely to do than men. He helps organize the home for everyone. Bringing order out of chaos in the home is traditionally a female skill set, but a female that does not have this ability, at all, I believe there has to be men out there that have this talent. Now, whether they’re also gorgeous, hit the gym regularly, can dance, and are amazing in bed, that I don’t know. *grin*

We get to see more of the bodyguards doing their jobs behind the scenes. Fredo, Claudia, Lisandros, and lots of new wererats. We also get a new leopard that is ex-military so a leopard guard at last. We get some new werehyenas, too. Weretigers, lots and lots of weretigers. Crispin is on stage, yes, but Domino actually gets more on-screen time this book. We get some very yummy new weretigers in town, and some of them are actually girls. I know, about damn time, right?

Claudia: We get to see what a woman who is 6’ 6”, shapeshifter strong, and a trained fighter can do in a real knock-down-see-who-dies-fight.

Women: We actually have more female characters introduced in this book than ever before. We get a new female guard, werelion. In fact, we get a lot of new wereanimal females introduced in Bullet. Time that Anita found some girlfriends that aren’t jealous of all the men in her life, and can keep up or exceed her in the gym. As I begin the next book after Bullet it will be interesting to see how this new group of women fit in, in what has been a very male dominant ed life style.

Damian: Not as on stage as some would like, but on stage and finally standing up to Anita, or learning to manipulate her better, in that my girlfriend is difficult kind of way.

Speaking of girlfriends: We have a couple of the guys getting steady girlfriends in this book. In fact, Jason’s friend from Blood Noir, J. J. the dancer, is visiting in Bullet. Since she’s bi-sexual and Jason only has one set of parts neither he, nor she, want to be monogamous so he’s still free in St. Louis, and she’s still having her own social life in New York. It seems both these fun-loving, free-of commitment, people may have met their match. We’ll see. Though having your human girlfriend sleep over in the midst of a metaphysical crisis does get, um, interesting.

Jason: Very ow stage, literally, as are some of the other men. I guess he’s not on stage as much as in Flirt, but when he’s on stage he really steals the show.

Stephen and Gregory: On stage, and Stephen and his live-in love Vivian get some nice scenes.

Valentina: the child vampire has a scene on stage that was one of the creepiest of the entire book and that’s saying something. *shudder*

And, for all you who read the first chapter of Bullet which is up on my website, why yes, Monica Vespucci is back, and we finally get to see her son, Matthew, who’s father was Robert, the now dead vampire.

Bullet is a book where we get a lot of answers to questions you fans have been asking for awhile now. What happened to Monica and her baby? Are Asher and Jean-Claude ever going to work out their issues, or have they already? Is Richard ever going to get his act together? That last question is edited for content. You guys have not been kind in asking about our wolf king.

Richard: On stage in a major way. Here’s a dilemma. A lot of fans are letting me know that they are not quite caught up, in fact, we’re getting more brand new readers all the time. So, how much can I say here, or say above, that aren’t spoilers? Think about the people who are only up to say, Blue Moon. What must they think of some of your comments about our, Richard? So, I’ll say that if his therapist was real I’d recommend her to others. He is more at home in himself, and the reality of his life and desires than I’ve ever seen him. The rose colored glasses are off and he’s trying to see how much of his reality he can handle. I was very proud of him in Bullet. He and Asher were the two long-standing characters that opened up and grew the most as characters this book. Well, okay, Anita certainly grew as a character, too, and did some new things, in very new ways, but if I hint too much here I’ll spoil it, so . . .

I’m going to try for a blog that is nothing but Edward and Olaf for tomorrow. But for now those are just some of the highlights you’ll get to see on June 1, in Bullet.