News

A lot of you wrote in and shared things you’ve gained from reading my books, and especially the Anita Blake series. Thank you.

To the young woman who said, Anita gave her the courage to go through high school still a virgin. And before the rest of you say, but there’s lot’s of sex in the series. There is now, but the first five books Anita doesn’t have a sex life, just a life. To the women who told me that Anita owning her sex life helped them own their own, and ask for what they wanted in the bedroom. Especially to the wives and those in monogamous relationships; very yay! There are few things as sad as a monogamous relationship where you aren’t getting your needs met, and probably never will. Been there, done that, burned the t-shirt. So much happier now.

To the people, both male and female, that tell me that my books have helped get them through their own chemo for cancer. I watched my now ex-father-in-law go through chemo. He would survive and go on to see his grandchildren hit double digits and one now over twenty, but it was very hard on him at the time. To think that my imaginary friends and my stories can help get you guys through something like that is amazing to me. Enough of you have insisted that it’s true I have to believe you, but somehow I keep thinking no one’s writing can be that good. But I take it for the great compliment it is.

To the men and women who are serving our country in various distant places who tell me that my books help them escape the real fighting and violence that surrounds them. That my books are a refuge where they can disappear for awhile and regroup.

To the men, women, and families that tell me that my books, that Anita’s strength, has helped them get through horrendous things. The one most likely to make me cry is the number of people that tell me they read my books while their family members, but especially their children, are going through serious medical treatment. To the woman who wrote in to say that my books helped her and her husband get through their child’s cancer treatment. It looks good for their kiddo, and soon they can go home, but she tells me that other families are using my books as a refuge, too. Blessings on you and yours.

To the mother who told me that Anita’s rule about not flinching, helped her and her husband to watch their very young son go through all his testing. That anytime they were tempted to look away, they thought about Anita’s rule: If I can’t save them, the least I can do is watch them go through it. That rule helped them not turn away and be there for their son. That one made me cry.

When I first sat down to write Anita Blake, and play with all my imaginary friends, I had no idea that they would come to mean so much to so many other people. I had no idea that Anita’s strength, and the strength I learned as a child and adult would translate to helping so many others in ways I could never have imagined.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone, be well, be safe. Bullet comes out in two days, June 1st. This ones for all of you that have told me how much Anita and the gang means in your lives. See you all Tuesday, at least on paper.