What’s Next for Anita Blake?
One of my goals for this year was to work happier, so I gave myself permission to write anything I wanted, and that was great for awhile. I’ve made some notes and even chapters, or pieces of chapters in a brand new world. I’ve learned that I need dozens to hundreds of pages that aren’t for publication while I explore and world build. I’ve tried skipping this part of my process and it’s what led me to throw out 70% of the first Meredith Gentry book after the editor had already accepted it and start the novel over. The book was immensely better for it, and the world, my main character, plot, everything vastly improved, but I learned my lesson. Unless the muses give me a book opening and world whole and complete through near magical inspiration, I need to write out my world building before I write the first book in the world.
I finished a brand new Anita Blake short novel that’s even longer than Micah which was my last original paperback surprise. Eventually, I had to look at my deadlines and my goals for the year and realize it was time to get down to brass tacks and begin the next full-size Anita Blake novel. This year, 2014, will see the first new Merry Gentry novel in almost five years, 2015 will be Anita’s turn, but to make that happen I have to write the book. Funny, how they don’t write themselves.
I usually know what I’m writing next with Anita, but I did something I used to do years back, but had stopped in the press of deadlines when I was delivering two big books a year. A decade of doing that put a lot of things on hold. There just wasn’t time to do my usual process and meet those deadlines, but see that goal to “work happier”, so I was trying to recover some of the pieces that had made things more joyous for me and my muse. I used to tidy and sort my office between writing projects, but I’d fallen so far behind on that I had literally boxes of papers on the floor, and sticky notes on the wall so old the ink had faded.
I went through every file folder, every piece of paper in my office. The desktops are cleaned and ready to go for the next book, but which one? Because in going through all the notes and scrapes of paper I’ve got a wealth of possibilities. I thought I’d chosen a follow up on Sampson, the mermaid/man, and his rather dysfunctional family situation: sirens, vampires, and murder, oh, my! But I think that Sampson’s story maybe a short story, or a different book than I thought, so – not yet. I have this great opening that I wrote on the plane back from Paris a few years ago. It has Nicky featured and I thought, cool, we’ll do a book where he takes center stage. Um, no, not ready. That opening may have Nicky in a main part, but I think it’s a book more about Anita’s necromancy and the power boost/side effects from the Mother of All Darkness. (You didn’t really think all that happened without side effects, did you?) But the book isn’t soup yet, not done, not ready, so . . . Valentina, our forever five-year-old vampire, has a story to tell, and a modern spin on her own fate, and I thought that was next, but as I tried to write it . . . it slowed down, and . . . Edward’s wedding finally? No, that story isn’t ready yet, close, but not quite ready. Olaf’s return? Maybe, but not yet. Nicky will be going home to make sure his abusive mother doesn’t get parole and Anita will go with him for moral support, but not this book. (That may actually be a novelette, or short story, and not a book at all.) Bartolome trapped forever in the body of a twelve-year-old boy, has more to tell, but again he’s not ready to tell the rest of his story. I’ve got a short story/novelette with Micah doing his job for the Furry Coalition, but so not soup yet. I’ve got a Jade novelette, or short novel, and that maybe close, but not sure. I’ve got the beginning of a short piece where Jean-Claude and Asher tell an adventure they had when they were a happy threesome with Julianna. I know the whole plot there, I think, it’s more how to tell the story without running into the traps of “telling a story,” where you know the people survived, or they couldn’t be telling you the story now. I’ve got two short pieces where Richard is on stage, and one that revisits his family, his brother Daniel in particular, but that’s not even close to ready to be written. I’ve got several pages of a story about Jean-Claude, and Nathaniel, and we find out something from both their pasts that intertwine in a way that totally surprised me. That seems to be the front runner at the moment, but again it feels more like a novelette than a novel. There’s a piece that features Detective Zerbrowski and his son, and that’s close to being ready, but again I don’t think it’s a complete novel. It may even be a short story. I found notes about a visit to Philadelphia to visit Requiem in his new home. A book set in the Carolinas that was inspired by a horrible hotel room my husband, Jon, and I had in Charlotte, North Carolina once, but though a great beginning, it’s just an idea, a book length idea, but it needs another idea, or two to bump into it before I sit down and begin in earnest. That’s just a few of the ideas I rediscovered, or tidied up into folders for later.
I’d forgotten that I did that, shed ideas like flower petals in a high wind, so that the path is strewn with wonders, and curious notes. My office is clean and neat as a pin, but my imagination is cluttered with fragments of this and that idea, character, plot, so that it’s like I’ve smashed a stained glass window and covered the floor with bright, shining, pieces, but which to pick up first?
223 thoughts on “What’s Next for Anita Blake?”
Comments are closed.
Any and all if possible!
I know this is none of my concern, but in your The Harlequin book you made Sylvie like boys and in all your other books before that one she was gay, what changed?
So excited to read about all of your ideas, and everything excited me! But, the idea I read that got me the most excited was the story idea about Jean Claude and Nathanial and their mish mashed past! I can’t wait to read what you come up with next – in whatever form it comes out in!
I love hearing about your muse and the way you work through a story and story line. As one of your readers, who loves your characters and the way they unfold in each story/novel you write. I appreciate seeing your path in telling their stories. I have always been the “why” person, and understanding your process has answered a why for me I didn’t know I needed answered.
On a personal note, I also like when you tell us about your family life. If I would have known about your family life ten years ago I would not have understand the way I do now. Thank you for helping me grow as a person and work through my own demons as I read about your fictional and real life family.
I still wish you wrote faster…all of us fans do, but that is only because we love your worlds so much.
Thanks again
Samantha Pertle
You should do a whole book full of short stories. Maybe you need to put them all out before getting to write a book lenght story. 🙂
But if I’m the one to choose, go with Edward. I miss the adventures that are all about Anita and him. Every relationship needs a time off with friends, especially Anita’s, where almost every friend of hers is in the relationship. Needless to say, Obsidian Butterfly is one of my favorite books of the series.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the series. I would really like a story that has Anita and Jeah Claude stranded somewhere where they face dangers and necromancy and just BAM!! I miss just ain’t and Jean Claude the star crossed lovers.
I absolutely love the Anita Blake series and can’t wait for the next one. Only downside I have is not being able to read some of the short stories or novelettes as they are not in print form, just electronic download. Are there any plans on releasing these in print form?
Most smartphones have a kindle app for e-books
You can also download the kindle app for free on your PC and read them that way!
I am so excited to see what Anita does next. I just finished Affliction. I have all of the Anita Blake books now. I just can’t wait for the next book!
Wow wow wow! Whatever you choose will be great. All I know is I can’t wait. I truly love every book you’ve written. I’m reading the Anita Blake series for the 10th time I think. I read her to remind me what true courage is and to remind me to never give up on the people that mean the most to me. Thank you for creating her and all her men.
I would love to see Anita have a huge case, it is as exciting as the hot sex!! I can’t wait to be on the edge of my seat!!!
Huge case,international, involving underground slave trade with a vamp flavour. Run by wolf tribes….something like that..
I can’t wait to see what you pick they all seem really exciting. 🙂 I love the Anita Blake series. I always look forward books.
I can’t wait to see what you pick they all seem really exciting. 🙂 I love the Anita Blake series. I always look forward to reading your books.
All of those ideas sound so great. Maybe a few collections of short stories or multiple novelettes that tie most of that together. It would be amazing to see a few collections that give a little bit about allot of characters since they are all so wonderful and interesting.
Hi Ms. Hamilton,
I love that you share your processes to a book/story. It gives me hope to do my own even if only one or two friends ever read it.
All your possiblilities are so exciting/interesting. I had a feeling the Anita would have a power boost after drinking down Mommy Dearest. How could she not? I found it interesting that the harlequin felt that they lost something in the transition. Maybe Anita’s gifts are more closely connected to others ie. Jean Claude + Richard, Damian + Nathaniel.
I am looking forward to the Merry Gentry book that is coming soon. I usually feel that I am more of an Anita fan. But then I read (or re-read ) Merry again. The magic is back in my bones.
Thank you,
Dee Puchala
When overwhelmed by choices I always like to sleep on it and see which option first dawns on me the following day. That is usually what my deepest self really wants most.
I am so glad that I am not the only one to do this. I keep all of mine in steno pads, tearing out whatever daily notes I jot in them as they are no longer needed. I have steno pads from high school that I look back at and I think “Wow! Why did I never DO any thing with this?!” Also, fyi, you have a typo. No biggie. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Love the tidbits! Bring them all on. Short stories, novels, novelettes, et al! I read whatever comes from your “pen” with great enjoyment. Thank you for sharing your process!
I just was wondering if you think Anita will ever hit the big screen? I know there are some unconfirmed talks online about the possibility, and I for one would love to see Anita hit the big screen. I also would love to read more about Nicky if that is a path you are considering. Thank you for creating a world worth reading about.
I have been wondering this as well! If Sookie Stackhouse can have a series then Anita should have her chance! She has so much more to offer viewers than Sookie does. Please, please, please say you will let us have an Anita TV series!
The Stackhouse books are good. HBO fucked up the storyline. If LKH’s books go on film I hope she can keep a tight lease on the script writers.
While I wouldn’t have used the “f” word – I agree. The only thing that is true to the books are the names. That’s it! I quit watching after the 2nd season.
I KNOW! The books were so good, and the show, sooooooo NOT!!!! I’m like Vickii, I stopped watching after only a couple episodes. I think that’s maybe what ruined the characters for Charlaine Harris. She said it was because their story had been told. It wasn’t. There was no wrap up. No culmination of events. She wrote a “leaflet” that said what happened in the future for her main characters, but that’s it!
I’m a little concerned that L.K.H. has become bored with Merry and her men. SHIVER OF LIGHT seemed a little “phoned in”. (I also feel she damaged all the guys.) It seems as though everyone prefers Anita. I LOVE HER, but MERRY had a part of my heart, and I’m worried for my girl. I don’t want to see her go the way of Sookie. Anita either for that matter.
I think one big book with all the novlettes in it would be awesome.
It would be nice just to read your short stories of their lives. I find it more interesting and personal than a book. 🙂
Anita is building a new custom home . It is taking WAY more of her time, and mental energy than she had planned . She turns a large part of the decision making over to Nathanal. Then Damian is killed in a brutal murder. Will she loose Nathanal as well? Can Richard, and J.C. funnel enough energy with her to save him? Through that trial, Anita FINIALLY learns to conquer the Adeaur. Now, she is free. Does she need any of the men? Yes she still wants them, but does she need them? FREEDOM.
I like this idea. Especially becoming free of the adeaur. Could leave some interesting avenues to explore.
Thank you. L.K.H. What do you think? Good idea?
I love your thought process! Thank you for keeping us, your fans, in the loop about Merry and Anita! I do have a thought though… what about a big book filled with all your short story ideas? I am a huge Anita fan and have read and re read the whole series several times! I never get tired of them and I always seem to find out new things every time I re read them! There is nothing like cracking open a book, the smell and feel of the pages as I turn every page, and getting lost in the words as my eyes run over them and my imagination takes me away! Thank you so much for sharing your stories! I am not sure if you are told very often, but THANK YOU!
Blessed Be)0(
SO EXCITED ABOUT A NEW ANITA BOOK!
I like the fact that you have decided to slow down and work happier. The fact that you take your time and build the world that you are creating from start to finish before writing anything to publish is a fascinating process. You have some great ideas for many great projects that will turn into good soup when that are ready. What about writing a book with your different novelettes, for yourself and go from there. That might help your muse get a break and start something new along the way. Just an idea that popped into my head.
Many blessings,
Edeth
I’m sure no matter what you write for the next Anita Blake novel will be delightful!
OMG!! Write it all!! I found myself gasping just reading the ideas! *sigh* If only there was a way to just plug your brain into a computer and dump all this stuff into a word file …. this would go so much faster. I love *LOVE* reading your books.
I have lots of ideas but haven’t had the time to write for awhile. I tend to daydream about my ideas and suddenly new plots and twists emerge.
I find it interesting to see how writers deal with their creative muse. Always have enjoyed the Anite Blake series since its inception. Wondering if someday Anita will ever visit HER birth family, as she seemed to have an OK relationship with her little stepbrother despite the issues she had with her stepmom.
PLEASE publish all of your short stories and e-specials into real, physical books! It kills me that they are missing from the large collection of your books on my shelf, and I hate the idea that they may meld into the mass that is the internet, with nothing but a bookmark that a change of computer might erase to remind me that they are there, waiting to be re-read. I don’t care if it’s ten pages, I’ll buy it. Pretty please?
As with any broken glass, colored or otherwise, there will be that one piece that catches your eye, that you’re glance will go back to again and again. That’s when you’ll know what piece to go to and I’ll excitedly wait to see which piece that will be. 😀
I say go on a whole new tangent and tackle Anita’s family. You mentioned she and her little brother are close. We need a family story there or something that touches that.
I love all of your ideas, and I can’t wait to find out what’s next for Anita!
With so many novelette ideas floating around, would you ever consider a book of short stories all about Anita and her men?
Would luv more with Richard, Mica & Nathaniel along with Anita. Anita needs her heart (Richard). And Merry needs her Frost & Darkness (damn I forgot his name!).
Anyway, just wanted to let u know I luv ur work & am really looking forward to new releases! 🙂
I love the way you think. Yes, I too would love to see Anita back with Richard. If the can conquer the Adeaur , and break the trim u native, ( you know what I mean.) If she can do that, and I think she can…. then she could be free to do WHAT she wants, and WHO she wants. ( No more involuntary sex.) Then, a future with Richard would be possible.. but if she pregnant…..all bets are off!
Hi, I am a really big fan, I have read your Anita books over 10 times I love them. Please do a story with Olaf. He would be an interesting read. Please don’t bring Richard back he is a pain in the arse and Anita is finally truly happy. Just because he has done therapy doesn’t mean he can be closer to Anita. He broke her heart one time to many.
Oh, your being too hard on Richard. ( he is who he is. Like Frost.)
Good idea about Olav/Otto. She should make him a bride, like Nicky.
I love all your books and think whatever you decide it will be nail biting and intense. I love both the worlds you have created and I can’t wait to get sucked into them and just pretend for a little while. I can’t wait for the book coming out in June. I will be waiting for the next Anita Blake book next year. Your books has become my me time and lord knows I could use some of that right now. Thank you for sharing your creative talent.
This is exactly the problem I’ve been having lately. I know the book I NEED to be writing right now but there are so many other ideas and half-formed stories clamoring around my head wanting attention that focusing is a serious issue. My once tidy collection of notes is starting to look like a compulsive magpie’s nest. Pretty sure my desk used to be around here somewhere. It’s comforting to know I’m not alone in that!
Now I’m going to go back to wistfully waiting for the next Anita Blake. 😀 She makes the world a better place. Well mine at any rate!
All these bits and pieces make me so excited to see what’s in store for the upcoming Anita Blake novel! You’re so amazing!! I can’t wait!!
i would love for you to put all the short story in one book .im a huge fan of your Merry Gentry Series and Anita Blake will always be my favorite.
I’m very excited to hear about the next Anita Blake novel. Of all the characters I’ve met in my life, Anita is the one I can never stay away from. I love the emotional metamorphosis she goes through from the first book to the current. I read the whole series about once a year. It’s usually the best two weeks of the year too. I have not been able to pick a favorite book yet, but other than Anita, Nathaniel is my favorite character.
So thanks for writing a world so gruesomly amazing. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Why not try all of them into one great novel.
And have Anita invoved in them all, in one form or anither.
So thinking that you have all these short stories, maybe just build a whole book with all those shorts in it. So as to not have to come up with a WHOLE novel and just make it a bit easier on yourself. I think a lot of people would agree that it would be a welcome idea.
Hello I have been a lover of the Anita Blake series since the very beginning and it has been a great ride. I have always wondered if we will learn more about Anita’s natural mother and grandmother? I was also wondering if we will hear more about Nathaniel’s family, we haven’t heard about his brother Gregory in ages.
As a high school English teacher, I find your thoughts on writing fascinating. May I read this to my classes, if not now, at the end if the academic year, then perhaps next year? To know that an acclaimed author has such thoughts about “what to write” next may be just what they need to hear when they state, “but Miss, I don’t know WHAT to write!”
i really enjoy reading your blogs like this… i am trying my hand at my first ever book… and to know that someone else writes bits and pieces before actually sitting down and writing it out, is good to know… especially coming from such a an amazing and popular author such as yourself… it gives me hope in what i am doing and the way that my brain works and processes the information for which i am wanting to write! thank you for all of your inspirations and advice (which i know you are just talking and stating your own thoughts), it has helped me work through my own process for my writing… i can’t wait to read your next Anita book and see what else you have in store for all of your fans! keep up the amazing work, as always! 🙂 i hope to see you come to Houston, TX again soon… maybe next time it wont be so dang HOT!!! 😉 love all that i have read, thank you for sharing your talent with us!
~moneka
CANT WAIT TO SEE what you have going on!!!!! SO excited about this Merry book coming out
Sampson story sounds AMAZING. WOULD absolutely love a whole series on he and his family – how and with what can I bribe your muses to push you in that direction? 😉 thank you so much for your worlds that help me escape my reality
Hi Laurel what about a book of tapas with each chapter offering more tidbits like those you mentioned being explored. They can answer and perhaps ask a few more questions.
I love all these shiny pieces! I am sure what ever you and your muse come up with will be wonderful. Especially now that you are “writing happier”. I look forward to what comes, whether it is a short story, novelette, or full length mega novel. I love Anita in any form.
I’ve finally talked my mother-in-law into reading and listening to your books and I was amazed at some of the questions she asked me. When you first started with Anita, she was a very different person than she is in the later books. However, I don’t really have an answer that I can give me mother-in-law, on how Anita found out about her resistance to vamp powers. You understand about losing her mother and her views on death, but I don’t remember ever really understanding how she initially found that out. I am rereading the books, but thought maybe you could give me an answer or a place to refer to, if you have written that and I just don’t remember it.
What about Asher and morr of him and maybe Sin?
I like all those ideas of short stories, I’d love to have some short story to read before the next “big book”
Oh, Good! Love both Anita and Merry, and your books, and am writing now as well, though a different genre. It’s very reassuring to find someone else who has book ideas from the muse tumbling down like flower petals. Can’t wait for what’s next for Anita!
I love it when you give us insight into your creative process. I’ve been an Anita fan since the first book. I actually have first editions of every Anita and merry book written. You’ve changed my life with your acceptance of more than one love so long as everyone is honest and having their needs me. Just a thank you for that… Now to the question at hand, I personally would love to see more about the triumvirate and the side effects of the mother of all darkness messing with Anita, especially her necromancy.
What I’d like to happen in Anita’s world most is more of the same. Anita has been making huge strides with her human friends, her police co-working with revealing her. They are becoming aware and accepting of who she truly is, her power and magic.
I have to say, I need to catch up on this series, I forgot how much I love it-I LOVED how you had Hit List featured in the pacific northwest, I live near Tacoma so it made me giddy to read it and picture Anita being here. I need to stop by the library and pick up the next Anita book but I’ll agree with what others are saying, it almost sounds like you need to do a book full of Anita short stories, I think it’d be fun to read about all the shorts involving all the different characters in one book. 😉 Good luck, I know you’ll think of something and I’ll eagerly await for the next Anita novel…
I love the sound of all your book ideas. One of the other authors I read, sometimes puts all those stories that are good stories but not full books into a book of short stories. They’re fun to read and fill in blanks to her full story books that may have had hints, but had you wanting to learn more. Sometimes they are just back stories that aren’t worth a full book but it’s good to tell the story. I don’t know if you’ve thought about doing something like that; I’m sure your readers would eat it up. 🙂 Anywho, I love both Anita and Merry and can’t wait to read your next book in either series. Thanks for all the hard work.
I love the entire Anita Blake series. This series has helped me through some extremely dark times. It still is, I can never thank you enough for giving me these characters. They have made me laugh when all I wanted to do was cry, they let me cry for someone when I wouldn’t allow myself to cry for me. They let me that love isn’t so black and white. I just wanted to say thank you.
I really love the idea of hearing more about Valentia or Jade. But I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of hearing more about Sylvia (and her brutal rise in the pack as well as her past) or Claudia and the wererats I’m general, Lisandro, Bobby-Lee and Rafel are always of interest to me. Maybe maybe…
Sounds like a lot of fragments but no whole books. So put the fragments together for their own novel length book. Make soup out of smaller ingredients. Soup doesn’t always have to be stew. Just a thought.
I’m going to hope for Jade’s tale. I love strong women, and I love tall women (okay, I love women – but those ARE my preferences). It almost sounds like you have the makings of a book of short stories, rather than a novel, but after riding along with your imagination for all these years, I think it’s safe to say you could write “Anita goes grocery shopping” and I’d read it straight through.
With so many great novelette ideas, why not combine them into one full book, each section / novelette being narrated by the main personality that the take is about. . Maybe sort of pulp fiction style with them taking place with in each others time lines so in each story you get bits from the others but do not get the full picture till the end. ..
Hearing all your wondrous ideas just makes me all warm & fuzzy! Knowing that you may just answer questions I’ve had as I’ve read the story of Anita. Waiting patently, for anything you decide to write. I think I may be a lil’ obsessed, as I currently have a full set of hard covers, paperbacks, graphic novels, the first 12 comic books & I’m working on getting your books for my new e-reader. (I am however selling the paperbacks to appease my husband & make room, as we have a cute lil’ house.) I love your writing, you have a beautiful mind!
I have enjoyed your book greatly. I do hope you have some room in there for Wicked and Truth.
You betcha! LOVE THOSE GUYS!
There won’t be an Anita Blake book this summer? ohh I am sad but it is really worth waiting for a good story to come up.
I would really love your next book to be about Jean-Claude, Asher and Nathniel. But, I’d also like it if it was about Ritchard, Zewbrosky, Anita’s power spinning out of control or even Olaf coming back and Edward.
I mean I would rather a story around the main characters and the plot to unravel in the town, not in another place. I am a bit tired of reading side stories or stories that Anita is away and has to take more lovers or stories about the more “minor” characters that are about their past or their current problems.. I really miss a good story like guilty pleasure, or burnt offerings or Narcissus in Chains etc
I SO AGREE!
You have really got me chomping at the bit, cant wait to see where this all leads! I love everyone of your books!
I suffer from a couple of conditions that cause me alot of pain and so i use reading as an attempt at distracting myself and love imerging into your heroine’s lives, worlds, and adventures.
Not only do they offer a distraction but they also allow me to run through forests when i can barley walk on pavements and inspire my love life with my wonderfull hubby (blushing)!
Thank you, i hope your muse helps you focus on one idea at a time so you can get the next book to us asap 😉
I also read to help me get through my pain. To take me places I can’t go and imagine doing things my body can’t do. I think doctors should recommend it for people who have pain like we do. Thank you for being strong enough to share your story.
I am sure someone has already suggested this but why not make a novel full of other characters from the anita blake series a full novel. I for one just love know more about characters even the lesser ones. It would be great to just have a book full of little stories about them.
I know you keep hinting at Nathaniel’s desire to have kids and Anita’s reluctance due to her issues plus the fact that she could not be who she is and be pregnant. Have you thought about having one of her people surrogate for her? It would make many of her men happy and she could still be herself. I always pictured Jade carrying Anita’s egg and Nathaniel’s sperm cause it would make Jade feel like she was actually carrying Anita’s
That would be so selfish! To have another woman carry your baby, just because your ” too busy” to do it yourself! I would love to see Anita have a baby. ( or two. Or THREE. still not sure how many Merry is having.) It is great to have someone carry a child for someone that is unable to have it herself. It just needs to be for a good reason.
Thank you for sharing about yourself and your process. I love your writing and can’t wait to see what’s next. But I’m always so impatient to get to the next book. I think your sharing helps with the waiting. And if I get too impatient I can always start at the beginning band read them all again. As you are one of the few authors I never get tired of rereading.
More Edward, please! I know that you’re going more with the erotic, but I miss the necromancy, the messed up situations that she used to get into that didn’t involve sex.
I love the idea of a Jean Claude and Nathaniel story. Have to admit I think I’m in love with Nathaniel.
Who isn’t? Lol
I’m not! Talk about 50 shades of F ed up!
I’m with you Karen….ugh!
I know your muse will direct you, but I personally miss Richard. We haven’t seen him lately. I kinda feel like your muse doesn’t care for him so much anymore.
Oh my God! I’ll read every book of the Anita series! I so adore it! I’m finally reading the 20th book- Hit List and I hope to finish it soon but I don’t want to finish it either! And your ideas, oh your ideas are awsome! I know they will be as fantastic as the rest of the series! And I’d say that I know the feeling of full head of ideas and how hard is to choose but I’m only fifteen (soon sixteen) and I wanna be a writer one day and I have many ideas but even I don’t have sooooo many! Oh! I like them! Especially the idea about Edward, Olaf and Jade! I want to read about them the most!
Just…I have no words how excited I am and I will wait unpatiently for the next Anita Blake book and I’m thinkig to read the Merry Gentry series too!
The Merry series is very good, it is very graphic, but if you have read all of Anitas books then it really isn’t more graphic, just more of the graphic material, but there is more of a reason behind it. It is a very good series if you like the Anita series.
I am so glad you decided to write happier. I look forward to your next book as always!! We haven’t heard from Richard in awhile, so I would love to hear his story! Thanks for writing such amazing stories!!
I love the ideas, and the fact that you have found a way back to the “happy writer you”. I most enjoy the thought of Anita getting back to her necromancy, and exploring the ups and downs of what has happened after her encounter with the Mother of all Darkness. Her powers and the world of creatures around her are what got me into this series and prompted me to read Meridith as well. A little less about the sex would be great, the intricacies of the relationships are interesting though.
I agree with the necromancy being what pulled me into the series. I love when she gets wicked and leaves an empty bloody wheelchair in an empty cemetery. Leaves me drooling for more. I can’t wait to find out what left overs have happened since the Mother of all Darkness got done with her.
Laurell, Strange Candy is still my fave short story collection of all time. I must refer people to one or more of its stories atleast once a month. You certainly have the talent to master a series of short stories or a series/combination of those and more fleshed out novelettes. I can see how also this might be a ‘magic bridge’ between you, your publishers and readers…the providing of a series of shorter works (that can even be edited together by someone you trust to delegate it to) in order to satisfy the consumer needs of something to hold, at the same time as doing justice in resolving many of these loose ends that are dividing your thoughts, storage space and energy. You may be as much in need of sharing those cathartic or formative experiences as your characters. I feel a deep connection with Anita, and intuitively I would say she would be in the same need: to physically revisit the things, places and people that are ‘loose ends’ and/or otherwise niggling at the back of her mind. It’s a natural instinct for people like us that have had ‘complicated’ lives to still be entangled in those thoughts even tho we have gone forward, to go back at some significant point to poke around in the hidden corners or stoke those fires one last time. An upcoming wedding certainly triggers that, in all parties involved. I feel it’s time for Anita to do that, and there are plenty of reasons that have built that up, especially the way she is reconsidering the career that has defined her at a time when she’s solidifying (or even consecration) the changes she has made in her personal life/morality. It’s impossible to take that step suddenly back to what subconsciously is defined as.conventionally without finding yourself challenging your early ideas and experiences (and family/neighborhood/associations) which imprinted in you those first definitions.
Another major plot point to me was back when Anita was staying with her friend/mentor who first introduced the idea that she was a necromancer, and of far greater power/ability than she had barely suspected. That visit included a tarot reading which predicted a series of events that I had eventually interpreted to be the rise of Nathaniel’s importance in her life, and the entwinement of Olaf as the threat which would continue to return. I think it’s logical for Anita to return for some ‘girl time’ and clarity away from all her lovers, as she did before when the question of being with and marrying Richard ended in a negative answer an emotional crisis. Here now Anita has swung to the extreme other, a marriage commitment with all her main men *except* Richard, as a step into secure happiness and the path away from chaos. For her to go to the same sister-friend makes sense, and a good ‘excuse’ plot wise would be to ask her friend to either come to the wedding (if you’re planning a cathedral type wedding) or perhaps even perform a handfasting? I don’t know if you have thought of that, but it makes perfect sense as far as the makeup of the matrimonial partners, and unusual circumstance. It even fits in with old Christian traditions (which Jean Claude would remember), as some of the ceremony used to be identical, with the ceremonial binding of hands. I have a friend who is a Bishop, but wonderfully unconventional in his knowledge and personal beliefs. He talks about the old handfasting type ceremonies, and also that same sex wedding vows/rites and directions used to be part of the Catholic canon given to priests as a ‘handbook’ of how to do it right. It wasn’t officially removed by the Church until 1800. If you would like his contact info or a list of reference material on those rites, let me know.
(P.S.: If it’s not going to be a specific point revealed in the next book–which would be logical since it was also the declaration that Anita would be in a wedding dress in the near future–then would you mind clarifying for us who the specific people and events are that were referenced in that tarot reading long ago? I don’t remember ever seeing it specifically addressed anywhere. Did I miss a reference or interview somewhere??)
I would really like to see Jade on the road to being mentally healthy, I had this thought in my head that she could overcome her fear/dislike of males and be able to function in a fight situation by training Nathaniel and maybe Cyn. They could approach her like the supplicants to the Shaolin temples in old Shaw Brothers movies such as “Master Killer” starring Gordan Liu. Just a thought, because I really like all 3 of those characters.
Congrats on the new Merry Book, I am looking forward to opening the first page and catching up with old friends.
Yes! Like most of the comments above, a great BIG FAT book of lots and lots of short stories!!! Even if some of the scenarios only end up 10 to 12 pages long, they will all fit in and fill in back stories and questions previously. (does that even make sense?). Meanwhile, keep making notes about the NEXT big epic read for her and then maybe, just maybe, I could wait another whole year or more for my next fix of Anita! Can’t wait for Merry either, Laurell…..don’t EVER stop!
Why not a full size book of short stories to fluff the imagination until her next full length adventure?
OMG so many exciting ideas and they all do sound exciting. It looks like we have a good few thrilling Anita books in the future 🙂
Why not take several of your shorter ideas and turn them into a compilation story of “Anita’s men and friends” it something to that effect??
stained glass isn’t just about the pretty glass pieces ( although that’s what makes the lovely image) you have to have the lead solder to hold it all together… This may be what separates your great writing ability from those with less talent; your ability to seamlessly solder these pieces together! You rock! Please keep sharing your process and stories with us! 😀
Reading this makes me realize that I’m not crazy or scatterbrained. I just have a case of writer’s brain. I tend to have notes everywhere including my purse, the bathroom and my locker at work. I get random ideas at the weirdest times and write them on anything. The hardest part is incubating them and sewing them into a workable story when the time is right. I often get beginnings and endings and then have to mull over the workings of the middle until it makes a story or makes me crazy. Enough about me. Thank you for sharing.
Anita would be great if she started to change into her inner beasts, and use their powers to fight off vampires, the dead, or anything else. Story line with Nathanial can only be great love him. Edward need to come back into the picture.
I always look forward to a new book from you! Cant wait to read on!
Must be hard to write a book, not sure where to start, with a deadline looming over your head. The beauty is you have so many roads to pick. Much like picking your scoops of ice cream for a cone, do you need to pick one? I liked the earlier suggestion of putting all the stories together in one book. Whatever you choose, we’ll all be eagerly waiting!
You have the pieces and now you just have to meld it together.
Maybe it’s time for a short story book with different perspectives of the people in Anita’s live!
Why not merge a few of those fragments together into one “new” color? Several things going on in one book sounds like a real page-turner! I love Anita and can’t wait to see what she’s doing next!
That’s so amazing. I hear my pod trying to come up with ideas about art projects just le that. It amazes me sometimes how that works. I’m look forward to any and all you write with the Anita Blake world. That series has touched a part in me that nothing I have ever read before or after has done. I love her world and her men. We’ve not heard much about Jason lately either, maybe a short story? I love your books and can’t wait to see what you come up with next. Thank you for all you do for the world and our minds.
The four horseman are always my favorite! Olaf, Edward, Anita & Bernardo spot horse! You can never go wrong with these guys! Would love any book about Anita & the gang but I’ve gotta say these guys will always be my favorite!!!!! Sending some inspiration your way from Philadelphia!!!!!
I love how your mind works. I’m curious as to who Claudia is seeing
Thanx for the updates Laurell! I agree with allot of your other fans. A book of short stories would be great. I’ve always wondered if Anita would be contacted by her mom’s side of the family. I remember her grandmother teaching her how to control her necromancy then telling her dad to keep her away from the rest of that side of the family. As a Latina that can’t speak the language and didn’t grow up with allot of the community influence, I identify with Anita in that way and have always wondered how she would deal with them.
I can’t wait for the next Anita and Merry books! You are by far my favorite author! I read your books over and over again!
I so love the books merry and anita I miss my books tho got destroyed in the moore tornado in oklahoma I so wanna replace them to but haven’t had time still struggling to get back on track a year after its been so long since.
I used to live in Moore. ( a couple of blocks from Plaza grade school) we drove through right after it happened. SO AWFUL! Are you and your family alright?
I am so glad you are continuing to bring life to Anita… I have been reading her for almost 16 years now and it would be like losing a friend when her story is done…. Thank you for creating her and her world
Wow, so hard to choose which story to tell! It doesn’t matter to me, they all sound great! I’ll buy them
Hi Laurell I hope you & your family are well.
Take your time and let your ideas simmer for a while. It will come to you when you are not trying so hard. Just remember your fans love you & we all know your next book will be worth waiting for. All your ideas sounds great & I am sure we will get to read about them once they get to cook awhile. Your last Anita book was fabulous! I loved it. I can’t wait to hear about all Anita’s side effects. I hope she gets new amazing power from all the crap she had to deal with from the Mother of Darkness. You are a phenomenal writer keep the books coming. THANK YOU for all your books I enjoy everything you write. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY always!
Did we ever get the story of Anita and Jean Claude’s first meeting? In “Guilty Pleasures” they already knew each other. Their first encounter, and him living through it, must’ve been something… I’ve always been curious…
Laurell can you please have all your e books put into one big short story book. I have all your books in hardback & some of them I have duplicates. I like having a book in my hands when I am reading & relaxing. I think all books should have the option of what type you want to buy with a book being one of those options. I want my collection of your work to be complete. If this is at all possible I would appreciate getting to read all your work. I know there are some of your fans who would like this option also. I am a huge fan of your work. You are a inspiration to many.
So many good stories! But what about Anitas family? I would like a story about them. I really whish there was more books so i could reed more.
I love the previous thoughts on a book of short stories. Maybe in the process of doing that one of them will bloom into a novel.
This was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I kept reading, holding my breath, and letting out gasps of Ohs, and Ahs, just to let down a small disappointing sound whenever I read a “not yet”.
I cannot WAIT to see what comes next, I’m very happy to get confirmation that the next book will be an Anita Blake. I love the Merry Gentry series, but Anita Blake healed wounds, Anita Blake was like my own personal shrink where I curled up into a corner of my sofa and realized that it was okay to be me.
I’ve been waiting as patiently as possible for olaf to return!!!
YES! Absolutely!
I dont care what you do, so long as you keep doing it…may your muse forever keep shatting ideas upon your head…
All of those ideas sound nice. Glad that your batteries have been recharged so to speak.
I would love to see Anita interact with her Father, Step-mom and brother at some point.
Given her enemies, I have honestly been surprised no one has used them against Anita yet.
Whatever the next book is, I will be right there picking it up.
That sounds interesting.
How about a collection of all the short stories – kind of a fill in the info for all the characters around Anita?!?!?
Why not just do a collection of short stories? Or a duo or trio of novelettes? I’m sure the publisher wants a full length novel but I don’t see why either of the other two combos wouldn’t sell for them. Doing that might free up your brain from the clutter. Besides, there’s nothing to say that you can’t tie a novel to one of them later, is there?
I was really hoping for the continuing towards a wedding and a commitment ceremony for Jean Claude and Anita along with Micah and Nathaniel. I would like to see more on just Jean Claude and Anita……lately in the books they seem to be drifting away from each other.
But you know best and your muse is always right on. I have loved every Anita story you have written. So I guess you just have to relax and let the muse lead you. Can’t wait for the next Anita book!!!
I am totally on board with a full-length novel that’s focused on Anita, Jean Claude and Nathaniel and their connection. My favorite thing about the Anita novels are the scenes where the characters have these massive, soul shattering confrontations that are so beautifully written with such raw emotion and candor that it sucks you right into the story and sticks with you long after you’ve finished.
I’d love it if the next novel gave us the opportunity to see some of this with Jean Claude and Nathaniel – I know that both will stand his ground when needed, but with Anita they usually back off when she gets uncomfortable and pushes back with any amount of force. It would be great if some of the long-running issues among these three could be aired out. Particularly issues between JC and Anita – I keep waiting for them to have that moment, but it hasn’t happened yet, not really. In addition to their issues with trust, power, and Asher, I wish they would address Jean Claude’s feelings about not being #1 among Anita’s men – we get hints that he loves her more deeply than she him, but he seems to endure it with a stoic sadness that is so heartbreaking at times that it makes me hate Anita. It seems like he’s always holding out hope that one day love him with her whole heart as he seems to love her, but he (and everyone else) will always take a backseat to Nathaniel. Is Anita truly #1 in JC’s heart or is she second to his love of power? Does Nathaniel even care that he holds that spot in her heart? Does it mean anything to him or does he love everyone the same?
Nathaniel is soooooo screwed up, I don’t think he Even knows himself! J.C.s first priority is J.C.
Hi have you read the last book yet? Where JC asks Anita a big question and she says yes? If so surely this proves how much she loves him.
Yeah, well whatever……the question is, how much does he love her? If he rudely had her best interests at heart, he would leave Asher where he is. By bringing him back, ( because he “misses” him) shows he cares more for himself, and that crazy, dangerous, spoiled baby! No good can come from having Asher in the picture.
Unfortunately love isn’t always as logical as; “This person isn’t acting in our best interests, therefore I will cut him out of my life completely!” JC has been with Asher for a very long time, and in a way their relationship mirrors a classic abusive relationship to a ‘t’. Taking that psychology into consideration it is going to take something major to either; turn Asher’s attitude around, get rid of him or kill him off. Think about how much it took for Haven to misbehave for Anita to finally take care of him.
Blegh, that last sentence should have probably been worded as; “Think about how much Haven had to misbehave before Anita finally took care of him.”
True. The only problem is, I think he’s setting Anita up , to where SHE will have to kill him. Then J.C. Will not forgive her. Check she most likely will not forgive herself. However if Asher seriously hurts or kills someone she loves, in one of his crazy jelouse tantrums, SHE WILL TAKE HIM OUT!!! (J.C. knows this. Yet he brought him back anyway. Because he misses him. Boo-freaking-boo!
In a way I agree with you–I think JC is setting Anita up as a type of fail-safe to do what he cannot. When it comes down to the line on certain matters Anita is more ruthless than JC; and in a way he acknowledges this in Affliction and defers to her on the matter of what to do if Asher misbehaves again. He is somewhat like Richard in his pouting ways of wanting something that does not jive with everyone’s happiness. Some of the men are being set up as selfish at the moment; Richard is selfish in his interactions with Anita and with his self-loathing messing up Anita’s and the Wolves’ lives; Jean-Claude is selfish for bringing Asher back; and Asher is selfish for, well, just about all of his behavior toward everyone. Jean-Claude wanting to keep the Harlequin around is also causing issues, and I wonder if an insurrection is in the cards where they’re concerned.
OMG! TONI! YOU HAVE HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD!!!!
OMG so intrigued, can’t wait for all those ideas to come to fuition!!!!!
I really would love you to delve back into Anita’s necromancy. It seems to have been put on the back burner for the last few books, and that was what pulled me into the series in the first place. It is such a huge part of who she is, how she relates to herself, and whenever she has really used her power, like leaving a bloody wheelchair in a cemetery, I can’t wait for her to do it again. I want her to be powerful in her own right, with the powers that she was born with, not just with what she gained from the marks between her and two of the hottest men ever.
Maybe a short story book of all these wonderful ideas that are coming in as short story idea’s? You know clean up the imagination some so that they are not all overlapping and getting jumbled together like your office was? Or fading into oblivion like the faded sticky notes…but that’s just an idea…
In all of those little sticky notes is there anything about Wicked Truth? I love those two as much as Edward (Not sure I like Ted yet). Someone suggested a book filled with short stories of everyone you mentioned. I like that one. If Anita and Jean-Claude are ever to make a marriage work, I think we need that. I totally like the idea that Edward feels he could feed Anita’s ardour (crap can’t spell that of the top) and Nathaniel and Anita being in Ted’s wedding. A story I would love to see is Micah’s dad and his connections with the same government people Edward was involved with. What terribly awful evil would necessitate such an alliance and would it draw Anita closer to Edward and Olaf’s world? All of the above and so much more, I will eat it up. I like reading about Meredith but Anita’s world is incredibly awesome and I just want more and more of it with each book I read.
YES! I love the way you think Diana.
I totally agree. I love love LOVE THE WICKED TRUTH
Loving the way you think, Dezi! I love them as well!
I would love to see a short-story or novella that details the Wicked Truth’s backgrounds, and the background of their sourdre de sang’s last days and descent into madness; their thoughts on what they would have to do and such. They are positively yummy as characters.
Obsidian Butterfly is my favorite of the series, to this day, and much of that has to do with Edward. More on him would be lovely.
There are so many ways the series can go and so much she can write–I’d be happy with anything, to be honest.
Do to! What Toni said!
Are you going to bring Anita’s family like her father or stepmother into a book ?
I would also love to read more about Anita’s family. I know she mentions a stronger connection, in passing, with her younger brother, but not much has been said about them. Sometimes to heal certain wounds you have to go to the root of the problem, and Anita mentions her family being the source of not a small number of issues.
Love your books. They help me get through rough spots from a head-on car accident. When I read your books, I feel as if I am in the story. Thank you for your writings. I look forward to reading the Merry Gentry and more Anita Blake. You rock!!
If i may, i think what ever you do will be great because i am your number one fan lol, but side note, now might be a perfect time to introduce a secret so old that only the mother of all darkness knew it. a secret of a time that drove her to get the powers she had to command the cats like she did. an ancient threat that no one even knew was a threat. something along the demon or angel angle. the mother of all darkness could have been some kind of force holding this ancient “Threat” at bay and now that she’s gone and Anita does not have a full grasp of all the powers yet the seal could be coming lose or off.
I’m so glad a new Merry book is coming. I love both series & I’ve finally been able to buy them all. You are my favorite author & now you are also my daughter’s favorite as well. Her name is Laurel & now she thinks I spelled her name wrong. Lol. You are an absolutely wonderful author & I can’t wait til I get your next book whether it’s a novel or novella!!
How about someone new.With one of the short storys thown in.Their storys need to be told.But part of me says new dark, exciting,sexy,unimaginable sex.Something that makes me so horny that i attack my husband and girlfriend lol.
No pressure, but you’re amazing. Looking forward to see what you have in store for us fans, as well as for yourself!
I look forward to seeing the results of your spring cleaning, in whatever form they take shape!
You are by far my favorite current author, and Merry and Anita are both as close as sisters to me, along with their assorted friends/lovers, because I’ve re-read their complete series each and every time a new book comes out. I just can’t wait to begin all over again. 🙂
What about Damien? We haven’t heard about him in a loooong time.
I am incredibly interested in a story revolving around Olaf and Anita. I can’t wait to see what happens between the two of them! Maybe I am just liking the idea of how Olaf could change (for better or worse) with Anita’s influence. Whatever idea you choose I am excited already for another Anita Blake novel!
YES! Me too!
So many wonderful ideas. Looking forward to which ever one you chose
I was so happy while reading all the new Anita ideas that I practically had tears forming. Any and all of them are great ideas; can’t wait to read them!!! Sending lots of love, as always.
You probably don’t even read these comments, and I’m sure you get plenty of suggestions and you obviously have lots of your own ideas. But PLEASE, PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE at least think about a storyline that involves Jean Claude taking Anita to France! There’s so much potential for vampire politics or council business, and Jean Claude & Asher history. And JC was so possessive of Anita in the beginning, now that he’s OK with sharing her, it seems like he never gets his own time with her. He’s my favorite of her sweeties and we never get to see him romantically.
I agree with some of the comments from your loyal fans. There needs to be more Jean C & Anita. It seems like they are just drifting further & further away. Jean C is my favorite man in her life & he loves her so much. It’s seems like she don’t feel the same way about him. All she seens to care about Is Micha & Nathaniel. I love all your books..you are my favorite author so what ever you may decide to write next I am sure we will all love it. Take care of yourself.
Yes, please! They all sound wonderful in either short or long form…
All the ideas sound wonderful;however, when you mention just a short story or novelette I feel the selfish side come out of me. I love your writing and books so much that I want a book as long as possible. But,again, that is just selfish. If I can put in my two cents, I love anything to do with Nicky. A story about Samson next would be good too.
I can’t wait for the Merry book to come out. I hope it’s not quite as long for the next one after that. Because I can’t believe you ended the series. 🙂 Thank you for all your wonderful books. I’ve been in love with your characters and writing for years.
I love all your novels. My only problem is that i want to read the short stories you have only allowed to be made as e-books. PLEASE release them at some stage as a compendium so we can fill in any blanks that have been created
What about Anita and Edward taking Peter to hunt Olaf since he was part of Edwards team and Edward always seem to feel responsible for them and keeping the peace between them.
All sound lovely but the explosion I’m waiting for is how Anita can ignore her family when her estrangement would make them the logical best target as hostages. How pissed will she be that Jean Claude’s been secretly guarding them against that fate?
I like so many of the Ideas,but as a true admirer of your work I’d really like Belle Morte to surface again.Maybe come for Anita in a power play,for the final mark .Whatever direction you take will be great .you have created so many characters that draw us in as readers.
I want a “spot on our characters”, almost like a collection of vinettes updating to where we are all around.
Obviously not the wedding that’s current time, but all the personal
Stories.
Personally, I’ll be interested in anything you write, but I would love to know about the side effects and power boosts from MOAD and maturation of the necromancy — I love it when Anita gets more power and it shakes up the world you created. I’m also glad that Anita seems more comfortable in her own skin. Secondly any stories around Nicky and Nathaniel will be my favs. Any chances of any stories around Anita’s family? Her dad, Judith and her step sister and half brother would be great. Why doesn’t anyone ever go after them?
What about doing a book that contains several of the novelettes? Just see which stories seem to work together.
Hi Laurel!
We need some Richard… I know hes a pain in the butt but i do love him. And how about a book of shorts stories for all of those novella/short stories etc listed? I’d buy that in a heartbeat!
Keep well and keep writing!
YES, YES, YESSSSSS! (That was my Meg Ryan imitation! Lol!)
I still really care about Richard. Much like a first love, there will always be a space in my heart reserved for him.
I could never put my finger on it but Obsidian Butterfly is still my favorite novel of the series. With that said I’m going to have to vote for an Edward & Anita adventure! Nothing like a little monster hunting while you’re in the midst of a wedding, eh?
Does Laurell even look at this forum? Is this just for us? Does anyone know? I would be interested to know if she even hears some of the ideas put forward, and what she thinks.
I am really looking forward to the Merry book. In regards to Anita I would have to say I would love to hear more about Anita’s necromancy and the trade-off with MOAD. Would it be possible to tie in the Asher/Julianna/Jean-Claude with the revelation of Jean-Claude/Nathaniel and this revelation of Anita’s powers?
Laurell…. Anita is my absolute favorite
to read! I can’t wait for the next one!
You are my favorite author and I gotta
tell ya’ the suspense is killing me.How’s
Olaf going to handle Anitas ceremony ?
That’s my big question…..I reckon that could get ugly….now I know you can’t tell me but I’ll tell you One thing I CANNOT wait to see where the chips fall next..
As long as you keep writing I’ll keep Reading what’s
next…
I love the books. I would love see read more about the marriage ideas Anita and Jean Claude had at the end of Affliction. That would definitely have some interesting drama in that situation.
M’mm. M’mm. M’mm.
So fascinating and wonderful. Can’t wait for what comes next 😀
I would love to see a story about Anita’s Leopards, We haven’t seen them in a while! I also would like to see one about her family, she talks about them there could be a really good story line there! Can’t wait for the next Merry book! Thanks for the great reads!!
In my opinion, Anyone who says they want Anita to “conquor the ardeur” and settle down with Richard has no true understanding of how Anita has evolved. She would never be happy with only him now. She would have been at one time but now Micah,Nathanial and Jean Claude and many of the others, are necessary for her to be fulfilled and happy. I loved Richard at first but he had his head u know where and never really understood Anita at all. Not the way Jean Claude did almost from the beginning. I think if Anita had to be with only one person and give up everyone else even she could not make that choice. Each one of her men gives her something only they can. That’s what makes their whole world work. And soooo much fun to read!! One love? Pshaw! Read a Harlequin. 😉
How about doing all the novella’s and short stories and bringing them out as the next Anita book?
That way you can get rid of all of them in 1 hit and we are all happy little readers because we get a smorgasbord of all
Ahh!! All of these teasers! How are we going to hold out now that we know some/all of the ideas that are stewing in your mind? This post has given me a serious case of bluebrains.
In all seriousness, I would just like to say how thankful I am for your amazing talent. I’m not sure what my life was like before Anita & Merry walked into it.
well stained glass art begins with a myriad pieces of colored glass spattered about, brought together with imagination, solder and copper or lead, I can see Anita in stained glass, a tempered beauty.
I love all the ideas. I have been looking forward to a new Anita Blake book. As with everyone else, I have read the series multiple times and absolutely love everything about Anita. I have always felt like there should be a follow up story to Obsidian Butterfly. Wouldn’t it be fun if Anita was somehow a distant relative of the great goddess herself? Well, just a fun thought. Thank you for writing so many wonderful books.
I have read just about everything you have wrote and I love it all. I have already ordered the new book and cannot wait to get it. My son got me to read your first book than it was a race to see who could get the next the fastest. Now my two daughters love them as much as we do. We are an Laurell K Hamilton fan club family HAHA! I even have your Star Trek book. I love it also! You are a VERY gifted and talented lady and a gift to the world. Thank you for sharing that gift with us all. I know it takes time away from your family and we really do appreciate it. Again thank you very much for giving us this great gift. I wish I could come to one of the book readings but I cannot take being in crowded places so I content myself with the website and books. I do get your input on my facebook so I get to keep up with what is going on.
with all your ideas what if you put several of them into one novel and have them connect with one larger idea. So basicly theres a plot with several sub plots.
Yes, Please…..to all them scrumptious ideas!
I always finish the Anita books in 2 days, tops. Makes it hard to wait for the next one! I’d love to hear more about Edward and of course Olaf.
I have all Anita Blake books..thinking of rereading them until the next one comes out..love this series..Jean-Claud oh my sounds so sexy & Micha oh I could name them all..great job Laurell
Well, well this summer I Will not be reading any Anita Blake cause there is non to read.
I think it is time to meet Charlie. Thats is what I have longed for. And I would love for Anita and Jean-Claude to make lots of love. And I think Nataniel should be jealous, and, rise to be a man, and bring hos own mated female. What would Anita make out of that?
Hugs and love from Sweden 🙂
Just finished A Shiver of Light! OMG!!! Loved it!!!!!
I love all of the Anita Blake books…she is just more my style than Merry, but I like her too. I am really glad you decided to slow down and write happier. We like you happy! As far as Richard is concerned, I almost wish she had really let him go in the Harlequin. I loved Harlequin, but I got the feeling you put some stuff in there that maybe was meant for later, like the line about Richard letting go.It felt so permanent, and now that she can break bonds…oh well. I think it is time for him to be outted as a werewolf or maybe we can fix him up with that nice cop werewolf that Anita met a while ago. I noticed on your list of ideas you didn’t put anything about all the babies coming to St. Louis..There’s something for the werewolf teacher to do…and Anita not aging…so much to choose from. I can’t wait to see what’s next. Let it simmer though, and let us know when it is soup.
no Richard needs to stay and become a bigger part of her life. In some ways I think Richard grounds her, I’m not a big fan of her live ins, to wimpy and to needy for my tastes.
LOVE YOU CANDY! (You are SPOT ON in your opinion of Richard!)
We needs some Richard stories or at least give her a new werewolf in her life that is a main character. We haven’t seen any wolves for 3 books now. And I miss them. At this point I don’t even care if it’s Graham that becomes a big wolf in her life. It’s all about the cats. We have heard nothing from the throngs rokke
I like to see Richard back in a very real way. ( still love him, even though…….) Graham,….NO WAY!!!!
That short story about Richard coming to terms and letting go of that human woman at the restaurant, when Anita and Micah came to meet her.. was big, to let go of the human for Richard marks a point where he is not only accepting of his dark side, but possibly ready to admit no white picket fence and human wife for him. So it seems as if he is ready look elsewhere, specially since they have learned how to help a she wolf whelp a pup, okay, have baby. I too want Richard to be the strong alpha that he is, to step up and use his power for good and to help fight evil. Other then help fight and protect I don’t think he and Anita need to be a couple. I am also ready to get rid of Asher… his animal is hyena and now Anita has that too. Will Asher think he can own Anita now and control her? Or will the dark mothers power keep that from happening. I have been waiting for Anita to use some of the dark mothers power. More police work too…
GO TERESA! I agree with EVERYTHING you just said with one possible caviot. I would like to see Anita and Richard somehow work things out to where they can be together. ( ditto on getting rid of Asher! I am soooooo over him!)
In the short story they were still getting together of BDSM. That was one of the things the human lady friend couldn’t handle and asked Richard to give it up, or implied he should give it up and she left and he did not follow or even turn and look at her outside the window of the restaurant. She left crying.
I would love to see more about Van Cleef and that storyline that’s been budding since obsidian butterfly. The way it effects Anita, the possible opens to Edward’s past etc all sound amazing
I agree!
I would love to see Richard and Anita get together. I like the vampires, but your description of Richard won my heart, and he deserves to be with Anita, a little more than he is. Just my thoughts.
Again, LOVE YOU CANDY! (I could not agree more! On your opinion of Richard, AND Micah, and Nathaniel!) YOU GO GIRL!
It’s really cool to hear about what paths in the story line you want to explore next especially since those are all the things I wounder about when I think of the Anita Blake world. I think you left a few out haha.
There is still the matter of Obsidian Butterfly’s territory in America. She had pretty much seceded from the European vampire council but offered an alliance to Jean-Claude that Anita never reported to him. Now that America seceded under Jean-Claude that territory is still on its own (and “persona non gratta” stamped).
We also never got to find out what happened with the Los Lovos biker gang and the creature their necromancer made for/out of them. I got the feeling it got edited out but it would be great to hear about it.
What ever happened to the Quetzalcoatl?
What ever happened to Sebastian the were-tiger? I forget, did he get marked by Anita? Was he really a member of the Harlequin for so long?
There is also the Nick’s old mercenary pride. Their leader sounded like he wanted a home soon but didn’t like being bound to follow Anita’s orders (mostly out of fear of what happened with his old pride).
What happened to the vampire/ big cat lycanthropes that Belle Morte managed to wake and free from the Dark Mother? Were there any other Cave Lions to save the species? And what did the Dark Mother mean when she said the were-tigers were the last powerful cats left in the world? Were there others that may have hidden from her?
Will there ever be any more fae in this series?
Edward and Anita still need to take Edwards son on his first hunt outside the US.
ae
All very interesting points. ( especially about Obsidian Butterfly. They need to take her “crazy a$$ OUT! And free up those ware- jaguar people to a better future. Anita could gain their beast, and bring them Ingo the fold.)
I think it is interesting that Anita is in St. LOUIS with the Seelie, and the UN-Seelie mounds right there, and she has virtually NO interactions with the local fey. ( weird)
I think the first 8 books could go to the big screen. After that it would after be HBO or show time
So there’s no way to mesh all the short stories into one long novel sized story? Then maybe just do a novel sized book filled with all the short stories you are thinking about – every chapter a new story or something?
I look forward to whatever you come up with. 🙂
Because you draw such wonderful and unique characters in Anita’s life, you intrigue us enough that we’d be happy to follow you down any of the paths you’ve described. What about taking all those new short story/novella ideas and putting together into a “family scrapbook of memories–past and present”? If one is meant to be its own full-length book, it should reveal itself in the process–and if not, we would all be thrilled with updates/insights into the smart, sexy, incredible folks that populate Anita’s life. Those stories may need to get told before the full-length story shows up–it may just be waiting for room to bloom! Thank you for all the enjoyment.
I love all your work. Im not worried you know what’s best. I just can’t wait to read your new work.
Love the Anita Blake book’s can’t wait for the next one.
Is either of your series going to screened. is it something you’d allow.
Make a collection of short stories in a book later, it will probably make things easier to focus on. Please make a book where Anita Blake goes home to her family, you can probably throw Olaf in it too. As a way to get to Anita, he is a retired government worker who could find anything out after all.
I just reread the Anita Blake series after finishing Affliction. (loved Affliction soooo much!!) I’m glad to hear that you are working happier. I know your books have brought me a lot of happiness. I’m such a fan. I’m excited for anything with Jean-Claude and Anita, my favorite pair :). After what happened with them in Affliction I look forward to a follow-up in the next book.
Oh, I forgot to add that I’d love to see an Asher goes bad book :). I know there has been a build up the last couple books and hope its leading towards a big blow out battle. I would be emotional and awesome at the same time.
What about Anita’s family? Her dad, her stepmom, brother and sister. Meet the family. What about an appearance of Meredith? Meredith’s men vs. Anita’s men. Maybe they can work together to solve a case. More action, less sex scenes.( Been a fan since the beginning but very tired of the repetitions in the last few books. You’re an awesome writer, and hope your character Anita will rise up from the ashes)
Because of how she wrote faeries into the series in the book Bloody Bones, she has stated there will never be a book that features both Anita and Merry. She would have to re-write faeries in the Anita series to do so.
I want to read more about her powers over the dead, I’m completely obsessed with this series and all the hunting she does!! The orgys are abit over the top and the bondage but I still really enjoy reading these books an refuse to read anything else,
What about a story involving Ethan?
I don’t know if this has been asked and answered elsewhere, but is there a reason why Anita didn’t use her powers in the last full book? What with ZOMBIES and NERCROsis and not realizing who the possible culprit could be until like. The end. And then using her gun to end people instead of her very particular and, as far as I had been explained, useful in such situations powers? If this has already been addressed, someone please point me to the answer. Concerned parties would like to know.
Also the post about Anita’s family is a good point. How many years have passed in World Blake with no real communication with her father or whoever else? Have I missed this too? There are a lot of basic elements of the world and characters I personally would like to see revisited and explored. Round it out. Take the time to fill up some holes. Do it right.
Love World Blake though, regardless. Keep it coming.
would love to see Anita and Ted in another one of there kiss ass adventures.