Fangs for the Fantasy Podcast - Episode 22

This week we discuss the latest episode of True Blood!

We also talk about Changeling by Yasmine Galenorn and other books we are currently reading

Review: Hit List by Laurell K Hamilton, Book 20 of the Anita Blake series

Yes, here I am getting fully up to date with Anita Blake so I can have another break before I have to face this again. So, Hit List, by Laurell K Hamilton

Anita finds herself called all around the US and finally to Seattle in her role as US Marshall of the preternatural branch. The Harlequin loyal to the Mother of All Darkness are hunting tigers – weretigers – and leaving a trail of butchered bodies in their wake. Anita, away from St. Louis and her powerful magical foundation there, as well as her mighty and numerous – oh-so-numerous – allies now must face Harlequin and Mother Darkness with a few body guards and her fellow US Marshalls, including Edward, Bernardo and Olaf.

In some ways I was relieved when the focus of this book became clear. It was another Obsidian Buttferly, another rescue from the endless sex, another holiday from the angst. Another attempt to return to what Anita Blake was – Necromancer, kick arse fighter, strong, powerful, driven by justice and finding the bad guy. Rather than what she had become – sex addicted, surrounded by angst and personal issues, constantly emotionally crashing, constantly fretting about her loves and marvelling at the new shiny power du jour.

Already we've removed many of the problems that normally make me cringe at Anita Blake. Without the 10 zillion extra characters, we're not going to get stuck on unnecessary tangents and side-plots. Without her harem we're not going to have page and page of sex. Without all their emotional baggage to juggle, we're not going to get the endless angst pages. This made me happy! Less so when Anita picked up a new tiger boyfriend to put some of the sex and angst back, but still, it was an improvement

Unfortunately, I'm never happy am I? Well, sometimes I am, but not in this book. The plot just kind of flailed around madly. There was no direction, no plan, no purpose from the main characters. This is something of a problem all the Anita Blake novels have – they're far more reactive than active – but it seemed much worse in this one. Whether it was the de-emphasis on humping and angst, the book's plot felt vaguely weak to me. There's a reason why my plot synopsis is pretty weak up there – there's just not a lot to report on.

Anita & the Marshalls don't really DO anything to try and solve these crimes. Not really, they just hang around passing the time until *gasp* they're attacked! Then they save themselves! Yay! Then it's back to twiddling their thumbs until the next attack. It's not just that they're reactive, but they're reactive to a level that is ridiculous for their role. It's like police who hang around the police station waiting for the criminals to try and rob them. Anita does very little to foil Harlquin except be attacked several times and survive.

The problem for me is that it meant the book had no focus. The real focus – the Harlequin and Mother Darkness – were so strongly de-emphasised that it seemed to be far more a book about Olaf lusting after Anita (someone kill the man already. No, really. He was an interesting side-plot, but there's zero reason why this increasingly unstable and vile man has been left alive by Anita, her harem, Edward or just about ANYONE for this long. And I don't care what extra shiny skill he has that is so important – all we've seen are easily replicated abilities. I don't want to see another book where they all watch him cuddle YET ANOTHER small, dark haired woman and say “oh how scary, Olaf is thinking of torturing and raping her to death” and everyone think how creepy that is without one of them just saying “screw this” and shooting him) or the dramas with the Red Tigers, or Ethan, her new multi-coloured tiger sex toy's issues, or dealing with Marshalls who loathed Anita or were too much a rookie to be in the position they were in. The Harlequin was almost a distraction to their niggling little side plots, rather than the main focus of the book. In the end, it felt like a day in the life of Anita which these annoying Harlequin folk kept interrupting, the pests. And the ending (which felt kinda rushed and tacked on -because, again, zero focus on Harlequin) was grossly anticlimactic, abrupt and over far too damn soon. It left me feeling dissatisfied and disappointed, without any sense of victory or epicness or even major conflict.

For more detail I have to resort to spoilers:

Spoiler break!

True Blood: You Smell Like Dinner

Last week, at the end of episode one, like many others, I did the mad dash to HBO to watch episode two, only to discover that it was and in fact still is, restricted to residents of the 50 states.  HBO has no problem accepting my subscriber fee that I pay every month, but somehow, I was not entitled, like every other fan, to get a sneak peek. Yeah, I am still bitter as hell over that one.  I had to spend the week carefully avoiding spoilers, because I didn't want last nights episode ruined for me.

Okay, rant off my chest, let's dig in shall we?  Last nights episode really made up for the crappy start last week.  I must admit that I was worried when I saw the terrible sci-fi effects in the first episode.  I am always the type that thinks when it comes to urban fantasy, more is better, and so I was really worried that we would be subjected to more cheap effects.  Here's the deal HBO, True Blood is making y'all a killing, and since you already got off way to cheap on the wolves, as far as I am concerned, you need to spend some money and do some actual special effects. (okay, so I lied, I had one more rant in me) Back on topic now.

There were several things going on this episode and rather than do a recap, I thought I would just talk about what I loved, what made no sense, and what I outright hated.  Pam once again stole the show for me, though she really did not have a huge part to play in the episode.  When she stopped Jessica from intervening in Hoyt's fight saying, "that technology has taken all of the fun out of being a vampire," because someone was recording made me laugh. My other favourite Pam line came when Sookie approached her to enlist her help in getting Eric to sell her back her home.  Pam looked dead pan at Sookie and said, "Did I miss something?  Are we girls now?  Did we join a book club and read some queer chick lit memoir and so now we're bonded together by estrogen, or sisterhood, or some other feminist drivel?"How can that possibly be beat?  Sookie's problem is that she is used to being able to bend people to her will and Pam is one of the few that consistently puts herself first, and no amount batting eyelashes will change that.  Only Pam could be that cool in the ugliest red dress under creation.

The other scene I liked also involved Sookie, except this time it included Jessica. After struggling to get together with Hoyt last season Jessica is quickly finding out domestic bliss is not everything she thought it might be.  Not only must Jessica adjust to her vampire nature, at 17 years old and coming from a Christian conservative family, Jessica has never had any freedom.  Hoyt may have seemed like a valid escape at first but now he is slowly becoming dead weight around her neck.  After he refuses to drink her blood to help him heal, she tells him that she is going to get him some Advil for the pain and instead heads straight to Fangtasia to hunt. After hearing Jessica drinking blood, Sookie being Sookie i.e. a woman that does not what is and is not her business decides to intervene.  After explaining to Sookie how much she hurts Bill, Jessica tells her, "stop acting like my step mom. I hated it before and I like it even less now. Just go away. This ain't got nothing to do with you. I can eat who I want."  And there you have it folks, twice in one night Sookie got told off and I loved it.  As much as love True Blood, Sookie is one of the least empathetic heroines I have come across in a long time.  Not even the talented Alan Ball, can undo the horror of Charlaine Harris.

The particular race fail of urban fantasy is not so particular

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake has been sitting on my Kindle waiting to be read for a year. The book concerns a girl who, when she eats, can taste the emotions of the food's preparer. Lemon Cake is not urban fantasy but magical realism. Now, around here, we give urban fantasy a lot of grief, but it's important to remember that one needn't read fantasy to uncover racial "fails." For instance, the tendency of authors to identify only the race of non-white characters spans many literary genres. Check out this positive review of Lemon Cake by Jennifer at Mixed Race America, where she calls out the author Aimee Bender for exactly that writing error:

But even if Rose and her family live in a very white neighborhood (which seems to be the case), the fact that whiteness is the default setting--the universally taken-for-granted identity--the identity that need not be named--remains a point of annoyance for me. Rose's best friend--her neighbors--her class mates and teachers--are not racially marked and thus I think most readers assume that they must be white--a point emphasized through the way that Bender has clearly marked George as mixed-race within the first 6 chapters of the book. The fact that she goes to the trouble to mark the nurse as black, even though her blackness seems to do nothing for the narrative, again highlights the seeming racelessness of all other characters--a racelessness we are to see as synonymous with being white.

Which is a problem. To believe that whiteness is a universal--that it is a form of racelessness--is a HUGE problem in our day and age when trying to understand the ways in which people of color are racialized and the ways in which racism operates--because this IS one of the very subtle ways that racism operates--as a form of normalizing certain races (white) and emphasizing difference for all others (the non-white). Read more...

Review: Bullet by Laurell K Hamilton, Book 19 of the Anita Blake series

Yes. I read it. I know I know, reading Anita Blake at this point redefines flogging a dead horse. But I feel compelled to finish this hot mess – and it's like a trainwreck, you just have to keep watching. So here I am, suffering through book 19 of the series. Book 19! Ye gods, who would have thought it would last this long

On the actual plot (let's cover it quickly since it's a relatively minor element). And there's some sorta there, carefully sandwiched between the drama, angst and random ongoing side issues.

It would appear the Mother of all Darkness is not dead. Though her body got all exploded, her spirit live son, possessing... the vampire council! And with this power Mother Dark can rule the world (dramatic laugh) and do deadly dark, evil things, using the power – political and metaphysical – of these mighty vampires to feed on death and destruction and raise up to new and greater powers until the earth is swallowed under a tide of badness.

Jean-Claude, Anita & the ever expanding posse will oppose this – by setting up a new Council and becoming a new pre-eminent power and part of this involves binding more power to them – especially the tigers – all the colours. The red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and... no, wait, that's Sing a Rainbow. Anyway, Anita & JC must bind to themselves to be the new Master of Tigers and Lord of the Day. Since (if you've been keeping up from the last book, or the one before. I forget, they all involved humping) Mother Darkness' arch-nemesis had these powers before Anita killed him after performing a sex show for him (yeah, I know, I know).

So, anyway. JC & Anita (and the posse) need to gather their power and their multi-coloured day-glo tigers (gotta catch 'em all!) and become the overlord of all Masters in the US to protect everyone from Mother Darkness.

That plot summation could probably have been done with little more attention. Probably. Sad thing is? The plot idea I liked. I was intrigued and the idea of again being forced to gather power to protect themselves and again facing a danger so epic and completely terrifying in scope as this was presented. And it was presented as that – it was literally a “oh shit” moment when you realised what the antagonist was. But it's so damn hard to be engaged in this series now with all the endless sex and utterly pointless angst that get in the damn way. I think the actual plot made up about 20% of the book, if that.

Laurell K Hamilton interview at Barnes and Noble

 

When I first started reading urban fantasy, one of the authors that I was widely recommended was Laurell K Hamilton.  I will admit that when I first started reading her books, I really liked Anita Blake.  Okay, so she was another of those protagonists that is supposedly bi-racial, but has no connection to her ethnic culture, but she was a tough kick ass woman and I liked that.  I especially liked Eward and was willing to ignore Richard and his angst, because at the time, there was a plot involved, that is, until LKH lost her damn mind and the story became nothing more than one long fuck fest.  I have seen porn with more plot than the books LKH is writing now.  Even with all of that said, Sparky, who must have a touch of masochist in him, is STILL reading these books.  I figured that there might be a few other fans out there, and so have I decided to share an interview that she did for those who have not seen it.

PGA: Hit List is your 20th Anita Blake novel – that is a remarkable feat! Aside from Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Saint-Germain sequence, I can’t think of a [paranormal fantasy-powered] series that even comes close to Anita Blake in terms of longevity and popularity. Why do you think this saga has had such an amazing run?

LKH:  Fans tell me that my imaginary friends have become their friends too. I also think the fact that I'm still having a blast writing the books shows. You can always tell when a writer has grown bored with her world and characters. The series continues sometimes, because the writer is too popular to stop, but the heart goes out of the world and characters. I still put my heart, mind, and body into my books, and the fans give that same level of devotion.

PGA: After finishing Hit List, it’s apparent that Anita is still growing and evolving – and there is still plenty of room for her  “to play” in this realm. Do you have the overall story arc outlined or is the saga open-ended at this point?

LKH: It's open-ended. I honestly hate over-arcing story lines in my own writing. I much prefer writing Anita more like a mystery series with every book as much of a stand-alone as possible, except for ongoing character development.

PGA: When I interviewed you back in 2003 (for Cerulean Sins), you said essentially that you write for yourself, you write what you wanted to read. Do you still find that true?

LKH: Yes. In fact, when I started the next book very recently I was having trouble getting the book off the ground. I tried several opening gambits, and nothing made me happy, and I've found when I'm not happy I haven't found my beginning. So, I threw out all my preconceived notions of where I thought the book would go, what had to happen next, logical progression, etc. . . .and thought what interests me? What sounds fun to me? I made a list of the characters, ideas, and unexplored avenues in the world that intrigued me. Suddenly I had the opening and then as I wrote the first pages, the rest of the plot just formed. Now, I may still not have the whole plot done; but then again, maybe I do. I'll find out somewhere between 50-150 pages into the book on average. 

PGA: We’re in the midst of a glorious Golden Age of paranormal fantasy. It’s the fastest growing category in all of fiction and is continually redefining itself with new releases that explore and expand its boundaries – in my mind, it’s nothing short of a genre fiction revolution. The potential for this fusion of genre elements – fantasy, romance, mystery, horror, etc. – is just limitless. Is there a sense of motherly pride knowing that your Anita Blake sequence primed the pump for all of this?

LKH: Motherly pride? Hmm, I hadn't thought about it like that. *laughs* I am certainly astonished that a type of book that I was told would never sell back in late 1980s/early 1990s has become the genre that, arguably, saved publishing in these rather dire times. The first Anita Blake novel, Guilty Pleasures, was rejected over 200 times. Editors told me the vampire genre was dead, or that mixed genre didn't sell. They had no idea how to market a book that mingled so much in one package.

Finish reading here

Review: Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Book 1 of the Harry Dresden series

Oh I like this one. And the ooooh means I mean it!

No, I really do. The main character is awkward enough, clumsy enough and generally human enough to appeal. And I like how he is both an awesomely powerful wizard capable of so much, while at the same time being several kinds of dorky and human.

I also love the little tricks of world building like electronics not working near wizards. Little things like that make a world :). Which is big and rich – but I haven't seen it all. Which is good – I'm on the first book and I shouldn't see the whole world in a several book series yet. This is how world building is done – in increments not info dumps, in lots of showing not long lecturous tellings

And I love the magic system, I love the system of imagery and symbolism that makes it up. I like it a loooot :)

But above all I like the story. And I didn't think I would. I'll be honest, the supernatural consultant to the police isn't something I dislike, but it is something that has been done a whooooole lot and it's beginning to feel just a tad tired to me. However Harry Dresden is a police advisor in a Masquerade world that is a little bit of a twist and it was done well enough that it didn't bother me :). I think it also got the right balance for a crime mystery – complicated enough that the detectives don't look like fools for not getting it right away without being so convoluted that the whole thing just didn't make any damn sense at all.

There's a wizard out there and he's killing people. Killing people in big, nasty messy ways. Harry has to find them. He also has to make rent, which is overdue, complete work for one of his few paying clients (being Chicago's only public wizard doesn't pay well – not with most people not believing in magic) and deal with saving himself from the attentions of the same murderous wizard. As an added bonus, the White Council, the wizard ruling body, thinks he's done it and is willing to execute him unless he proves otherwise. On the side he has to deal with a cynical police force that doesn't believe in magic and a curious journalist who very much does.

It's a complicated life, and a fascinating story.

Thoughts on Season Four of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

As I have previously mentioned, for a project that I am working on, I have to watch all seven seasons of Buffy.  I have written a review for each season that I have watched thus far:  one, two and three respectively. In previous seasons, the teen angst has certainly been an issue for me.  I know that it is to be expected with a teenage protagonist; however, that does not mean that I have any real tolerance for it.  With Buffy and the Scooby gang in college, and Angel across the country, the angst level finally began to tone down, and I began enjoying it somewhat. 

From a social justice perspective, by far the most troubling episode that I have viewed to date was episode 8 of season four entitled Pangs.  It begins with Willow quite matter of factly stating why she and her mother have a problem with celebrating Thanksgiving.  All of the guilt however, is quickly overshadowed when the Chumash warrior Hus runs amok in Sunnydale -- after their grave site is disturbed, because of an attempt to build a Cultural Center at UC Sunnydale.  The Chumash warrior Hus rightfully want revenge for what was done to their people, but all Buffy can do is respond with White guilt and angst.  When she finally gets her slayer on, they sit down at a table to have Thanksgiving dinner, thus proving that they didn't learn a damn thing.  Whedon made a point of having Willow explain why Thanksgiving is a problematic holiday at the beginning, but dismissing that, after once again letting the White people defeat the supposedly bad Native people, and then eat a meal in celebration, was disgusting to say the least.

After being unable to control himself around a female werewolf, Oz leaves Sunnydale.  During his absence, we begin to see a budding romance between Willow and Tara.  Of course, it is all rather chaste and other than some hand holding, the audience is left to assume there is more going on.  If Whedon can film Buffy making out and having sex with both Angel and Riley, why is a kiss between Tara and Willow forbidden?  It hardly feels progressive when straight characters are highly visible and LGBT characters are not.  I know this was made in the 90's, but I am not going to give it a pass on that basis.  Whedon had a chance to be progressive and he blew it big time.