"Well, um....it looks like porn"

[mythicalgirl]

Anyone who knows me well knows that I used to read Laurell K Hamilton's books.  Both series.  I even read several books after she, um, changed her style as it were.  Eventually I gave up on both series (AB after Danse Macabre and MG after Mistral's Kiss).  Not because of the amount of sex though.  Erotica, even straight out porn, doesn't bother me in the least.  And I've been known to read some Aphrodisia titles now and then (Kate Douglas' Chanku books are a fave).  No, I gave up reading LKH because her books, um, well....they started to suck. 

Sorry!  I know some people really like her stuff, even the new stuff.  I also know some people really, really hate where she has gone with her characters.  Me?  I think I started reading more Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance and found out that there were other authors who were more to my taste and, IMHO, were just plain better writers.  The thing about LKH - I never liked Anita or Merry.  I liked some of the men though.  Once they became emasculated shadows of their former selves?  Not so much.  Personally I always thought Antia was a whiny bitch that needing a good kick in the ass to make her grow up. 

Or maybe I grew up and that's why the books no longer appeal.  The controversy around LKH and the turn her work has taken though?  I do still keep up on that.  See, when she took Anita down the super-sex path a lot of her former readers revolted.  Or were revolted.  Ever heard of the Dear Negative Reader post on amazon?  Google it.  Readers and fans had a heyday bashing an Anita book on amazon and Ms. Hamilton responded in a way that just fanned the flames.  And the fire has yet to die.  There are sites all over the place devoted to bashing her work.  And some that bash her personally but I don't get into that.  The snark is fun but not when it gets personal. 

So where am I leading with all this?  Well the latest book, Swallowing Darkness (gawd what a title) came out last Tuesday.  Saturday I was in my local bookstore, one of the big chains.  I'm in there every couple of weeks so most of the associates know me by sight if not by name.  Normally when LKH has a release there is a big display at the front of the store or at least a stack with a face-out on the New Hardcovers display.  I looked.  And looked.  And looked.  I couldn't find any display for SD.  I finally found two copies in the horror section with the rest of her books.  TWO COPIES!  Normally there are like 20 or 30!  I finally flagged down one of the girls that works there that knows me and asked what was up with the new LKH book.  Why no display? 

Seems the last several books didn't sell well.  In fact Blood Noir sold so porely for them that they cut their normal orders for her books drastically.  And since the Merry Gentry books have never sold as well as the Anita Blake books the order was really small.  But more than two copies.  The rest were in the back. 

As for why it wasn't on the new hardcover table?  For the answer see the title of this post.  The poor associate was blushing as she pulled one of the copies off the horror shelf to show the cover.  If you haven't seen the cover, go here.  I pointed out that an obviously naked man holding a crown of thorns might not go over well here in the bible belt that is the Midwest.  The associate agreed and said their manager had freaked when he saw the cover.  Seems he's kind of devout and found it offensive. 

I wonder if other bookstores are having the same problem with this one?  Her covers have gotten racier and racier as time goes on. 

And really, it looks like the cover of erotica or porn.  Like the books you see in the Sexuality section, minus the crown of thorns of course.  Definitely doesn't belong in horror.