BULLET, CHAPTERS 33 & 34

[a_sporking_rat]

Hey, you know what portrays just how fucked up it is to use mind control in order to take away a person's ability to consent? SAILOR MOON!
http://adventuresofcomicbookgirl.tumblr.com/post/5738438031/i-guess-i-should-put-a-tw-sexual-assault-for-all
http://adventuresofcomicbookgirl.tumblr.com/post/5809816030/continuing-the-analysis-tw-sexual-assault-in-the

On a lighter note, have I mentioned I like X-Men in addition to Sailor Moon and rats?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faOf0qSI1us

Speaking of rats, have a giant Gambian pouched rat with a plate of spaghetti!
http://img.fotocommunity.com/Pets-Farm-Animals/Rodents-Rabbits/AL-Dente-Gambian-pouched-rat-a19936589.jpg

And a very chubby chinchilla!
http://www.chin-chillas.com/web%20site%20images-2/DSC03084-293w.JPG

And now, unfortunately...

BULLET, CHAPTERS 33 & 34

She's out the door and going down the steps. I don't know if it's out the door of the Circus itself though, or just out of Asher's office. Her phone rings, and it's Clayton, who tells her to check her email. She asks what he sent her, he says a video and hangs up. Anita tells Jake to go check on his tigers while she sees "what the bad guy sent me." Jake asks who the bad guy is (I would have asked "did you just say bad guy?") and she hands her phone to Nicky and tells him to help her play the video that Clayton sent. Again, I can't do these things, but unlike Anita, it's not part of my job, my job isn't law enforcement, lives don't depend on it, so yeah, I'm gonna judge her for not learning how to do this shit on her own.

Jake reminds her that the Harlequin has spies in almost every major city. She asks what he's offering. He says that if she tells him what's happening, he can tell her if there's anything the Harlequin on his side can do. Nicky says he's got the video open, she tells Jake to wait while she watches it. She mentions she even needs him to pause and rewind it for her. We need to be told that the video screen is "like a little TV" because it's not like that's obvious or anything. On it, someone in white crime scene scrubs, a hood, and a face mask is crawling on the ground, begging "No, please, no!" and Anita can tell it's a woman because of her voice. A decayed hand from behind the camera reaches towards her, and she tries to get away but only has one good leg. He grabs her by the wounded one, pins her down, tears off her hood and mask so Anita can see how scared she is, starts to choke her, then stops after she goes purple, then starts again.

Anita whisper don't, Nicky tells her that the woman is already dead, Anita asks how he knows, Nicky says he'd need both hands to send the video. Then Clayton rips the woman's throat out, and the description is actually pretty good and gory this time, which I appreciate. Then he turns the camera to his own decaying face, which sadly she only describes as far as likening it to a Halloween mask. He taunts her to come and get him because he and his vampires (I like that he doesn't call them a Kiss, just his vampires) are going to kill as many people as they can. Then there is delightful mention of one cheek being collapses and how Anita can see his tongue working in his mouth and how it grosses her out. Aw yeah, I love this stuff. Rotters rule!

There's the sound of gunshot, his body jerks, and he gloats about how there's more police here for him to kill, they shoot at him more, he laughs about how bullets can't hurt him while he's in his rotting state. There are more gunshots, and the screen goes dead. Anita yells curses at the phone, Jake comes back and asks what happened, Anita dials Finnegan. She asks him if Clayton is still at the cemetery. Finnegan says no, that he got through the officers and now he's gone. He asks how can one not find a rotting corpse. Anita tells him that Clayton used Morgan's phone to send her a video. Finnegan tells her to send it to him, she says he doesn't want to see it, he tells her again to send it. Anita, you realize he's a marshal and this is police business, right? You sending this to him is not a matter of whether it's something he wants to see or not, it's a matter of evidence and his job as well as yours. You twit.

Anita tells him what's on it, and explains that bullets don't work on Clayton when he's in his rotted state, but will when he's in regular human form. This is, of course, news to Finnegan because no one but Anita knows anything about vampires, let alone how the rotters work. Since she knows everything, Finnegan asks her how to find and kill Clayton. She doesn't tell him how to find him, but she does say to burn him with a flamethrower when they do. He says there's an extermination crew on the way (again, why do there need to be executioners when we have those guys?) to burn up the vampires still in crypt. He asks Anita why Clayton would leave them behind, Anita says he just went insane like a "serial killer who's devolved into a spree killer" and is probably just going to kill everything he sees, and that the way to find him is to follow the trail of dead bodies. At first I was going to get mad at her claiming he just went snap or ever was a killer to begin with when she knows perfectly well what Morte D'Amour is doing and that quite likely Clayton has no control over his actions...and then I remember that she doesn't want to tell anyone this and thus is probably just lying. So I'll be peeved for that instead.

Anyway, she says if he hides, use cadaver dogs to track him. Finnegan hails this as "the best idea I've heard from anyone." Of course it is, it came from Anita! She reminds him that bullets won't hurt him until after dark (since he'll be stuck in corpse form during daylight), only fire will, so every team of dogs needs one with them, he tells her they don't have that many flamethrowers or that many cadaver dogs, and Anita says that no city does because of how rare rotters are in the USA. So...you told him to do something...knowing he didn't have the resources? Rather than thinking of some other advice to give him? I...just...what.

He tells her to send him the video again, she agrees this time and says she'll be there in a couple of hours. He says it'll be over by then, she tries to argue, he says that she "couldn't do anything but follow the dogs and the flamethrower crew around like the rest of us" and hangs up. Anita thinks to herself that being a necromancer, she might be able to track Clayton with those abilities, but then decides that since "the other marshals weren't always comfortable with my psychic abilities, so I let it lie." Wait, WHAT? The longer that Clayton is running around, the more people are going to die, you have an edge at finding him that the Georgia cops could use, but you're not going to call back and offer it because WELL THEY DON'T LIKE MY PSYCHIC ABILITIES, SO THOSE POOPYHEADS CAN JUST CHASE HIM THEMSELVES WHILE HE KILLS MORE AND MORE PEOPLE NYEAH? What the fresh fucking hell is wrong with you?!

She then notes that of course this is a trap what with Clayton inviting her down there (because no villains in the AB series have employed any kind of subtlety or trickiness for a while, or at least they sure didn't in Skin Trade or Flirt) and if she does go there he'll surely kill her or try to open her to the MOAD and "without my people to touch and get all metaphysical with, I wouldn't be as safe against Mommie Darkest." The defense against the most powerful monster of all time is touching hot guys. I still can't get over this. Also, this is a pretty decent reason not to go, why didn't she just cite this as her reason first and only, instead of saying first (or at all) that she wouldn't lend a hand because some marshals don't like that she's a psychic?

Nicky tells her it's a trap, she says she knows and tells him to send the video to Finnegan. Jake asks what's going on, Anita tells him "because there was no way to keep this out of the media." I'm...not sure how much sense that makes, but okay. She then spends the entire last paragraph of the chapter complaining about how that'll just make the city panic but if it's kept under wraps people will sue the police "because everyone would believe if they'd known they would have been able to keep themselves safe" A great many probably would have. Given that the rules about invitations apply to Anitaverse vampires, just staying inside your home would probably be enough. Getting out an object of faith or staying close to someone who does might help those who can't get to their home at the moment. "I knew better" Oh, of fucking course you do, Anita, when do you not. "but sometimes the illusion of safety is all people have." Sometimes. And sometimes they actually have realistic, easily achievable options like I just pointed out. "I didn't even have that"You are miles away from Clayton in a massive underground stone fortress surrounded by guards and can avoid the MOAD herself just by groping one of your ever-present boyfriends "and hadn't had it for a long time." Is this supposed to be angst? Cry me a river, Anita, I have no sympathy for you and I see no reason I should, seeing as how you've once again proved yourself to be a horrible person this chapter with the whole 'I don't wanna help save people's lives if the marshals are gonna be buttheads about how I do it' bit.

Chaper 34 starts with Jake saying that just as Morte D'Amour hit Atlanta tonight (so, again, quite possibly this is no more Clayton's free will and fault than it was when Vittorio mind-controlled Henry and those other vampires in Vegas) he will hit another city tomorrow night too. Anita asks how many MotCs are of his bloodline, he says a few. I don't see how this is relevant, since obviously Morte D'Amour can incite this kind of killing spree in vampires outside of his line, and in therians as well, given that he did it to Anita and the others earlier, which is why that orgy happened. But Anita seems to think it is relevant, because she demands that Jake share his information more specifically "or get out of my face." Uh, maybe he doesn't know the exact number? Jeez. He responds by telling her to "pick one of my kittens" and she objects to him calling them that. He asks if it helps to know that "they're all older than Cynric from Vegas?" and Anita just shoots back that Cynric is legal. Honey, the sex that you two had was a sick mutual rape, age isn't even the issue compared to that.

Jake says he'd heard she didn't like doing anyone under 18 and apologizes if he heard wrong. I guess considering how old he probably is, he likely has a very different cultural standard for what 'adult' is and thus he can be forgiven for making it sound like having sex or not with teenagers is like a preference for ice cream flavors. MAYBE. Anita says that no, he heard right, and that it's not just the age that bothers her, it's the innocence, that she likes "someone who knows his way around" instead. Nicky pipes in with "A sadder-but-wiser girl for you, huh?" and Anita asks if he just quoted The Music Man at her. I remember he quoted The Princess Bride in Flirt too. Apparently this little quirk is the closest he gets to any sign of a personality. He asks "What, I can't like musicals?" and then we're off on a derailing train with Anita saying she thought he was the type to like death metal or club mixes and he says that he likes club mixes because he likes to dance "but you can't dance to most death metal. Silas was into that."

Okay, remember how we never actually met Silas or saw him do anything besides get stabbed in the gut by Anita and then butchered by her like an animal for a sacrifice SHE DIDN'T NEED to raise zombies? But that they hinted Silas must be a really scary guy by being all freaked out that Anita goes quiet the way Silas does when she goes into her quiet killing calm place in her head? I get the feeling that LKH was thinking 'Oooh, what would a scary killer guy listen to? Something cool! And hardcore! I know, death metal! Yeah! Badass!'

Anita says that Nicky has been with them a year and she didn't know he liked to dance. Nicky says that since Anita doesn't like to dance, and his "primary emotions seem to be all about pleasing you" and it makes him anxious when he doesn't, so he doesn't ask her to dance because "it would make you uncomfortable, which would make me anxious. It's so not worth it." I can excuse him saying 'so' like that because he likely has psychically absorbed it from Anita. The rest, I just...no words.

Anita hops on this derailment and rides it for all it's worth, innuendo intended, by asking Jake what he knows about Brides. He says that it's really rare (of course) and that it "only shows up in bloodlines descended from the Father of the Day, like Belle Morte and the Dragon." YOU SEE WHY VITTORIO'S CANON-FUCKING WAS A BAD IDEA? WE GOT THIS 'BRIDE' SHIT OUT OF IT! Anita asks if it's therefore a power that Marmee Noir doesn't have, and he nods and says that "The Sweet Dark isn't into long-term relationships." DGKJSDKG IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL THIS SHIT?! Yeah, it is, apparently! "Brides can be treated pretty badly by their grooms, but often the vampire who makes them feels responsible for them" Because vampires in this series are such a conscientious people in general, right? "and it does become more like a group marriage" OH, WELL THAT MAKES TAKING THEIR FREE WILL AWAY JUST DANDY THEN, NO PROBLEM!" "albeit with a one-sided power structure." Which is exactly how Anita likes it.

Anita asks if there's a limit to how many Brides she can make.

WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO KNOW THIS

WHY

Between this and her suggestion that she could make the tigers her Brides, I not only believe she has no remorse over what she did to Nicky, I think she's actively looking for another excuse to do it again. Jake, chillingly enough, informs her that it's really only limited by resources aka how much blood is available for harvest in one area. Anita creepily continues to be all too interested by asking what's the largest number he's seen and he says twelve. He then says he thinks she's asking to delay meeting the weretigers (I wish I could believe this) and asks why. She says she doesn't know how to just go up and pick one to have sex with "when I haven't even introduced herself" and that she knows that this sounds "churlish, or childish, or just stupid." What? Churlish? Childish? Stupid? No, Anita, that's how you do tend to sound most of the time, but this actually sounds entirely human, reasonable, and likely. It really should come second to the issue of WHAT ABOUT THE CONSENT OF THE TIGERS but still, it's not any of those things. Jake agrees with me on this; he says her reason for this is because she's a woman. No, I'm serious, he really does. He says that the reason most vampires who have Brides are men is because "women complicate things."

Okay, so, we all know how in the Anitaverse, the way women do things (and we all, except Anita, do things one way and one way only) is always inferior and stupid and wrong compared to the way men do things (which, again, will be all one way, every man), right? If Jake is right in his statement, and the logic of the universe he lives in is followed...then it can be concluded that in the Anitaverse, not only is being hesitant about having sex with total strangers who are being pimped to you by their guardian something that just 'complicates' things and is a silly petty feminine quirk, but having a harem of brainwashed sex slaves isn't a crime so much as just a guy thing because men don't have those silly petty feminine hang-ups about such harmless things as well silly petty female folk do.

I'm going to go hide now.

Nicky starts to laugh and then hides it as a cough. I'm reminded of how, before Anita ate his mind, Nicky used to make a lot of sexist, generalizing comments about women of this type. I think LKH is once again trying to convince us that what Anita did to him is excusable because he was a jerk of a person. Sorry, I fail to be convinced. If you wanted to give me an ethical challenge, make it Olaf she mind-wiped, but a guy who just says prickish stuff still deserves his free will. Anita asks if he has something to say, Nicky says nope, Anita admits that Jake is right and that "If I were a guy I'd just march down there and pick someone."

WOW, WAY TO BE INSULTING TO MEN, ANITA

I GUESS YOU'RE FINALLY BALANCING OUT THAT MISOGYNY A LITTLE

NICE JOB

NO ACTUALLY NOT NICE JOB, YOU'RE JUST MORE OF AN ASSHOLE THAN EVER

Jake suggests that Jean-Claude help her to pick. Anita thinks this is a good idea because "I tended to pick low-power wereanimals to bond with" which has nothing to do with you being a controlling power-obsessed abusive girlfriend/master, I'm sure "with a few rare exceptions like Micah." Which has nothing to do with how Micah is most likely an avatar for Jon, who probably had a hand in decisions such as making him Leopard King and more hung than a donkey. "Jean-Claude could always be trusted to pick the wereanimal or necromancer" can you not talk about yourself for five seconds "most likely to up his power level." Because he actually has two brain cells to rub together. No, not rub like that! Although wait did she just admit JC picked her for power?

The chapter finishes with her assuring us that while Jean-Claude won't be embarrassed to add someone new to their bed, she will be. Because JC is a sexy sexy sexual sexbeast and she's this incorruptibly purely pure practically-a-virgin pure lady-dude, you see.

Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night, you rapist. You're still participating in human trafficking and seem pretty interested in doing worse, judging by your questions about Brides (none of which included if there was any way to free them). Nobody is fooled here...except maybe LKH herself.

Comments

[writtenelision.livejournal.com]

...I needed the cute pictures to get me through it.

Honestly, all the stuff about the Brides is just... ick. Ick ick ick ick ick.

...Did I mention ick?

On a happier note, I've snagged my muses enough that I've got semi-fanfic for SvS? Stuff about what the baby vampires are getting up to while Lucy is out, and a (probably AU) version of a major battle between Lucy's forces and Anita's. ...Mostly because I wanted an excuse to have Odile with a giant ax and Fidget with a homemade flame thrower.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Awwww yes, that sounds GREAT! Fanfic for my fanfic, heehee! Gotta love the meta <3

Also, this dress!
http://idesofnovember.tumblr.com/post/48575555989/moonie-couture-something-nqs-would-wear

[watersheerie.livejournal.com]

without my people to touch and get all metaphysical with, I wouldn't be as safe against Mommie Darkest.

It's official; the supposedly super-feminist and female-empowering character of Anita Blake can literally do nothing without her men. LKH has essentially made Anita powerless unless she is literally surrounded by her men.

This is empowering for women, srlsy guys.

These chapters remind me of Eclipse, when Bella finally finds Edward and they go to see the Vatican/Volturi, and see all those humans who are about to be slaughtered. And Bella hides her face and thinks how sad it is they are about to be killed, while Edward tells her she can do nothing. So they keep walking and she completely forgets about it, because she has her tru wuv again and that's all that matters in her narrow little world. Anita is now Bella. It doesn't matter that humans are being killed, she decides she can do nothing and is more concerned about her current and future fuck-buddies (I refuse to use the terms 'boyfriends' or 'lovers, because Anita's men are neither).

Anita Blake has become as useless and sexist a character as Bella Swan. Both care nothing for other human lives, they are only concerned with the men in their lives. Both can do nothing without their men, and refuse to try. Both spend the majority of their time whining and bitching about other women. Both only go for men that are beautiful and rich/powerful and are completely devoted to them to the point of obsession. Both are supposedly 'plain jane' women who are small, pale, with dark hair and eyes. Both can pull powers/deus ex machinas out of their asses when the plot demands it. Both will get everything they want without ever working for it.

Congratulations, LKH, Anita Blake is officially Twilight for Adults.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

I haven't read Twilight but from what I've heard, at least Bella doesn't talk all the damn time about what a badass she is, how she's the prince charming and kills her own monsters, etc. That makes Anita even more of a pain to me.

[duamuteffe.livejournal.com]

Nobody is fooled here...except maybe LKH herself.

That is the only reason left for why she keeps writing this stuff - she really has no idea how insane it all is.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

*looks them up* Oooh, very cool indeed! Is Tungsten of South Asian heritage? I notice both those weapons are from there.

[cygnusrex.livejournal.com]

AUGH. I love the rotters so much. I wish LKH wasn't fixated on pretty, well-hung men and living vicariously through her precious author avatar. Then we could hear more about the rotters, and the Dragons, and she'd actually be focused on expanding and making sense of some parts of the lore...

I'm asking for way too much. But a boy can dream, right?

(Also, have the Best Cosplay Skit Ever (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ao7GS7uUDsw))

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

OH MY GODDDDD IT'S SO PERFECTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT


and ugh yes rotters ftw!

[writtenelision.livejournal.com]

...That is the best thing ever.

Also, rotters <3 And Traveller! I want to hear more about Mr. "Body? I don't need not stinking body!"

[wanderingworlds.livejournal.com]

1. ... *starts throwing a temper tantrum throwing things and stomping, shouting about "THEY DON'T DO THAT THEY DON'T DO THAT" about serial killers "devolving" into spree killers*

2. Y'know what'd be cool? If you could be a weredog and train as a drug-dog or cadaver dog. I had a character who through a mysterious family thing could turn into a dog, and her brother was a cop in New Orleans. In order to be helpful to him, she went through some cadaver dog training, and drug-dog training, so that she could be used as a certified K-9 helper in case the other unit dogs were deployed elsewhere. BUT NO, WEREDOGS ARE JUST TOO LAME. AND IT ISN'T LIKE WEREWOLVES HAVE THE SAME KIND OF NOSE STRUCTURE OR ANYTHING. NOPE.

3. IMPROVISE YOU IMBECILES. MOLOTOV COCKTAILS. SPRAY HIM WITH GASOLINE AND DOUSE HIM IN FLAMES AFTER. IT'S NOT THIS HARD YOU DON'T NEED ACTUAL FLAMETHROWERS DEAR GOD. I feel like Fidget/Pryderi from SvS would be reading this and flailing his arms at the sheer fail of opportunity to make things burn.

4. OH MY GOD THE SOCIOPATH LIKES MUSICALS AND RANDOMLY QUOTES SHOWTUNES ADSLKFJA;SLDKJFS NICK STOP QUICKLY BECOMING MY FAVOURITE OF THE SWEETIES BECAUSE YOU ARE MINDRAPED AND LOBOTOMIZED AND IT just makes me sad :C

5. more hung than a donkey WHY DID I READ THAT AS "MORE HUNG THAN DONKEY" IN SHREK'S VOICE. WHY. WHY. WHYYYYYYY

6. up his power level So... JC is playing D&D with his life, then? You're all just... nevermind. JC viewing all of his undead life as a RPG makes sense and is my new headcanon, dammit.

7. I STILL HATE THIS HUMAN TRAFFICKING THING AND THAT LKH IS GLORIFYING IT AND I JUST WANT TO KILL THINGS.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

2) That makes perfect sense! And in addition to werewolves, there are indeed hereditary weredogs in the Anitaverse, LKH just hasn't bothered with them since the one time they were brought up.

3) LOL MOST LIKELY

5) AAAAAAAAAAAAAH NOOOOOOOOOO

[writtenelision.livejournal.com]

1. YESSSSSS! =offers serial killer knowledge fist bump=

3. YES HE IS. It's one of the reasons I wrote my little fanfic... So Fidget could do /exactly that/. Just turn them into charcoal!

6. ...Sounds more like Dragon Ball Z.

[mocha-latta.livejournal.com]

Anita tells him that Clayton used Morgan's phone to send her a video.
And right here is where I was overcome with bitchy laughter. A centuries old vampire can figure out how to use a cell phone while Anita can't.

Finnegan hails this as "the best idea I've heard from anyone." ever! 'Oooh, what would a scary killer guy listen to? Something cool! And hardcore! I know, death metal!
Norwegian death metal or gtfo

Her obsession with 'Brides'... I really want to comment on this, but I can't get past my initial horror. I sure am glad that she's so remorseful about eating someone's free will, though.

Nicky says that since Anita doesn't like to dance, and his "primary emotions seem to be all about pleasing you" and it makes him anxious when he doesn't, so he doesn't ask her to dance because "it would make you uncomfortable, which would make me anxious. It's so not worth it."
Okay, I lied I'm going to bring this up. How is this not an allusion to an abusive relationship (well, it IS abuse, but...)? The abused partner will gear their own wants and desires based on making as little waves as possible. I don't believe for one second that he goes off dancing by himself, since Anita keeps him on a leash, so he's given up his one interest because he's frightened that it might upset his overlord.
This bums me out so much, you guys.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

A centuries old vampire can figure out how to use a cell phone while Anita can't.
LOLYUP

and yeah ugh I just cant even with all the wrong with Nicky

[lady-fellshot.livejournal.com]

She reminds him that bullets won't hurt him until after dark (since he'll be stuck in corpse form during daylight), only fire will, so every team of dogs needs one with them, he tells her they don't have that many flamethrowers or that many cadaver dogs, and Anita says that no city does because of how rare rotters are in the USA.

Sooo... they are saying that their SWAT team bomb expert (Atlanta would have one) doesn't know how to make napalm from items found at the local 7-11 and that nobody there knows that hairspray + lighter = mini flamethrower. Or that squad cars don't have magnesium flares.

Cripes, wouldn't all vampires count as cadavers during the day? Wouldn't cops start training their dogs to sniff out bodies as well as drugs if there is an influx of undead predators that eat people running around? Wouldn't the secret therians in the police force (since I refuse to believe that any law enforcement agency would not have them around if they can control themselves) offer to help sniff out the bastard? I'm going with the theory that therians in law enforcement take precautions to prevent the local therian mob bosses from finding out.

If I were a cop, I would hate how incompetent LKH has painted them. I'm going to pretend that Finnegan said "that's the best idea I've heard all day" in the most sarcastic voice possible and Anita's wall of delusion just didn't parse it.


The defense against the most powerful monster of all time is touching hot guys. I still can't get over this. Also, this is a pretty decent reason not to go, why didn't she just cite this as her reason first and only, instead of saying first (or at all) that she wouldn't lend a hand because some marshals don't like that she's a psychic?

They wouldn't want her there because rumor has it that she's under investigation for racketeering/ accessory to murder/ murder in the first degree/ kidnap/ rape/ forcible psychic intrusion/ human trafficking and anything else I might have missed. LE people have noticed that Anita doesn't save anybody, is unreliable, keeps relevant information from them, and is a general pain in the ass to everone. But that would make way too much sense.

[writtenelision.livejournal.com]

My Fidget approves. Heartily. Those are some of his favorite things!

And unreliable narrator is our friend. I like to imagine sarcasm abounds and she just can't hear it.

[watersheerie.livejournal.com]

I have a question; how has the world survived this long with vampires? More specifically, how come humans still run the planet rather than vampires? Vampires, weres and other supernatural creatures are far superior to humans in all regards. And LKH has made it clear that Anita Blake is literally the only person who knows how to deal with them. Since the police and law enforcement/military departments are so ineffective and ignorant, how come vamps haven't taken over the world? No one can stop them except Anita, and she rarely leaves the Circus at this point. How come the vamps are letting humans make laws against them, when humans can barely figure out that to make sure a vamp is dead, you probably should use fire and burn the corpse to ashes.

I beginning to think that Anita's world operates on the same principle of a zombie movie. In a zombie story, no one has ever heard of a zombies before. It doesn't matter how good the story is, the whole story itself needs to have everyone ignorant of zombies and how they function in order for the story itself to work. Same with Anita's world, she can only be the super-expert as long as everyone else is completely ignorant to stories of vamps/weres/supes. It's not like LKH is using new twists with her supernatural creatures, all of this stuff is based on old lore and myths, and yet in her world no one is aware of old myths and stories and must rely completely on Anita to tell them the obvious. This also plays into the Idiot Plot.

[a-sporking-rat.livejournal.com]

I beginning to think that Anita's world operates on the same principle of a zombie movie.
And yet, we're TOLD the exact opposite, which is what drives me so crazy when people act like, as you point out, it's a zombie movie.

And LKH has never even seemed to think about that first question. I like to think maybe they're just secretly already in control, which is how Kisses are still allowed to even exist, and letting humans make laws against them is just part of their scheme to keep ruling the world behind the scenes.

[alondra-del-sol.livejournal.com]

I'd really like to write a fanficiton where this super girly necromancer just destroys the hell out of Anita, but I neither have the time nor the energy at present. Maybe some day~, lol.

[a-sporking-rat.livejournal.com]

AB is just so inspiring for spitefic, isn't it?

[writtenelision.livejournal.com]

I have a character I plan to use for something like that someday soon. She is perky and cute and skinny and blonde. Loves pink, fully embraces her femininity, but is totally a fan of her fellow women.

I aimed to make her the Anti-Anita.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/you're not going to call back and offer it because WELL THEY DON'T LIKE MY PSYCHIC ABILITIES, SO THOSE POOPYHEADS CAN JUST CHASE HIM THEMSELVES WHILE HE KILLS MORE AND MORE PEOPLE NYEAH? What the fresh fucking hell is wrong with you?!/

What a wonderful example of maturity our protagonist is.

/The defense against the most powerful monster of all time is touching hot guys./

Strange how urban fantasy titles and mysteries with male leads don’t involve the protagonist banging one of his girlfriends in order to save the day. Jeez, Ms. Hamilton, just admit that you’re writing porn. You can even call it “romantic suspense” or “supernatural romance” if you think that sounds better.

/Anita just shoots back that Cynric is legal./

Which means that you attending his PTA meetings and talking about tucking him into bed at night with Jean-Claude is so not creepy at all and so not wish-fulfillment for ephebophiles. Yeah. Keep telling yourself that your “relationship” with Cynric is perfectly wholesome, Anita. Meanwhile, I think that Chris Hansen would like to have a word with you.

/I not only believe she has no remorse over what she did to Nicky, I think she's actively looking for another excuse to do it again./

Yeah, her questions about how many Brides she could make effectively destroyed all credibility of her claim that she felt bad about Nicky. If she did truly regret what she had done, she wouldn’t be asking about how to do it again. She wouldn’t even want to think about it. But no, she continues to show interest. That’s like a person temporarily feeling bad about stealing something and then asking somebody, “Okay, how many times could I get away with stealing more stuff without getting caught?” Or a person accidentally killing someone and then asking somebody, "Okay, how many times could I get away with killing other people?"

/not only is being hesitant about having sex with total strangers who are being pimped to you by their guardian something that just 'complicates' things and is a silly petty feminine quirk, but having a harem of brainwashed sex slaves isn't a crime so much as just a guy thing/

Because all men are walking nymphomaniacs who will bang anything with a pulse. Monogamous men? Virginal men? Even – heaven forbid – asexual men? Pfft, they don’t exist in Anita’s world. Neither do men who aren’t sex-crazed, barbaric animals who insist on treating people like chattel, apparently. In other words, DECENT HUMAN BEINGS. And, remember, Anita wants to be a member of their club. She’s so quick to tell the reader that she’s not like other women, that she’s really an honorary man. And in her world, being a man means being a lecherous pig with no respect for human rights or human dignity. So, is it any wonder that she sees nothing wrong with the way she is?

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

"If I were a guy I'd just march down there and pick someone."

The disturbing thing is, I am not sure it was meant as an insult. Having any kind of morals or anything that otherwise holds you back from casually doing whatever is most convenient for you is presented as a bad thing in these books, right?

So this is another thing where men are supposedly superior - we're comfortable with sexual slavery.

I would rail against the idiocy of stereotyping fully one half of the human race, but I'm too busy yelling, "THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING, YOU FREAKING PSYCHO! D<"

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Yup, it's being presented as the right thing. Of course guys do the right thing (aka are cool with sexual slavery) instead of us silly women! We're just...timid or repressed or don't like sex or something.

It's...so awful all around I don't know where to start. At first I was like "Oh, she's being insulting as fuck to men here, I guess she's balancing out her woman-hate...wait a fucking second, this is being presented as a positive trait, isn't it OH GOD WHAT"

how do you put that much awful into one little sentence