Profile: An Interview with Laurell K. Hamilton

St. Louis Post-Dispatch book editor Jane Henderson recently interviewed bestselling writer Laurell K. Hamilton, author of the Anita Blake, Vampire Slayer mysteries. The latest in the series, Danse Macabre, is due out in bookstores later this month.

Henderson writes that the work of Hamilton, one of the nation’s first ladies of horror, is so well-known that it lends itself to parody on the Internet and some criticism over how the series has changed. But Hamilton follows her instincts. And so far, so good: Hamilton has 10 new or reissued publications this year; Berkley Publishing alone is printing more than 1 million copies of her books.

In her interview, Henderson asked, "How do you characterize your Anita Blake books?" Hamilton: "It’s structured like a hard-boiled mystery series, but at this point it’s dark fantasy-horror-romance-mystery all in one. Some books are more one genre or the other. It’s a mixed genre, and it’s meant to be. I like reading mixed-genre, and I like writing mixed-genre."

Henderson: "Are you still compared with Anne Rice?" Hamilton: "I have been compared to her quite a lot. If you’re writing anything with vampires in it, it’s inevitable. My vampires and her vampires are very different. Everyone knows vampires exist in my world. That seems to be the contribution I made. In my books, if you call the police and say there is a vampire in your house, they believe you. Ms. Rice is more traditional: Nobody (in her world) knows they exist."

Read the rest of interview of Laurell K. Hamilton on STLToday.com here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, mystery author, laurell k. hamilton.