Laurell K. Hamilton

Biography

Laurell K. Hamilton was born in Heber Springs, Arkansas but grew up in Sims, Indiana, a hamlet with a population of about one hundred souls. Laurell's mother died in a car crash in 1969, after which time her grandmother held the household together. Her mother's death, her grandmother's role in raising her, and having grown up with no men in the home are "the three things that made me who I am," she says. She still believes she would have grown up to be a writer regardless.

Laurell says that it was her grandmother, Laura Gentry, who was responsible for Laurell's interests in things that go bump in the night. Mrs. Gentry related tales of horror originating in the hills of Arkansas, the state where she grew up. From those stories Laurell got this lesson: "Rawhide and bloody bones will get you if you aren't good."

When Laurell was 13, she discovered a short story collection titled Pigeons from Hell. "It was the first heroic fantasy I'd read. It was fights, swords, monsters. I decided not only did I want to become a writer, it was this I wanted to write." She chanced upon another book in the high school library, The Natural History of the Vampire. She read it so many times she nearly memorized it. It was sometimes suggested that her choice of creepy films and stories were unseemly since, after all, her girlfriends played with dolls.

To that Laurell says only: "I wasn't like most girls. "

Laurell does not shy away from sex or violence in her books. "I want a kiss to be so believable it give the reader shivers. Two things I do well in books are sex and violence, but I don't want gratuitous sex or violence. The sex and violence are only as graphic as need be. And never included unless it furthers the plot or character development."

Before her writing career kept her so busy, Laurell volunteered at an animal shelter. She also has a degree in both literature and biology. Laurell is a self-admitted technophobe, though she is learning to use email with help from her friends.

In 1994, Laurell hooked up with Rician and Ricia helped her publish her first novel -- Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter book, GUILTY PLEASURES, and Laurell hasn't stopped writing since. She has written nine additional Anita Blake books, and in October, 2000, began the New York Times bestselling Meredith Gentry series for Ballantine Books. She says she writes because to not write—even for her own enjoyment—would be like not breathing. It is just something she has to do. She now resides in St. Louis, Missouri with her husband, her young daughter, three pug dogs, and an ever-fluctuating assortment of fish.

Laurell's most recent works:

Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 16) by Laurell K. Hamilton (Jun 3, 2008)

A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry, Book 6) by Laurell K. Hamilton (Oct 23, 2007)

Bibliography

Anita Blake series

• Guilty Pleasures (1993) ISBN 0-515-13449-X
• The Laughing Corpse (1994) ISBN 0-425-19200-8
• Circus of the Damned (1995) ISBN 0-515-13448-1
• The Lunatic Cafe (1996) ISBN 0-425-20137-6
• Bloody Bones (1996) ISBN 0-425-20567-3
• The Killing Dance (1997) ISBN 0-425-20906-7
• Burnt Offerings (1998) ISBN 0-515-13447-3
• Blue Moon (1998) ISBN 0-515-13445-7
• Obsidian Butterfly (2000) ISBN 0-515-13450-3
• Narcissus in Chains (2001) ISBN 5-558-61270-3
• Cerulean Sins (2003) ISBN 0-515-13681-6
• Incubus Dreams (2004) ISBN 0-515-13449-X Micah (2006) ISBN 0-515-14087-2 (novella, released February 28, 2006)
• Danse Macabre (2006) ISBN 0-425-20797-8 (released June 27, 2006)
• The Harlequin (2007) ISBN 978-0-425-21724-5 (released June 5th 2007)
• Blood Noir (2008)

Meredith Gentry series

• A Kiss of Shadows (2000)
• A Caress of Twilight (2002)
• Seduced by Moonlight (2004)
• A Stroke of Midnight (2005)
• Mistral's Kiss (2006)
• A Lick of Frost (2007)
• Swallowing Darkness

Others

• Nightseer
• Nightshade (1992) (Star Trek: The Next Generation authorized novel #24)
• Death of a Darklord (1995) (TSR's Ravenloft series.)
• Club Vampyre (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club, includes the first three novels in the series: Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, and Circus of the Damned)
• Midnight Cafe (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club, includes the fourth through sixth novels in the series: The Lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, and The Killing Dance)
• Black Moon Inn (Anita Blake collection, published by the Science Fiction Book Club, includes the seventh and eighth novels in the series: Burnt Offerings and Blue Moon)
• Nightshade Tavern (Anita Blake collection, includes the ninth and tenth novels in the series: Obsidian Butterfly and Narcissus in Chains)
• Out Of This World (1st 100 pages of Narcissus in Chains)
• "A Clean Sweep" (first story in Superheroes, a 1995 anthology)
• Cravings (anthology, 2004)
• Bite (anthology, 2004)
• Strange Candy (14 published and unpublished short stories, released November 2006)

http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/