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For the full interview, check out “Capes and Cowls” online at blogs.the217.com/capes.

Laurell K. Hamilton is the New York Times Bestselling author of dozens of books. Best known for her character Anita Blake, a zombie-animating detective in a world where vampires are legal U.S. citizens, Hamilton continues her series dealing with Blake’s professional and personal lives since it debuted in 1993 with Guilty Pleasures. Hamilton’s sixteenth Anita Blake book, Blood Noir, hit streets on May 27. Ms. Hamilton took time to speak to “Capes & Cowls” blogger Matt Knicl about her new book and her philosophy on writing.

buzz: Some fans feel you put parts of your personal life into your books. Do you feel this is true or not?

Laurell K. Hamilton: No. I put very little of my personal life on the page.

buzz: How much of the negative and positive fan feedback do you allow to influence your writing?

Hamilton: I’m going to quote Thornton Wilder at you. He said criticism, negative or positive, should never end up on the written page. The people who love you can’t take too seriously because then you think you’re wonderful, and nobody’s that wonderful. And the people that hate you, that’s not true either because they hate you. They don’t know you. They hate you because of words on paper. I actually don’t read any critique or criticism; I don’t read any of it. If it’s negative, you sit there and feel bad and if it’s positive you don’t feel like you can live up to it. So either way it messes with your head. As a working writer, you just can’t afford to get caught up in it.

buzz: Anita Blake set the stage for a new sub-genre focusing on single supernatural female detective, and I’m sure you’ve seen some of those clones on the market today. How do you feel about those series, and do you think they add or detract from your series’ popularity?

Hamilton: I don’t know if they add or detract from what I’m going for. I toddle along my merry way, and as of June 15 Blood Noir will be the #1 book on the New York Times fiction list. So, I’m doing fine. So many people have taken my ideas and made a jumping off point and actually made something very fresh, like Charlaine Harris and Mary Janice Davidson. Others do read like lukewarm me. I do think people would be better off writing something that’s their own unique voice rather than imitating. But, what I’m told is a lot of people are breaking into fiction because there’s such a large market. I created a genre in a time in publishing when a lot of things are having hard times. I’m doing very well, but even my genre as a whole that I’ve made popular is a bright light in a time when other parts of publishing are not.