✨🩸 She didn’t just bite — she built a genre.
Hey! Hi! Hello!

In Part Two of our Anita Blake deep dive, we’re stepping out of the graveyard and into the bigger picture: the birth of urban fantasy as we know it. From vampires paying taxes to necromancers testifying in court, Laurell K. Hamilton rewrote the rules of what fantasy could be — and readers have been debating her choices ever since.

We’ll unravel the crime-procedural-to-erotica pivot that divided the fandom, trace how Anita’s legacy shaped authors from Jim Butcher to Patricia Briggs, and pull together a whole list of books, shows, and movies for when you need your next dark, witty, monster-filled fix. (Yes, including my own The Missing Reflection, because Anita made me the writer I am today.)

So lace up those combat boots, sharpen your sarcasm, and let’s talk about the guilty pleasures and necessary obsessions that built an entire genre.

💌 Links & Extras
Looking for more haunted delights? Head to ⁠⁠linktr.ee/chicklingchronicles⁠⁠ for The Missing Reflection, social links, and more.

💬 Got hot takes? DM me on Instagram, drop a 🩸 emoji in your review, or tag me in your favorite vampire boyfriend debates. I live for it!

📚 Sources I Used & Further Reading/Watching

• • Laurell K. Hamilton – Guilty Pleasures (1993)

  • Charles de Lint – Moonheart (1984)

  • Emma Bull – War for the Oaks (1987)

  • Charlaine Harris – The Sookie Stackhouse Series

  • Patricia Briggs – Mercy Thompson Series

  • Jim Butcher – The Dresden Files

  • Ilona Andrews – Kate Daniels Series

  • Kim Harrison – The Hollows

  • Hailey Edwards – The Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003, TV)

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992, Film)

  • The Craft (1996)

  • The Craft: Legacy (2020)

  • True Blood (2008–2014)

  • Penny Dreadful (2014–2016)

  • Being Human (2008–2014)

  • Grimm (2011–2017)

  • The Witch (2015)

  • Constantine (2005)

  • Underworld (2003)

  • Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

  • Doctor Strange (2016)

  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)