Laughing Corpse was written when I hadn't heard that fans were trying to go places I made up. So most of the places in The Laughing
Corpse are real or at least located in sight of the real places, but when I sat down to write Circus of the Damned, I knew better. So my new rule started with this book--that if something bad happened, it was in a made-up place. So I got a little more vague about where Circus of the Damned was located. Now the fishing lake, Chip-Away Lake, where Anita meets Carl Inger, who we don't yet know is a villain, is real. It really is there but nothing bad happens there so it is okay.
Now the cave where Anita runs from the lamia and her men is a real cave, or rather caves. It's based on more than one cave here in Missouri and in the book it's actually in a place where no cave exists to my knowledge. Any cave with a passage that is partially or completely underwater is a very dangerous cave. I wanted to make certain no one could find the caves and try to duplicate Anita's crawl through it. Because while in fiction the main character survives, in real life not everyone is so lucky.
Some people thought I was paranoid to go to such extremes, but at the first signing for Circus of the Damned, I had people come up complaining that they tried to find the cave and it wasn't where I said it was. They were annoyed as if I'd somehow cheated. I explained to them that I'd moved it on purpose so that no one would be tempted. They sort of nodded and got it after I explained things. But it's a lesson I've never forgotten either. Everyone caught me off guard with their interest in the locations. It made me cautious, which led to the rule: If something bad happens, it's in a made-up place, period. It can be in a real neighborhood but the exact location is just not quite locatable.
There's one other rule. If someone is harmed or murdered, that crime is either something that could only happen in my world with my magic system, or something that is a real crime and has already occurred. I may change some of the details, but I do not make up this stuff. My thought is the person who is determined to do something awful can read the same books I did. They can get ideas the same places I did, but they will find nothing new in my books, unless it will only work in my world and no other. Thus it is not able to be duplicated in the real world. Now, for those out there who cannot tell the difference between fact and fiction, it's a problem. Because if someone is determined to do something evil there's really no stopping them. It's not the music they listen to, in the television or movies they watch, or video
games they play, or even the books they read. Everyone wants to blame something because no one wants to accept that some people are just evil or crazy. You can diagnose it, treat it, but if someone is determined to find excuses or justification to do some bad deed, they will find it.
Some people think I'm this careful because I'm afraid of some legal problem, but that's not it. I simply don't want someone to read one of my books and try out what they've read. I'm doing my best not to contribute to the bad idea group consciousness, but the books I've read for research are out there. Things that real people did to other real people. I've learned things I didn't want to know. Knowing that my fellow "man" is capable of such things has stolen some of my enjoyment in humanity in general, because you never really know what someone is thinking. Look into a stranger's eyes and think that they really could be wondering what you would look like in pieces. Look into the eyes of your nearest and dearest and know that you are more likely to be killed, raped, or abused by them than by strangers.
Circus of the Damned is the last book before I started the heavy research into true crime. This is the last book where Anita or I is sure what is good and what is evil and what side we're on. This is the last book where life was simple and vampires were corpses and killing them wasn't murder. This is the last book where we are certain that we're right. Enjoy the security of our younger days, Anita and I, because the world is going to change. Oh, I'm wrong. The world doesn't change, we change. And not always for the better.
Laurell K. Hamilton, Circus of the Damned
(Series: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter # 3)
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