Hamilton, Laurell K.

Laurell K. Hamilton has two series. Her Merry Gentry books (Kiss of Shadows, caress of Twilight, Seduced by Moonlight, Stroke of Midnight, and the Mistral's kiss comes out in December 2006). Are about the Fae. The fae are dying. The queen is having a contest between her niece (Merry) and her son. Whomever has a child first inherits the thrown. Problem is Merry is Half human and mortal. Her immortal cousin sees this as a weakness that will damn the Fae and wants to see her dead. These are x rated. There are 14 books in the Anita Blake series (Guilty Pleasures, Laughing Corpse, Circus of the damned, lunatic Cafe, Bloody Bones, Killing Dance, Burnt Offerings, Blue Moon, Obsidian Butterfly, Narcissus in Chains, Cerulean Sins, Incubus Dreams, Cravings anthology, and Micah). Anita starts out a virgin but watch out round book 9 or 10 it goes x rated. A lot of people were a bit upset by this. They didn't want Anita to stay a virgin for forever but they didn't want her to become sex queen either. I however only know of one person who quit reading them. Anita is a vampire hunter/animator. She raises zombies to do anything from solving crimes to clearing up wills. She's the best there is. She is also a licensed vampire executioner. Vampires are out but jail just doesn't work so if one of them goes bad they call in Anita. Werewolves/werecreatures in general are also in the spot light so you'll see a lot of them as well. Vampires, were's, and even the occasional Faery. Not that I need to say much about this series. Most people know about them. She also has a stand alone books, Nightseer, about magic. It's completely different and very good. She doesn't answer her own e-mail, a friend does it for her.