True Blood News at The Nest

Andrew Shaffer at HuffPost had a chance to ask Charlaine Harris a few questions last week when she was in Iowa City. During the chat, Charlaine  shows off her jewelry, reveals she now has more male fans due to True Blood and remarks that Sookie Stackhouse will not “settle down and have a family.” Also note: if you ever have a chance meeting with Ms. Harris, please don’t ask her about her inspiration for the Sookie Stackhouse novels, she has a very peculiar way of answering.

Before Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels that True Blood is based on, began signing books, she answered some frequently asked questions for the 100 assembled fans at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City, Iowa on June 17th. “Yes, I’m happy with Alan Ball’s production of my novels,” she said. “Also, if you ask me where I get my inspiration, I will spit on you,” she joked.

Huffington Post: Has True Blood changed the fan base for your Southern Vampire Mysteries?

Charlaine Harris: All along I’ve had more guys reading this series than my previous books. But I’ve definitely had more guys at my signings since the HBO series debuted.

HP: Your kids are in college. What do they think of their mother writing sexually-charged books?

CH: The show has given them brownie points with their friends, but only one of my kids reads my work.

HP: I can only imagine if my mother wrote sex scenes like the ones on True Blood…

CH: We don’t watch the show together, so that’s not a problem!

HP: What’s the one fashion item you can’t live without?

CH: My jewelry! [shows off her rings and necklaces, all of which appears to be either silver or white gold]

HP: Is the silver to ward off vampires?

CH: Silver, gold — I don’t discriminate! I like sparkly things. I wouldn’t want to ward vampires off — I have them to thank for these. [shows me her rings again]

HBO celebrated the premiere of Season 3 last night at Hollywood’s Boulevard 3, which had been transformed into a gothic wonderland with giant candlesticks, stuffed wolves, and wait-staff wearing black shirts that read, “Do bad things.”

In the VIP section, Anna and Stephen sat back-to-back at two tables: “It’s because we’re both cast members,” said Paquin, wearing a cobalt blue and black Proenza Schouler frock. “I’m not his plus one, as it turns out. I think it’s actually so we can have our collective friend group.”

When asked what the audience can expect for Sookie this season, Anna replied, ”We find out what Sookie is,” she said. “I can’t tell you, obviously. There’s a lot of really surprising …moments, to say the least. I’m so bad at talking about what’s coming up without telling any plot points. It’s kind of hard to separate. And I don’t want to get in trouble with my boss, because I like Alan.”

Famously protective of her private life, she was even less forthcoming when asked about rumors of her upcoming wedding to Stephen Moyer: “Where did you read that?” (Excellent dodge, Anna. Good for you!)

Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris, the author of the super popular Sookie Stackhouse books has been interviewed by Metro.co.uk. In this interview, Ms. Harris discusses the difference between Alan Ball’s approach and her own, how she is might be growing tired with her characters and how her younger readers like it when Sookie has sex.

Metro: What do the readers expect from your books?

CH: They want vampires, of course, and don’t mind seeing werewolves and fairies too. The younger readers like it when Sookie gets to have sex but that doesn’t happen in every book.

Metro: You wouldn’t know that from the TV show.

CH: No, you wouldn’t. That’s where Alan Ball [True Blood’s producer] and I have a different approach.

Metro: What are the other differences between the books and the TV show?

CH: There are extra characters on the show. We had to bring the other characters forward because Sookie can’t be on the screen all the time. Alan’s very talented. I had several offers to adapt the books and feel I went with the right person.

Metro: You’re very prolific – is it easy to churn them out?

CH: I wrote two books a year for three years, which was hard. A book a year is easy. Some are hard no matter how many years’ experience you have. They become hard when I’m growing tired of the characters or can’t think of new things to do with them.

Read the rest here.

Respectable Louisiana resident, clever wordsmith and all round awesome TB News contributer, latbfan, saved up her Xmas pressie Amazon gift cards to splash out on the hardback version of ‘Dead in the Family’, Charlaine Harris’s latest offering in the Sookie Stackhouse series. After spending yesterday gleefully neglecting her own family to read about Sookie’s weird ass friends and relatives, she has produced this fabulously juicy review. We’d like to thank her for the hard work and maybe reward her with cookies, but she’s a better cook than all of us put together.

Warning, some SPOILERS are contained within.

Knowing the rampant animosity between the various factions and camps, I feel I need to start off this review with a listing of my credentials, such as they are: several years ago, I stumbled onto Dead until Dark quite by accident, and I picked it up not because I was a lover of vampire tales, but because I thought the cover was interesting. It took about three hours to read, and I lost myself in this world that vaguely resembled my own, but at the same time was so utterly foreign. I happily consumed the rest of the series, as if the pages were laced with crack. There were times I snorted, or rolled my eyes, or put down the books in frustration because Sookie can be such an inconsistent and unreliable narrator, but I laughed out loud, I fanned my face, and I was hooked.

I would’ve tuned in for True Blood simply because of Alan Ball, but knowing that the show was based on the books I enjoyed made me all the more eager. Even having read the books, I was not prepared for the first episode. I sat perched on the edge of my sofa, slack-jawed as I stared in wonder at Mr. Ball’s interpretation. I reread the series. I discovered fanfiction, and I started chatting online, neither of which I’d experienced before. And here I am, writing a review, doing my best to navigate the mine-field between the world of the bookies and the truebies, the Team Erics and the Team Bills. But just as it’s obvious Ms. Harris has been affected by the show, as a reader, so have I. Some characteristics from the show have bled into the books, most notably with Jason and Bill, and my expectations are different than before I first heard the opening strains of Jace Everett’s “Bad Things.”

This review reflects only my opinion (worth considerably less than two cents), not the opinions of the good ladies of the Nest who are posting it. I’ve not read spoilers about the book or discussions since the book has come out; nor have I read any of the recent interviews and articles with Ms. Harris. This is as untainted as I can be, and I’m sitting down minutes after I finished reading Dead in the Family.

When we last left Sookie in Dead and Gone, the war with the Fae had come to a bloody end. Crystal is dead. So are Claudine and her unborn fairy-baby. Mel, Jason’s wanna-be lover (and why Jason wasn’t more upset about that is beyond me), Clancy, Tray, and the fairy-prince Breandan are also dead. Dermot, the half-fae Jason resembles (who assisted in the murders of Sookie and Jason’s parents), is missing. Niall has closed the final portal between the human world and the Fae realms. Sookie, who’d been tortured by Neave and Lochlan (a.k.a Thing One and Thing Two), has taken a lot of blood from Eric to heal (to the point where Eric’s concerned about being “dangerously close to some undefined limit”), and Bill’s willingness to risk himself to come to her rescue has affected her such that when Niall said, “The vampire is not a bad man, and he loves you,” she doesn’t know whether he’s referring to Eric or Bill.

Hours before “Dead in the Family” is released, a new interview with Charlaine reveals once again, her ability to stay away from any implicated response about Sookie Stackhouse’s love fate. R.J. Carter from The Trades has interviewed her and here’s the result of the interview for you… starting with a juicy excerpt.

[...]

Carrie – The new book seems to focus on Sookie’s family and friends. Are you surprised about how popular Eric’s character has become, and is it because of that popularity that we continue to see Sookie in a relationship with him rather than with Bill?
That’s a complicated question. The book is about families of all sorts, not just Sookie’s. It’s about the different kinds of families that you can have, and how much trouble they can cause you. I think that we’re all familiar with that, probably.

Eric turned out to be more popular than I expected, but the books are still going the way I planned on them going, regardless of the popularity of one character over another.

Carrie – Has the television show had any influence in your approach to the books?
You know, I don’t think so. If it has, it’s unconscious on my part, because I’m way ahead of the storytelling in the TV show. I’m writing Book Eleven, and Alan [Ball] is on Book Three.

read the whole interview

PC: Trevor Paulhus/The New York Times

The New York Times recently published an interview with Charlaine Harris, who’s tenth Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead in the Family, will be released this Tuesday, May 4th.

In the article she talks about how her vampires are more sympathetic than Dracula, various sexualities manifest within her characters & living in Arkansas.

Takeaways: she doesn’t seem to be a fan of Mike Huckabee & Stephenie Meyer might be a recluse.

Read it all at the source

**** BE CAREFUL! ****

*****SPOILERS IN COMMENTS *****

**** ATTENTION***BOOK SPOILERS!!!****

Looks like the new released paperback version of Dead and Gone includes a surprise: the extended chapter one of Dead in the Family, the new Charlaine Harris novel that will see the light next month. The author gifted us with the chapter one back in Christmas, but now the whole chapter is completely revealed with really juicy content. Can’t say more. Do you want to read it?

In a recent interview, Charlaine Harris talks about her vampires and how exciting it is to see her characters come to life in the hit  TV show True Blood. Harris, who has contracted for 13 books confesses, “This might be the end.” She will reevaluate the books going into number thirteen and make the decision, if Sookie Stackhouse is finished speaking her mind.

Click on the image to watch the video

Charlaine Harris was recently in Poland and did a video interview. Beware, there might be some book spoilers for book 10 in the Sookie Stackhouse series, Dead in the Family. A couple of highlights include:

Q: Some fans still believe that Sookie and Bill are meant for each other, does this couple have any chance to be together again?

CH: “I’m not hinting. I am NOT hinting (she’s laughing and shaking her head when she’s saying this). Uh, Uh, They really had a wonderful relationship, and they may have it again.

Q: While you were writting “Dead Until Dark”, did you know that at some point Sookie would be involved with tall, and handsome vampire who was a Viking?

CH: “Ahhhhh, noooooo. i hadn’t got that far in my thinking yet. Ah, Eric’s character developed over the next several books and I wasn’t sure where I going with the book I was kind of working that out in my head.”

Thanks RC & true-blood.com.pl for the videos.

A review of Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris has revealed some book spoilers. Some really interesting historical re-writing is taking place apparently. Enter at your own risk.