Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Charlaine Harris bites back into vampire series USA Today

what a lovely photo of CH from USA Today

The book: Dead and Gone (Ace, 312 pp., $25.95)

Genre: Paranormal fiction

What it's about: In this ninth in a series, telepath/cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse turns sleuth when a "werepanther" (shape-shifter) is found murdered behind Merlotte's, the bar in Bon Temps, La., where she works. Meanwhile, Sookie is dealing with her mixed feelings for the sexy vampire, Eric.

Why it's hot: Harris' readership has skyrocketed thanks to HBO's hit series True Blood, starring Anna Paquin as Sookie. Season 1 is out on DVD May 19; Season 2 premieres June 14.

On sale: This week

The author

Quick bio: Harris, 57, lives in Magnolia, Ark., with her husband, Hal. Mother of three: Patrick, 24, Timothy, 21, and Julia, 18. She first made USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list in 2003 with Club Dead, third in the Sookie series.

On being a best-selling author: "The best thing about it is that I can appreciate it. For many years I was Charlaine Harris, the poorly selling and midlist author. It's not that I rocketed to overnight success. I don't take anything for granted."

First book published:Sweet and Deadly, a stand-alone mystery, in 1981.

On the appeal of vampires and other supernatural creatures: "We are so obsessed with youth that the idea of creatures that can remain eternally young, never have to worry about wrinkles or arthritis, is the ideal in our culture."

The other reason: "They're sexy."

Fun fact: Harris' blood type is B-negative.

First supernatural thrill: "I read Edgar Allan Poe at an early age, and that left an indelible impression."

Pet cause: Animal rescue. "I'm a big believer in adopting from shelters and a huge believer in spaying and neutering your pets." She lives with three rescue dogs.

On her summer reading list: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and Winter Duty: A Novel of the Vampire Earth by E.E. Knight, out July 7.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2009-05-06-summer-books-harris_N.htm

I Don't Want to Know' the title song for True Blood Season One Episode Ten

I recently did a Season 2 Spoiler show for my Blogtalk radio show, where we looked at what we might know about the upcoming episode by knowing and examining the title song for that episode.

I can't tell you how many emails I received from folks saying they felt so stupid for not realizing that the True Blood episodes were named for songs. It's OK but I thought it might be a good idea to look back at the song, the artist and the lyrics for each of last season's episode title songs.


So let's look back to Season 1, Ep 10 I Don't Want to Know which originally aired: November 9, 2008

"I Don't Want to Know" is from Dr John 1998 album entitled Anutha Zone.

Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. (born November 21, 1940), better known by the stage name Dr. John (also Dr. John Creaux), is an American singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combines blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, his professional musical career began in New Orleans in the 1950s.

~~
Long before Mac Rebennack emerged as the king of good-times New Orleans grooves, he had crafted a far spookier persona. As Dr. John the Night Tripper on his 1968 debut album, Gris-Gris, he was an emissary from a demimonde of dank Louisiana swamps, mysterious spells and voodoo chicanery. Now, on his new album, Anutha Zone, Dr. John attempts to summon the twilit magic of that earlier era through a surprising collaboration with a host of contemporary British alchemists.

Rolling Stone biography HERE

You can hear the song here

And I don't want to know about evil
Only want to know about love
I don't want to know about evil
Only want to know about love.

Sometimes it gets so hard to listen
Hard for me to use my eyes
And all around the cold is glistening
Making sure it keeps me down to size.

And I don't want to know about evil
Only want to know about love
I don't want to know one thing about evil
Only want to know about love.

I'm waiting for the planes to tumble
Waiting for the towns to fall
I'm waiting for the cities to crumble
Waiting till I see you crawl.

Yes it's getting hard to listen
Hard for us to use our eyes
Cause all around that gold is glistening
Making sure it keeps us hypnotized.

And I don't want to know about evil
I only want to know about love
I don't want to know about evil
Only want to know about love.

I don't want to know anything about evil
Only want to know about love
I don't want to know about evil
Only want to know about love.


Excerpts from last nights chat with Charlaine Harris on writerspace

Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Charlaine Harris
was on the writerspace.com chatroom to discuss her books, Book 9 of her Sookie Stackhouse series, DEAD AND GONE and Book 7 of her Aurora Teagarden Mystery series, LAST SCENE ALIVE.

Other writers who participated in the chatroom included: J.M.C. Blair: THE LANCELOT MURDERS; C. J. Box: BLOOD TRAIL; Toni L. P. Kelner: CURSE OF THE KISSING COUSINS; Joyce and Jim Lavene: A CORPSE FOR YEW; Mary Jane Maffini: DEATH LOVES A MESSY DESK; Stuart Woods: HOT MAHOGANY; Tod Goldberg: BURN NOTICE: THE END GAME; Sally Goldenbaum: PATTERN IN THE SAND; Leann Sweeney: THE CAT, THE QUILT AND THE CORPSE; and Elaine Viets: KILLER CUTS and CLUBBED TO DEATH

Thanks Alainanoel!

EricsLover: Charlaine, have you decided whos gonna end up with Sookie?
Charlaine Harris: Yes, I have.

alainanoel: Charlaine, how do you plan your series…or do you? Do you just plan on writing a certain amount of books or ?
Charlaine Harris: I’m afraid planning is my weak point. Toni and Leann are much more solid than I am in this direction. I just keep writing until I get bored.

natasha: Hi Ms Harris, Just wanted to say that I really love the Sookie Stackhouse series I am totally addicted to it and I wanted to know if you have an idea of how many more books will there be in the series?
Charlaine Harris: Natasha, I’m thinking at least three, after the one I’m writing.

alainanoel: This is for all the authors..who are you favorite characters that you’ve written?
Charlaine Harris: Lily Bard, for me. But she was very hard to write. There are things that interest me about all my characters, though.

badbarb: This is for everyone, when you kill someone off in a book do you find it therapeutic?
Charlaine Harris: Absolutely. It’s a great day, when I kill someone.

alainanoel: I don’t like that Victor Madden Charlaine. I hope he’s on the hit list someday!
Charlaine Harris: Victor is a very twisty character, alaina. I was just writing about him today.

EricsLover: when can we expect the next Sookie book? im sory its just that im hook on it!
Charlaine Harris: Well . . .it came out today, Ericslover. You knew that, right? So the next one will come out a year from now.

mary f: You’ve all not regretted killing a character off then?
Charlaine Harris: I only regret it when readers get all bent out of shape about it. Sorry!

alainanoel: Charlaine..where did you get Sookie’s name from? Is it a made up name or did you know someone with that name before?
Charlaine Harris: Oh, I liked Sookie’s gran. But she had to die. Sookie is an old southern nickname, alaina. My grandmother’s best friend was called Sookie.
ToniLPKelner: I like the way Bill on the show says, “Sookie.”
Charlaine Harris: Truly, I had no idea it was so unusual. Yeah, he does give it that extra something, doesn’t he? I’m afraid I told Stephen Moyer how attractive I found that line.

loleaf: Charlaine I love the book series and am on Chapter 7 of Dead and Gone, Do you have any say about how the hbo series plays out?
Charlaine Harris: No. Alan does the series: I do the books. That’s our arrangement! So far, so good. Actually, we don’t have any idea how long the series will last on HBO.

badbarb: This is for all the authors what do you have coming out next?
Charlaine Harris: I have a short story in Toni and mine’s anthology, a short story in the Mystery Writers of America anthology, and the next Harper Connelly will be out in early November. Oh, and a novella in MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS.

ToniLPKelner: Charlaine, will A TOUCH OF DEAD include the stories from our anthologies?
Charlaine Harris: Why, yes, Toni, in fact it will include those stories. All the stories about Sookie. I’ve written some that feature a vampire named Dahlia Lynley-Chivers, and those will NOT be in A TOUCH OF DEAD. Which is a pity . . .I really like those.

Charlaine Harris signed books will be available San Diego at Mysterious Galaxy books

Mysterious Galaxy Books
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
Suite #302
San Diego, CA 92111
Tel: 858.268.4747
Fax: 858.268.4775

Charlaine will not be there but they do have signed books on hand !

http://mysteriousgalaxy.booksense.com/

True Blood Blood Copy : The city that never sleeps

May 6th, 2009

The museum I went to last night had just opened up a new exhibit. Vampire art. Or, more appropriately, art from vampires. Seems there’s a pretty big community in the city. I think most of the people coming to see it weren’t vampires. It seemed like they were more interested in the idea of vampires creating art than the art itself.

I wonder if that will change. If some new creature will spring up and everyone will start paying attention to it instead. Vampires will slowly fade into the background and one day seem almost like anybody else.

I’ve spent most of today wandering around New York City. I tell myself I’m looking for clues, but really I think I’m just trying to keep my mind off the answers.

At one point I thought I’d run into Andrew by pure chance. I saw somebody who looked like him, at least from a distance. I took this picture of him, I was so sure.

may6th-2

Looking at it now, I don’t he actually looks like Andrew at all. Do you?

True Blood Season 1 dvd giveaway

fearnet.com has a great giveaway!

TO ENTER: Between 12 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) on May 6th and 12 a.m. ET on May 16th, 2009 (the “Entry Period”), visit www.fearnet.com to enter, send an email with the subject line 'True Blood Season 1 DVD Giveaway' to fearnetfeedback@gmail.com. Eligible individuals will be entered into the sweepstakes upon Sponsor’s receipt of such email. All entries must be received by 4 p.m. ET on May 16th, 2009 to be eligible. Limit one (1) entry per person and per email address for the duration of the Entry Period Multiple entries received from any person or email address after the first entry received from that person or email address will be void.

http://www.fearnet.com/b15498_OFFICIAL_RULES_____True_Blood__Season_1_DVD_Giveaway.html

Dallas Dead and Gone party a huge success and fun, fun, fun !

We had a great turnout for our 'Dallas Dead and Gone' release party last night ! We took over half of the coffee shop area of the huge store.

Thanks to all the great fans of this blog that came and you know who you are!

We had a great time ate almost an entire chocolate cake, drank iced coffee, played a great game of trivia ( by the wonderful DallasMC) and we talked and talked and talked.

Every single person walked away with great prizes - Thanks to Charlaine!

We had autographed ducks, ( ask me if you don't know why) Sookie books, True Blood Poster , Vampire energy drink from the New Orleans Vampire store and autographed book plates from CH for our brand new copies of DAG!

Thanks to DallasMC, Barnes and Noble and Dallas Morning News !

Write a review for 'Dead and Gone' and you might win a Charlaine Harris autographed book plate!

Thanks to Charlaine Harris and the wonderful DallasMC ( yes, we are confusing when we are together ;-)) we have two autographed book plates from Charlaine for your new copy of ' Dead and Gone '

To enter just send me a few lines of your review for the book and you will be entered to win the prize.

I also will but putting as many folks as possible on the radio show Monday night May 11th.

Email: True Blood in Dallas

True Blood Season 2 Promo helps Bob Dylan debut at #1

Bob Dylan's 'Together Through Life', Debuts at #1 on U.S. & UK Album Charts

"Beyond Here Lies Nothin'"- First Single & Lead-Off Track From Together Through Life

Featured In HBO True Blood Promotional Campaign

NEW YORK, May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Bob Dylan's new album, Together Through Life, has entered both the U.S. and UK album charts at #1, marking the artist's second consecutive U.S. #1 debut and his first chart-topping release in the UK since New Morning in 1970. Together Through Life is a true international hit, as well, achieving #1 debuts in Austria and Denmark, Top 5 entries in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Holland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and New Zealand, and Top 10 rankings in Italy, France and Belgium.

"Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," the first track on Together Through Life, is serving as the soundtrack for a series of on-air and online promotional spots for the highly anticipated second season of True Blood, the smash hit HBO vampire series. The eagerly awaited second season of True Blood launches on HBO on Sunday, June 14.

The True Blood promos debuted on HBO on Saturday, May 2, and are airing in heavy rotation on HBO and HBO's multiplex channels. The True Blood/"Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" promos premiered online on both HBO.com and BobDylan.com May 4. The promotional spots can be viewed by clicking on the following link: www.hbo.com/trueblood/video.html

"When I heard the song, I knew it would be a perfect fit for our characters and storylines," said True Blood creator Alan Ball.

A short film for "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" has been lensed by AFI and Sundance Film Festival award winning director Nash Edgerton, and will be seen on the IFC Channel and on IFC.com, beginning Tuesday, May 12.

Released on Tuesday, April 28, Bob Dylan's Together Through Life is the artist's first full-length studio album since 2006's platinum-certified Modern Times, which also debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200. Produced by Jack Frost, Together Through Life, was recorded late last year, prompted by the composition of a new song, "Life Is Hard," which was written for a forthcoming film by French director Oliver Dahan (La Vie En Rose).

http://www.bobdylan.com/

Lyrics

Oh well, I love you pretty baby
You're the only love I've ever known
Just as long as you stay with me
The whole world is my throne
Beyond here lies nothin'
Nothin' we can call our own

Well, I'm movin' after midnight
Down boulevards of broken cars
Don't know what I'd do without it
Without this love that we call ours
Beyond here lies nothin'
Nothin' but the moon and stars

Down every street there's a window
And every window's made of glass
We'll keep on lovin' pretty baby
For as long as love will last
Beyond here lies nothin'
But the mountains of the past

Well, my ship is in the harbor
And the sails are spread
Listen to me, pretty baby
Lay your hand upon my head
Beyond here lies nothin'
Nothin' done and nothin' said

Dallas talks about Sookie Bk 9, Dead and Gone with Indie booksellers ( episode 21)

O.K. sorry, with the 'Dead and Gone' release party yesterday I didn't get this up.

On Monday night's Blogtalk Radio show we talked to independent booksellers and about the release of 'Dead and Gone'.

We spoke to Anne from Murder by the Book.
Murder by the Book
2342 Bissonnet
Houston, TX
713- 524 -8597
http://www.murderbooks.com/
murderbk@swbell.net

Here is the Houston Chronicle article about the store and owner and their connection to Charlaine Harris.

We also spoke to Randy the owner of Eerie Books :

Eeerie Books
205 N. Ballard Street
Wylie, TX,
10am to 6pm, seven days a week.
972-442-9393
http://www.eeriebooks.com/

You can purchase you books directly from the stores online, by phone or by email - remember they both have blogs and newsletters !

If you would like to find a Independent bookseller right in you own are area...according to the American Booksellers Association.

http://www.indiebound.org/

Why shop Indie? When you shop at an independently owned business, your entire community
benefits:

. Spend $100 at a local and $68 of that stays in your community. Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43.
. Buying local means less packaging, less transportation, and a smaller carbon footprint.
. More independents means more choice, more diversity, and a truly unique community.

To find a store near you go to and put in your zip code http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder


If you missed the show listen here:

Blood Copy Volume 10: Undead action in Shreveport

This is even more important since they have started again as a lead up for Season 2.

Blood Copy for Season one HERE
Blood Copy for Season two HERE

We are revisiting the Blood Copy videos which were part of the HBO True Blood viral marketing campaign that helped introduce the True Blood television series in the summer of 2008. We will be doing a radio show on this topic soon.
Previously we have see the mysterious packages were being received, the gatekeeper awakened on a mysterious website, .... Blood Copy website HERE http://bloodcopy.com/

The blog and videos not only were a marketing ploy but they also served as a prologue to the series ...
Here is the blog entry for that time period HERE ( August 11, 2008)
It's great to watch these videos but you also must read the blog entry for that week.
http://bloodcopy.com/?m=2008&w=33

True Blood and Japanese Goth inspred fashion: Good Mourning

I like to read about trends -so we have more about fashion trends inspired by books and TV

....Indeed. Goth has been around for decades, having spun out of the punk movement in the Seventies and reaching a high in the Nineties with Marilyn Manson and movies such as “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “Interview with the Vampire.” But that macabre vibe is gaining traction once again, and not just in fashion circles. Nobody needs to point out the phenomenal success of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-themed “Twilight” series — the film based on the first book grossed $35.7 million on its opening day last November, with the sequel out later this year. Or HBO’s “True Blood,” which gave actress Anna Paquin her first Golden Globe for her turn as Sookie Stackhouse, the undead-loving waitress. (Fan alert: Season two premieres June 14.) And 2010 sees no dip in popularity for the morbidly inclined, even for the PG set. That’s when Emily the Strange, the cartoon poster child for grim types, is slated to get the big-screen treatment.

Read whole article ..... HERE

Emily the Strange HERE

Telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse is Back in 'Dead and Gone'

Good review from CAROLYN LESSARD, AP

Dead and Gone"
Charlaine Harris (Ace)

Sookie Stackhouse has returned for another bloody adventure. "Dead and Gone" is the ninth novel about the telepathic waitress from fictional Bon Temps, La., and her dealings with the supernatural world of vampires, wereanimals (they're not just wolves), shape shifters, witches, demons and fairies.

In the latest tale, wereanimals and shape shifters, known as the "two-natured," have joined vampires in "coming out" to the human race. It starts with a woman turning into werewolf on the evening news.

The subsequent backlash could have made a good story line but author Charlaine Harris doesn't go there. The only consequence is told in a third-person account by Sookie's boss, Sam Merlotte, whose mother, also a shape shifter, is shot by her husband. Lesson learned: If you're planning to tell your spouse that you're a little different, hide the weapons first.

Read on

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Beauty and the beast soundtrack



Beauty and the beast soundtrack LYRICS
Thanks, Summergirl