Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Charlaine Harris reading in Seattle Thursday night : Interview with a Vampire (Writer): Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris will be reading from her latest novel Dead in the Family at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, at Town Hall Seattle. Tickets are $5.

Whether you've read her books, or know her name primarily from the HBO hit series True Blood, Charlaine Harris has been feeding thousands of blood-thirsty fans with her Sookie Stackhouse Series of vampires, shape shifters, and the supernatural for almost a decade now. Some may consider Harris' "Sookieverse" to be the crack Twilight for adults, but regardless, Harris was dead on in thinking her readers may just need some vampires in their lives--before Meyer (who's plagued our rainforest with pilgrims) and the many others that have followed, trying to feed off of the current vampire sensation.

If you love True Blood but are yet to have read Harris' books, be prepared--you've got about a summer's worth (or more) of catching up to do--Dead in the Family is the 10th book in the Sookie Stackhouse Series and the show is still working from the third book in the upcoming season.

Having had her novels described as "cozies with teeth," Harris has seen almost all of her fantastical books soar to the top of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists and with the help of True Blood, her fan base is only growing larger. And honestly, like many others, we just can't seem to get enough of it all. For us, it's almost like a newer take on the Southern Grotesque genre that we love so dearly--this time only with vampires, more blood and guts, and the supernatural replacing a time of Calvinism, lynchings, and Jim Crow.

So Dead in The Family is the 10th book in the Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse Series. What do you think about the latest book? Where is Sookie at in her life right now?

What do I think about the book? I think I'm glad it's finished! Yes, I have been busy the past few years, and I don't see it letting up much. Sookie, as always, is facing new challenges as the characters of the people around her become more and more clear under the stress and strain of the politics of the supernatural world.

Can fans look forward to more "Sookie" books in the future? Do you have an idea of how many more will be included in the series, or do you have a particular ending in sight?

I've signed for 13 books total, but I may extend that. I do know how the series will end.

The Sookie Stackhouse Series is set primarily in the South, where you are from as well. Did you plan on having the series take place in Louisiana because of your knowledge of the area or was it rather because you felt that the area fit the characters best?

A combination of those, plus Anne Rice had done such a great job with southern Louisiana, I felt it was time to give northern Louisiana its day in the sun. Or under the moon.

Much of your work as a genre writer revolves around mystery and fantasy. Do you primarily identify most with being a mystery writer?

Yes, I still think of myself as a mystery writer, because those are my roots. But I'm probably more of an urban fantasy writer now, though I actually write rural fantasy.

read on

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