Saturday, May 7, 2011

Charlaine heading north to Canada

Fans of the Southern Gothic experience, psychics, werewolves and very, very naked (non-sparkling) vampires will be excited to hear that Charlaine Harris, author of the Southern Vampire Mysteries series (also known as the Sookie Stackhouse series)—on which the hit show True Blood is based—is coming to Toronto in July. Harris will be promoting the 11th book in the series in her first ever Canadian appearance, at the Polaris science fiction and fantasy convention, where she’ll sign copies of her books, pose for photos with fans, and talk about the novels and True Blood during an audience question-and-answer session.

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TCON http://tcon.ca/

Nick Cave & Neko Case Cover Zombies for 'True Blood'

According to UK music mag NME, dark rock icon (and celebrated screenwriter) Nick Cave and indie folk-rocker Neko Case have collaborated on a song for the Season 4 premiere of True Blood. The pair are recording a cover of the classic "She's Not There" by '60s rockers The Zombies, a very good choice for a show packed with all manner of monsters. Find out more about their collaboration after the jump...
Cave, whose musical output has always leaned toward the dark side, teamed up with Case to do their own moody take on the 1964 pop classic (joining literally dozens of other interpretations), which will be featured during the end credits of the season premiere. According to the NME report, True Blood music supervisor Gary Calamar revealed at the Musexpo conference in Los Angeles that the episode's script originally called for Santana's classic 1977 cover, but Calamar decided to go with a brand-new version. "You always want to serve the show," he explained, "but in the back of my mind I'm always thinking about the soundtrack... The key to a good soundtrack is having fresh recordings."
That fresh creative blood will flow when True Blood kicks off the new season on June 26th.

http://www.fearnet.com/news/b22515_nick_cave_neko_case_cover_zombies_true.html 

True Blood Author Takes a Bite Out of Seattle

Vampires, check. Pale skin, check. Erotic elements, check. Forks, Washington... not quite check. Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery series lacks the semi-local setting of Stephenie Meyer's teen-friendly Twilight series, but the books--and their protagonist, Sookie Stackhouse--have managed to sink their fictional fangs into the hearts (throats? eyes? brains?) of many fans, and also inspired the popular HBO series True Blood. With more than a month to go before True Blood starts a new season, vampire fanatics have some time to start catching up on the books.
Harris visits Seattle tomorrow night to read and sign copies of Dead Reckoning, the most recent installment of her "rural fantasy" Sookie series. We asked Harris a couple of questions about her approach to writing and thoughts on the television series.
How do you stay inspired throughout the series? How long do you plan to continue it?

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