Sookie Stackhouse book's dedications, acknowledgments and prologues ( bk 3 & 4)

Dedications, acknowledgments and prologues from Club Dead (Bk 3) and Dead to the World ( Bk 4 )

Book 3

Timothy Schulz, who told me flatly he wanted a book all to himself.

Acknowledgments

My thanks to Lisa Weissenbuehler, Kerie L. Nickel, Marie La Salle, and the incomparable Doris Ann Noms for their input on car trunks, great and small. My further thanks to Janet Davis, Irene, and Sonya Stocklin, also cybercitizens of DorothyL, for their information on bars, bourrée (a card game), and the parish governments of Louisiana. Joan Coffey was most gracious with supplying information about Jackson. The wonderful and obliging Jane Lee drove me patiently around Jackson for many hours, entering thoroughly into the spirit of finding the perfect location for a vampire bar.

Charlaine Harris has produced two mystery series in addition to her Sookie Stackhouse books. She lives in southern Arkansas with her husband, three children, two dogs, two ferrets, and a duck. An avid reader, mild cinemaphile, and occasional weightlifter, her favorite activity is cheering her children on in various sports while sitting on uncomfortable bleachers. Her website is www.charlaineharris.com.

Book 4

Though they'll probably never read it, this book is dedicated to all the coaches—baseball, football, volleyball, soccer—who've worked through so many years, often for no monetary reward, to coax athletic performances out of my children and to instill in them an understanding of The Game. God bless you all, and thanks from one of the moms who crowds the stands through rain, cold, heat, and mosquitoes.
However, this mom always wonders who else might be watching the night games.

My thanks to Wiccans who answered my call for knowledge with more information than I could use—Maria Lima, Sandilee Lloyd, Holly Nelson, Jean Hontz, and M. R. "Murv" Sellars. I owe further thanks to other experts in d ifferent fields: Kevin Ryer, who knows more about feral hogs than most people do about their own pets; Dr. D. P. Lyle, who is so gracious about answering medical questions; and, of course, Doris Ann Norris, reference librarian to the stars.
If I have made mistakes in the use of the knowledge these kind people imparted, I'll do my best to somehow blame it on them.

Afterword

Dear Reader,

In case you haven't met me before, my name is Sookie Stackhouse. I've been working at Merlotte's Bar for four years now. For the first three, things were quiet. Then, one night, Bill the Vampire walked in, and my life changed forever. While we've followed the familiar pattern (vampire meets girl, vampire gets girl, vampire loses girl), I have a feeling our association has more twists and turns yet to come.
In the first month I knew Bill, there was a serial killer in the area hunting down barmaids with vampire boyfriends—and the main suspect was my brother Jason(Dead Until Dark).
Then, at the beginning of fall, the vampires of Dallas asked the vampires of Shreveport if they could borrow me for a little investigation into a missing nestmate of theirs(Living Dead in Dallas). At the same time, the short-order cook at Merlotte's was murdered, and since I counted myself his friend, I felt I should do everything I could to solve the mystery of his death. Bill's boss, Eric, had a lot to do with my trip to Big D, and he developed an interest in me that hasn't flagged.
Right before Christmas, I began to think Bill was engaged in some hanky-panky. He left town, and vanished in Mississippi. Eric talked me into going to Jackson to search for him. As my cover, I was escorted by the Werewolf Alcide Herveaux. While searching for Bill, I met some of the state's less reputable citizens at the supernatural hangout in Jackson, called Club Dead.
That brings me up to the start of Dead to the World.
And now that I'm pretty much mad at everyone, and Jason might be a Shifter at the next full moon, what's going to happen next?
The way my life's been going since Bill Compton came into Merlotte's, there just no telling.