True Blood Season 5 to be based on 'Dead as a Doornail' by Charlaine Harris, it's time to get reading!

OK --Alan Ball says he's working on Season 5 right now and that it's based on Sookie Stackhouse Book #5. So it is time to get reading or re- reading this novel. You can see this year's storyline setting up next year.


I have one word for you : QUINN
How about leg licking
How about Sookie and Sam kissing !

Sookie Stackhouse just can't seem to stay away from the supernatural denizens of Bon Temps, Louisiana. In Dead to the World (2004), she found herself embroiled in vampire politics; this time around, she's involved in the machinations of the Were-people, whose pack leader has just passed away. -Alcide Herveaux asks her to accompany him to the funeral, where Alcide's father declares his candidacy against a slimy, calculating rival. Angry at being drawn into the conflict, Sookie can't distance herself entirely, because a sniper has been taking shots at Were-people, and the community suspects Sookie's brother, Jason, a new shape-shifter. Sookie's love life is every bit as complicated as usual, and her collection of would-be beaux continues to grow. Also, someone wants her dead, which she learns when an assailant sets fire to her beloved house. Harris' southern vampire series remains one of the best of the breed, concocted out of just the right mixture of humor, intrigue, and excitement. Its latest entry does not disappoint.
Here is what I have on the book HERE

Here some bits from an Amazon Review:
Sam's has a new cook - seems to happen almost every volume. Tara has a new boyfriend - also seems to happen regularly. But then the shooting starts:
*Calvin Norris gets shot, seriously injured.
*Sam gets shot, in the leg.
*Sookie gets shot, a shoulder graze.
*Dawson, a Were bodyguard, gets shot, seriously injured.

And then, in terms of who's who vis a vis Sookie:
*Calvin Norris is still interested in Sookie, and in fact they do get in a serious kiss, which surprises Sookie.
*Claudine kisses Sookie a couple times, though, since she's Sookie's fairy godmother, what that might mean is ambiguous. Claudine certainly plays up a hint to others that it might be serious, when such a suggestion is useful.
*Charles Twining, the new bartender at Fangtasia, is intensely interested in Sookie, although respectful.
*Eric is still interested in Sookie, though he's not sure why, and he wants to find out what went on, and he does kiss Sookie again in this book.
*Even good ol' Vampire Bill gets in a few licks, including sharing (innocently, this time) Sookie's hospital bed.
*Alcide Herveax, the Were, attempts to continue his courtship of Sookie, sort of, escorting her to the sort of thing where other people will assume one's intentions are serious. (If you recall, they were once engaged for 10 minutes.)
*And the one we've been waiting for - Sam kisses Sookie, and it might have gone further... yes, admit it, you've been expecting Sookie to finally realize that Sam more than just admires her as a barmaid for several volumes now!!

Perhaps the biggest surprise for me what the sudden intersection with one of Harris's other series, a straightforward mystery series which has heretofore had no hints of fantasy. Lily Bard, who lives in Shakespeare, Arkansas, has been the heroine of such books as "Shakespeare's Christmas" and "Shakespeare's Trollop" and in this book she pops up, having finally married Jack Leeds (isn't that a great name for a PI? Leeds?) as they are investigating Debbie Pelt's disappearance. It's odd seeing Lily referred to as Lily Leeds, after years of seeing her as Lily Bard. Anyway, for those who have only been reading Harris's vampire books, now you are informed that those two characters, who pop up for a couple of chapters here, are actually a whole 'nother series, one I recommend to those who read non-fantasy as well as fantasy.

Other fun bits to watch for - how Greg Aubert's insurance customers stay so lucky; Andy Bellefleur and Sookie finally air some things out; Quinn, who doesn't exactly... kiss... Sookie, and what kind of shifter he turns out to be.

Vampire life explored in Dead as a Doornail

BOOK REVIEW
As if Sookie Stackhouse just doesn't have enough to worry about, Jason Stackhouse joins the supernatural world in Charlaine Harris's novel, Dead as a Doornail. The author strays from the exciting Sookie formula novels with a dry sidebar about the character's brother, Jason, who just can't see to escape trouble.

Book five finds him becoming a panther on page one, adding fear for Jason's safety to the mounting problems Sookie has since she discovered the supernatural world.

Dead as a Doornail begins with the expected change of Jason into a panther under the guidance of Calvin Norris. Since meeting Norris in Hotshot, his hankering for Sookie endears him to help her out, even with her aggravating brother causing problems on Norris' home turf with the relationship with his niece. Hotshots' secrets are now part of Bon Temps as Jason crosses over into a creature of the night. While Jason is being inducted into the culture, Sookie takes time to reminisce on her now defunct relationship with Vampire Bill. She met him at Merlottes, her full-time job that she rarely goes to because of her busy life. Working with vampires has netted her cash to keep her and her house secure for now. She can continue to work and focus on her brother, the main man in her life at the moment.

read on

Charlaine Harris on Tempest Rising

Whata a nice thing for author Nicole Peeler to say about Sookie

As some of you know, the book that inspired me to write Tempest Rising was Ms. Harris’s fifth book in the Southern Vampire Mystery series, Dead as a Doornail:

This was not the first urban fantasy I’d ever read, although when I was reading the genre that name did not exist. When I was a child, it was simply a weird sort of fantasy being published by Charles de Lint and Mercedes Lackey. Back then, to find Anne Rice, one needed to wander out of Fantasy and over to Horror, where she was shelved with Stephen King. Now Rice and King are both housed in Fiction, and other writers have come along claiming to have single-handedly spawned urban fantasy, ignoring de Lint and Lackey.

read on

Charlaine reviews Tempest here

Sookie Stackhouse book's dedications, acknowledgments and prologues for Book 5 Dead as a Doornail

Book 5 Dead as a Doornail

Dedication

This book is dedicated to a wonderful woman I don’t get to see often enough. Janet Hutchings (then an editor at Walker, now editor of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine ) was brave enough to take me on many years ago after I’d taken a long sabbatical from writing. God bless her.

Acknowledgments

I didn’t thank Patrick Schulz for loaning me his Benelli for the last book—sorry, Son. My friend Toni L. P. Kelner, who pointed out some problems in the first half of the book, is due a big hats-off. My friend Paula Woldan gave me moral support and some information on pirates, and was willing to endure me on Talk Like a Pirate Day. Her daughter Jennifer saved my life by helping me prepare the manuscript. Shay, a Faithful Reader, had the great idea for the calendar. And in thanking the Woldan family, I have to include Jay, a volunteer firefighter for many years, who shared his knowledge and expertise with me.

The magister character in the books ...

Sookie Stackhouse book readers may still be scratching their heads at the scope and power of 'the magister' as we see him in Episode 10 of True Blood Season one.

This is where Bill is punished for killing Long Shadow by having to turn the young kidnapped woman, Jessica into a vampire.

But ...hey, we are even still scratching our heads at the change to the overall story arc in having Bill instead of Eric kill Long Shadow in Sookie defense.

But there is some vampire jurisdiction mentioned by Charlene in the books in the matter of this kind of killing and debts owed and punishments in the matter of one vampire killing another vampire.

In book 6, we hear Eric describe the decision of "the arbitrator" in the matter..
It's not the same as the magister but there is some basis in the books for this character.

Long Shadow had been the first bartender of Fangtasia. He'd been embezzling from Eric, who had coerced me into interrogating the barmaids and other human employees until I discovered the culprit. About two seconds before Long Shadow would have ripped out my throat, Eric had executed the bartender with the traditional wooden stake. Killing another vampire is a very serious thing, I gathered, and Eric had had to pay a stiff fine-to whom, I hadn't known, though now I was sure the money had gone to Hot Rain. If Eric had killed Long Shadow without any justification, other penalties would have come into play. I was content to let those remain a mystery.

"What did Hot Rain want?" I said.

"To let me know that though I had paid him the price set by the arbitrator, he didn't consider himself satisfied."

"Did he want more money?"
"I don't think so. He seemed to think financial recompense was not all he required." Eric shrugged.

Dead as a Doornail- Review

The Mobid Romantic reviews Dead as a Doornail

What’s the Southern mystery this time? There is a sniper on the loose who seems to be targeting only shifters (and Sookie, but she has very poor luck). Not only that, but who tried to burn down Sookie’s house with her in it? In this book five of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, Dead as a Doornail, Sookie is almost burned to death, attacked by wolves during a ceremony, shot in the shoulder, harassed by Eric who desperately wants to know what happened during his period of amnesia, and faced with Bill reentering the dating world. Her friendship is also on the fritz with Alcide. Oh, and if that’s not bad enough, she is a suspect in the death of shifter Debbie Pelt, which is probably the only one thing that happens that she actually deserves.

Problems don’t belong to only Sookie, though. Jason is a suspect in the shifter shootings (the Stackhouses must be cursed), though he is adapting nicely to his new life as a shifter and, in fact, quite likes it. Tara Thornton, Sookie’s best friend, is the unwilling girlfriend to a violent and dominating vampire named Mickey. Alcide has his worries over his father becoming pack leader.

Read on http://morbid-romantic.net/2009/01/25/review-dead-as-a-doornail-southern-vampire-mysteries-book-5

' town vs. gown '

From Dead as a Doornail:

'Just as I was turning with my tray resting on my right hand, trouble erupted. A Louisiana Tech student from Ruston got into a one-on-one class war with Jeff LaBeff, a redneck who had many children and made a kind of living driving a garbage truck. Maybe it was just a case of two stubborn guys colliding and really didn't have much to do with town vs. gown (not that we were that close to Ruston).'


Town and Gown from Wikipedia

Town and gown are two distinct communities of a university town; "town" being the non-academic population and "gown" metonymically being the university community, especially in ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews, though also in more modern university towns such as Durham. The metaphor is historical in its connotation but continues to be used in the literature on urban higher education and in common parlance.

Origin of the term

The gown and hood worn for BA graduation at Cambridge During the Middle Ages, students admitted to the European universities often held minor clerical status and donned garb similar to that worn by the clergy. These vestments evolved into the academic long black gown, worn along with hood and cap. The gown proved comfortable for studying in unheated and drafty buildings and thus became a tradition in the universities. The gown also served as a social symbol, as it was impractical for physical manual work (a comparison can be made with the gowns worn by Chinese officials). The hood was often adorned with the colours of the colleges and designated the young scholar's university affiliation. Thus by their distinctive clothing, the students were set apart and distinguished from the citizens of the town; hence the phrase "town and gown."

Read on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_and_gown

Here is my 2nd favorite Sookie Stackhouse book called 'Dead by Day'

You say ...What Dallas, Dead by Day ?? There is a book I've never heard of ??

This is the 2nd of the special Science Fiction Book Club special editions , this one was published in May of 2005 and includes Dead to the World and Dead as a Doornail- the first book in this special SFBC series is called Dead in Dixie ( it includes the first 3 books) and I wrote about it here

Look at Eric on the cover of DbD and then look at Bill on the cover of DiD book with the "blood wings " that make him look like an archangel. Haha
They are so funny and seem so wrong BUT I LOVE them ....

You can still find used ones around -they are my favorites and they are sitting on my desk right now ...

Dead by Day
By Charlaine Harris,
Published by Science Fiction Book Club, 2005
ISBN 0739453424
419 page

A Review: Dead as a Doornail - Charlaine Harris

What a nice review of book five, Dead as a Doornail by Bela Lee at Life as a Convicted Bibliophile blog and she has reviewed other Sookie Stackhouse books !

Dead as a Doornail is the fifth installment in the fantastic "Southern Vampire Mystery" series by Charlaine Harris.

After participating in the Witch War Sookie tries to settle down into her normal life, but it seems the vampires, weres and shifters have other ideas. While Sookie waits to see if her brother turns into a were-panther as the full moon approaches, she also has to deal with a sniper that seems to be attacking the shifters of Bon Temps.

I particularly enjoyed this one. There is a lot of action to be fitted within the pages of Dead as a Doornail. Just when you think the action is over, there is something else to cause some danger in Sookie's life.

More than the action, what is most interesting is the changing relationships in Sookie's life. Her close relationship with Alcide changes when more details surrounding his ex-girlfriend, Debbie Pelt's disappearance arise. Calvin, the were-panther, and Sookie become closer as a result of the sniper attacks. Thing seem to be heating up between Sookie and her boss, Sam. And, there is a new supernatural on the scene, the mysterious Quinn. Then there is of course Eric and Bill, our favourite vampires. It seems a lot for one telepath waitress to handle at one time.

This one is one of my favourites in the series. There is definitely a turning point for Sookie, as she tries to take on more than she can handle. I have to give a lot of credit to Charlaine Harris, who keeps this series alive with interesting plots and even more interesting characters.

One of her best, yet!

http://convicted-bibliophile.blogspot.com/2008/12/review-dead-as-doornail-charlaine.html

Sookie tells Bill about Eric

book 5

“Or your blessing.” He put one of his cool hands on my cheek. “No fever,” he said to himself. “You’ll heal.” Then he sat up straighter. “You slept with Eric while he was staying with you.”
“Why are you asking, if you already know?” There was such a thing as too much honesty.
“I’m not asking. I knew when I saw you together. I smelled him all over you; I could tell how you felt about him. We’ve had each other’s blood. It’s hard to resist Eric,” Bill went on in a detached way. “He’s
as vital as you are, and you share a zest for life. But I’m sure you know that . . .” He paused, seemed to be trying to think how to frame what he wanted to say.
“I know that you’d be happy if I never slept with anyone else in my life,” I said, putting his thoughts into words for him.
“And how do you feel about me?”
“The same. Oh, but wait, you alreadydid sleep with someone else. Before we even broke up.” Bill looked away, the line of his jaw like granite. “Okay, that’s water under the bridge. No, I don’t want to think about you with Selah, or with anyone. But my head knows that’s unreasonable.”
“Is it unreasonable to hope that we’ll be together again?”
I considered the circumstances that had turned me against Bill. I thought of his infidelity with Lorena; but she had been his maker, and he had had to obey her. Everything I’d heard from other vamps had confirmed what he’d told me about that relationship. I thought of his near-rape of me in the trunk of a car; but he’d been starved and tortured, and hadn’t known what he was doing. The minute he’d come to his senses, he’d stopped.
I remembered how happy I’d been when I’d had what I thought was his love. I’d never felt more secure in my life. How false a feeling that had been: He’d become so absorbed in his work for the Queen of Louisiana that I’d begun to come in a distant second. Out of all the vampires who could have walked into Merlotte’s Bar, I’d gotten the workaholic.
“I don’t know if we can ever have the same relationship again,” I said. “It might be possible, when I’m a little less raw from the pain of it. But I’m glad you’re here tonight, and I wish you would lie down with me for a little while . . . if you want to.” I moved over on the narrow bed and turned on my right side, so the wounded shoulder was up. Bill lay down behind me and put his arm over me. No one could approach me without him knowing. I felt perfectly secure, absolutely safe, and cherished. “I’m so glad you’re here,”