Review : A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Review of Touch of Dead

The Sookie Stackhouse Stories, this is, unsurprisingly, a collection of short stories featuring Harris' most popular heroine, a telepathic barmaid lusted after by virtually every male supernatural creature who crosses her path. The series is now up to its ninth installment and the stories, written for various collections, span Sookie's character trajectory over that time. Harris provides a time frame, and presents them chronologically. I would think that elements of each plot would be less satisfying for a reader unfamiliar with Harris's universe but enough background is woven in that that new readers won't be wholly lost. Familiar readers may welcome the return of characters who are now dead or estranged, and though Harris writes in the introduction that she was unsure when first approached to write a Sookie short that she'd be able to her justice in a more abbreviated format, I think she sells herself a little short. The stories fit into the overall narrative relatively smoothly, without creating events that would make the novels incomplete.

"Fairy Dust" takes place after the fourth novel, Dead to the World - Sookie is asked to investigate the murder of Claudette, a fairy who works as an exotic dancer, by her surviving triplets, Claude (also a dancer) and Claudine, and through a combination of telepathy, clever questioning and her knowledge of the Fae, is able to identify the killer and the motive.

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Wall StreeT Journal Best -Sellers -WOW!

FICTION

1. ''The Lost Symbol'' by Dan Brown (Doubleday)

2. ''A Touch of Dead'' by Charlaine Harris (Ace)

3. ''Where the Wild Things Are'' by Maurice Sendak (HarperTrophy)

4. ''The Van Alen Legacy'' by Melissa De La Cruz (Hyperion Press)

5. ''The Help'' by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam/Amy Einhorn)

Collected short stories fill gaps in Sookie Stackhouse vampire saga

I sure hope everyone bought this Sookie short story anthology ...it is such a pretty little book. It's not much bigger than a paperback and the moon on the cover is sparkledy. The book also has some really neat illustrations (see one below)- just because you've read the stories you still need to add this great little book to your Sookie collection.

From Tulsa World
Sookie, Sookie everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Until now.

At least, that is how author Charlaine Harris explains simply in the dedication to this collection of five previously published short stories that feature Sookie Stackhouse: "For all those readers who want every last sip of Sookie."

It's a literary beverage that a great many people have found quite tasty over the last couple of years, thanks in large part to the HBO series "True Blood," created by Alan Ball and based on Harris' series of novels about the adventures of a barmaid named Sookie Stackhouse who lives in a Louisiana that's rife with vampires, shape-shifters and other such creatures.

However, the short stories in "A Touch of Dead" can only be fully understood if one already has a knowledge of Harris' "Southern Vampire" novels — from 2001's "Dead until Dark" to "Dead and Gone," which came out earlier this year.Arkansas native Harris brings humor and a straight-forward writing style to her unique twist on the paranormal romance genre, blending fantasy, science fiction and a healthy dash of sexual tension.

She has a knack for moving her stories along quickly, but without sacrificing the complexity she gives her characters. And just when action gets serious, she brings in some levity to keep it from becoming completely morose or disturbing.

The five stories here are arranged according to how they fit into the overall chronology of the series — interludes between the novels, so to speak.

Readers familiar with the Sookie novels will enjoy the stories of her meeting the Vampire Queen of Louisiana for the first time in "One Word Answer," and her role in solving a murder at a strip club for fairies in "Fairy Dust."

The light-hearted "Dracula Night" shows a childlike enthusiasm from the usually ruthless and calculating vampire Eric. The story takes place during a time when Sookie and Eric, who is the sheriff over the regional vampire territory, are flirting with the idea of being a couple. In the vampire culture, Dracula's birthday is a holiday, and Eric views the iconic legend as Santa Claus, hoping for a visit. After the leotard-wearing, pudgy Prince of Darkness arrives, he finds Sookie irresistible, leading to a brouhaha.

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Win Charlaine's new book - A Touch of Dead!

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Contest ends 10/23/09. Please refer to complete contest rules. The entries listed above are the ONLY entries for this contest. Winners will be notified by e-mail (if supplied in the entry or on profile page), as well as on the Winner's Wall.

Touch of Dead: New Sookie Stackhouse short story collection cover released !

Check this out another brilliant piece of artwork from Lisa Desimini !

Release date October 2009 !

this book will contain all the Sookie Stackhouse short stories more info here

Go Ask Dallas: What's the deal with the book of Charlaine Harris's to be published in Oct. 09 'A Touch of Dead' ? Is it Sookie #10 or short stories?

Elisha writes to ask "Hey Dallas, Do you have any information on the book that's going to be released in October '09 called ' A Touch of Dead'? "

No a Touch of Dead is NOT Sookie Book # 10 and Yes, it is a compilation of Sookie short stories but not all of them!

This is how Charlaine Harris describes the book :

Yes, a compilation of the Sookie short stories will be released in October. It's called A TOUCH OF DEAD and it has a charming cover by Lisa Desimini, my favorite cover artist.

These are not all the stories set in the Sookieverse (the rights to those have not reverted), but since I write Sookie only for Penguin Putnam, I didn't need to reclaim the rights.

Charlaine Harris

Now, I would have you note that Night's Edge is also being republished this fall and my guess would be that one of the stories not included would be 'Dancer's in the Dark' which appears in this anthology. 'Dancer's' is the 2004 Sookieverse novella about the dancing vampires, Leyla and Sean and a MUST read.

Night's Edge was originally published by Harlequin and they are notorious for holding on to publishing rights ...so you may have to buy the republished edition of Night's Edge and A Touch of Dead to get all the Sookie (and Sookieverse) short stories.
Personally, I wouldn't wait until November there are used copies available and I think 'Dancer's' holds all important clues to Dead and Gone, Book 9.
You can also get all the short stories ( yes, even the one 's that are out-of-print ) for free HERE

Kind of cryptically CH might also be saying that A Touch of Dead might not include 'Tacky' from My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding which is a Sookieverse story but published by St. Martin's Griffin.

I will post more when we know more ... I can't wait to see the cover!

You can read past 'Question and Answers' from "Go Ask Dallas" Here and thanks, Elisha!

Questions are always welcome, I don't always know the answers but sometimes I can find the answers Email: True Blood in Dallas

Thanks, "Dallas"