Sookie Stackhouse fans may also be: Lost in Fiction

Fascinating article posted in the Wall Street Journal and written by Alexander McCall Smith about fan relations with fictional characters. Boy, Did we need this article !
Many of you are also watching the new HBO series the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" which is based on the books written by Smith

Alexander McCall Smith on the intense personal relationships readers form with characters and the ways that complicates the lives of authors

By ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH
A few weeks ago, on a book tour of Australia, I found myself signing books in Sydney. As the line of readers moved, two young women presented copies of books for signature. These books were from a Scottish series I write, one featuring a heroine called Isabel Dalhousie. Isabel, who is in her early 40s, has a boyfriend considerably younger than she is -- by 14 years, in fact. As I signed their books, one of the women mentioned that she thought that this relationship between Isabel and Jamie, the younger man, was not a good idea at all.

The answer came quickly. "Because it's not going to go anywhere."

"But I thought it was going rather well," I protested.

Again my reader lost no time in replying. "No, it isn't," she said emphatically.

That was me put in my place. After all, I was merely the author. As it happens, Isabel's relationship with Jamie had not been my idea in the first place, but had come about because at an earlier stage in the series I came under attack from a journalist -- another woman -- for not allowing Isabel to become romantically involved with Jamie. I had originally intended that their friendship be platonic, but had been told in the course of an interview with this journalist that I really had to allow something closer to develop. "Your readers will expect it," she said. "And it would be so empowering for them."

READ ON

Let In' The Swedish Vampires from NPR

Let In' The Swedish Vampires
In Let the Right One In, Eli and Oskar are both lonely 12-year-olds — but one of them happens to be a vampire. Critic-at-large John Powers calls the Swedish film "the best vampire movie in the last 75 years."

Fresh Air from WHYY

by John Powers

Play

It's an essential feature of vampires that they're able to live forever. The same is true, it seems, of vampire stories.

Almost two centuries after John Polidori wrote the first vampire tale in English, these blood-drinking fiends are bigger business than ever. Last fall, as our financial firms sank, the blue chip cultural stock of vampirism was soaring, with the blockbuster film of Stephanie Meyer's bestseller Twilight, the launch of the hit HBO series Tru Blood and — last but not least — the art-house cult-favorite that's invariably described as "the Swedish vampire movie."

Its name is Let the Right One In — the title comes from a song by Morrissey — and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's probably the best vampire movie in the last 75 years. Because it originally appeared in limited release, most of you wouldn't have had a chance to see it. But now it's out on DVD and anyone can marvel at how Tomas Alfredson's brilliant film manages to inject new blood into what seems like an anemic old story.

Read on here
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuar/.artsmain/article/8/1338/1492032/Movies/%27Let.In%27.The.Swedish.Vampires/

True Blood Recipe: Sookie's warm and delicious Baked Apples

Sookie in Book 8, 'From Dead to Worse' makes her special baked apples:

"I fixed baked apples stuffed with raisins and cinnamon and butter and popped them in to bake"

Baked Apples Recipe

4 large good baking apples, such as Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, or Jonagold (see cooking apple varieties)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup currants or chopped raisins
1 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup boiling water

Method

1 Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash apples. Remove cores to 1/2 inch of the bottom of the apples. It helps if you have an apple corer, but if not, you can use a paring knife to cut out first the stem area, and then the core. Use a spoon to dig out the seeds. Make the holes about 3/4-inch to an inch wide.

2 In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, currants/raisins, and pecans. Place apples in a 8-inch-by-8-inch square baking pan. Stuff each apple with this mixture. Top with a dot of butter (1/4 of the Tbps).

3 Add boiling water to the baking pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the pan juices.

Serve warm with vanilla icecream on the side.

Makes 4 servings.

True Blood is: True love, with fangs

By cara van miriah, in los angeles

Blood. Violence. Sex. That was what drew award-winning American screenwriter Alan Ball to The Southern Vampire Mysteries. He stumbled upon the bestselling series by American Charlaine Harris in a bookstore and it inspired his latest HBO television series.

True Blood, which premiered yesterday on Max (StarHub Channel 59), stars Anna Paquin in a Golden Globe-winning role as telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse who falls in love with a 173-year-old vampire named Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). The screenwriter, who shot to fame with his Best Original Screenplay Oscar for American Beauty (1999), says the story was 'just so much fun'.

'It's scary, dark and funny,' he adds in an interview at The Lot studio in Farmosa Avenue, Los Angeles.

'Vampires are sexy but they will do anything without constraint, without morals. Yet they are objects of fancy for a lot of women,' he muses, with a laugh.

In the world of the book and TV show, vampires are 'coming out of the coffin' to live among humans, thanks to readily available synthetic blood called Tru Blood.

Vampire novels have been fodder for movies ever since 1922's Nosferatu, an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic Dracula novel. Since then, adaptations have ranged from Hollywood blockbusters such as Interview With The Vampire (1994) to the recent Swedish arthouse flick, Let The Right One In (2008).

Read on

http://www.straitstimes.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=d2d0bdad1aa80210VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=d8ef634154b4f010VgnVCM100000560a0a0aRCRD

caravm@sph.com.sg

True Blood airs every Thursday at 9pm on Max (StarHub Ch 59).

True Blood markets its roll-out in Asia on HBO/MAX

Man, the HBO/Max Asian bloggers and reporters have really been plugging away at promoting True Blood. Sometimes the articles have been great -sometimes..uh, not so much! Even the promotional event arranged for the bloggers by HBO/Max in Singapore last week was "interesting. "

More here :
http://eok.net/2009/03/27/hbo-asias-bloody-social-media-campaign/

Here is video from another attendee:


HBO's True Blood Blogger Preview In Singapore from Daryl Tay on Vimeo.

MORE videos here of blogger contests

Stephen Moyer confirms that Bill Compton is an iVamp !

Just another celebrity photo of Stephen Moyer but what I got a kick out of was that "Vampire Bill" is holding my exact white iPhone !! Haha

This is really not a Hollywood/Celebrity or TV fan blog, I guess I'm just too much of a bookie for that, but True Blood is now part of the Sookieverse so I will link to and post some of this stuff. If this is what you really like there WILL ALWAYS be a million other sites to get this kind of stuff from.

I'm sure it's a glamorous life these actors live but having your picture taken everytime you step out of the house must be a drag ....

From http://www.liesangeles.com/2009/04/09/exclusivevampire-in-the-sun/

Blood Copy Volume 6: Vampire politics on the rise

We are revisiting the Blood Copy videos which were part of the HBO True Blood viral marketing campaign that helped introduce the True Blood television series in the summer of 2008. We will be doing a radio show on this topic soon.
Previously we have see the mysterious packages were being received, the gatekeeper awakened on a mysterious website, .... Blood Copy website HERE

The blog and videos not only were a marketing ploy but they also served as a prologue to the series ...
Here is the blog entry for that time period HERE ( July 13, 2008)
It's great to watch these videos but you also must read the blog entry for that day.

Behind the scenes with Anna Paquin on the set of 'The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler '

The story of Irena Sendler, a social worker who was part of the Polish underground during World War II and was arrested by the Nazi's for saving the lives of nearly 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto.

From IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010278/

Nathanial Parks web page( Anna's costar: interesting write up.

http://www.nathanielparker.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2003&Itemid=133

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Where the streets have no name by Pet Shop Boys

Where the streets have no name by Pet Shop Boys LYRICS

Thanks, rnbs20032003

http://lovingtruebloodindallas.blogspot.com/

True Blood is a: Fatal attraction

True Blood is one new series to sink your teeth into.
By SUZANNE LAZAROO

FOR a few years, my life has been bereft of a vampire series I can sink my teeth into. For seven seasons, Joss Whedon’s creative, imaginative series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS) rocked my world and ruled one day of my life each week.

It explored deeper themes of alienation, loss, gender issues and prejudices without losing its entertainment value or becoming too preachy, and balanced that with rich, lustrous mythical and pop culture references. Since it ended in 2003, no other vampire series has really grabbed my attention.

Angel was lacklustre, confusing and somehow soulless, (much as I watched it out of respect for its predecessor), Moonlight failed to elicit much more than a yawn and don’t even get me started on the dismal semi-B-grade fare Blood Ties (although Kyle Schmid really does make a very pretty vampire boy).

So when all the buzz started about True Blood, I didn’t pay much attention. Just another vamp series focused on the always popular blood and sex themes, I thought. Which just goes to show, I have my prejudices. And really, that’s kind of the point of True Blood. Because (and big hurrah here, because it’s about damn time) the series marks the return of the kind of deeper social and political commentary that drew many of us to BTVS week after week.

Yes, it’s a series about vampires, and other supernatural creatures do get thrown into the mix. But more importantly, it’s a show about the natural prejudices we all have and an exploration of xenophobia, fear, the darkness of the soul and the rights of sentient beings. And love and death and sex, and all that other messy life stuff.

True Blood stars Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin.

Read on http://star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/8/tvnradio/3456424&sec=tvnradio

True Blood premieres on Max (Astro channel 412) tomorrow at 10pm.

True Blood t-shirts : Louisiana Vamps and GrabbitKwik

http://www.zazzle.com/

Vampire Bar name ideas

• Full Moon Saloon
• The Vamptini Martini
• Vlad's Place
• Dark Pyre
• Nightwalkers Lair
• Midnight Sanguinary
• Bill's Hideyhole

True Blood / Sookie Fan Art: Clear Willow

Sookie Stackhouse_ClearWillow by ~Tru-Blood-Fan-Club on deviantART

Lisa Mason talks about being on True Blood and in a 1920’s scene.

Lee says

So I worked on the show True Blood last week. It was so much fun! Unfortunately I was not a vampire for that episode but next time I hope to be! Somebody please turn me to the other side!

This episode has a 1920’s flashback scene where my ‘friends’ decide to hang out with the wrong crowd later on at the party. All I can say is ‘not good.’

As most of you know, I am ‘Miss Throwback’ of many eras. It was only perfect that I got to be apart of a 1920’s scene in True Blood. Here I am after hours of wardrobe, hair and makeup! They were such an amazing crew…

Lisa Mason Lee True Blood

Lisa Mason Lee TB Makeup

at the costume house

cool shoes n fans at costume house

http://thecount.com/lisa-mason-lee-on-true-blood/

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Forever by Papa Roach

Forever by Papa Roach
Thanks, barbarellapesaro LYRICS

http://lovingtruebloodindallas.blogspot.com/

Anna Paquin & Stephen Moyer Soaking up the Sun

from Just Jared

True Blood co-stars and real life couple Anna Paquin and British actor Stephen Moyer spend a day playing on rings

, riding a rollercoaster, and enjoying the sun with Stephen’s daughter Lilac on Tuesday (April 7) in Santa Monica, Calif.

The 26-year-old actress and her British beau return to HBO’s True Blood on June 14. This season will be based on the second book of Charlaine Harris‘ Sookie Stackhouse series, Living Dead in Dalla

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/04/08/anna-paquin-is-soaking-in-the-sun/

All 26 photos can be see HERE

Hey Authors, Do you want a great guide to promoting and selling your own book online?

Best part it's $4..yeah, 4 and by Dana Stabenow. BUY HERE

Hi, I'm Dana Stabenow, the author of 25 novels, including the Edgar-award winning, New York Times best-selling Kate Shugak series.

I was invited to guest blog on Jungle Red Writers in February 2009. I cast about for a subject that hadn't already been done to death ("Where I get my ideas" or "Sex in the Kate Shugak series"). I was at the tail end of putting together an extensive Internet promotional campaign for my next book, Whisper to the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Novels), and I thought, Why not that?

Little did I know when I received the invitation in 2008 how very topical the subject was going to be in early 2009. The economy tanked and the publishing industry tanked right along with it. Publishers are being fired, publishing houses are laying off staff, newspapers are no longer doing book reviews, the books-and-mortar bookstores who have traditionally been very powerful in spreading word of mouth are going down like ninepins, and chain stores are cutting stock and moving what's left from up front to the bargain tables faster every month.

It's a scary world out there for an author who is trying to make a living.....

This is the nuts-and-bolts approach to online promotion. I had some advice from my webmaster, the incomparable Scott Gere of GereDonovan Creative, but most of it I learned on my own. It took a lot of hours and a lot of sweat equity, because HTML doesn't come easily to me.

But I made it work. And if I can do this, believe me, you can, too.

Note to Amazon review: Obviously, this isn't a review, I just figured you might like a little taste of Promoting Your Book Online to help you decide if you want to spend four bucks on it.

Charlaine talks about this on her blog and recommends it.