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Here are the dedications and prologues from Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas.
Dead Until Dark
My thanks and appreciation go to the people who thought this book was a good idea-Dean James, Toni L. P. Kelner and Gary and Susan Nowlin
Living Dead in Dallas
This book is dedicated to all the people who told me they enjoyed Dead Until Dark.
Thanks for the encouragement.
My thanks go to Patsy Asher of Remember the Alibi in San Antonio, Texas; Chloe Green of Dallas; and the helpful cyber-friends I've made on Dorothy L, who answered all my questions promptly and enthusiastically. I have the greatest job in the world.
Introducing the all-new Southern vampire mystery series.
Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-time Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out . . .
Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn't such a bright idea.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Sookie Stackhouse book's dedications, acknowledgments and prologues ( bk 1 & 2)
Sing us a song you're the piano man..
Bill Compton's Living Room: Episode 12
Bill's piano playing is interrupted when vampires Eric and Pam open his front door and walk into his living room with Jessica, the vampire he was forced to make (and who he subsequently gave to Eric because she was a nuisance).
Jessica: Hi, Daddy. (Sits on the couch)
Bill (to Eric): What is this?
Eric: There are favors. And there are... favors.
Pam: She is extremely annoying.
Bill: You can't do this. We had a deal.
Yeah, well now the terms have changed. She's yours. Unless you want to give me Sookie.
(Bill stands and bears fangs)
(Eric also bears fangs and laughs)
Eric: It's just a suggestion. Though, a few nights with this one might change your mind.
Pam: Good luck.
Eric: (In Swedish ) Åh, du ljuva frihet! (oops sorry , it means 'Ah, sweet(lovely) freedom !' in English )
(Eric and Pam leave)
Jessica: So... Who's good to eat around here? (laughs and bares fangs)
Does anyone know the song he plays ?
You know you've watched too much True Blood when...
You gave Shreveport, LA a place mark on Google Earth. ( map)
You prefer to watch TB alone because that way you can keep rewinding all the Bill and Sookie scenes and not feel like a total obsessive weirdo.
You find yourself desperately searching for any acting SM did previously, get excited because they are showing "The Starter Wife" on tv this weekend and then get your hopes dashed when you realize it's season 2, not season 1.
I have some "Sam heavy " episodes of Starter Wife here and here
You can recite some full scene dialogue to people including each characters lines complete with their individual accent, disposition, quirks and foibles, mannerisms, etc.
...in conversations, you do the the "Lafayette dip" when you say something sassy or are trying to make a point.
you dream of what TB season 4 might be like....
True Blood 's Mayor Norris: the quite amazing William Schallert.
I have been thinking about the actor who played Mayor Norris this past season in True Blood.
We see him most notably in episode 5 at the Descendants of the Glorious Dead meeting, the night that Bill Compton speaks to the group. I have been trying to remember in what movie that actor also played a mayor in another famous role.
Well, as you may know Mayor Norris is played by the amazing William Schallert who also played Mayor Webb Schubert in the 1967 movie, In the Heat of the Night. From his many famous film roles to an amazing television career it is just fascinating to look through Mr Schallert's body of work that has now spanned over 60 years.
From playing the young gas station attendant in 1947 in the film Mighty Joe Young, to starring in such television classics as: Commando Cody, Wonderful World of Disney, Wagon Train, Dobie Gillis, Gunsmoke, Patty Duke ,Get Smart and of course , he even was Nilz Baris in the Star Trek episode the Trouble with Tribbles.
How much fun it is to look through William Schallert's wonderful career, it's like strolling through the history of television.
You can see it here
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0769974/
More info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Schallert
He is also the son of Edwin Schallert, drama editor of the "Los Angeles Times" and served as President of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 1979-1981
You can see William in one of his True Blood scenes below :
Flesh and Blood : True Blood in Australia
Everything Alan Ball touches turn to gold: American Beauty, Six Feet Under and now True Blood - his television follow up. Produced for HBO, it's already got street cred and industry awards. This here is the hot new thang.
Set just a few years into the future there are vampires amongst us. But since the widespread availability of synthetic blood, they no longer need to devour humans. Instead they fight for respectability and advocate acceptance. Vampires suffer prejudice, simply for being different. Are you getting the metaphors here?
Based on the book The Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris, the setting is the small town of Bon Temps in deepest, darkest Louisiana. Visually, this small town is a southern sister to David Lynch's Twin Peaks. Small road diners, dilapidated shacks, savannah trees and night critters abound. The 'indie' opening credits feature everything from Baptist revival meetings to the Ku Klux Klan with a rockin' bluegrass theme. Ball's world is gothic working class - raw and steamy.
Front and centre of the story is Sookie (Anna Paquin), a cafe waitress who has telepathic abilities. Serving unfriendly customers who are always longing to grope her is a daily chore. Working alongside her are bartender Tara (Rutina Wesley) and Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), a gay cook who turns tricks for money.
When Sookie meets Bill (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old vampire, she is drawn to his magnetism and intrigued by the fact she cannot hear his thoughts. These two misfits are a match made outside heaven. "You can never find a human man you can be yourself with," he insists.
Australian Ryan Kwanten (Home & Away, Summerland) plays Sookie's brother Jason, a road worker and horny bad boy who finds himself as the number one suspect in a murder case. Someone is killing young women and they're usually his recent conquests. With a ripped bod and rabid naked scenes, Kwanten is sex on a stick.
Ball marks his territory slowly in True Blood. This is a grand melodrama built on character, concepts and tone. Bubbling beneath the surface is a sexual energy and an unsettling feeling that horror lurks around every corner. The performances are superb, with Paquin shifting from strong and sexy to vulnerable with consummate ease.
Previously, Alan Ball has proven he is prepared to defy conventions with his storytelling. Methinks he's just warming up here.
True Blood premieres 8:30pm Tuesday February 10 on Showcase
http://sxnews.e-p.net.au/television-guide/flesh-and-blood-4887.html
True Blood Season 2 : Chris Oliver Food Stylist
Another great True Blood blurb on her blog and yet another wonderful Cajun recipe from my favorite Food Stylist !
For those of you True Blood fans like me the filming of the first episode of the second season has begun. I'm so excited to be back on the show . To let you guys know I Chris Oliver have been the food stylist for the first season and to clear up any confusion there was a typo. Congratulations to Anna Paquin 2008 golden globe winner and Alan Ball creator/executive producer for bringing his adaption of the Stackhouse Novels written by Charlaine Harris to the small screen for yet another wonderful season of True blood on HBO. This supernatural series focuses on a small town in Louisiana where vampires now coexist with humans as fellow citizens. It follows Sookie Stackhouse a telepathic waitress and her open mindedness of vampire integration . Enjoy the new season and be sure to watch for plenty of southern flared cuisine.
LOUISIANA GUMBO
2 lbs chicken
2 lbs breakfast sausage (Hot)
3 lbs shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1 lb craw fish tail (peeled)
1 lb okra
8 ounces clam juice
4 bell peppers
2 chili peppers (Cayenne)
3 tablespoons ground sage
3 tablespoons chicken boulien
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon gumbo file
1/2 cup flour
Directions
In a large (I mean large) stockpot boil chicken (completely covered by 2 inches of water), chopped okra, sage, bouillon, oregano, black pepper until chicken is done. Remove chicken and set aside to cool, leave the stock in the pot. When cool debone the chicken and shred the meat. Set aside for now.
Crumble sausage and fry in a skillet. Remove sausage and set aside. Reserve 1/2 cup of the drippings. Add flour and make a very dark roux (dark brown). Add the sausage and roux to the chicken broth and let simmer 10 minutes.
Chop bell peppers and cayennes at this time. Add to pot and let simmer 10 minutes.
Add shrimp, clam juice, crawfish tails to the pot and let simmer 15 minutes.
Add the chicken and gumbo file to the pot and bring to a boil.
I like to let this gumbo rest for a few hours and then reheat it before serving. Serve over rice with crackers and Louisiana hot sauce.
This gumbo only gets better the next day. It freezes well to make a quick simple meal anytime.~
Check out her woderful blog : http://starfoodstylist.blogspot.com/2009/02/true-blood-season-2.html
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Paquin: Not Exactly Bloodthirsty
Blink has heard of low-carb diets, but this borders on the extreme. According to Dan Rebert, a creature and prosthetics make-up artist with MastersFX, which just signed on to do effects for a second season of HBO’s “True Blood,” star Anna Paquin is way conscientious about what she consumes on the set, even in character.
“Alan Ball requested of us during the first season that any time Anna Paquin needs to drink ‘blood’ on set, we have to ensure that our special-effects blood is carb-free. So, for the second season of the show, we’re stocking up on carb-free blood—an item that’s not so easily found,” he says. It’s a good thing for Ms. Paquin that these aren’t the good old days of black-and-white productions, when Hershey’s chocolate syrup was the top choice for on-screen blood. The actress could not be reached for comment by deadline.
http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/blink/2009/01/paquin_not_exactly_bloodthirst.php
TV guide poll: Vote for Bill Compton for Sexiest Bad Ass
Vote for Bill Compton for sexiest Bad Ass
Vote here
"Theodore Newlin is an America hero , Amen, Amen !"
This a fun little factoid about the Tammy Faye look-alike wife of the husband / wife TV evangelists couple that we see interviewing Ted Newlin .
We see this clip in episode 3 when Jason is watching TV late at night . The actress is Kelli Maroney and she is a female B movie horror film star as well as Soap star ( Ryan's Hope ) .
Kelli Maroney is best known for her film roles were in the 1982 comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High as a cheerleader named Cindy, the 1984 science fiction movie Night of the Comet as Samantha Belmont
; as well as two low-budget slasher films, The Zero Boys (1985) as Jamie, and Chopping Mall
(1986) as Alison.
In an interview with Maroney was featured in Jewel Shepard's Invasion of the B-Girls, a non-fiction book comprised of Q&A's with popular scream queens.
Kelli's web page http://www.kellimaroney.com/home.html
Cult Goddess Magazine HERE http://www.cultgoddessmagazine.com/
South Florida's underground vampires lust for more than your heart
Under any other circumstances, the girl sitting in the oversized red chair might be screaming for help or begging for mercy. A tall, pale young man — his eyes lined in black — inches toward her with a sharp blade in his hand. It's just after 1 a.m. on a recent Friday night, and an operatic trance song thumps through a North Miami Beach living room lit only by a series of white candles.
Nikolai, 23, wears black leather wristbands and the vest and pants of a powder-blue tuxedo. He's a thin kid with an emo haircut. He brandishes a medical scalpel in his right hand. He lifts Violetta's right leg into the air, rustling her burgundy, Elizabethan-style dress. The blade nears Violetta's exposed, fleshy thigh....
Nikolai is a vampire. He and his friends are all part of a South Florida community of vampires — they sometimes spell it vampyre to differentiate the living, human versions from the fictional, undead forms. They identify with the lonely, torn spirits in vampire stories, but these folks are not your typical goth kids. Nor are they role playing. Some of them claim to be psychic vampires with an ability to drain energy with their minds. And some are sanguine — vampires who lust after and feed on human blood.
Read article http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2009-02-05/news/south-florida-s-underground-vampires-lust-for-more-than-your-heart/
True Blood HBO Wiki gets praise from a husband!
We don't all have long suffering spouses -some of our husbands and boyfriends are very understanding and even happy that we have found something that we so enjoy!
So there I was watching HBO..and my wife's name flashes on the screen during a promo for the very popular HBO vampire show True Blood. The producers regularly scan the fan forum and quote the best comments from the super fans.
I thought I was a fanboy!
HBO Original Series turns out some of the most memorable, dark, and dramatic TV shows anywhere. There are fans of HBO and then there are FANS!
HBO hosts the True Blood Wiki, where the very devoted fanatics of the show, like my wife, come to bond and team-up in online cliques to discuss red wine, vampire affairs, human/ Vampire relations and Milano cookies.
The show is based on the very popular novels- the Sookie Stackhouse Series- by Charlaine Harris. My books have been banished to a lower shelf in place of these 'Sookie' novels.
And no, I'm not jealous of all of the giggling, school girl, fandom..like some of the other True Blood spouses apparently are. The show's creators apparently read the fan forums to get ideas and to gauge audience response, pretty cool.
Anyways..A shout out to the 'Bill on the brain', bunch over on the TB Wiki..and also to my fellow True Blood spouses, at least Entourage is great this season.
It's not TV, it's HBO.
True Blood: it's not the only drink in town
There are other brands of synthetic blood that the vampires drink in the Sookie Stackhouse books beside True Blood.
The four others that come to mind are:
Life Flow from Bk 2
Life Support from Bk 3
Red Stuff from Bk 5
Royalty Blend from Bk 8
Others ? Anyone remember what makes Royalty Blend different ?
True Blood actors adopt Southern Accents : They speak American
I am not one of the people that has had a problem with the accents of any of the actors, I think the Canadian/Kiwi , Brits, Swedish and Australian actors are doing a pretty good job with their American southern accents and I have lived i
n the South all my life.
A growing number of television actors are not only studying scripts, they're also studying American vowels and consonants. Popular actors from England, Australia and New Zealand have found a home on the small screen playing American characters.But just how well are they doing with their adoptive American accents? For some perspective, we checked in with Cecilie O'Reilly, a busy Chicago dialect coach, who most recently worked with American actors and Irish accents for Steppenwolf Theatre's production of "The Seafarer."
Role: Sookie Stackhouse ("True Blood"), a Louisiana barmaid who hears voices and falls in love with a vampire.
Accent: Paquin's Southern accent is "right on target. I pretty much couldn't see any problem with it."
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/television/1409938,CST-FTR-accent03.article
The 100 Best Fantasy Books
Fantasy books and movie dot com came up with their list of the 100 best fantasy books .
The best fantasy books take you on the adventure of a lifetime, through fantastic worlds full of magical creatures and endless possibilities.
A psychic barmaid from a small town finds her life turned upside down when a handsome vampire takes an interest in her. This is the first book in The Southern Vampire Mysteries series. 
A psychic barmaid must solve the murder of a co-worker and find a missing vampire in this, the second book in The Southern Vampire Mysteries series.
Of note , Dracula is 22 - entire list can be found here 
A British solicitor recounts his encounter with the mysterious Count Dracula, who takes an unnatural interest in his beloved fiancé.
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