Sookie books CHA- CHING

Foreign Sales for Charlaine Harris
By Ian Randal Strock January 20, 2010

Agent Joshua Bilmes reports many foreign sales for Charlaine Harris:

Jo Fletcher at Orion/Gollancz bought rights to 19 books, including: a major six-figure buy for the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth "Sookie Stackhouse" novels; UK rights to the entire "Aurora Teagarden" and "Lily Bard" series; rights to the anthologies Many Bloody Returns, Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, and Death's Excellent Vacation (all co-edited with Toni L.P. Kelner. John Parker, of the Zeno Agency in the UK, handled the deal on behalf of Bilmes at JABberwocky.

Korean publisher Bada bought rights to the first two "Harper Connelly" novels, Grave Sight and Grave Surprise

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The battle for Jane Austen Great novelist, chick-lit pioneer, vampire. Will the real Miss Austen please stand up?

From Salon Magazine

Salon"The novels of Jane Austen/Are the ones to get lost in," wrote G.K. Chesterton, and millions of readers have done just that. Since 1995 in particular, when the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" starring Colin Firth conquered untold numbers of female hearts, Austen and her (now) most celebrated creation, Mr. Darcy, have become touchstones for a certain strain of contemporary feminine longing. That the following year brought Helen Fielding's "Bridget Jones's Diary," which borrows its plot and hero's last name from "Pride and Prejudice," only cemented this idea in the public mind: Jane Austen is the grandmother of chick lit.

While she didn't quite invent the romantic comedy (Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," a clear inspiration for "Pride and Prejudice," can probably claim that honor), Austen surely conceived and perfected it in its modern form; no one has ever surpassed "Pride and Prejudice," and not due to any lack of trying. Still, literary achievement can hardly explain the Austen craze. Many books labeled "classics" can also be fairly called "beloved," but Austen is canonical in two senses of the word at once. Who else among the acknowledged greatest novelists of all time has inspired such an abundant and robust body of fan fiction? What other author's fan fiction gets published so extensively?

The Austenphile Web site the Republic of Pemberley lists 60 published "sequels and continuations" of "Pride and Prejudice" alone. Austen's five other major novels have their spinoffs, as well, though none so many as "Pride and Prejudice." That count doesn't even include "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," a surprise bestseller last year and the first in a seemingly endless proliferation of classics mashups. It also doesn't factor in all the fiction in which Austen herself is a character, such as Stephanie Barron's mystery series in which the novelist plays detective. Or the newly published "Jane Bites Back," in which multiple publishing trends converge to make Austen a vampire who survives to this day in the guise of a lonely middle-aged bookseller in upstate New York, miffed by her posthumous transformation into a global brand. And then there's the subgenre of chick lit about contemporary women struggling to resign themselves to a dearth of Darcyesque beaux ("Austenland," "Me and Mr. Darcy"). We may love to get lost in Jane Austen's novels, but it's worth wondering if, by this point, they haven't gotten a bit lost in us.

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Twilight the graphic novel ? Can True Blood be far behind ?

Twitter has been buzzing all morning with news that "Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1" will be on sale March 16, 2010. Amazon now has a pre-order page for the highly anticipated graphic novel version of Stephenie Meyer's vampire bestseller.

Here's more about the illustrated novel: "Beautifully rendered, this first installment of Twilight: The Graphic Novel is a must-have for any collector's library ... About the illustrator: Young Kim graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in painting from the College of Fine Arts. She has worked on numerous animation and cover illustration projects and currently makes her home in Yongin, Korea."

Entertainment Weekly has a page from the graphic novel as well. According to Publishers Weekly, the book will be published by Yen Press, a graphic novel and manga imprint at Hachette Book Group USA.

Vampire Diaries return TONGHT!

For Ian Somerhalder, playing ‘Vampire’ is in his blood

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Dying for True Blood news...

From Ask Ausiello

Question: I’m literally dying for True Blood news. Please save me from dying a slow, painful death. —Demi

Ausiello: Your life-saving scoop has arrived! It’ll take three villains to replace last season’s one Big Bad, Maryann. “We have a triumvirate of evil this season,” reveals exec producer Alan Ball. “I’m talking about Franklin Mott, Russell Edgington, and Debbie Pelt. They are all bad to the bone. They’re not just crazy, they’re evil.” Speaking of the yet-to-be-cast Debbie Pelt, Ball tells me that the Alcide’s psycho ex will actually have a bigger role than first thought. “We actually beefed up Debbie,” he says. “She’s going to be in more episodes, so maybe that will have an impact on [what actress] we can get for her, which is a big question right now.”

Question: Loved the pic you snapped of Alex Skarsgard at the Golden Globes. Did you by any chance get any True Blood scoop out of him? —Jessie
Ausiello: No, I just took the picture and ran off. Of course I got some scoop out of him. Specifically, I asked him to give me a preview of Eric’s season 3 journey. “I’d say it’s about revenge,” he told me. “He will continue to explore the whole Sookie thing and what that’s all about. He’s trying to figure out what’s different about her. He’s intrigued by that. And in addition to that, there’s something that happened a thousand years ago that he’s still carrying in his heart. All I’ll say is he’s trying to avenge someone.”

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HBO True Blood Store Pre Order your TB busts

Shop HERE

True Blood Music Video of the Day: Shattered by Trading Yesterday

Shattered by Trading Yesterday
Thanks, Bella382

True Blood casting Stephen Moyer to play Bill as "as an old soul"

from Variety

Ensembles: Each part vital
TV casting directors tell of delicate balancing acts

......In casting Stephen Moyer as vampire Bill Compton for "True Blood," Libby Goldstein and Junie Lowry-Johnson searched for "an old soul with modern qualities."

It was tricky," says Johnson. "We had to find someone in his 30s that you believed was 150 years old, and Steve had that quietness, that stillness, an older quality. You could believe that he had been alive for 150 years that he had lived many lives. The fact that he's British may have helped. Americans seem very modern."

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Take Becca's True Blood Sympathizer Questionnaire

And you might be in the book....

sym·pa·thize
intr.v. sym·pa·thized, sym·pa·thiz·ing, sym·pa·thiz·es
1. To feel or express compassion, as for another’s suffering; commiserate.
2. To share or understand the feelings or ideas of another

sym·pa·thiz·er
3. Me and you, yo.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

WELCOME to my new ongoing feature: “Interview with a Sympathizer.” This is where you tell me, and anyone reading, exactly what you think about True Blood. The interview covers everything from your interest in Charlaine Harris’s novels, to your fave actor on True Blood; from your private viewing rituals, to your personal vamp belief system.

Most interviews will appear in full here, and a number of individual answers will appear in my book Truly, Madly, Deadly: The Unofficial True Blood Companion (ECW Press, 2010). So, have fun, and be creative! I mean, just think, you could live forever between the sheets with your beloveds!

Who can participate? Anyone! Fly your freak flag, or reply anon. It’s all good!

Submit your answers to “Interview with a Sympathizer” using this fangtastic online form! Run, don’t walk! >>>>

http://rebeccawilcott.com/

ECW Press just picked Zandria's digital painting of Eric and Pam from HBO's True Blood for their companion book: Truly, Madly, Deadly: The Unofficial True Blood Companion to be published in June 2010.

Andy Swist has big news about his True Blood paper dolls being featured in a new True Blood companion book!

Yippeee Andy!!!

A True Blood companion
Recently, I was contacted by a lovely woman named Rebecca Wilcott who is not only a fan of the True Blood television series, but also the author of an upcoming companion guide to the series called "Truly, Madly, Deadly: The Unofficial True Blood Companion" (June 2010, ECW Press). From what I understand so far, the book contains a series of sidebars and short interviews with a wide variety of people responding to True Blood and/or the vampire genre. The point is to show how pervasive the genre is/has always been in society. Each sidebar is unique in that each person's contribution is different.

The best part of all this (in my opinion) is that Becca asked me and my dolls to be a part of it, too! I even did up a portrait of myself just for her book in "True Blood" style. Oh, I suppose I should mention my better half, Brian (the genius behind Campblood.org and the ever fabulous Blood Work vlog) is also featured. Yeah!

For more about Rebecca and her work, visit her wordpress web page:
http://rebeccawilcott.wordpress.com/about/

I'll post more news about the book when I hear it. For now, you'll have to just play with my paper dolls and wait.


If some how you haven't seen them go here

Vampire mastermind

Author Charlaine Harris talks about the inspiration behind Sookie Stackhouse and the Southern Vampire Mysteries

AUGUSTA, GA – Charlaine Harris counts herself as lucky. But patient might be closer to the truth.

It’s true that she got her start by taking a college creative writing class from a former editor at Houghton Mifflin, who obviously had the connections to get Harris’ work reviewed by the right people. And that part might have been luck.

But “Sweet & Deadly,” her first book — which she finished as a member of that writing class — was published in 1981. So for 29 years, she’s paid her dues, putting out a lot more than luck.

Harris has published four books in the series about grave-finder Harper Connelly, eight that focus on librarian-detective Aurora Teagarden, and five with crime-solver Lily Bard.

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True Blood Music Video of the Day: Sleeping Sun by Nightwish

Sleeping Sun - Nightwish
Thanks dagnyprzybyszewska

Writer to discuss vampire novels

Best-selling author Charlaine Harris knows just how fascinating vampires are to readers, TV viewers and moviegoers.

Her Sookie Stackhouse series, about a telepathic barmaid in Louisiana who befriends vampires and other supernatural creatures, inspired the hit show True Blood , which premiered on HBO in 2008.

"Everyone involved is so enthusiastic and so talented," Harris said of the TV series. "It's just been amazing."

The author will visit the Columbia County Library Saturday for a book signing and question-and-answer session. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m., with the program starting at 7 p.m. The book signing will take place from 8-9 p.m.

In addition to the Sookie Stackhouse novels, Harris also has written books in the Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard and Harper Connelly series. She said she's signed a contract to write ....\

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'Let Me In' Is 'Darker' Than 'Twilight,' Director Matt Reeves Says

Matt Reeves knows he has a target on his back. The director admits as much roughly two minutes into a conversation about his upcoming film, "Let Me In." That's what happens when your movie: A) takes on the pop-cultural theme-du-jour of vampires, and B) remakes a beloved flick that pretty much everyone agrees is as perfect as genre filmmaking gets.

After helming the inventive disaster adventure "Cloverfield," Reeves built up the Hollywood cred to buy himself some breathing room for his tale of childhood alienation, improbable yet vital friendship and, yup, the bloodsucking undead. Based on a 2008 Swedish film, Reeves' adaptation (due in October) shifts the story to the bleak winter landscape of New Mexico but maintains the original's horror-genre elements. We're so pumped about the film's potential that we've tagged Reeves as one of our 10 to Watch in 2010 — the folks in the movie industry we expect big things from in the next 12 months.

During some downtime on set, Reeves gave MTV News a call to talk about reworking a cult classic, contending with other vampire franchises and what's coming down the line this year and beyond for the director.

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'NY-LON,' British series starring Stephen Moyer and Rashida Jones, now on Hulu

Consider this a PopWatch PSA for True Blood fans going through withdrawal and anyone who’s wanted to see Rashida Jones in a starring role: NY-LON, the 2004 Channel 4 series starring Stephen Moyer and Jones as opposites who attract on her holiday in London and attempt a long distance relationship when she returns to New York, is now on Hulu. I powered through all seven episodes over the weekend. NY-LON has been shown on BBC America, but still isn’t available on DVD in the States, so enjoy it while you can, folks.

I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that Moyer plays a stockbroker, so he wears a suit a lot of the time, and that True Blood isn’t the first series in which he’s shown his bum. The characters lead complicated lives, so it’s a rollercoaster, not a cruise on the “It’s a Small World” ride. Also, if I were to ever share my apartment with someone, the person would need to be British. I always find flatmates more tolerable than American roommates on TV and in movies. Why?

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/01/19/ny-lon-stephen-moyer-rashida-jones/

From 'Dracula' to 'Twilight,' Vampires Evolve With the Times

From Voice of America..

In books, movies and TV shows, why does the public love to sink its teeth into a good vampire story? Transcript of radio broadcast:
19 January 2010
..................

VOICE ONE:
The American television show "True Blood" tells a more adult version of vampire love than "Twilight." It is about a young woman named Sookie Stackhouse who lives in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. She falls in love with Bill Compton, a vampire who lives in the town.

The vampires are not treated very well in this television program. They are fighting for equal rights with humans. In the first season of the show, Sookie's friends are not very happy that she is interested in a vampire.


Anna Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse in the TV series "True Blood"
SAM: "Sookie, you're being a very stupid girl."

SOOKIE: "Who asked you? I can take care of myself."

SAM: "I don't think so. Matt could have seriously cut you up last night."

SOOKIE: "How do you know what Matt would have done?"

SAM: "Now you're setting up a date with a vampire! What do you have, a death wish?"

SOOKIE: "No, I don't have a death wish. I just happen to think that judging an entire group of people based on the actions of a few individuals within that group is morally wrong."

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Dead in the Family Amazon UK description

"If you think your family relationships are complicated, think again: you haven't seen anything like the ones in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from her own kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a place in her life, to her lover Eric's vampire sire, an ancient being who arrives with Eric's 'brother' in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie's tracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), Vampire Bill Compton. In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating her life, the werewolf pack of Shreveport has asked Sookie for a special favour, and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour for the wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from the trauma of her abduction during the Fairy War."