Charlaine Harris' Harper Connelly goes Comic!

--- OFFICIAL RELEASE ---

Acclaimed author Charlaine Harris, the writer of the Sookie Stackhouse series, is joining the Dynamite Entertainment family in 2010! We are proud to announce that the first book of her hit Harper Connelly series, Grave Sight, will be adapted by Dynamite Entertainment in 2010! Her Sookie Stackhouse novels became the basis for one of today's most successful television shows, the hit HBO series True Blood! Dynamite is extremely proud to present Charlaine Harris' first comic adaptation!

For the past five years, readers have been thrilled by the Harper Connelly series. Featuring Harper Connelly, a woman who has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. She can sense the final location of a person who's passed, and share their very last moment. The way Harper sees it, she's providing a service to the dead while bringing some closure to the living-but she's used to most people treating her like a blood-sucking leech. Traveling with her step-brother Tolliver as manager and sometime-bodyguard, she's become an expert at getting in, getting paid, and getting out fast. Because for the living it's always urgent-even if the dead can wait forever.

"I'm thrilled to join such great writers," says Charlaine Harris. "I'm excited about seeing a different vision of my novels, and I've seen enough of the Dynamite Entertainment to know this will be an interesting and entertaining process."

"Charlaine has thrilled millions of readers with her novels, and millions more with the adaptation of her Sookie Stackhouse series as the TV Show known as True Blood. We at Dynamite are honored to be the first comics publisher to be granted the right to adapt her novels in to the first ever comics adaptation. And Charlaine's kind words on our comics and confidence in our ability to execute will be rewarded with Dynamite's placing the best talent available on these adaptations!" Stated Dynamite President and Publisher Nick Barrucci.

ABOUT CHARLAINE HARRIS:

CHARLAINE HARRIS, Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, Charlaine Harris is best known for her paranormal mysteries -- a sly, wry blend of humor, horror, that has been called "cozies with teeth."

ABOUT DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT:

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT, the publishing division of DYNAMIC FORCES, INC., was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including Red Sonja, Project Superpowers, The Boys, Army of Darkness, Battlestar Galactica, The Lone Ranger, Zorro and more!
In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and best selling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Michael Turner, Jim Lee, Michael Avon Oeming, Brian Reed, Mel Rubi, Marc Guggenheim, Stephen Sadowski, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner and a host of up and coming new talent and fan favorite creators!
DYNAMITE is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their more recent launches - including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger's PROJECT SUPERPOWERS - have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005 Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%). The company has also been nominated for several industry awards, including the prestigious Eisner Award.
Aside from their monthly periodical comic book series, DYNAMITE also produces new and classic material, including Tim Truman's SCOUT, Carlos Trillo and Eduardo Risso's BORDERLINE and TALES OF TERROR, Jim Starlin's DREADSTAR, as well as well as reprint editions of classic RED SONJA material.

Charlaine Harris European Book Tour

EUROPEAN TOUR

ITALY
March 2 – 9:30 pm Shan Go, via San Saba 11, Rome, Italy – Interview with Rosaria Renna and signing

POLAND
March 4 – 5 pm Empik Mega Krakow, Rynek Glowny 5/ Sienna 2, 31-042, Krakow, Poland – signing

March 5 – 2 pm Wirtualna Polska – Chat video

March 5 – 6 pm Empik Giga Junior, Ul. Marszalkowska, 116/122 00-017, Warsaw, Poland – talk and signing

UNITED KINGDOM
March 9 – 6:30 pm The Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Place, London England -Talk and signing – Tickets 8 pounds call 020 7494 3654 or www.princecharlescinema.com

March 10 – 12:00 pm Waterstones, 1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, England – signing

March 10 – 7:00 pm Waterstones, 91 Deansgate, Manchester, England – signing

PORTUGAL
March 12 – 6 pm Maxime, Praca da Alegria Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal – presentation and signing – Tel: 213467051

March 13 – 9 pm FNAC, Columbo center Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal - presentation and signing – Tel: 711 4200

Book 10: Dead in the Family synopsis

Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place …or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives …

Charlaine Harris needs your help! Ask Alan Ball a question about TRUE BLOOD for her Sookie Companion book

From CharlaineHarris.com

YOUR CHANCE TO ASK ALAN BALL A QUESTION

1/29/10 – 2/12/10

As part of the huge project The Sookie Companion has become, we’re offering a two-week time period in which you can send your questions to producer/director/writer Alan Ball, who will answer them in the Companion. My assistant, Paula, will collect all your questions and send them to the editor at TeknoBooks who’s responsible for coordinating all the elements going into the Companion, which we hope will be out next year. Paula and the editor will weed out redundant questions. Of course, these questions should focus on the TV series “True Blood,” and they should be sent to: askalanb@yahoo.com. This address is ONLY for this special project.

Charlaine Harris

Dead in the Family (Book 10) cover and Chapter 1 peek!

Read Chapter One of DEAD IN THE FAMILY, from Charlaine Harris' website!

Charlaine Harris Grave Secret released today

Grave Secret (Harper Connelly Mysteries, Book 4)

Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface.

To make matters worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants no part of the man- but he may not have a choice in the matter.

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so many years before.

And what she finds out will change her world forever.

New: Death's Excellent Vacation !

Death's Excellent Vacation, an anthology crossing genres ( from the sci.fi., fantasy, mystery and paranormal genres) with co-author Toni Kelner. Each story in the anthology revolves around death and a holiday, in the similar spirit of the author's earlier anthologies Many Bloody Returns (Vampires and birthdays) and this holiday season's Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (werewolves and Christmas). The anticipated publication date of the new anthology is mid 2010.

** Back during this past summer, Charlaine Harris said during a book signing she wrote a roadtrip story about Sookie and Pam. I'm guessing this is it.

Touch of Dead fills in the blanks

Collected short stories fill gaps in Sookie Stackhouse vampire saga

By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer
Published: 10/11/2009 2:27 AM


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.

"Lucky" uncovers the secret subversive tactics of the town's most successful insurance agent. He has a talent for manipulating luck that only a supernatural being can detect. The good fortune enjoyed by his clients has a detrimental impact on others in the sleepy town. It is the weakest story among the collection, but this is a one-time appearance of the agent among Harris' works.

"Gift Wrap" has a stunner of an ending with Sookie enjoying a very merry Christmas. The tale begins with a naked man, who is also a werewolf, showing up on the doorstep of her country home on Christmas Eve. He is being hunted by a rival werewolf and ended up on her land looking for help. This takes place after "From Dead to Worse (book 8)," and Sookie is alone to celebrate the holidays. While the characters have yet to reappear, it ties in with Sookie's twisted familial lineage.

Through the years, Harris has contributed to short-story anthologies with other authors, including L.A. Banks (Vampire Huntress series), Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake series) and Jim Butcher (Dresden Files). These short stories appeared from 2008 to February of this year.

While it is enjoyable reading the stories in one collection, readers should take time to pick up the anthologies where the pieces were originally published. Harris has been a champion of other writers, even editing at least one of the compilations, and they are good places to find interesting authors.

The stories in “A Touch of Dead” originally appeared in the following paperback anthologies:
“Fairy Dust” in “Powers of Detection” Ace, October 2004

“One Word Answers” in “Bite” Jove, December 2004

“Dracula Night” in “Many Bloody Returns” Ace, September 2007

“Gift Wrap” in “Wolfsbane and Mistletoe” Ace, October 2008

“Lucky” in “Unusual Suspects” Ace, December 2008

Project Paranormal: Interview with Charlaine Harris

Penguin's Project Paranormal interview with Charlaine Harris.

Go there NOW

Charlaine Harris shares her editing process

Charlaine Harris wrote on her blog this week of her writing process and the group of readers who provide her the necessary feedback to give her books the continuity and accuracies one needs in a series. Here's a bit of that post:

"As I was slogging through my first readers’ suggested changes for DEAD IN THE FAMILY, I reflected on how lucky I am to have trusted people to do this thankless job for me. For most of my writing history, only I and my editor (and a copy editor) read my books before they were published. But that’s changed in the past couple of years, and I think my books are the better for it."

"For those of you who aren’t deeply into the writing world, a first reader is someone who plunges into your book before anyone else. What is the purpose of a first reader? To tell you what you’ve done wrong and what you can do to make it better. So a first reader is someone you trust to tell you the truth, not someone you know will tell you comforting lies. An ideal first reader is intelligent, consistent, conversant with your other books and with the laws of the language, and diligent. When I say “diligent,” I mean someone who’ll drop everything to plow through your book if you say, “This was supposed to be on my editor’s desk three days ago.”

"Fortunately for me, I have two great first readers, my friends Dana Cameron and Toni L.P. Kelner, who may gently tell me that fifty pages do not belong in the middle of the book (Dana) and that I’ve totally forgotten to bring an important plot point back into the book after I raise it (Toni). Thanks, ladies. I also have continuity readers who know the material in the past books as well as they know their kids, and these two wonderful people are always ready to tell me that I’ve gotten a character’s name wrong yet again, or that a street had a different name in the previous book."

"Now, by the time my overworked editor sees the book, I think it’s in much better shape. This saves time and worry – at least for me! And I think the reader comes out ahead, too."

"Of course, I still take the blame for errors and continuity glitches in my work. Though I can’t carry the whole series in my head and refer to it all the time, I ought to be able to, I tell myself; and it’s very upsetting for me when I make a mistake. It’s not from lack of caring; it’s from lack of brain room. My memory is so full after my long career (at least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it) that I don’t have room for more facts, especially now that I’m sure other people are going to help me do it. My two continuity experts, who shall remain nameless, have helped me iron out quite a few little issues in past books, so the reprints are much more error-free."

Read more over on CharlaineHarris.com

Pre-order Touch of Dead | Sookie book collection of shorts

The newest Sookie-related book will be released October 6, 2009. It's a collection of Sookie short stories that have appeared in many compilation novels with other authors. This book contains the story from "Bite" which explains cousin Hadley's death a little better and Sookie's first encounter with the Queen of Louisiana!

EW Interview with True Blood's Kristen Bauer (Pam)

'True Blood''s Pam, Kristin Bauer, talks meeting her maker (and Alexander Skarsgard)

by Mandi Bierly, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

SPOILER ALERT! Pam will not get to avenge those great Betsey Johnson pumps she ruined tracking the creature that turned out to be meanad Maryann in Sunday night’s season finale of True Blood (HBO, 9 p.m. ET). Pam won’t even be in the episode because apparently, vampires don’t know how to close a bar for the night. It’s a wrong that can only be righted by Kristin Bauer, the scene-stealer who plays the loyal business partner, henchman, and hair stylist to Alexander Skarsgard’s Eric, receiving serious screen time in Season 3 — and, of course, doing a marathon interview with EW in which she answers most of the 96 questions our glamoured PopWatch readers recently submitted for her. Here, Bauer — who TV devotees might also remember as Man Hands on Seinfeld, the woman still nursing her 8-year-old at work on Desperate Housewives, the woman who sued her plastic surgeon for injecting his own ass fat into her lips on Boston Legal, Ray’s first kiss on Everybody Loves Raymond, and Jack’s ex-wife Allie on Just Shoot Me! — shares the stories of how Pam met Eric, how she met Skarsgard, and much, much more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: It’s not fair that we won’t see Pam in the finale!
KRISTIN BAUER: It’s not fair! I’ve been asking fans to tell me what happens in the next books because I’ve been holding off on reading them ’cause I’m a fan of the show, too, and it’s more exciting if the scripts come and I don’t know what happens. I keep asking them, “What does Pam do next year?” I have no idea what Alan Ball is gonna do. None of us do. I talked to Alexander this week: “Do you have any idea about Season 3?” He said, “Nothing.”

A very popular question: Do you have any input in what Pam wears?
I haven’t had to give input because [costume designer] Audrey Fisher is so amazing. She sends me pictures of the zebra outfit or the red sequined jumpsuit, and I’m like, “YES!” It’s like having the best character consultant you’ve ever had. She puts so much thought into each scene. She’s responsible for Pam. She creates Pam.

I imagine that Pam and Eric are two of her favorites to dress.
Yeah, I think she told me that Pam is one of her favorites. I met the costumer who did the pilot and left to do another project at a party and he said, “This is my biggest regret, that I can’t dress Pam.” She’s such a diva. The red sequins, to us, was very ’80s. The first episode she was in last season was very Victorian, with the leather corset. One episode she was in J. Crew. That’s extremely fun for me, that you can show in somebody’s clothing so much about the person and how long they’ve been around.

That brings us to another burning question: What’s the history between Pam and Eric? I know you’ve recorded a special feature for the season 2 Blu-ray that dives into that.
It was 34 pages of writing, straight Pam. It gives you Pam’s viewpoint on everything that happens in the vampire world in season 2. It also fills in everything I’ve been wondering about Pam, Alexander was wondering about Pam….We kept asking producers what their relationship was.

Why had they never told you before?
Every time we’d ask, it was some night shoot, 2 a.m., we’re all giddy, and we would just start laughing and joking almost immediately, so we never got any details. When I saw the writers for the Blu-ray, I said, “This was wonderful. Thank you. It was really fun to find out about Pam,” and they said, “Us, too!” It feels like we’re all creating it as we go. Pam was turned about 100 years ago. It seems from this writing, Pam sought Eric out. She was living a very wealthy, upper-crust life and these little men were lining up to court her and she’d be married off to one of these people, and she’s a real feminist: She looked at what her life would be and said, “No.” She met Eric and he split her world apart and she never looked back. So she really went after him.

And their relationship started off romantic?
Yeah, it was. Alexander and I would always joke during the season, “Were they a couple?” “Well yeah, the first 100 years were very passionate but it’s sorta cooled.” [Laughs] I just decided to play it that way. She is extremely enamored and impressed and loyal to Eric. In the Blu-ray, she just thinks that being a maker is an incredible position to be in and that Eric is the best maker you could ever have. She was released by Eric — she is with him and at his side because she believes that this guy is one of a kind.

One reader asked, if there’d been a scene written for Pam and Eric after Godric’s death, how would she have handled him?
She comments on that in the Blu-ray. She says something along the line of she’s not at all surprised how Eric is reacting and how she wouldn’t have been able to keep it together as well as Eric did if something had happened to him. It was nice to see this side of Pam, she’s almost sentimental. If something happened to Eric, she’d be destroyed.

We would all love to see their beginning in a flashback. How would you feel about filming it?
It’d be great. I will play Pam anywhere, anytime, anyplace, and would love to be made, killing….I was so jealous of Alexander in this year’s season opener, when he’s ripping that body apart. I’m like, “Yeah! You lucky bastard!” I got to meet Charlaine Harris and have lunch with her, and she says in her latest book, she sends Pam on a real killing spree. I was drooling! Isn’t that terrible?

I’m assuming that enthusiasm for carnage is part of the reason you were cast. How did you get the role?
The casting people who are nominated for an Emmy, Junie Lowry-Johnson and Libby Goldstein, are responsible for half my career. They called me in to read for Alan Ball. There are some characters that you feel are just in you — you can play this person, and you can play this person better than most. It doesn’t mean you’re gonna get it. Then I went to the Philippines to shoot this movie, Subject: I Love You, and the producer said, “You know, you’re starting on this other show the day after you fly back from here.” I said, “What other show? Where are my agents? I didn’t hear about this? Do they have my phone number?”And she said, “Let me look….True Blood.” And I was like, “What audition was that?” My protective mechanism is that I go in, I read, and then I try to forget about it because it’s too sad when you don’t get something. She said, “It’s the vampire role.” And I went, “Oh, thank you, Lord!” I get so many messages from actor friends that I haven’t heard from in 10 years saying, “I’m so jealous.” I don’t know what it is that we’re witnessing with vampires and their popularity, but actors as well really yearn to play these immortal dead killers. [Laughs]

I bet it’s because you can play evil and get away with it. The audience won’t turn against you — they want you to be bad.
That’s it. I love the line from True Lies were Schwarzenegger says he only kills bad people. I think that with Pam, if people are killing the right people…You know John Wayne — you’re rootin’ for him. Even the mafia, we don’t want the Sopranos to go to jail. The Godfather, you’re hoping they get away with it.

Does Eric confide in Pam? Does she know the reason he has Lafayette selling V, or why he wants Sookie so badly?
No. She does not know. She’s just going with it because of her loyalty.

Fans of the books are always talking about how Pam and Sookie end up forming some kind of “friendship.” Is that something you’re hoping happens on the show?
Anna [Paquin] is just an absolute riot and couldn’t be more talented, so it would be so much fun. [SPOILER ALERT!] I’ve heard about that, too, from fans, that Eric loses his memory and gets really soft and sensitive, and they form a friendship and help him. It’s really fun to see Alexander get to play Eric in ways that we don’t expect, like when he tries to be human. It’s really entertaining. He’s so funny.

There’s been so much buzz about Alexander in the last month. What’s your take on that?
I think it makes perfect sense. He’s new to us, our country, and he’s big and beautiful, and the character is big and beautiful. It’s the perfect storm.

Is there anything negative you can say about him to help subdue our crushes while we wait for season 3?
Like when a guy breaks up with you, you look for something really bad to focus on? Yeah, good luck finding that with Alexander. There’s nothin’ bad about the guy. Sorry. [Laughs] You’re all just gonna have to pine. He has an amazing sense of humor. After every Swedish take, I look at him, and he sort of nods. Once, he went and saw the footage. I said, “How was I? Was my Swedish good?” He said, “No. You sound like a Russian prostitute.” Of course, the comeback line was, “How would you know?” but I thought of it months later. In fact, I think someone else thought of it. But after every take, I go, “Russian prostitute? Or am I near the border of Sweden?”

So you hadn’t spoken any Swedish before the show?
No. And I still don’t. Alexander records what sounds to me like gibberish, and I play this jibberish over and over until I can regurgitate the jibberish, and I just hope that I’m sounding somewhat Swedish. That’s definitely nerve-wracking. My husband [Abri van Straten, lead singer of the South African band The Lemmings] is of Swedish descent as well, so he learns it with me. I just repeat it to him 100 times a day. It’s seared into my frontal cortex because I can still remember all my Swedish lines — not my English lines — from the whole season.

And Alexander is good about translating? He doesn’t trick you into saying dirty words?
He’s very good about that — as far as I know. That’s a trick my husband pulls. He’s teaching me phrases in Afrikaans, and he just keeps telling me not to say them around his mother. I have no idea what I’m saying, but he laaaaughs.

Did you read with Alexander for your audition?
No. We were cast separately. I didn’t meet him until I was on the set, in the leather corset, and in another time zone because I started on True Blood17 hours after arriving back from the Philipines. I remember Alexander was speaking Swedish, and I said, “Is that Cambodian?” I was just so out of it. I couldn’t breathe, my feet hurt, and I thought for some reason he was Cambodian. But I remember thinking he was very crushworthy.

How many of your friends have asked to be set up with him?
They haven’t, because they’re all married. But they all secretly tell me behind their husbands’ backs, “I have the biggest crush on vampire Eric.” After a while, I thought, Am I chopped liver? Do people just call me to tell me how wonderful Alexander is?

Well, we had a reader say “Your lips are heaven-sent” and ask about your heritage.
[Excitedly] Oh! I’m all German.

More burning questions: Does Pam really want Lafayette turned into a vampire?
That’s also commented on in the Blu-ray: She’s like, “Why not?! I think he’d make a great vampire!” But she says Eric always has his reasons, and he’s never wrong.

If there was one character you could have more scenes with, who would it be?
Terry Bellefleur [Tad Lowe], the shell-shocked guy who’s in the relationship with the waitress Arlene this season. It’d be like, have you ever seen a cat play with a mouse? They just take a really long time to kill it because they’re sort of bored and entertained by it.

That’s the reason I’m hoping Eric and Jason (Ryan Kwanten) have more scenes together. I think Eric would be amused by his childlike stupidity and appreciate his Rambo sensibility.
Well, that’s exactly how Pam feels in the Blu-ray, so I imagine that’s how Eric would feel, too. Pam’s fairly impressed with him, and seems to be a bit turned on by him with his new Brad Pitt/Rambo thing.

People would love to see Pam have a love interest on the show. Which character do you think she could have the most fun with in that way?
Well, my sick mind looks for something that we haven’t seen before. Apparently in the books, she’s bisexual. So I thought we haven’t seen a vampire with a vampire in a love way, and we haven’t seen two women together, so what about her and Jessica? [EW gasps] Right?!

If Jessica and Hoyt (Jim Parrack) are really over, she could be reeling and Pam could come in with the tough love —
And teach her how to really kill. [Laughs] Take her under her wing.

I was gonna say, but slowly fall for her, but you always have to take it to death.
What’s wrong with me? In my life, I’m saving the whales [as a face of IFAW's Tails for Whales campaign, which asks people to show their support for U.S. leadership in global whale conservation by submitting a photo], and then they say “Action!,” and I’m like, “Kill ‘em all!” Maybe Pam wants to save the whales, though.

That would be hilarious, if Pam got Save the Whales literature in the mail at Fangtasia.
I saw my doctor off hours, and he was wearing a Save the Ferret T-shirt, and I thought interesting. My doctor is a ferret activist. I wish I didn’t know that. I’m thinking it would be really odd to see Pam wearing a Save the Whales T-shirt, but she was there for that movement, too…

Where did Pam’s eye roll and sneer come from? Was that in the script or something you brought to her?
It might be just Kristin Bauer. [Laughs] The longer I play Pam, I’m like, I’m heartless, aren’t I? I’m completely intolerant of my fellow man. I think my sense of humor is kind of sarcastic, and I have a friend who says I have rubber face. I just make all these expressions. Once I did it onscreen they seemed to like it, and they encouraged me to do it. In the next script I’d see, “Pam rolls her eyes.”

You also consider the way you pursued your husband very Pam-like. Tell us that story, because as a single woman in her early 30s, I find it inspirational, and yet, as someone who’s slightly excitable, I’m curious… I mean, it wasn’t stalking, but…
[Laughs] “I don’t wanna say you’re a stalker!”

Well, you could have been if you weren’t gorgeous and on a hit show. But how did you know it wasn’t a crush, you would actually connect with him?
I didn’t. My husband says, “When I heard your voice on the phone, I knew.” I say, “Yeah, I did not know. I knew you were hot, and I knew it had been a long time. I did not know that you were my soul mate.” I was just in this fed-up place with so many first dates over four years, and being the only single adult at Christmas with my family in Wisconsin every year. I was headed into the Christmas vacation [last year], and I really announced to the universe, in my house, “I’ve had it! Is this thing on? I mean, is anybody paying attention? Is there anyone on duty when I’m talking?” I was just pissed off. I’m like, that’s it. I’m taking it into my own hands. I had tried everything — The Secret method, sacrificed the chicken, followed the full moon, lit the love candle and pictured what I wanted, wrote down everything I wanted then got mad and burned it because it didn’t work. And for some reason, on the day I say this, I go to the nutritionist, and there’s his CD sitting on the only chair open. I’m like, “He’s cute. I’m callin’ it…I’m goin’ a freakin’ date!” The woman I was talking to backed out of the room slowly, like you do when you’re afraid for your life. I went online, and wrote an email: “Hey, is this dude in LA? Because I want to have coffee.” I wanted him to be excited to get this email and not like [weary groan] so I wrote, “I’m Kristin Bauer. I’m on True Blood, and here’s my website” shamelessly. I was embarrassed about it, but I had to get the job done. He doesn’t check email, so three weeks later, I wrote again: “I haven’t heard back. Still thirsty! Still need caffeine!” Someone wrote back saying he doesn’t do email. I said, “Well, then send a pigeon with my phone number.” [Laughs] I had HAD IT. I was passed being embarrassed or having some normal sense of decorum. We met and just talked and talked and talked and talked. For three weeks, we just talked all day. Within a few months, we were engaged, and within about six and a half months, married. I joked for years, “Where is he? Uganda? Where is my guy?” And the answer was, yes, close. South freakin’ Africa. And he didn’t even want to be in LA. He didn’t want to come to America to tour, he was perfectly happy to tour South Africa, but his record label and band forced him. So maybe all the séances and chicken sacrifices worked, there’s just a delay in this universe.

So I need to go buy chickens?
Try it all! I don’t know what one thing works. And it’s really amazing because we’re coming up on Christmas with my family, and last Christmas, I was sitting there with nieces, ages 13 to 20, at the computer watching this video he has for the song “Rain.” We all fell in love with the song, and we’re watching the video over and over, so at that point, I certainly was your classic stalker because I’m now imagining who this person is and imagining that he wants to meet me. If I weren’t on a TV show, it would be crazy! But people do Math.com and eHarmony, and it’s no different. I was looking at his profile. And then I sent a notice: I would like to open communication with you. And now a year later, I’m gonna be sitting at that same computer, checking my email with my husband next to me. My nieces were my bridesmaids.

Such a great story.
I went to college for writing and painting, and the script I’m writing now is the fictionalized version of how Abri and I met. Just a simple, beautiful love story, which I love. It’s fun because his parents are both very well-known South African writers — his dad was a playwright, and his mom a novelist — and he went to school for music and writing. So it’s lovely to show him my pages at the end of the day and to have the songs he’s recording now for his solo album inspiring the direction the story goes. [She's also in the studio painting still life flowers feverishly for a Sept. 26 artists showcase in San Marino, Calif.]

Last question: You just filmed an episode of Private Practice. Shonda Rhimes is also notoriously tight-lipped, so she told you not to say anything?
She is, but she didn’t tell me, so screw it! [Laughs] I play a mom of a 13-year-old girl who gets pregnant and disappears. I find her again and she’s not doing well. The mom and daughter have to fight and cry and scream and try find a way to reconcile and save the life of her baby. I can tell you it’s harder to play a human. At the end of the week, I said to my husband, “So when is True Blood coming back? Where are my pumps and my teeth?”

Charlaine Harris at DragonCon: “These may be the final three Sookie books”

Novelist Charlaine Harris sinks her teeth into DragonCon

Access Atlanta, Richard Eldredge

We had to battle past Starfleet ensigns, storm troopers, the Green Giant and yes, a few members of the undead to reach writer Charlaine Harris during the DragonCon convention this weekend at the Hyatt downtown.

Thanks to the success of the new HBO hit “True Blood,” based on Harris’ series of Southern vampire Sookie Stackhouse novels, the Magnolia, Arkansas resident has become a rock star on the sci-fi/comics convention circuit.

Still, Harris was to sit quietly in the hotel lounge, observing the bizarre buffet of people-watching in front of her completely undisturbed.

Well, until we showed up anyhow.

She’s still getting used to her new celebrity status. Of her packed panel session this summer at Comic-Con in San Diego with Marietta’s “True Blood” executive producer Alan Ball, she told us: “It was hell. “It was so huge and a little overwhelming. And when you have so many TV and movie people around you, there’s a lot of security.”

Thankfully, the author says only one car-load of overly zealous Sookie Stackhouse readers have actually driven to her Southern Arkansas hometown to pay an unscheduled visit.

“But the chamber of commerce lady tells me she gets a lot of calls!” Harris says laughing. “I honestly don’t know what people expect to see. I’m a boring middle class, middle aged wife and mother. There aren’t any vampires and werewolves in my back yard. I just have a very rich inner life!”

While her nine successful Sookie Stackhouse novels (a 10th, “Dead in the Family” is due out in May 2010) were initially optioned for the movies, “Six Feet Under” creator and “American Beauty” writer Ball was the Hollywood producer who finally proved to Harris he could effectively bring her characters to life via “True Blood.”

“Alan convinced me through his work and his words that he truly understood the comedy, the blood and the romance of the books,” Harris said.

Still, when the pilot episode of “True Blood” aired last year, Harris was uncertain how folks would receive it in her small hometown.

“I was doing this!” Harris explains, covering her face with her hands and peeking out from between two fingers. “There was just acres of flesh. I had to warn my husband! I thought I might have to pack up and leave town. But my neighbors told me, ‘Oh well, we know it was Alan who put all that sex stuff in.’ I remember thinking, ‘Well, Alan put most of that sex stuff in there!’ ”

Harris says she just signed a new book contract for Sookie novels 11, 12 and 13.

“These may be the final three Sookie books,” she says. “I want to stop while I’m still being entertained. I don’t want to be the last person to know I’ve gone stale.”

And Harris has had the final scene of the last book in her head since she was writing book two in the series.

“I know where the end of the rainbow is for Sookie,” Harris taunts with a mischievious smile. “It will please some readers and displease others, I’m sure. I just hope they’ll stick with me until I get there!”

Sookie book fans: Charlaine Harris finished book 10

From Charlaine Harris' blog on charlaineharris.com

"I finished DEAD IN THE FAMILY Sunday, the last possible day I could finish it. My friend Toni is reading it now, and then I’ll send it to my editor, Ginjer. The concept of DITF was originally quite different from the book I ended up writing, but that often happens and doesn’t quite scare me like it used to. At first I thought DITF would be very episodic; it turned out to have a unifying theme and to have a crazy night of resolution. Of course, this may change once my editor has a read!

By the time I send a book in to New York, I hate it. Maybe I hate DITF a little less than others. I don’t know if that’s good or bad."

I'm looking forward to reading Dead in the Family! May can't get here quick enough!

Harris New Release: Must Love Hellhounds

Must Love Hellhounds - September 1, 2009

A compilation of short stories by various authors, Must Love Hellhounds has a short story by Charlaine Harris about the Britlingens. Britlingens were introduced in All Together Dead of the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Charlaine Harris posts latest Connelly book preview

Over on CharlaineHarris.com, Ms. Harris has posted a sneak preview to her latest Harper Connelly book, Grave Secret. Click here to read chapter one.

Charlaine Harris upcoming book signings, appearances, interviews

From CharlaineHarris.com

2009 Events

September 3 - 7: DragonCon - Atlanta, GA. - www.dragoncon.org

September 18: Mystery Matters web radio interview with Fran Stewart

October 14 - 18: Bouchercon - Indianapolis, IN - http://www.bouchercon2009.com

October 27: Barnes and Noble Shreveport, 6646 Youree Dr. Shreveport, LA; Book Signing 7 pm

October 30: Vampire Ball - New Orleans, LA; 9 pm - www.endlessnight.com/vampireball/

October 31: Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St. New Orleans, LA; Book Signing 1 pm - www.gardendistrictbookshop.com

November 1: Houston Chronicle Book and Author Dinner - Houston TX; 5pm - www.chron.com/content/chronicle/ae/books/bookandauthor/2k/index.html

November 12: Darragh Lecture - Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), 100 Rock Street, Little Rock, AR - http://www.cals.org/

---

2010

March 24 - 25: Lecture at Shippensburg University - Shippensburg PA - www.ship.edu

April 16 - 18: WRW writer’s retreat - Leesburg, Virginia - www.wrwdc.com

April 28- May 2: Romantic Times – Columbus OH - www.rtconvention.com

October 14 -17: Bouchercon – San Francisco, CA - www.bcon2010.com

Charlaine Harris entire Sookie Stackhouse series on NYTimes Bestseller Lists

Charlaine Harris’s Entire Sookie Stackhouse Series on the New York Times Bestseller Lists and Berkley/ NAL Owns 55% of the Mass Market Bestsellers for the Week of August 9th

From Penguin.com

Publishing phenomenon Charlaine Harris and her Sookie Stackhouse series once again feature prominently on the August 9th New York Times bestseller lists. All eight mass market paperbacks, plus the latest Ace hardcover, Dead and Gone, will appear on the lists that run in next week 's New York Times Book Review. This may be a publishing record with an entire series placing on the list simultaneously!

Charlaine is fresh off a sensational trip to last week's Comic-Con International in San Diego, where she met fans and signed a ton of books. About 800 fans started lining up on Friday morning in hopes of scoring one of 150 tickets to Charlaine's afternoon autographing session. The excitement continued on Saturday with another autographing session with the cast and creator of HBO’s hit television series “True Blood” (which is based on Harris’ novels) and a panel discussion about the show in front of 5,000 cheering fans. Charlaine answered several questions and thrilled everyone with the announcement of a new three book contract, promising that Sookie Stackhouse's adventures will continue into 2014!

Berkley/ NAL’s dominance of The New York Times mass market bestseller list in 2009 continues, as its titles snare 11 spots – 55% of the list! – for the week of August 9th. In addition to the eight Charlaine Harris titles to hit the mass market list, three more titles from the Berkley/ NAL group also hold strong: Tailspin by Catherine Coulter (Jove) is #3 in its third week; Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva (Signet) is #4 in its fourth week; and Hidden Currents by Christine Feehan (Jove) is #17 in its fourth week.

Charlaine Harris: Unprecedented Nine Titles on NY Times Bestseller List simultaneously

Crimespree Magazine

BERKLEY GROUP AUTHOR CHARLAINE HARRIS'S ENTIRE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE SERIES HITS THE AUGUST 9th NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST

An Unprecedented Nine Titles - Eight Paperbacks and One Hardcover -
On List Simultaneously

New York, NY (August 5, 2009) - Berkley Publishing Group author Charlaine Harris, the bestselling writer of the Sookie Stackhouse novels that are the basis for HBO's hit television show True Blood, makes an impressive showing on the August 9th, 2009 New York Times Bestseller List with each of the nine books in her series appearing on the list simultaneously.

Eight of the Sookie Stackhouse titles are currently available in paperback and will appear on this Sunday's mass market fiction bestseller list in the following positions:

" #5 Dead Until Dark (Ace Books, 2008)
" #6 From Dead to Worse (Ace Books, 2009)
" #8 Club Dead (Ace Books, 2003)
" #9 Living Dead in Dallas (Ace Books, 2002)
" #11 Dead to the World (Ace Books, 2005)
" #12 Dead as a Doornail (Ace Books, 2006)
" #13 Definitely Dead (Ace Books, 2007)
" #15 All Together Dead (Ace Books, 2008)

Dead and Gone (Ace Books, 2009), the ninth and most recent book in the series, will hold the #11 slot on this weekend's New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list. The hardcover debuted at #1 on the May 24th bestseller list and has spent a total of 12 weeks (and counting) on the list.

This unprecedented showing comes on the heels of Harris's recent appearance at Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA where she met fans and signed hundreds of books. About 800 fans showed up in hopes of scoring one of 150 tickets to Charlaine's afternoon autographing session on July 24th. The excitement continued the next day when Harris participated in a panel discussion with the cast and creator of True Blood. Harris answered several fan questions and thrilled the audience of 5,000 with the announcement of a new three book contract, promising that Sookie Stackhouse's adventures will continue into 2014.

The Sookie Stackhouse series began in 2001 with the publication of Dead Until Dark. Not a traditional mystery, nor pure fantasy or romance, Dead Until Dark and its sequels broke genre boundaries to appeal to a wide audience of readers. Each subsequent book about the telepathic barmaid and friend to vampires, werewolves, and various other odd creatures, has drawn more readers. There are currently more than 10 million copies of the nine-book series in print in the U.S.- a number that is growing exponentially each week.

Charlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over twenty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and family. In addition to the Sookie Stackhouse series, Harris also wrote the Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard mysteries and is currently working on the Harper Connolly mystery series.

Official poster for the upcoming Tru Blood & Gold vampire ball in New Orleans

More information: www.vampirelestatfanclub.com