[Ashley]

yeah, I can see how that could go down the cheesy path pretty quickly.....really though, getting a man who looks a lot like him physically and isn't necessarily impersonating his mannerisms and 'stage persona' may not be as cheesy
of course, the Elvis fans may not like seeing him portrayed that way

[snakey]

the estate might mind, but as an Elvis fan (my mom had those yellow 45's from Sun records), I'D LOVE IT.

[Ashley]

^
I would too.....its a shame it looks like they aren't

[Ashley]

I'm on the 4th or 5th book now, not too sure which one,.....but I was just curious about everyones thoughts on the DRASTIC changes to Tara's character.

Tara, in the show, is quite obviously not a successful and classy business owner and she clearly isn't in the books as much as she is in the show...

personally, I love her character on the TV show....she's so pitiful at times

What do you guys think?


(and sorry to double post, but I wanted it to bump )

[snakey]

Ashley, I dont think you can compare the 2, they are completely different characters, only commonality is the name. I like Rutina in the role and her background isnt like in the books at all, so I'd agree with you and say I prefer TV Tara.

Charlaine did an interview at Vitten by Books, they also have some contests at their site, so check it out, always nice to win something.

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=12124
Hi Charlaine!

Welcome to Bitten by Books, we are excited to have you here today!

I would like to thank you taking the time to join us for the question and answer session with our readers. It has been very interesting to get to know more about you and what makes you tick as a writer! Readers, if you haven’t done so already please stop by and get your copy of Charlaine’s newest book A Touch of Dead.

BBB: What are the most challenging and the most rewarding aspects of writing?

CH: Challenges? Every day is a challenge. I hate to use a sea metaphor, but being a writer is like being the entire crew of a large ship. To extend that, when you reach your destination in one piece . . . that’s a great reward.

BBB: Do you consider different books paranormal romance or urban fantasy? and do you think it is important to distinguish between the two?

CH: It’s not important to me personally, no. But to the people shelving the books it’s quite important, because readers are looking for a book skewed more to romance or more to adventure, and they want to look in the right place.

BBB: Do you feel that the South provides a particularly rich setting for vampire and other paranormal fiction?

CH: I’ve read great paranormal fiction set all over the world, so I don’t think so. We southern writers do like to present the South with a flourish, though.

BBB: What is the most ridiculous thing that you have thought about doing to any of your characters but never did?

CH: I think I’d better keep mum on that.

BBB: You mentioned in an another interview that you know who Sookie will end up with. Can you tell us how long we have to wait to find out? Or, you know, maybe a hint? : )

CH: No.

BBB: How do you keep track of your world building?

CH: Not very well. Actually, I’ve had to hire a couple of people to help me on continuity. After this many books in the series, I may blank out on some bit of business I did five years ago, say.

BBB: What do you feel are the benefits of the new electronic readers such as Kindle 2 or Sony Digital Book Reader to the environment?

CH: I know my agent loves his, because he gets so many submissions it cuts way back on hauling a ton of paper around. And I see people on vacation very happy at having so many books at their fingertips without having to pack them. I myself still prefer to hold a book.

BBB: What impact do electronic readers create on the bottom line for authors in the end? Do you feel they have a negative impact or positive, or no impact at all that you can see?

CH: I’m sure they’re going to have an impact, but I’m not sure what it’ll be in the long run.

BBB: What one thing would you change about the TV series if you could?

CH: Honestly, I can’t think of a thing. I am so pleased with the way it’s going, it would be ridiculous of me to want more.

BBB: What else do you currently have in the works? When can we expect your next book?

CH: A Harper Connelly comes out later this month, the collection of Sookie short stories just came out and it’s doing well, DEATH’S EXCELLENT VACATION with an original Sookie story will be out next August, and Dead in the Family will be out next May.

BBB: Have we seen the last of Alcide?

CH: Gosh, no.

BBB: Will we ever see anymore of the fae???

CH: Yes.

BBB: Where do you see the urban fantasy genre headed? Can you see it slowing down in the near future, or do you think that the immediate future is pretty bright for it?

CH: I see no signs of a slowdown. It’s an exciting genre with some fantastic talent.

BBB: if you had to choose for yourself, would it be Bill or Eric? Or Sam?

CH: Fortunately for me, I get all three.

BBB: How do you navigate the actual story writing, e.g. do you pre-plot it all out, get the main details and pantz it, divide up chapters, etc.?

CH: Ha! I wish I were that organized. I just flex my fingers and go.

BBB: Soooooooooooooo which vampire was Sookie’s great-grandfather referring to in the last book?

CH: Mum on that one.

BBB: Do you have any plans for book signings/ readings anytime soon? If so, where can our readers find you?

CH: All they have to do is check my Calendar on my website http://www.charlaineharris.com to find out where I’ll be, and when.

BBB: If you could choose to be either a shapeshifter or vampire for eternity, which would you choose and why? Or would you be some other creature?

CH: I like being human, actually.

BBB: Did you ever in your wildest dreams ever think your series would become such a huge success and the show as well?

CH: No, I did not. It’s been a wonderful ride.

[snakey]

Charlaine was crowned Queen at the Vampire Lsesat ball in New Orleans, I love the gowns they are all wearing and the men's clothes too.

YouTube- Queen of Louisiana Charlaine Harris !

then Bubba serenades her.

YouTube- MVI 0843

interview with Charlaine

Blood, sex and fears: the making of vampire mania
By News Online's Cassie White

Posted Fri Nov 6, 2009 8:33am AEDT

We've always had a place for the sinister and sexy world of vampires, but it now seems to have reached a point of obsession.

Suburban mother-of-three Charlaine Harris is the unlikely author of the raunchy Sookie Stackhouse books about a telepathic waitress, which has spawned Alan Ball's award-winning TV series, True Blood (which screens on pay TV in Australia).

Set in the deep south, vampires announce their existence after the creation of a synthetic blood - True Blood - which means they (theoretically) don't have to feed on humans - or "fang bangers" - as those with a fetish for having sex with vampires are called.

Twilight on the other hand is a teen romance about a mortal girl and mysterious vampire who fall irrefutably in love - which is a bit prickly because he desperately wants to drink all of her blood.

At her home Arkansas, with San Antonio stew on the stove, Mississippi-born Harris tells ABC News Online why she thinks we can't get enough of the vampire phenomenon.

"I think that people are interested in the idea of immortality - the idea of staying forever at your peak age with no arthritis and no allergies. That sounds pretty good," she said with her southern drawl.

It's hard not to draw comparisons between the two series - and there are similarities - but Harris says because her books pre-date Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga she feels "on very secure ground with the originality" of her books.

"I see our series as complementing each other. I attract an older readership generally, though I think we do share quite a few readers and I'm glad of that," she said.

"But I don't think people are just going to buy one book, or go see just one vampire movie or TV show a year. I think they're going to want to experience different shadings of offerings in those fields.

"Stephenie had a different target audience from mine and I think that she managed to hit that very accurately."


Raunchy scenes

Different audience indeed. While Twilight keeps things very G-rated (Meyer is a Mormon), the Sookie Stackhouse books explore a raunchy world between humans and the supernatural.

And if the book series makes you blush, True Blood is known for its regular sex scenes and nudity - mainly involving Australian actor Ryan Kwanten, who plays Sookie's brother, Jason Stackhouse.

"It is [raunchier] because it's a visual medium. In the books I described how Jason is a horn dog, but when you actually see it, it's going to have a different impact," Harris said.

"Ryan's such a nice young man to hang around with... I think one of Alan's strengths is picking a very strong cast, whether or not they're previously very well known.

"He did it with Six Feet Under and I think he's doing it again with True Blood."

Harris says it was nerve-wracking giving her life's work to Ball for True Blood, but she's now a big fan of the show and often gets sent episodes in advance.

"I had to hand all control over to Alan Ball. But having said that, I was pretty careful about who I handed it over to. So I really can't complain about what he's done and in fact I'm very happy," she said.

"You've got to love [the show]. He's such a great talent it's been a pleasure to deal with him. I figured he'd be the best person and that's why I accepted his offer over the others I had."

Harris is writing the 11th book in her series and has just published a collection of Sookie Stackhouse short stories.

With another three books to come, Harris does know what will happen to Sookie and Co. at the end - but is not about to give away any secrets.

After the cliffhanger of True Blood season two, Harris says even she is in the dark about what the next season will bring.

"If they stick to the books then I know what happens, but if they don't then I have no idea - and that's always fun," she said.

"Every now and then they use a line I wrote and it just tickles me pink when I hear it. And I love to see my credit at the beginning of every show."


another Aussie site puts fan questions to CH
one question is by Andy Swist, our own Campblood cut out doll maker and vlogger along with Buzz/Brian.
For those of you who wanted me to ask her specific questions, I've posted them below. I couldn't ask them all, so if yours isn't here it's hopefully been answered in the story.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kate Burnham: Will Sookie ever settle down with one of her admirers or is she doomed to serial monogamy on a grand scale?

"You're just going to have to keep reading the books to find out."

Joanne: Some vampires have special gifts, for example Eric can fly. Does Bill Compton have a special gift?

"He can levitate. He already did that in the first book, as far as I know that's all he can do. But I'm sure that he'll tell me if I ask him."

Tiffany Leger: Will Sookie ever go into the attic to find some of Gran's secrets?

"She'll go in the attic, but I don't know how many secrets she'll find in there."

LilaS: At the end of the last book, Sookie's had a pretty bad time of it. She comes across broken, both in spirit and physically. How have you addressed this in the new book and will the unbreakable spirit that has become synonymous with her character return? Or is this a turning point for the character?

"Of course she's not ever going to be the same again, you're not after that. She will gradually recover her spirit but it's going to be a gradual process and the beginning of book 10 (A Touch of Dead) addresses that."

Nina: Bill, a character so significant in the first two books, has been sidelined. What are the chances of seeing him with Sookie in hot and unforgettable moments again?

"That's not gong to happen in book 10, that's all I can say."

Jane Blount: Why would you kill Bill? He is the most fascinating character I've read in years - so mysterious, cool and dark. I'd kill to hear his voice, as you describe it ... and I want to finish your wonderful books without crying.

"I did not kill Bill. Alan sort of said something at PaleyFest in an interview. He said 'Charlaine thought about killing Bill in the last book but she was talked out of it.' That was something of a mis-statement and I certainly wish he hadn't made it! In casual conversation I mentioned that had been one of the possible endings for Dead and Gone and that I'd thought about it and discarded it. But the truth is, and I think almost every writer does this, I've considered killing every character at one time or another, and some of them I follow though with. But some I decide I need to be alive."

khansen: I read recently that you said you didn't understand why so many fans love Eric so much? If this is true, why was he written to always be there for Sookie, give her what she needs, always tell her the truth, and be emotionally awakened by her, and happier with her than he had been in hundreds of years? He seems perfect for her. Have I read all of the books wrong?

"I'm not denying that's one side of Eric, but he's also a ruthless killer and I think some of my readers tend to forget that in their enthusiasm for his sexier habits."

Andy Swist: If you had to pick one of Sookie's many suitors as your favourite to write about, who would it be and why?

"Oh my goodness, I like to write about all of them, it just depends on my actions in the books. If I didn't enjoy writing about them, I wouldn't have created them. There are things about all of them that I admire, or I wouldn't have made them attractive to Sookie."
http://blogs.abc.net.au/theshallowen...-answered.html

[Jensters]

Im new to True Blood here in England and i am hooked, would anybody be able to point me in the right direction on what order to read the books, as i would love to read them even if they are not the same as the series.

Many thanks in advance Jennie

[snakey]

Welcome Jennie, we are happy to see new people into TB.
Read the first 3 and you will be hooked.
Dead until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
I'll seek out more Brit articles for you guys, they'll be in the news section.

[Jensters]

Wow thank you, i will be off to the book shop 2moro....cant wait.

Jennie.

[snakey]

First page of 3, from the Sydney Morning Herald-
The author behind infectious TV series True Blood has an unpleasant past, writes Catharine Munro.
Come out of the coffin ... Charlaine Harris introduces taboo topics to the mainstream.

Draining every drop of her deep Southern cordiality, Charlaine Harris holds out on explaining exactly why her latest heroine is involved in an incestuous relationship.

The author behind the popular HBO series True Blood isn't into psychoanalysing her sexy murder mysteries, even though their kinky characters cry out for it.

But otherwise thoughtful and conventional people who have found themselves glued to the television adaptation of Harris's work might need a session or two on the couch to explain why they can't get enough of a story based on sex with vampires. Vampires are, after all, creatures who are dead.

Necrophilia and incest are not themes you would usually associate with a 58-year-old churchgoing mother of three who has lived for 20 years in the Bible-belt state of Arkansas. "I'm just a gruesome person," she says, matter-of-factly.

But there's no avoiding the contradiction between the writer and her subject matter. Speaking from her home in Magnolia, Arkansas, she is unnervingly relaxed.

Harris admits the contemporary gothic subject matter of her work is so confronting that it took two years to find a publisher for Dead Until Dark, the first of the Sookie Stackhouse series that was turned into the television hit. The first book was published in 2001.

The adaptation, True Blood, has catapulted her taboo topics into the mainstream. It was written and produced by Alan Ball, of American Beauty and Six Feet Under fame.

Since True Blood was released in Australia in February, sales of Harris's books have skyrocketed. In July, nine of her Sookie Stackhouse series were in the top 10 places of science fiction and fantasy. In December they occupied six.

On the surface, the concept sits happily within its official genre. Unable to exist in daylight and dependent on blood, vampires have "come out of the coffin" because a synthetic replacement to human blood has been invented in Japan. Vampires no longer need to feed on humans. They can resist the desire to bite.

But Harris wants to do more than entertain. Her aim is to challenge the reader.

Vampires turn into a race subjected to deep prejudice but the telepathic Sookie finds herself sexually drawn to them and submits to her lover's fangs. The series explores exclusion, Harris explains, and she has acknowledged the vampires' struggle is a metaphor for gay rights.

The author herself says she's "not a big fan of biting". But that's not the idea. "I wanted to talk about who the monsters are," she says. Too often monsters are blamed for social ills when in fact it's the human race causing all the problems.

With Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series still a bestseller, it is easy to draw the conclusion that a craze for bloodsuckers is sweeping cinemas and bookstores. Vampire experts argue the interest has been around since Bram Stoker wrote Dracula and Harris sees herself as following on from Anne Rice, whose Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976.

Harris also describes herself as a social observer. In her latest book of the "Grave" series, Grave Secret, the main character, Harper Connelly, is still living with the trauma of a childhood surrounded by drug addicts. At age 17, she was struck by lightning, giving her the ability to find and listen to the dead. She becomes an amateur sleuth in the process. "She gets to see the worst of human behaviour; its folly, silliness and the evil," Harris says.

Harper also carnally loves her stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, her escort on all her assignments. They plan to get married. The dysfunction of their shared childhood is at the forefront of the story, which includes frequent steamy scenes in their hotel room. "I will be the first to admit: it's kind of icky," Harris says of Harper's "love affair". On the other hand, "they're not related to each other. They are just dependent . . . Every now and then someone gets totally squeaked out about it but that's OK." Most people, she says, accept it and are happy for them.

In Magnolia, Harris serves in the respectable role of secretary of the vestry at the Episcopalian Church. The message is clear: judge not lest ye be judged.

She is a pure product of the Confederacy: born, schooled and married in the deep South with all of its segregation, voodoo and religion. But unlike the deeply damaged fictional characters she creates, Harris's upbringing was stable.

She grew up on a cotton farm in what was then the poorest county of the United States: Tunica, Mississippi. Her father Robert switched from farming to teaching and her mother became a librarian after having children. In this bookish household her late younger brother Ashley loved higher literature, while she stuck with genres such as mysteries.

Living in the middle of a cotton field, she says, taught her the greatest skill of being a writer – being alone. She has written for as long as she could spell, she says. But events since leaving home have given her material for her own mystery plots. She gathered her own sorrows. "There were a lot of things that happened that were less than pleasant," she says.

Her first marriage dissolved after three years when she and her husband realised they had made a mistake. Single again, she was living in Memphis, Tennessee, where she had gone to college, and while in her early 20s was raped by an intruder who threatened her with a knife. The perpetrator was a serial rapist and later convicted. An early book, A Secret Rage, is about a serial rapist who terrorises a college town in Tennessee.

In her late 20s, Harris met her husband Hal (she prefers to keep his surname out of interviews) at a New Year's Eve party in Atlanta, Georgia. Hal bought her a typewriter and gave her a metaphorical room of her own in which to write. A chemical engineer who works for a military supplier, he has always supported her writing.

What the neighbours and her three children think are another matter. Her children struggled with the idea of their mother being a professional writer, unlike other mothers. And she worried that the raunch of True Blood would mean social death in Magnolia.

But since the success of the TV series, family and friends have enjoyed the accolades. Patrick, 25, Timothy, 22, and Julia, 19, posed on the red carpet with lead actress Anna Paquin. "They are very excited to have a cool mother," she says.

Caring about what people think does not seem to be high on Harris's agenda. After Julia was born, she took to weightlifting, a sport that evolved from a passing passion for karate.

These days the only exercise she gets is walking her three dogs. Harris maintains a blog in which she reviews other writers' work and despairs at domestic challenges, such as finding the time to put out her Christmas decorations and where to store her college-age children's gear.

Sookie Stackhouse and Harper Connelly have, meanwhile, adopted lives of their own. She expects the "Dead" series will outlive "Grave" by 13 books to four.

She's on to her next heroine but won't divulge her character. "I think if you talk about things you don't end up writing them." But expect a tricky character: "Damaged people are more interesting to write."

Grave Secret, by Charlaine Harris, is published by Gollancz, $29.99.

it's a long interview, the rest is at the link
http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertain...058321465.html