Recap of lunch with Charlaine Harris

My birthday was last week, and my BFF took me to lunch with Charlaine Harris to celebrate! Just the three of us....and about 200 other people, lol :) Murder by the Book in Houston puts on a great event - the lunch was at the Briar Club and it was wonderful.

She did a Q&A session before she signed books. Yes, I'm a nerd and took notes, right there at the table. She was very funny and self-deprecating. She laughed a lot and took compliments from the audience very graciously.

• The original title for Dead Until Dark was Southern Fried Vampires but her publisher didn't like it. She says it took her two years to sell it - the only other UF at that time was Laurell K Hamilton, and publishers didn't know where to put these kinds of books. She'd been writing her mysteries (Lily Bard, I think she said) and said she decided to write a new series: She'd take her 10 Lily Bard readers with her, throw in some mystery to grab that audience, throw in some blood/gore to grab that audience, and throw in some sex to grab the rest!She's surprised that people are so wrapped up in Sookie's love life, she says the romance is not the main theme for her.

• After Dead Reckoning there are only two more books left. She's had the key scene in the last book written for 10 years.

• Sometimes real people do inspire her characters.

• Her favorite Sookie book to write? All Together Dead - She loved writing about the trip and the hotel.

• Her favorite (any) book to write? Ice Cold Grave from her Harper Connelly Series; she says she's done with this series. She doesn't believe in extending a series beyond where it should go.

• I asked (okay, I made my BFF ask) if there were any characters she regretted killing off - she said Claudine. She was in a "clear the decks" mood and killed off a lot of characters in that book - she still feels bad she killed off two pregnant women in one book. States the murders seemed like a good idea at the time :)

• Someone asked who Niall was talking about when he said "he's a good man" - Ms. Harris states she won't tell us (probably not, anyway), she likes to make her readers do some of the work.

• She loves her covers - states "It's not a chick in black leather with a gun or knife" Lisa Desimini is the artist.

• Where did she get the name Sookie? She says it's an old Southern name - her grandmother's best friend was named Sookie. (So is my cat, lol)

• Was she invited to Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin's wedding? No (she playfully acted indignant)

• She loves writing Pam - she's fun and sarcastic. States Kristen Bauer does a great job even if she does get the accent wrong - she's supposed to have a British accent, not a Southern accent. She says the actress looks like Pam and the character and writing are consistent.

What's coming up next? She's got an anthology coming out in August: Home Improvement, Undead Edition, with Patricia Briggs, James Grady, Heather Graham, Melissa Marr, and others:

She's also got The Sookie Stackhouse Companion coming out August 30. There's an original novella, interviews with Ms. Harris, Alan Ball, character interviews, a timeline, recipes, and a secret Eric/Bill conversation (<--I'm guessing that has a lot of hissing and "Sookeh is mine" in it, lol).



All in all it was a fabulous lunch - our table mates were super nice and I met another blogger who will be in NOLA for the ALA conference in August. We also sat next to the cutest couple - both in their 70s, I would guess, who were absolutely adorable. They didn't stay for the book signing, they just wanted to see Ms. Harris and hear her speak. BFF and I both said later we hoped our marriages would be like that when we were their age (awwww!!!).

Thank you BFF Hannah for the tickets and going with me; Thank you Hubs (for sending me off for a fun birthday weekend and bankrolling the crazy), and Thank you to my son and mother who watched my two Littlest Book Addicts so that I could go to Houston and have a wonderful grown-up (relatively speaking) weekend!

In Which My Nerdiness Shows Again....

Remember when you were a teenager and you'd have "a song"? That song that just totally got how you are as a couple?

Well, I'm way past teenager (although hubs and I do have a song) so now I listen to songs and think "that song is perfect for -insert character names here-". Yes, lame, I know. Keeping in mind I don't really watch TV and definitely don't watch music videos (cuts into my reading time!!), so I don't know if the videos are weirdly inappropriate for my couples.

Here's a few:

Cat and Bones (Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress Series):






Richard from Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series (in her later books):







Charlaine Harris' Eric and Sookie (after the blood bond):






Jace from Rachel Vincent's Shifter series:






Moira Rogers' Derek and Nick (Crossroads - right before Nick goes to NY):






Megan Hart's Dan and Emme from Dirty:






And Ilona Andrews' Kate and Curran (in this song I see Kate talking and Curran imagining Kate dancing around his Bimbo Room to the music):



So anyway, that's my short list; hope you liked it!

Meeting Charlaine Harris

Although we didn't get to go to the True Blood Ball, I was able to meet Charlaine Harris on Halloween!!! The signing was for 1pm, so we got there around 10:30. They assigned you a number when you bought your books; we were numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6!! I came with my sister-in-law, my future sister-in-law, and my 16-year-old son (AKA Book Mule). I brought the Book Mule for two reasons: 1. She would sign 2 books/person, and 2. He's read the books and I thought it would be fun for him to meet the author (he's dabbling in writing).

Here we are waiting in line. Note the matching Fangtasia t-shirts (no, we're not book nerds!) Book Mule took the picture: SIL, future SIL, and me:


See how close we were?!? The lady leaning against the wall is BFF Paula. She seemed surprised we knew who she was. (Maybe we are book nerds? Nah.)



Here's future SIL - she's the one who convinced me to give True Blood a second try after Episode 1 didn't really grab me. (That's Book Mule standing in the background):


Here's SIL Hannah, who I frequently mention on this site and she is my Mistress of All Things Web. We spend a good portion of our free time arguing over who Eric belongs to (hint: Eric is mine.):



And here's me, all giddy with happiness at meeting Charlaine:



Ms. Harris was so sweet and gracious. She answered questions and chatted while she signed. I thanked her for sharing her stories and she said she was blessed to be able to do what she loved doing. She also said that after Dead in the Family she's contracted for 3 more Sookie books (through 2014), Pam is her favorite character in the books, and she thought Nelson Ellis should have gotten an award at the Emmys.

It's going to be a Happy Halloween!

Charlaine Harris is coming to New Orleans for a book signing!!!! (She's also coming for the Tru Blood and Gold Ball the night before but I don't see myself going to that.) I was thinking about going to VooDoo with my husband but no, I'm going to see Charlaine! Yayyyyyyyy!!!!!

*Diligently working on lining up a babysitter........*