True Blood
LIVING DEAD and N’awlins
An Interview with New York Times Bestselling Author
Charlaine Harris

By Dionne Charlet

    Season Two of True Blood may have left you panting for more vampires, Northern Louisiana Southern exposure, and steamy fright scenes, but there’s so much more to the story.  Alan Ball’s vision of the “Sookie Universe” is adapted from a series of nine books, The Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris, and avid Harris readers know there are marked novel differences in plots and characterization.  A tenth novel is staked to publish May 2010. There is also a compilation of short stories based on Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress surviving a world of mainstreaming vampires.  
    Besides, it’s nearly Halloween, and you just happen to live in a city where fanged lore thrives.  Haunted History Tours offers a nightly vampire tour through the Quarter.  The New Orleans Vampire Film Festival will take place October 23-26.  Anne Rice centered many a beloved novel around her former home of New Orleans.  The Anne Rice Vampire Lestat Fan Club, based right here in NOLA, organizes an annual themed costume ball.
    Charlaine Harris is the Special Guest Author this Halloween Friday, October 30, at Republic New Orleans.  In honor of Charlaine, this year’s venue is aptly entitled the Tru Blood and Gold Ball.  Harris has the event proudly – and prominently – displayed on her official online events calendar page.  The costumes at this bash never fail to impress, as local and tourist fans plan costumes a year in advance.  Lush period garb and fangs have prevailed since Anne herself held these galas at her Uptown home in the 80s.  This year there may even be surprise appearances of True Blood fans dressed as the likes of Harris characters Bill, Eric, Lafayette, or maybe even Sookie herself.
    The day after the ball, October 31, the Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St., is featuring a Charlaine Harris Halloween Event at 1 p.m., where Charlaine will sign up to 2 books at a time for patrons.
    Charlaine’s been publishing novels for over 25 years.  Her multi-novel series heroines include Sookie Stackhouse, Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard “Shakespeare,” and Harper Connelly.  Mrs. Harris took time out of her incredibly productive writing schedule just for ya’ll, our Where Y’at readers!
 
WYAT:  The September 13 airing of the True Blood Season Two Finale featured a very special cameo appearance!  When first writing DEAD UNTIL DARK, did you consider that you would one day be able to walk right onto a set based on your fictional Merlotte’s?
Charlaine Harris:  Who could imagine anything like that? I was a happy person before, just being a published writer, but ever since the Sookie books were published my world has gotten a lot brighter.
WYAT:  Junie Lowry Johnson & Libby Goldstein won a 2008 Emmy for casting True Blood.  Anna Paquin and Nelsan Ellis have both won Golden Globes for their character roles.  True Blood won the 2009 Emmy for Breakthrough Performance of the Year.  How well do you feel the casting directors and actors have embodied the characters into the “Sookie Universe” you’ve created?
Harris:  One of the things that makes Alan great is his ability to hire the right people. I think the cast and crew should have won many MORE awards than they have. Of course, some of the actors look more like the characters in my head than others, but they’ve all taken the roles and made the characters their own.
WYAT:  Could you elaborate on your win/win plot nondisclosure relationship with True Blood series Executive Producer Alan Ball?  He introduces plot twists and characterization as ingeniously as you introduce the novels themselves, and your successes compliment each other.
Harris:  Alan and I have a great relationship; he doesn’t try to influence the books, and I don’t give him instructions on how to create a television show. We do seem to have a similar mindset; maybe we’re both a little warped! I like to think we just see the world in a different way, and that way happens to be similar.
WYAT:  Congratulations on a truly difficult and brilliant achievement, as your choice to highlight a maenad antagonist has many of us wondering how we missed out on this fascinating figure of mythology.  Did you expect your book creation of maenad Callisto, adapted by Alan Ball as Maryann, to create as much interest as it has in handmaidens of Dionysus?
Harris:  I was just looking for a supernatural creature who hadn’t been used over and over, and I was an early reader of Mary Renault. She includes a maenad – an ordinary woman caught in the madness of the god – in one of her books, and it was fascinating. When I was trying to think of something new to introduce into the series, that faint memory tugged at me and I did some research.
WYAT:  Emmy-winning Lost actor Michael Emerson, husband of Carrie Preston who portrays red-headed Arlene in the series, is now interested in a possible role in True Blood.  Is there any character from your expansive collection of Sookie Stackhouse novels and short stories that you look particularly forward to seeing cast on the small screen?
Harris:  Oh, there are several. (Michael Emerson is great, I got to meet him at the premiere for the first season, by the way. I’m sure he doesn’t remember it, but I was so impressed!) I look forward to seeing Alcide, Debbie Pelt, the king of Mississippi (who’s already been cast), and his houseful of lovely men. I’m sure Michael Emerson could be anyone he wanted to be. Maybe not Debbie Pelt. . .
WYAT:  Your Katrina foreword, in DEFINITELY DEAD, is poignant, heartfelt, and appreciated by for those of us who call the Gulf Coast home.  A friend of mine, Mary Dugas, was so touched that she cried when she read of your struggle with the inclusion of the catastrophe.  What made you decide to keep New Orleans pre-Katrina in DEFINITELY DEAD (completely written yet not yet released pre-Katrina), then incorporate the aftermath into the plot of ALL TOGETHER DEAD?
Harris:  I got quite a bit of criticism for even mentioning Katrina; several people hinted that I was capitalizing on a tragedy. To me, it would have been an insult to the people of Louisiana and Mississippi to have ignored such a catastrophe. It was impossible to change the mss. of DEFINITELY DEAD, even if I’d been able to make a calm decision on how to include Katrina. The next book gave me time to get some perspective.
WYAT:  There is near-constant media reference these days to the coincidental simultaneous popularity of True Blood and Twilight.  You’ve referenced the Buffy TV series as a show to watch for those interested in your Southern vampire mysteries, and you give kudos to Anne Rice “for vamperizing New Orleans” in the DEFINITELY DEAD acknowledgements.  How did you come to develop an interest in writing about vampires?
Harris:  There hasn’t been a time in the past forty years when vampires HAVEN’T been popular. I guess I’d always wanted to write about vampires, but I didn’t want to until I had a revelation about the approach I would take that would let me feel I was contributing something fresh.
WYAT:  Speaking through Sookie in ALL TOGETHER DEAD, you wrote, “New Orleans had been the place to go for vampires and those who wanted to be around them ever since Anne Rice had been proven right about their existence.”  I know from speaking with Suzanne Quiroz, Anne Rice’s former personal assistant, that the Anne Rice Vampire Lestat Fan Club/Tru Blood and Gold Ball is absolutely thrilled to have you as a special guest this year on Halloween Friday at Republic New Orleans!  How does it feel to be so lovingly accepted by Anne’s fans?  I hear your costume is amazing!  Will you wear your custom fangs?
Harris:  I feel absolutely bathed in love, and I look forward to the event so much. Yes, my costume is amazing. I’ll bring my fangs, and decide whether to wear them or not. Sometimes I think they’re pretty cheesy, and sometimes I think they’re cool.
WYAT:  What would you like to convey to fans prior to your 1:00 p.m. book signing event on October 31 at the Garden District Book Shop on 2727 Prytania St.?
Harris:  I look forward to meeting all of you. I have some wonderful readers. Sometimes my signings are pretty big, so bringing some candy in your purse and a big dose of patience is a good idea. Some people have made great friends in my signing line.
WYAT:  It is remarkable to note that you are a champion for poorly-funded smaller forensic labs in the United States.  How did you come to be involved in The Crime Lab Project charity?

Harris:  Jan Burke, the great mystery writer and a very serious thinker, brought this project to my attention. My contribution consists of my bringing the need to peoples’ attention, and I hope I’ve helped a little. The credit goes to Jan, though.
WYAT:  Charlaine, please accept my thanks, and the thanks of editors Josh Danzig, Sheri McKee, and Chris Thacker for allowing us to highlight your thoughts on your amazing talent and achievements.  It is truly our pleasure to bring your words to our readers.
Harris:  Thanks. I feel so smart and special now!
Note:  For ticket info on the Tru Blood and Gold Ball, go to
www.VampireLestatFanClub.com