For those of you not in the know, Charlaine Harris is the creator of Sookie Stackhouse! She is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing mysteries for over twenty years. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League, in addition to being a member of the board of Sisters in Crime.
As noted above, Harris created The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series about a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who works in a northern Louisiana bar. The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series has been released abroad in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Greece, Portugal, France, the Netherlands – and that’s just a few!
“Deadlocked” – the 12th Sookie Stackhouse mystery – will hit bookstore shelves May of this year. Charlaine was good enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for moi, so, now, dear readers, without any further preamble – Ms. Charlaine Harris!
R: Welcome, Charlaine. It’s an honor to have you in my “hotseat”
C: Thank you Rocco.
R: You had success writing conventional mysteries before delving into the world of urban fantasy with the Sookie Stackhouse series. Which do you prefer to write and why?
C: There wasn't such a thing as urban fantasy when I began writing the Sookie novels about fourteen or fifteen years ago. To my mind, I was writing mysteries with a supernatural twist. That's what I'm still writing, so I love both.
R: What’s your favorite type of supernatural creature to write about?
C: I'm not much on either/or questions. The werewolves are fun because of their strength and their human side; the vampires are fun because they have so many limitations, but they're also very strong and very political. The fae have never been human, so that's a special challenge.
R: Can you share any details about upcoming releases? What’s next for Sookie?
C: DEADLOCKED will be out in May, and it's the twelfth book in the series. I'm going to begin work on the thirteenth and last Sookie sometime this week. I have a lot of threads to draw closed.
R: What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to know about you?
C: I have no idea. Readers have some strange ideas about what I'll be like, in their heads. Actually, I lead a pretty normal life. My time is consumed by the usual stuff: laundry, bills, writing, reading, letting the pets in and out.
R: What is the craziest thing you've ever done?
C: That's a poser. When I was in college, I was walking through a hall in a classroom building, and it was totally empty. It seemed like the setting for a musical; so I danced down the corridor. It was fabulous.
R: What do you hope readers will most take away from your writing?
C: I hope that they'll think about the underlying message of tolerance in my books, but if they miss that, I just hope they've a little vacation from their lives. I'm not a preacher. I'm an entertainer.
One last thing, gotta know: Cats or Dogs?
C: I love both. (R: Good answer!) I had cats my whole life until I married my husband, who is allergic to them. (Please don't send me a list of suggestions for getting around this, because we tried everything.) So is my daughter. So now we have four dogs. We've had ferrets, too. They were very entertaining!
Folks, don’t forget to pick up your copy of DEADLOCKED, which hits bookstore shelves (and Kindles and Nooks) on May 1, 2012!
Also: next week, March 27, DEAD RECKONING arrives in paperback! Mark your calendars!
To learn more about Charlaine and her works, visit her website: http://www.charlaineharris.com/
Hey Folks!
We'll be back soon. Coming May 22 - Q&A and Giveaway with Gina Robinson!
ROCCO
Incredibly Talented Blogging Cat
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