Over the past few years I've come close to meeting Charlaine Harris (at conferences or events close to home), but something always comes up and I keep missing my chance. I read her blog a lot for book recommendations and we have similar tastes, combine that with my love of the Southern Vampire books, and it's obvious why I really wanted to meet her.
I had to go to Winston-Salem to get it done, but it was well worth the drive. She was gracious and sweet and everything you would hope for when meeting a favorite author. She signed my copy of Deadlocked, and I had some delicious blood orange punch. Following the signing, I went to "A Conversation with Charlaine Harris". A few of my fun takeaways from the evening (possible spoiler alert - not from Deadlocked, but other books in the series):
The Harper Connelly series is being made into a show for SciFi. I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list.
After the final Sookie Stackhouse book is written, she is starting a new series called Midnight Pawn and it will feature some of her favorite characters from across all of her books.
She said she actually enjoys killing off her favorite characters sometimes, and apologized for killing Claudine. She said she was really in a housecleaning mood and that she made a mistake there.
One audience member asked what fictional character she would want to have her back in the event of a zombie apocalypse and she said Jack Reacher. I'm still trying to figure out what my answer is.
She said that the Sookie books will end the way she envisioned them ending from the time she began writing them. Also, she never planned to write in were-animals and witches and fairies, but she got bored and spiced things up.
15 publishers rejected the first Sookie book before one finally accepted. Crazy, right? she said their concern was where to shelve the book since it's a cross-genre piece.
The moderator took some questions from the audience (including me!). She had mentioned that Alan Ball has creative control over True Blood and that she liked some things that he's done. So I asked what changes she liked most and which ones surprised her (I told her my fav was the retention of Lafayette). She agreed that Lafayette is great and that Alan's interpretation of him is more fabulous and fun than hers had ever been. She said she really loves Jessica's character, that it adds a lot to the series. She said Alan will never introduce Bubba because he's afraid it will be too over-the-top cheesy, and she agrees.
So, yeah. It was great, and well worth the money to get the VIP package. I'll never flip flop on whether or not to meet a favorite author...I think it's always worth it.
