Charlaine Harris: “There’s not the fairy-tale aspect in my books that there is in Twilight.”

Recently Vanity Fair talked with Charlaine Harris, author of the Southern Vampire Mysteries on which True Blood is based. With the next Twilight movie about to be released, she was asked to compare her books to Stephanie Meyer’s:

Asexual vampires are strictly kid stuff, according to Harris, who points out that her books predated those of Twilight author Stephenie Meyer by several years. “My books are just aimed at adults. There’s not the fairy-tale aspect in my books that there is in hers,” says Harris. “Her books are very Romeo and Juliet; I think mine definitely aren’t.” She adds, “How are they different? Bill turns out to be betraying Sookie the whole time. Sookie finds that out and it’s devastating to her. But this leaves her to look in many different directions for love.” Well… and sex: Sookie’s carnal forays into the supernatural lead to some pretty explicit bodice-ripping. In Harris’s pages, when heaving, virginal bosoms are pressed against cold, marble-like chests, things don’t stop there. Few details are omitted, and sometimes it gets downright gymnastic. Contrast this with Twilight’s Edward and Bella, who ends up preggers when they finally consummate, a zillion pages into the series. Harris declined to elaborate on other differences: “You can talk to Stephenie Meyer about her books. I’m not her critic. I’m glad she’s been successful.”

(Read the full interview here…)