EXCLUSIVE: We Chat with Charlaine Harris

What a treat it was to talk with Charlaine Harris on today’s True-Blood.net Radio show! Charlaine is in midst of promoting the latest Southern Vampire novel, Dead & Gone, and took time from her busy schedule to chat with us.  Here’s a recap of our discussion.

WARNING: Spoilers for Dead & Gone ahead!

Comic Con 2008
“Comic Con really scared the pants off of me! It was so crowded and so intense, that just made me so nervous.” Charlaine doesn’t expect to attend Comic Con this year and her schedule for July is already pretty full.

Sookie’s Experience at the End of Dead & Gone
“That’s pretty close to rock bottom. ” Charlaine struggles with finding the right details to convey the horror of the situation without causing the reader to slam the book shut and quit reading. Although the physical wounds are pretty much healed at the end of Dead & Gone, we will see the emotional aftermath in Book 10.

Book 10
So far, Book 10 begins 2 months after the end of Dead & Gone. “But that’s subject to change!”

What Should Sookie/The Reader Have “Learned” From Dead & Gone?
“I think it’s pretty clear that I feel free to kill characters when I want to, or when I feel that they need to die for the purposes of the story. Nobody is safe. I don’t want anybody to get too complacent.” Additionally, vampires (and weres) are not going to change overnight. They’ve had centuries of being the bad guys, so “trying to be good guys is a very recent development.”

The Harper Connelly Series
“There’s just a touch of the supernatural in the Harper books, it’s more reality based than the Sookie books. And there’s a sort of perverse romance as well.” Charlaine finds the mystery aspect of the Harper books a challenge, but is debating whether the next novel will be the last. The fourth (and final?) Harper Connelly novel is due out in November.

Happy Endings?
“Not necessarily, I don’t believe in happy endings. Of course there’s a streak of the romantic in me that would always like a happy ending, or at least an emotionally realistic sad ending. I hate these endings where everything goes to Hell for no reason. I like endings that seem right within the context of the book, whether they’re happy or not.” Um, yikes?

Alan Ball
“[Alan] is so nice! I just love hanging around with him. He’s charming and people love working with him. Even when he’s not around, people talk about how much they love working for him.” We heart you, Alan Ball!

Twitter RPGers
Charlaine knows the RPG exists but hasn’t had the time to really look into it. She’s flattered that people are so immersed in the universe. “I’ve got six dogs and a goose, plus I’m supposed to be working on the next book!”

Upcoming Sookie Projects
A compilation of the Sookie short stories is coming in October, called A Touch of Dead, and they’re working on “The Sookie Companion”, basically an encyclopedia of all things Sookie. Look for the Companion sometime next year if all goes according to plan.

Listen to the full interview here!