Charlaine Harris comes to Liverpool, UK

As I’m sure most you already know, Charlaine Harris is currently over in the UK on a book signing tour. I was lucky enough to attend her Q&A session and signing when she was here in Liverpool this past Tuesday. We don’t usually attract such popular authors for signings up here so Charlaine’s event here was a complete sell out!

Charlaine began the Q&A session by telling us about the projects she has coming up, such as Cemetery Girl and Midnight Crossroads. The concept for Midnight Crossroads, which has been mentioned here recently, sounded really interesting and it will definitely be on my “must read” list!

The fan Q&A got off to a slow start due to a bit of fan shyness, which is not like Liverpudlian people at all! There were a few True Blood related questions to begin with, but people soon started to ask her questions related to her work. She told us that one of Alan Ball’s ideas that she wished she had thought of for the Southern Vampire Mysteries was the creation of Jessica. She really enjoys Jessica as a character and admires Deborah’s performance of her. Charlaine also spoke about the backlash she received from “fans” after Dead Ever After’s launch. Everyone in the room was audibly shocked to hear that some “fans” had even gone so far as to curse her children! I really admire her strength against all this adversity.

After the talk, came the signing and our time to have our own one to one with Charlaine. I felt so excited and a little nervous as I waited in line for my turn. I always panic that I won’t know what to say when I’m at these types of events! However, when my turn eventually arrived I thanked her for an amazing series of books and told her that they had brought me so many lovely new friends. She seemed truly touched by what I had said and thanked me for letting her know. She said that when she first started writing the Southern Vampire Mysteries she had no idea how much they’d bring people together to talk about them.

Charlaine was such a wonderful and humble lady to meet, that I felt quite sad once my time was over. However, I do feel so lucky and privileged to have met her and would completely recommend attending her signings if you get the chance.

Helen meeting Charlaine Harris