Sookie update... For any of those who care...
So, I went and saw Charlaine Harris yesterday evening. First off, the woman is hilarious. The entire thing was a question answer session before she did a book signing (I was 4th in line for the signing, yay me for picking a good seat).
Before she took any questions, she said, "Don't ask me any questions about Bill vs. Eric, or who I like best because I won't tell you." So I didn't bother asking when Eric gets staked, because that fell into her off limits category. She did say that it bothers her that people read Eric differently than she wrote him, and that they romanticize him. In her mind he is selfish and he is not a romantic hero. She also said that he would NOT do anything for Sookie if push came to shove. Then she said, "Maybe I shouldn't have told you that." So, I guess Becky had a better reading at what she was actually trying to get across with Eric. Although she does like Eric.
She also said that she is signed on for 13 books and that she is currently writing the 11th book. She said that the 11th book will address issues with the Faeries who were left behind. She said that she is in the process of deciding if she will write more books than just 13, and that the decision will be made very soon because she will have to start planning for it in the storyline. She doesn't want to just toss a couple of amazing extra chapters into book 13 so that she can extend it. A wise woman.
She is currently working on another anthology that should be released in February, and apparently there is going to be a novella that deals with Quinn. She said that there will be some amazing developments in it. I am really looking forward to it.
She said she is finished with the Harper Connelly books. I think those are the ones you hated, right Becky? She said she feels that she took that story to its natural conclusion.
****MAJOR SPOILER FOR BOOK 9**** Don't read this if you plan to read the Sookie books, but haven't gotten around to it, or if you are not at book 9 yet.
Ready? Ok.
She apologized profusely for killing off Claudine. She said that she was in a really foul mood and that a Fae war seemed like a really great way to kill off a lot of people who didn't have a part in book 10. She says she feels just awful about Claudine. After she signed my book I told her that I was really sad, because when Claudine died I thought maybe she was going to come back as an angel, because that is what she wanted to be, and she said it was very hard to do. I thought that making the ultimate sacrifice like that for Sookie might have bought her wings. I am really hoping now that I planted a seed in Charlaine Harris's mind, and maybe she will bring Claudine back. lol
****SPOILER OVER****
I think that one of my favorite parts of it was when someone asked her how she got the idea for the Sookie books. She said, "Well, at the time I was writing mysteries and I thought that writing a cross-genre book would get me a broader audience and then I would make more money." We all laughed, and she said, "No, I am serious. I was earning about $5000 a book at the time and I really wanted more money." So she said, I'll put in telepaths, and vampires, just a little of everything. She said that she also shopped the books around and got tons of rejections. I think she said it took 2 years to get someone to pick them up. And then she said, "And for all those other publishers, all I can say is 'HA HA'." I was rolling.
So that is my Charlaine Harris experience. I didn't get any pictures because my phone kept freezing up when I tried and I forgot to take my camera. Needless to say, she is a lovely woman. Very Southern. She sounds just like Paula Dean.
F. Bear Slippers
So it is the General Elections here at the UK and sometime today I'll be making my way down to my old Infant school I attended between the ages of four to seven years, to vote. Funny that, considering at that age politics was hardly high on my agenda. I have a vague memory back then of Margaret Thatcher being Prime Minister, and then being kicked out - I was sitting on my mum's knee and dad was standing by the door watching the news. John Major became Prime Minister and I remember for the first time becoming aware that you actually had to vote these people in. After that moment's awareness I think I went back to thinking of Playmobil and Lego.
It's all rather depressing, truth be told, for there is no passion in the air - no one particularly wants anyone in it seems, rather voting to keep the worst in - or out, depending on your stance. People either seem to be afraid of the Conservative Party regaining power after 13 years (rather an unlucky number) or fed up with the Labour Party. So who knows what will be to come? I have a feeling we will be seeing blue.
My election distraction will be North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - this is the third time I have read it and I love it more each time. It is a re-writing of Pride and Prejudice, set in the 1850's in an industrial town in the north of England. It focuses on the class differences between the North and the South, rich and poor - the Masters and the Workers. An incredible social story, written by a woman who though respected, is no longer well-enough known in comparison to her fellow authors such as Charles Dickens, who she knew personally.
Soon all will be over - we will have a new government, or we will hang on to the old... maybe a change of face will be good for the UK, who knows. After today, it will be out of my hands and all I can do is sit, read my book and wait for the result.
