Interview with the Great Charlaine Harris
By Shannon McCabe, Owner HPI International
http://www.HPIparanormal.netVampire Ball
http://www.ShannonMcCabe.com CHARLAINE HARRIS RECEIVES PRESENT FROM SHANNON MCCABE!
1. What is your fascination with vampires and the afterlife?
Answer: I enjoy writing about things that can’t be fact-checked.
2. Have you had any personal experiences that you would consider paranormal?
Answer: I’ve had some weird experiences.
3. Can you tell us a little about your home life in Arkansas ?
Answer: I’ve been over the bridge from Memphis to Arkansas when I got lost once. Arkansas looks like a great place to live!
When I lived in Memphis, I went over that bridge several times. We live in a small town in southwest Arkansas,
and in most respects we live a typical small-town life. In my experience, the people in Arkansas are very courteous and helpful, and it’s been a pleasure raising my children here. It’s generally a conservative Bible-belt state, but I grew up in a conservative Bible-belt state, so that’s well within my comfort zone.
4. In your new book “Death’s Excellent Vacation” you send Sookie Stackhouse and Eric’s Second, Pam, on a road trip to Tunica, Mississippi for a little gambling & R&R at Harrah’s. Is this a vacation destination that you like to go to?
Answer: I grew up in Tunica, Mississippi. I am no gambler myself, and to me it’s mystifying to see people flock to
the casinos. When I was a kid, none of that was there, and Tunica was just one more little cotton-farming town in the Delta.
Special Note: When my mom ( Wendy) and I went to that Harrah’s she won $300.00! We love Tunica!
5. This is a question from one of your fans, John Shue. How did you come up with the name Sookie Stackhouse?
Answer: “Sookie” is an old southern nickname, of course, short for “Sister” or “Susan.” My grandmother’s best friend was named Sookie, so it seemed appropriate for an old-fashioned (in some ways) southern woman. I looked at many possible last names for Sookie, but “Stackhouse” just rolled off the tongue.
6. When we met in San Francisco at your book signing for “Dead in the Family” you mentioned that you were working on book 11. Is there anything that you can tell us about this book? We are all DYING to read it!
Answer: And I’m glad you are. I’ll be posting a few pages from the book on my website, right around Christmas. I can guarantee there’ll be some surprises.
7. In the Alan Ball show, HBO’s True Blood, there are many characters from your books. Which actor would you say most resembles the character you’ve invented in your own brilliant mind?
Answer: The Bauers - both Kristen and Chris, who are not related - are very like their characters, Pam and Andy Bellefleur.
8. How does it make you feel when you get to watch your incredible stories brought to life on TV? For your fans, we LIVE for new books and Sunday nights!
Answer: Of course it’s amazingly gratifying to see my characters come to life on the television screen. They’ve changed a lot from my page to the screen, but I knew that would happen.
9. In the show, True Blood Season 3, Sam Merlotte, owner of Merlotte’s Grill has a pivotal personality change. To put it mildly he becomes a little nuts. Was this a surprise to you, or was this something that you thought could be in the deep dark past of Sam?
Answer: Sam’s past is very different in the books.
10: Here is a question from one of your fans, Paul Dale Roberts, HPI Paranormal Investigator: Paul wants to know if your vampires have a blood line connection to Dracula or are they unique vampires with an altogether different host?
Answer: I’m not sure about the context of “host.” In my world, not all the vampires descended from Dracula. But Dracula is the first modern vampire (as in the short story “Dracula Night”), the one who thought of coming out of the crypt and passing as human, and he’s revered as such in the vampire world.
From Shannon:
Ms. Harris, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my Sookie Stackhouse heart for this interview! I know you are incredibly busy with your writing and family life and am so thrilled that you’d grant me an interview. It means the world to me.
Sincerely,
Shannon McCabe
2010 Vampire Ball
http://www.ShannonMcCabe.com & H.P.I. International
Haunted & Paranormal Investigations
http://www.HPIparanormal.net 
Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:55 pm