A simple concept, a girl who dated a vampire, has become a publishing phenomenon for author Charlaine Harris.
She's responsible for the nine novels about Sookie Stackhouse, a Louisiana bar maid with a supernatural ability to read minds who counts vampires and werewolves among her peers. A 10th book is set for publication in May, and the series has also spawned a television version, the hit HBO series True Blood .
Harris will talk about her novels at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Columbia County Library in Evans.
Living in the South -- she grew up in the Mississippi Delta and now lives in Arkansas -- she says her surroundings have an impact on her writing.
"I've always been interested in the mysterious and the macabre," she said.
She follows both the tradition of the Southern gothic fascination with the paranormal and the traditions of Bible Belt. She's active in her Episcopal church.
Supernatural creatures in her Sookie Stackhouse books can be used to take on issues such as bigotry and exclusivity, she said.
She also has penned a four-book series with a paranormal focus that centers on Harper Connelly, a character who can locate the remains of the dead.
"They're very mystery-based," Harris said.
Harper books are more serious in tone than the Stackhouse novels.
"Sookie books are intended to be funny," she said.
Harris says she writes every day, but can only write a book in one series at a time: "My head would explode," she joked.
"It's like getting into character to play a role," she said.
She also finds time to blog on her Web site about the several books she reads each week. On Monday, she blogged about Kitty's House of Horrors, by Carrie Vaughn; Who Killed the Pinup Queen? by Toni L.P. Kelner; Me and My Shadow by Katie MacAlister; and Among the Living by Dan Vining.
She has two bookcases full of books she'd like to read. There's no formula for which she reads next.
"Sometimes, it depends on what my hand falls on first, sometimes I'm in the mood for something," she said.
Reach Sarah Day Owen at (706) 823-3223 or sarah.owen@augustachronicle.com.
Follow her on Twitter@SarahDayOwen.
IF YOU GO
WHO: Author Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center in the Columbia County Library, Evans
WHAT: The library will issue 450 tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, starting at 6 p.m. Saturday; no tickets will be distributed before then; doors open at 6:30 p.m.; admission is free, but a ticket is required; (706) 863-1946
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