A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Ace (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441017835
• ISBN-13: 978-0441017836

A TOUCH OF DEAD was released yesterday (Oct. 6th) and you can bet I was at Barnes and Noble, membership card in hand, the minute they unlocked their doors. Can you tell I'm a fan?

I knew going in that this book was a collection of all the Sookie short stories ever written. I already have two books by various authors that include a Sookie story (Many Bloody Returns, Wolfsbane and Mistletoe) but I'm a collector and I had to have this book.

I'm glad I bought it, I love Sookie and I want every sip of her and the vampires of Area 5, but I am a little disappointed in it. First of all, it is only five stories(in all fairness, it isn't hard to figure that out before you buy it. I just thought it would be more). The book retails for $24 here(USA) and $30 in Canada and it's only 5 short stories. I felt a little cheated.

Next, I hate when a short doesn't match what happens in the book. Call me a dork, but I get in to what I'm reading and I want it to all fit together. This is why I have problems watching movies based on comic books. It's never the way it's supposed to be. Yes, I understand you have to add and change things to make a comic into a full blown film, but it erks me. I know I'm in the wrong, but that's me (I can tolerate it in TRUE BLOOD because Ball did such an amazing job with the changes). In the story "One Word Answer" someone died and that someone also died in the book but in an entirely different way. Arrgghh!

Charlaine Harris did tell us in the introduction that sometimes she succeeded in creating shorts of Sookie's life seamlessly, and other time she did not. She admits that it may not fit in exactly with the series and so I forgive her. I love Harris's writing enough to forgive her even if she didn't warn me. She is an outstanding author and I haven't loved Vampires so much since Anne Rice.

I did find a booboo in the text. On page 153, she says "Greg had his hands up" but it most certainly should read "John" as Greg was no where near that scene! But as an aspiring novelist, I know how impossible it is NOT to make those types of mistakes. Blame the copy editor, lol. No biggie, any reader with half a brain cell will understand it's supposed to be John and move right along.

In conclusion, the stories are fun to read, well written and creative. I am just not a big fan of shorts. I like my Sookie in large doses and I need more Vampires! Book 10 can't come fast enough!

True Blood Season Two

Season two of the hit HBO series True Blood aired Sunday night at 9pm EST. I watched (and re watched and re watched) season one last summer and I fell in love with it. Without the show I might not have found CHarlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, the inspiration for the show.

The books follow Sookie Stackhouse, a vibrant young southern woman. She works as a barmaid at a local joint called Merlotte's, owned by Sam Merlotte, who has been pining after Sookie since the day they met.

Vampires have "come out of the coffin" thanks to the invention of synthetic blood and they are living among us and fighting for their rights as citizens.

The show isn't told by Sookie and so we get to look into the lives of the other characters. The first season was close to the book but season two has gone pretty far off course. None the less, it is a GREAT show.

Eric Northman does not mess around! He takes care of business even while touching up his roots. Now THAT is what a Vampire should be!

Book 9 of the Southern Vampire Mysteries

Book 9 of the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, Dead and Gone, was released in hardcover yesterday.  Being an avid Sookie fan I rushed over to B&N and ran straight to the rack.  Top shelf, first copy on the right called to me.  I clutched it under my arm, barely containing my glee as I mosied around the book store, browsing the teen fiction section to see what's hot in the world of teen literature.

Vampires.  Vampires.  And more and more Vampires!  I tell you there must have been at least six or seven SERIES of teen vampire novels out there!!!!  This is both good and bad news for me.  My current wip (work in progress) is a teen vampire novel, the first book in the series I hope to create.  I'm glad its a hot button topic in the market but WOW the competition is HEAVY!

I'm hoping that mine will have a unique voice and stand out above the rest.  Isn't that what every writer hopes for?  I don't want to be the next Stephenie meyer, or L.J. Smith. (although I admire them both very much) I want to be me.  I want my characters to have their very own place in the hearts of readers.  I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the right agent can market my book to the right publisher at teh right time and the right readers will pick it up on the right day and enjoy the heck out of it.  Back to Sookie.

I stayed up well intot he night reading my new treasure.  I got about halfway into it so far.  I've never been so excited for a book!  I LOVE this series.  I have a big crush on Eric Northman, viking vampire and sherif of area 5 Louisiana.  I think my husband is a  lil' bit jealous but don't tell him I told you.

I won't give away any of the super awesome things that happen, but I will say this: (teeeenie weeenie spoiler)

The vampires had their revalation a few years ago, and now it's the were's turn to come out of the supernatural closet.  

It's a great book so far and the Sookie Stackhouse novels are highly recommended by me :)