It’s Been (Mostly) Fun

Just wanted to make a quick entry because I’m going to be leaving the blogging world. This week’s fandom news definitely played a part but I also haven’t felt really compelled to blog lately as evidenced by my lack of entries. Before I delete this site, I just wanted to say a few things:

I will not be buying Dead Ever After. I’ll just sum up my reasons like this: Charlaine Harris has said that books are the cheapest vacation you can buy and, for me, I have no interest in paying for a hotel that does not match the brochure.

I’ve truly enjoyed getting to know so many of you in this fandom and for that reason alone I’m glad I discovered this series. But it is time to move on (four more months until Sons of Anarchy … yea!).

Finally, to a certain German bookseller I would just like to say … danke schoen.

What I Want (and Don’t Want) in Dead Ever After

It dawned on me that we are less than two months away from the release of Dead Ever After (DEA). The end is near!!

As we approach the last of Sookie’s adventures, I decided it would be appropriate to write a post about what I would like, and not like, to see in the final book.

Sookie and Eric (Hello, Captain Obvious)

I have written about these two a lot and I really don’t want to rehash what I’ve already written. Suffice to say, you know what I would like for these two and I also think that is more than likely the ending we will get.

Plenty of Pam

I love Pam and I hope she is in a large chunk of the final book because she is one of my favorite characters in the SSN.

Conversely, I hope that we are not inundated with minor characters taking up valuable page time in the final book. I have to say I really became concerned when I discovered that a certain bald weretiger was going to make an appearance after his story was seemingly wrapped up in Small Town Wedding. I don’t want a curtain call of every character of the SSN. Some characters I adore, some I hate, and some I frankly don’t give a crap about. As it is the final book, I want to spend time reading about the characters I DO give a crap about.

(Another) Bill Bad

I have heard the arguments against this; Bill’s importance in the latter books isn’t that big; his role in the books is often confused with his role on the show; don’t really want to spend time on his story in the final book; after the rape in the trunk and the queen’s mission another bad with Bill is not necessary. I don’t disagree with any of these arguments but I still want a Big Bad and here’s why:

The effect of Alan Ball announcing at Paley 2009 that Charlaine Harris had to be “talked out” of killing Bill in Dead & Gone led to the perception (whether right or wrong) that the TV show can influence her writing.

Thanks to Ball’s “slip,” Ms. Harris had to take to the interwebs to diffuse the fandom reaction saying something along the lines that she had thought but quickly discarded killing Bill because he had “more story to tell.” Thus, ensuring the never-ending fandom debate about whether this was true or billshit.

Given Bill’s storyline in the next book (Dead in the Family), it appeared that Vampire Bill DID have more story to tell. There was the lovely wrap-up of his storyline with the Bellfleur’s and he seemed to even get his own HEA in the form of his vampire sister/dead human wife lookalike. Lest you think I’m nothing but a big Bill hater, I was perfectly satisfied with Bill getting this happy wrap-up to his story, particularly the Bellfleur component. Further, the events in DITF supported Ms. Harris’ contention that Bill had more story to tell.

Then along came Dead Reckoning and Bill was right back to the same ol’ stalker in the woods that he’d been in the other books. I guess a tiger doesn’t change his stripes (sorry, wrong suitor). The about face to Bill’s story arc gives credence that the show is the reason we still have to read about Bill Compton. And if Bill’s story in DEA consists of him doing little more than standing in Sookie’s woods and telling her how much more he loves her than Eric (you know kind of what he has been doing for the entire series), I’m going to be irritated.

No Coda Marketing Ploy

So, in the fall there will be a Coda that will tell us what happens after the end of DEA. I must say unless a “what happens after the credits roll” is giving me an update on the hooligans of Delta House, I’m generally not a fan of these devices in literature or movies. However, I understand why some people like them and I don’t have a problem with the Coda per se.

However, where I WILL have a problem with the Coda is if there is some HUGE question mark planted in DEA as a means to entice readers to buy the Coda to see how it is resolved. To be clear, I am not expecting (nor do I desire) for everything in the Sookie universe to be wrapped up in a neat and tidy bow at the end of the DEA. However, if something is blatantly planted as a way to boost sales for the Coda, I’m going to be pissed.

So, that is what I am hoping for in the final book. How about you?

True Blood: Live and Don’t Ever Let Die

Another season of True Blood is upon us. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting on my sofa, wishing for a beer, as the True Blood finale unfolded before my eyes.

While I still find elements of the show entertaining (Steve Newlin and Russell Edgington are back!!), the latter half of last season killed the rabid fan in me.

However, prior to the Season 4 finale, I had a couple of draft posts about True Blood  I did not want to trash. I HATE starting something and not finishing it. One of the posts I was working on examined a series of page-to-screen adaptions and the challenges and creative decisions involved. Obviously, Ball’s treatment of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels was a subject of this piece.

After last season’s finale, I put this post on the back burner, and I only recently started getting back into it. It has evolved from how it originally began. Throughout my research, I have come across numerous articles about Ball (including some pre-True Blood) and, at times, I’ve found these articles really frustrating. My frustration stems from Ball saying something that doesn’t make a lot of sense or is in direct contrast to what is seen on the show.

In this post, I want to examine one of these articles and how it relates to this show’s inability to kill off key characters.

I feel it is timely given a majority of the reviews of Season 5, whether they be positive or negative, point to the show’s large cast as its weakness and puzzle over the show’s seeming reluctance to pare this cast down.

Killing off a key cast member provides not only a great storytelling opportunity but riveting emotional impact. Several critically acclaimed and award winning HBO shows have done this to great effect (Long Term Parking episode of The Sopranos for one). Yet, True Blood, seems stuck in focusing only on shock value and less on emotional impact.

To be fair, it is not like the show hasn’t killed off characters before. Sookie’s fairy godmother, Claudine, was killed by Eric last season (in an episode penned by Ball). Though, Claudine’s character also died in the books, her demise did not come until much later in the series and it was not at the hands of Eric.

But we all know this ain’t the books. Still, I was interested to hear Ball’s reasoning for this change; especially since the roles of many female characters of the novels have been minimized on the show.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year, Ball had this to say about Claudine’s demise:

“After everything that was going on with the fairies in the first episode, I think we wanted to sort of put a pin in that, but obviously it’s not over,” says Ball. “I felt it would have more impact if it was someone we knew as opposed to just a random fairy.”

(You can read the full article here.)

For me, Ball’s explanation raises more questions than it does answers. Taking this explanation at face value, it would appear that Ball is aware of the emotional impact when a character the viewers know bites the dust. Further it seems he wants to apply it to the show. Yet, this cast remains huge and to say that we “know” or came to care about Claudine is a bit … off.

Claudine was killed off in Episode 39 of True Blood. Assuming that episodes average 55 minutes, this is 2,145 minutes of True Blood. And Claudine was onscreen for a grand total of 9 minutes and 25 seconds of those 2,145 minutes (thanks, YouTube). Or, in percentage terms this is a big fat 0%.

Sorry, Alan. Your reasoning doesn’t make much sense but it definitely sounds better than something like, “We just did it to be shocking with an added bonus of potentially pissing off book fans that prefer the source material.”

RIP, Claudine. Though I didn’t care very much as you made up 0% of my viewing experience.

Screencap courtesy of black-celebration.net.

Deadlocked: The Storm Before the Calm

Anyone who has visited my blog knows that I am terrible at writing a non-spoilery review. This post isn’t so much a review as it is an analysis of some key events in the book. So, if you have not read Deadlocked (and do not wish to be spoiled) you better stop reading now.

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Deadlocked (DL) is the 12th installment of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels and the second to last book in the series. As we are so close to the end, I thought I would focus my analysis of DL on the growth of Sookie Stackhouse. She’s come a long way from the Sookie of the early books and, though she still has a way to go, I’ve really enjoyed the ride.

One is the Loneliest Number

When Bill asked Sookie about her plans for the future, way back in the first book, and Sookie told him she planned to “Grow old and die.” I was profoundly sad. It saddened me that this was all she could see for herself. However, it was not difficult to understand why this was all she could see for herself. This was the Sookie who perceived her telepathy as a disability. This was the Sookie who was so desperate for friendship she considered Arlene her best friend. This was the Sookie for which dating was an impossibility and therefore she viewed all the elements of a “normal” life to be out of her reach.

Thus, there were two events in DL that made me smile. The first was the girls night out at the strip club. It was so nice to see Sookie take part in this female bonding ritual. What was equally nice is that Sookie wasn’t an outsider but she was sharing in the “girl talk.” She also did a fabulous job of diffusing a difficult situation when they discovered that Tara’s husband was a stripper.

The second event that made me happy was that Sookie didn’t spend her birthday alone. I loved that a party was thrown for her at Merlotte’s and I loved that when she got home there were three vampires there to wish her a happy birthday even if one of the vampires was Bill.

There is a Charlaine Harris quote which is brought up often within this fandom; Charlaine has said something to the effect that Sookie will not end the series alone. This is often discussed within the context of suitors for Sookie but I personally take a broader view. Though I am Sookie/Eric shipper, I want Sookie to have more than just Eric. I think Sookie’s widening social circle, and improved relationship with her brother, is an example of how she has moved on from the lonely girl that we first met in Dead Until Dark to the woman that won’t be alone.

The Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Our favorite telepath is moving up the corporate ladder. Considering how long she has worked there (and how many parking lots attacks she has survived), it is only fitting.

As the most senior employee, Sookie was often counted on to fill in for Sam when he was gone. I remember in one book she couldn’t sleep because she was so worried she would screw something up and Merlotte’s would go out of business. Thus, I was so proud of her take charge attitude in this book. Also, though I love the addition of the employee lockers, I really think she should have opted for several security cameras and a night watchman for that parking lot.

And Now for What Everyone is Flipping Out Focusing On

The main focus of this fandom is Sookie’s love life and there were some events that I bet leave many in a bit of a lurch. Before I delve into my take on some key events in DL, I’d like to begin with two quotes from earlier books.

“Had it occurred to you,” he said, after we’d rolled out of the city’s center, “that you tend to walk away when things between you and Bill become rocky? Not that I mind, necessarily, since I would be glad for you two to sever your association. But if this is the pattern you follow in your romantic attachments, I want to know now.” Eric to Sookie – Club Dead (Book 3)

“Beyond him I could see the same woman was still sitting at the bar, the one who’d remarked that I was no maiden. She was obviously wondering what I had done to secure the attention of a vampire as ancient and attractive as Eric. I often wondered the same thing.” Dead as a Doornail (Book 5)

Sookie and Eric are going through a rough patch, to put it mildly. However, I believe Charlaine is putting these particular obstacles in their path to highlight the growth of these characters throughout this series.

While I get that angst is not everyone’s cup of tea, I am perplexed that some readers are expecting the final books of the series to involve Sookie and Eric having no struggles and simply teaming up to solve mysteries like some sort of supernatural Dave and Maddie. That is the stuff of short story not novel. The novels, above all else, are about Sookie’s growth and development. I fully expect, and it is bearing out, that Charlaine is going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Sookie as the series wind down. Times are going to be rocky and this Sookie is not running.

Now, let’s talk about the Cluviel Dor shall we? Or, more specifically, Sookie’s use of the Cluviel Dor. I stayed spoiler free prior to this book and I have successfully avoided most online discussion and analysis because I wanted to give a fresh perspective without fandom reaction influencing it. However, after 3 years in this fandom, I can predict what some reaction may be and I imagine that some discussion goes like this:

“The Cluviel Dor can only be used on someone you love!!! Sookie used it on Sam and NOT Eric. ZOMG that must mean she really loves Sam!!!”

Ummm. No.

I think this interpretation is really far off the mark and this is NOT due to my love of a certain Viking but what is in the text and what has been built up over the past TWELVE books.

Yes, Sookie loves Sam … as a friend. The Cluviel Dor makes no stipulation on the type of love you feel for the person you use it on, you only must love that person; the love for a friend definitely qualifies.

Now why didn’t Sookie use the Cluviel Dor to get Eric out of his jam with Freyda? Because that wouldn’t really solve what is at the heart of the problem and that is Sookie’s fear that Eric will leave her.

Sookie has come very far but there is still a part of her that is like the Sookie in Book 5 that is not sure what Eric sees in her exactly. This, coupled with the a terrible ending to her first relationship, makes her think that it won’t last. Something will tear Eric away. This is why Appius’ dying utterance that she will never keep Eric cut her to the quick because it touched on her deepest insecurities.

The Cluviel Dor would have been a quick fix. But if she had used it to free Eric from Freyda it would have done nothing to address her insecurities of Eric leaving. That is because she would have used some magic device to prevent Eric from leaving rather than Eric preventing himself from leaving. And what if, down the road, there was some other political situation that threatened to tear Eric away. The Cluviel Dor is one and out and there would be no more quick fixes.

That is why Sookie discarded the notion of using the Cluviel Dor for Eric because it wouldn’t have fixed what is really troubling her about the Freyda situation. Eric is not going to leave Sookie willingly but her insecurities are not allowing her to understand this. Eric is in a situation he is desperate to get out of but one that is not easily fixed. Then he discovers that his girlfriend has an object that can make this problem go away but she is not stepping forward to use it for him.

It is my very strong opinion that Harris has set up this specific situation to address one of the biggest impediments to Sookie and Eric’s longterm future and that is Sookie’s insecurities that she and Eric won’t last; her fear that he will find something better thereby validating those that wonder what he sees in her.

For Sookie to have a believable Dead Ever After this needs to be addressed and sure as hell wouldn’t be addressed if Sookie were to have used the Cluviel Dor to make the Freyda situation go away.

So how exactly are Eric and Sookie going to get out of this?

I can’t predict exactly what is going to happen but it is my very firm belief that come next May, Sookie/Eric shippers are going to see a very satisfying resolution to this.

You can bet a demon’s dick

Alexander Skarsgard: Sports Fan

One of the things that I like about Alexander Skarsgard is that he is a regular person. As someone who takes sports a tad too seriously (I will never get over Adam Deadmarsh hitting the goal post in the 2000 Western Conference Finals. NEVER), I appreciate Skarsgard’s devotion to the teams and the sports that he loves. So I thought I would pay tribute to Skarsgard: The Sports Fan.

In a recent interview with the UK’s Daily Telegraph, Skars talked about how a recent encounter with the Hammarby football team brought out his inner fanboy.

“I took them out after they played LA Galaxy. I live in Hollywood and meet all these celebrities and I couldn’t care less. I was at a bar with a bunch of footballers from south Stockholm and I’m crying I’m so happy.

“Someone who doesn’t support a team will never get it. These are 22-year-old kids from south Stockholm. They’re not Lionel Messi. They’re not even the best team in Sweden. We’re in the second division right now. But I will never get more star struck than that.”

Full Article

And in other sports news …

Skars makes a great cheerleader.

Skars talks hockey.

Skars talks about how it can be difficult being a fan of a team that is not that good.

I love hockey so much that I love seeing Skars in a hockey jersey … even if it is a New York Rangers jersey.

Source

Any sports fan knows that team ownership issues can be cause for concern. Here is Skarsgard at Bajen Aid.

Source

Finally, I bet as a Swedish sports fan, Skarsgard had to have seen this … and cheered loudly. (Note: Skarsgard does not appear in this video but my favorite hockey player does. I am including it because I think this is awesome. You may not want to click on this if you are from Canada)

The Things I Do for a Sookie Book

My love for Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series makes me do some things that are a bit … odd. I suspect I’m not alone in this. So, as we approach the release of the 12th Sookie book, I thought I’d share with you one of my more colorful fangirl moments.

Patience is not a Virtue

Perhaps it is a symptom of growing up in a family that opened our presents on Christmas Eve, but I have difficulty waiting for things. At the time I was introduced to the Sookie novels, there were nine books published and I tore through them in a 3-week span. Thus, the approximate six-month wait until the tenth book, Dead in the Family (DITF), was agony.

As the weeks slowly ticked away, and the release date inched closer, I started to think about how I would go about purchasing the book. My favorite spot to buy books is a local independent book store. However, it is several miles from my house so that means I have to do my book shopping on a weekend.  As the new Sookie book came out on a Tuesday, there was NO WAY I was going to wait four more days in order to buy the book. With my favorite book buying option closed, I had to settle on an alternative. I quickly vetoed Amazon.com (what if the book wasn’t delivered on the release date?) and settled on a Barnes and Noble (B&N) near my house.

Settled, right? Wrong.

A day before the release date, a couple of women on an Internet discussion board, I used to frequent, were absolutely thrilled; they’d ordered the book off Amazon and it arrived a day early. I was so upset. Here, I had vetoed ordering off Amazon because I was afraid it wouldn’t arrive on time.

“I could be reading Dead in the Family, right now!” I mourned.

Well, my inner fangirl was not going to be denied. Knowing that the books had to be in the back room of B&N, I developed a stupid cunning plan.

This is how my plan worked in my head: I would go to B&N. I would pretend that I thought the book had already been released. When I would ask an associate where the book was, they would explain that it wasn’t due to come out until tomorrow. I’d explain that I was leaving for a business trip to Greeley (FYI: small town with no B&N) the next day and I hoped to buy the book for my trip. I’d then ask them if they could look up the address of the Greeley B&N (haha). Of course they would discover, if they didn’t already know, there was no Greeley store. I would then say, “Well, people in Greeley must read, I’ll just buy the book at another book store up there.” The associate not wanting any B&N to lose a sale, and knowing the books were already in the back room, would offer to sell it to me a day early.

Like I said, that is how the plan worked in my head. Here is how it worked in reality: I went to B&N. After I looked around the shelves (just in case they accidentally put the book out a day early), I found an associate and asked her where the new Sookie book was. She went over to the computer to look it up and, of course, she discovered the book wasn’t scheduled to be released until the next day. I then proceeded with my Greeley business trip bullshit story. She searched the computer for the “Greeley location’s” address. Of course, she could not find one. However, she was really certain there was a Greeley location, and by “certain” I mean she spent 15 minutes on the problem. She was trying search feature after search feature because she knew they just HAD to have a Greeley location. I nearly broke character because I felt so bad she was spending so much time trying to help me on, what I knew to be, a fruitless search.

Finally, she accepted the fact that there was no Greeley location. Cue me uttering the line, “Well, people in Greeley must read, I’ll just purchase it at another book store up there.” However, instead of her offering to sell me the book a day early, she told me I could put it on hold; they would reserve me a copy. I told her I would be in Greeley for a week and I really wanted the book that week so I could read it during my trip. She told me if I did purchase it up there I could always take it off hold. I felt so bad that she had spent so much time trying to help me, and being that I was going to purchase it the next day anyway, I relented.

On my drive home from B&N, it dawned on me that I couldn’t purchase it from that location. I had told her that I would be in Greeley for a week. What if she saw me the next day? She would know my story was bullshit. But she spent so much time helping me I didn’t want her store to lose a sale. However, I sure as hell wasn’t going to wait a week for the book. I briefly considered buying two copies (one tomorrow and the other a week later from that location) but I vetoed this because I didn’t want to spend that much money.

So the next day I bought the book from Borders and I called B&N to have them take it off hold and I felt really guilty (I’m a terrible liar).

Yes, my love for the Sookie books makes me do some really stupid things.

Reminiscing about this event has made me decide that I am going to purchase Deadlocked from that B&N; I owe them a sale. And I am going to go in on May 1st. I will NOT try to get them sell it to me a day early.

Maybe.

Will the Maker of the Real Sookie Stackhouse Please Stand Up

I’m a little late but I just wanted to post my thoughts on the wonderful interview Charlaine Harris gave to the Orlando Sentinel. For those of you who have not read the full article, it is well worth a read and you can find it here.

These are a few of my favorite quotes:

“The Sookie Stackhouse novels were selling well before the TV show”

I’m so glad she brought this up because the ridiculous notion that she somehow owes her entire success to True Blood and Alan Ball is one of my biggest pet peeves with this fandom (and I have about a million pet peeves with this fandom).

The Sookie Stackhouse novels were on the New York Times Best Seller list BEFORE True Blood was a sparkle in Alan Ball’s eye. Anyone who says differently is ignoring established FACTS.

Did the success of the TV show take her book sales to new heights? OF COURSE it did. This happens to ANY book series that is adapted into a movie or TV show.

I have NO problem with people that like a certain character or story arc on the TV show and, when they find out that characterization is not present in the source material, decide not to read the books. However, I DO have a problem when people decide to trash novels they have not read and make crap up that makes no sense whatsoever.

Charlaine Harris wrote the Sookie Stackhouse Novels. Yes, that would be an “s” at the end. An “s” means more than one. NO author continues to be published if his/her books don’t sell. As Ms. Harris has not only written the Sookie Stackhouse SERIES but the Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard, and Harper Connelly SERIES of books as well; she does just fine in the sales department.

“It was never a Bill vs. Eric situation in my mind.”

The Bill vs. Eric hype of the show is not the same in the books largely because Bill’s role is diminished from the third book on.

Bill is Sookie’s first love and the ending of their relationship, and subsequent revelations, takes Sookie awhile to work out. In my opinion, after the revelation in Book 6, Bill never had any chance of regaining the same place in Sookie’s life that he once had. While the effects of her relationship with Bill definitely impacted her relationship with others, particularly Eric, it was never from a perspective that she would go back to Bill. Rather it was a process of Sookie letting go of the hurt so she could move on with her life and pursue a relationship with someone else. In my opinion, it is a much more complex and better crafted situation than the continuous yo-yo love triangle situation of the TV show.

This is not to say that there is not suitor discussion, and panic attacks, amongst book readers. I think a large reason this exists is because of Alan Ball’s revelation at Paley in 2009 that Harris had to be talked out of killing Bill in Dead & Gone. I think Ball’s comments led to the perception that Harris can let events in the TV show influence her writing.

Harris has long said, and she reiterated in this interview, that she has known how the series will end since about the second book. However, there is a BIG difference between knowing how the series will end and knowing the exact path you are going to take to get to the end.

As long as the ending that Ms. Harris has been working toward for the last decade is not changed (and I see NOTHING in the last couple of books to indicate Ms. Harris has done an about face), I care little if the path is modified to get to the end point.

“I don’t write Anna Paquin, I write Sookie Stackhouse.”

This quote got the biggest smile from me. I can’t count the number of times I have tried to sit down and write ALL my frustrations with TB Sookie and have stopped because it is simply too damn depressing.

I love Book Sookie. She is by no means perfect and there have been more than a couple of times that she has grated on my nerves but her humor, intelligence, bravery and sass always bring me back for more.

Harris has crafted a compelling heroine but even in the fantastical atmosphere of the novels there are things about Sookie that are relatable.

I remember a scene in the earlier books when Sookie and Bill were fighting. Sookie cooked an Italian dinner so her house would smell like garlic because she knew, if Bill were there, the smell would drive him crazy. It was like Sookie was taking back a part of herself. This really struck a chord with me because it reminded me of an ex-boyfriend. No, he was not a vampire who hated garlic. He was a music snob who hated any band that had sold more than 50,000 copies. I’m sad to say I kept my love for more popular bands, particularly ’80s hair metal, quiet. I remember a week after we broke up, I cranked Def Leppard’s Pyromania and sang it at the top of my lungs. I knew if my ex were there, he would have HATED it. It was such an empowering and FUN moment.

Reading about Sookie cooking the garlic infested dinner brought me back to that moment and, from then on out, I was fully ensconced in Sookie’s corner. Harris created a heroine that I genuinely like and root for.

Finally I would just like to say whether you are books only, show only, or like both mediums, NONE of it would be possible without Charlaine Harris.

“I am the creator. When I’m on the set they call me the Maker.”