by Suzanne McLeod
www.spellcrackers.com

When Gollancz asked if I’d like to interview Charlaine Harris before her talk and signing event in London last week, of course, I said YES (although with much more squeeing and jumping up and down with excitement, since I’ve long been a massive fan of Charlaine’s books; both her Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series, and her Harper Connelly series.) I was absolutely thrilled to meet Charlaine and chat to her, and also very nervous, but I really needn’t have worried as Charlaine is a wonderful lady, very down to earth, very funny, and totally awesome.

This is how my day went:

I arrived at Gollancz’s offices to meet up with the fabulous Jen, whose job, among other things, was to look after me (which she did exceptionally well, thanks, Jen). Jen took me to the hotel where I was going to be interviewing Charlaine – a beautiful, classy place in the heart of Covent Garden.

I was to interview Charlaine in the hotel’s Tiffany’s Library: a snug, wood-panelled room with a roaring fire, heavy floral curtains to keep out the chill, and comfortable, overstuffed furniture that begged you to curl up with one of the Sookie Stackhouse books conveniently left lying around *grin* ...oh, and also the temporary addition of the camera, a big, grey furry microphone, various lights and other unidentifiable (to me anyway) pieces of equipment that the film crew had positioned strategically around the room.

Once Charlaine arrived and everything was ready, the film crew positioned both of us strategically too!
Charlaine sat in a cosy chair next to the huge fireplace, and I sat opposite her – with the cameraman and his camera almost perched on my shoulder! Since there was only the one camera, Charlaine was going to be filmed during the interview, while I was to be filmed later. This set-up was quite a relief for the anxious, cameraphobic me, because it meant I could concentrate on Charlaine and asking the questions *phew*.

First off, Charlaine and I were asked to chat so that the crew could get the sound levels right for recording our voices. Of course, nerves meant I sat there with my list of questions clutched in my hand while my mind short-circuited, but Charlaine put me right at ease when she asked about my two dogs. We talked a bit about them, her own three rescue dogs, and London :-).

As soon as the crew were happy with the sound levels and had adjusted the various lights, we started the interview. I know my first couple of questions were quite jerky; after all it’s not every day I get to interview an all-time favourite author of mine, especially while being recorded. But Charlaine was lovely and very encouraging, and it wasn’t long before I relaxed and began enjoying interviewing her. She gave some really great and fun answers, despite the fact that many of the questions were ones she’d no doubt been asked many times before (like who *is* Sookie going to choose!) and not just in the past, but that very same day.

Now the questions I asked Charlaine had been thought up by FX and Gollancz, along with a couple from the many that Charlaine’s fans had left on my own blog. There were some general ones about the books, the True Blood television series, and Charlaine and her writing; some about Dead and Gone (the ninth Sookie book); and some about Dead in the Family, (the tenth Sookie book, due out 10th June 2010). And of course there were questions about Sookie, Eric and Bill – their families, their pasts and their futures!

Which was where it all got very interesting! How do you ask a question, and more importantly how does Charlaine answer, without giving too many spoilers away? Well to find out how, you’ll need to watch this space for details of when the interview videos go live.

Once the interview was over (all too quickly, it felt like :-( ), Charlaine very kindly signed one of her books for me, thanked me for the interview and then hurried off to get ready for her evening event.
Which left me at the mercy of the film crew...

Since the camera had been on Charlaine during the interview, and so that I wasn’t going to be just some disembodied voice asking questions, the crew now wanted to film me! Luckily by this time, I felt so relieved that the interview had gone smoothly, that my camera phobia took a back seat for once. Which was a good thing, as this was where it all got slightly surreal. I ended up sitting on the sofa, and prompted by Jen – who had taken careful notes about my ad-libbing – I asked all the questions again. Then after each question I stared into the eyes of Miles (one of the film crew) while I nodded and smiled and pretended he was Charlaine answering me. Which was sort of fine...once I got used to it...and he stopped pulling faces at me *giggles*.

After all that came the more relaxed part of the day (for me anyway) – Charlaine’s evening event at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, hosted by Waterstone’s and Gollancz.

Suzanne McLeod at Charlaine's signing, Prince Charles Cinema, London. (photo credit: Jen Hamflett)

The event started around 6.30pm with a short clip from an upcoming episode of the fab True Blood series, after which Charlaine took the stage and gave a very interesting, very entertaining, and often hilarious talk about her books, True Blood, and some of her experiences. Then Charlaine answered the audience’s many questions (including the one about which suitor Sookie might ultimately choose...and if you were expecting a spoiler... well, Charlaine says she knows, but she didn’t spill the beans).
One of the questions asked was: (all questions here are paraphrased) ‘Was there anything that Alan Ball had done in the True Blood TV series that Charlaine wished she’d done herself?’

Charlaine mentioned she liked the character Jessica (a teenage vampire made by Bill Compton who doesn’t appear in the Sookie books); and that she was also delighted with the different, longer storyline given to Lafayette Reynolds (the cook at Merlotte’s Bar) both because of the story, and because Nelsan Ellis who places Lafayette is doing such a wonderful job of portraying the character.

Charlaine also talked about meeting Alexander Skarsgård (who plays the vampire Eric Northman) and how she’d felt a bit like a Dandy Dinmont standing next to a Great Dane! And about meeting Stephen Moyer (who plays the vampire Bill Compton) who Charlaine says gives ‘great hugs’ :-).

Charlaine Harris at her event at Prince Charles cinema, Leicester Square, London.

Another question was: Lily Bard (from Charlaine’s ‘The Lily Bard Mysteries’ series, coming out from Gollancz in the autumn) has already made a cameo appearance in the Sookie books; would any of Charlaine’s other characters turn up in future Sookie books? Charlaine agreed that there was a possibility that this could happen.

One particular question asked: whether there would be any different supernatural characters appearing in future Sookie books? Charlaine answered that she was writing book eleven (working title Dead Letters) and that the book has a ‘half-elf character’, but would say no more than that :-).

After the talk and questions, came the book signing for all the audience – which made for a long, long, loooong queue of very patient fans.

And then after a really marvellous and memorable day, I said goodbye to everyone and it was time to go home.

Trivia note! Want to know how I got to interview Charlaine? When I heard she was coming, I emailed Jon Weir, Gollancz’s fab publicist, and asked him if I could meet Charlaine while she was here – hey, if you’ve got connections, no harm in using ’em, right? – and he finally said yes when I promised to Tuckerise him in my next book... so long as he could be hot, hunky and heroic (not that he isn’t already : -)) Of course, I said yes! And he’s even keen to die horribly, like hot, hunky heroes are want to do... when evil authors let their imagination run away with them *cackles*. A win-win situation for me!