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'Dead Ever After' by Charlaine Harris is the final book in the series.
Paranormal series features vampires, werewolves and other creaturesSeries inspired HBO's hit series 'True Blood'Harris' next novel is about a pawn shop in TexasThe Sookie Stackhouse saga comes to an end on May 7 with the publication of Dead Ever After (Ace), the 13th novel in Charlaine Harris' paranormal series about the telepathic Bon Temps, La., waitress whose story is the inspiration for HBO's True Blood. In this final chapter, a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps and Sookie is arrested for the crime. Harris, 61, spoke with USA TODAY's Carol Memmott about Sookie's final chapter and what's up next:
Q: The Sookie series has so many fans. Why end it now?
A: I've just come to the end of that particular road. I didn't have a complete story arc in mind, but probably by the second book, I had an idea where I wanted the books to end. I began to feel the creativity of the series was wearing thin and I hate to keep on writing characters when I've lost my love for them. So it seemed time to end the series while I was still happy with what I was doing.
Q: You haven't fallen out of love with Sookie, have you?
A: Oh gosh, no, but I just don't want to ruin her by keeping on writing her when the thrill of it is gone.
Q: Do you think the ending of Dead Ever After will please fans?
A: There's just no way. I hope they will be, but there are a lot of real strong partisans for one or the other of the possible endings. I just realized a few books ago that there was no way I could make everybody happy so I just had to settle on doing what I thought was right.
Q: Do fans let you know how they feel when they don't like what happens to the characters in your books?
A: Oh boy. That's the fun thing and sometimes the scary thing about being me. Like all other writers I want everyone to tell me every book I've written is just great. I know that's not going to happen. I just think it's such a credit to the characters that people are so invested in them. I really see that as a wonderful thing though sometimes it seems like people maybe aren't even reading the same book I wrote. But I guess every book is like that. Once it leaves you, it's never going to be the same book you thought you wrote.
Charlaine Harris' paranormal series about telepathic Bon Temps, La., waitress Sookie Stackhouse is the inspiration for HBO's 'True Blood.' (Photo: John P. Johnson)
Q: What are you working on post-Sookie?
A: I wrote a little coda book for the Sookie books (After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse, October 2013) because there's just no way I could write a book with all the characters that people really care about and say what happened to them after the books ended. So I thought I would close a few threads by saying well this is what happened to other characters like Jason and Michele.
Q: Is there a novel in your near future?
A: I'm working on my next book. I'm about 200 pages into that (a spring 2014 release is planned). It's about a pawn shop in Texas and I've signed a three-book contract. I don't usually talk a lot about what I'm in the process of doing, but it is paranormal.
Q: Anything else?
A: Toni Kelner and I co-edit anthologies every year and I've been working on that, which requires wearing a completely different hat. This one is Weird World of Sports (planned for a winter 2014 release). We've got ice skating, we've got roller derby, we've got baseball, we've got softball, we have hide and seek. It's wonderful what writers can come up with if you give them two elements — a story about sports with paranormal creatures in it. It's delightful how different they are.
Q: Why does the paranormal genre remain so popular?
A: I think it's because there are so many excellent writers in the field. Also, traditionally, in depressed economic times, stories with elements of the supernatural become much more popular. And I think we've been in depressed economic times. I hope that we're pulling out of them, but I think everyone wants a little vacation and that's what these books provide.
Q: What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Charlaine Harris has written Sookie Stackhouse novels. (Photo: Sigrid Estrada)
A: I read a lot. I have not a to-be-read pile but a to-be-read bookshelf. That was one of the treats I gave myself when I started making actual money — to buy any book I felt like buying.
Q: What's on your reading list this summer?
A: I just read my friend Dana Cameron's new book Seven Kinds of Hell and I loved that. I'm certainly looking forward to reading Kate Atkinson's new book Life After Life. She just can't write a bad book. She's just so fabulous. And I'm looking forward to the next Dexter book (Dexter's Final Cut by Jeff Lindsay, Sept. 17).
Q: Any travel in your future?
A: The Edgar Awards banquet, which is roughly like the Oscars for the mystery world, is in early May in New York. I'm the president this year so I get to wear a sequin jacket and sparkles and kind of emcee it a little bit.
Q: HBO's True Blood (starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer) returns for its sixth season on June 16. Will you continue watching?
A: Oh sure, although the show doesn't have anything to do with the books. The first season was pretty close to the books and then after that it began deviating more wildly. Alan Ball had themes he wanted to explore which probably weren't the same things that I was exploring to a certain extent. The show has a different show runner now, Brian Buckner, and I'm interested in seeing what he does with the really difficult problems left over from last season. It's like trying to finish a book someone else started, so that's going to be very interesting.
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'Dead Ever After' by Charlaine Harris is the final book in the series.
