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THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION
The Sookie Stackhouse Companion Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 1 22/07/2011 16:15 Also by Charlaine Harris from Gollancz: sookie stack h o u se Dead Until Dark Dead and Gone Living Dead in Dallas A Touch of Dead Club Dead Dead in the Family Dead to the World Dead Reckoning Dead as a Doornail True Blood Omnibus Definitely Dead True Blood Omnibus II All Together Dead True Blood Omnibus III From Dead to Worse harper conn e l ly Grave Sight Grave Surprise An Ice Cold Grave Grave Secret The First Aurora Teagarden Omnibus The Second Aurora Teagarden Omnibus The Lily Bard Mysteries Omnibus Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (co-edited with Toni L.P. Kelner) Many Bloody Returns (co-edited with Toni L.P. Kelner) Crimes by Moonlight Death’s Excellent Vacation (co-edited with Toni L.P. Kelner) Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 2 22/07/2011 16:15 The Sookie Stackhouse Companion E d i te d by Charlaine Harris Gollancz london Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 3 22/07/2011 16:15 Copyright © Charlaine Harris, Inc. 2011 HBO® and True Blood® are service marks of Home Box Office, Inc. Map created by Claudia Carlson, based on an original sketch by Charlaine Harris, Paula Woldan, Danna Woldan, and Lauren Dodson. ‘Sookie’s Family Tree’ created by Tiffany Estreicher, based on a rough draft submitted by Tekno Books. All rights reserved The right of Charlaine Harris to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Gollancz An imprint of the Orion Publishing Group Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane, London WC2H 9EA An Hachette UK Company A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 575 09714 8 (Cased) ISBN 978 0 575 09753 7 (Export Trade Paperback) 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc The Orion Publishing Group’s policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. www.charlaineharris.com www.orionbooks.co.uk Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 4 22/07/2011 16:15 Acknowledgments Paula Woldan, Danna Woldan, Lauren Dodson, Victoria Koski, Debi Murray, Beverly Battillo, Denise Little, and Rachel Klika volunteered their skills and talents in assembling various parts of this book. My gratitude to them for their vision and hard work. I also appreciate the enthusiasm of the many readers who submitted questions for me and Alan Ball, and recipes for the cooking section. I wish we could have included every single one. Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 5 22/07/2011 16:15 Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 6 22/07/2011 16:15 Contents Preface: The World of Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris .......................................................................................... ix Bon Temps and Its Environs ............................................................................ xii “Small-Town Wedding” by Charlaine Harris ............................................................................................ 1 Life in Bon Temps by Victoria Koski............................................................................................... 81 The Sookie Short Stories and Related Material by Charlaine Harris ........................................................................................ 211 Vampires, Two-Natured, and Fairies, Oh My!: Sookie Discusses the Creatures She’s Met by Charlaine Harris ........................................................................................ 217 Sookie’s Family Tree ...................................................................................... 226 Sookie Stackhouse Trivia: How Much of a Sookie Fan Are You? by Beverly Battillo and Victoria Koski ........................................................ 227 Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 7 22/07/2011 16:15 viii • CONTENTS What’s Cookin’ in Bon Temps: A Selection of Down-Home Southern Recipes .......................................... 245 Inside True Blood: Alan Ball Answers Questions from the Fans ............. 281 From Mystery to Mayhem: The Works of Charlaine Harris by Beverly Battillo .......................................................................................... 289 Recollections Around the Duckpond: The Fans of Charlaine Harris by Beverly Battillo .......................................................................................... 295 Charlaine Harris Answers Questions from Her Fans ............................... 301 A Guide to the World of Sookie Stackhouse by Victoria Koski............................................................................................. 313 About the Editor.............................................................................................. 463 Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 8 22/07/2011 16:15 Pre fac e The World of Sookie Stackhouse S ookie and I go back a long way. We’re practically sisters. Many years ago, when my mystery career was languishing, I thought it might be a good idea to shake up my writing style by trying something new. It might be fun to write a book that contained all the elements I loved: mystery, the supernatural, bloody adventure, and a dash of romance. And since people had told me for years that I had a great sense of humor, I thought it would be interesting to try to include that in the book, too. Without a contract, without a soul being at all interested, I began to establish the character of my protagonist. My grandmother’s best friend’s name was Sookie, and since it was a fine old Southern nickname, I thought it would do well for my heroine. And “Stackhouse” just flowed right after it. I wanted to write from the point of view of a human, not a vampire or other “supe,” and since I have to live with Sookie, I wanted to make her as interesting as I possibly could. I decided she would date a vampire, as the entrée into a completely different world, and I had to establish a reason for sensible Sookie to do such a crazy thing. After a long thinking session, I came up with telepathy, which I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Up until then, most vampires in fiction had exotic, sexy names. My vampire, I decided, would be named Bill. Instead of setting my books in the picturesque, touristy part of Louisiana, I’d make do with the distinctly Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 9 22/07/2011 16:15 x • PREFACE unromantic northern part. Instead of being angsty brooders, my vampires would be trying their hardest to be in the forefront of business; they’d be hard workers, and they’d have their own internal system of checks and balances. I finished Dead Until Dark and turned it in to my agent, the great Joshua Bilmes. It took Joshua a long time to warm up to the Sookieverse, but he dutifully did his best to sell my favorite book. After two years of rejections, Dead Until Dark seemed likely to live up to its acronym. Then a young editor at Ace, John Morgan (now at DC Comics), decided to take a chance, and his boss, Ginjer Buchanan (my present editor), okayed the deal. We’ve never looked back. Readers seemed to want more details of the Sookieverse, and the website (www.charlaineharris.com) has always bubbled and seethed with questions. How do you make Caroline Bellefleur’s chocolate cake? What about that pesky fairy genealogy? What book contains the famous shower scene? (I’m just kidding on that last one; everyone knows the shower scene.) How do the short stories fit into the chronology of the books? We’ve assembled The Sookie Stackhouse Companion to answer all of these questions and hopefully a few more, to give readers a thorough look at the world of Bon Temps, and to provide extra snippets of interesting information about Sookie’s world and the people who live and die in it. Though this book is about the books, we also give a nod to our favorite television show, True Blood, by including an interview with one of my favorite people, Alan Ball. Lots of people helped me assemble this companion, and I tried to thank all of them in the acknowledgments. But let me just say here that without the help of my assistant and best buddy, Paula Woldan, I would have torn out my hair and cast myself upon the floor in despair at a few points. So thanks, Paula, and I think I had some of the most fun ever drawing the map with you. I’m sure the second The Sookie Stackhouse Companion is on the shelves, I’ll think of something I should have included, but it’s time to let this project go. I hope you all find something in the book to entertain, enlighten, and engross you. See you in Bon Temps. —Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 10 22/07/2011 16:15 The Sookie Stackhouse Companion Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 11 22/07/2011 16:15 McDonald’s John Robert Briscoe Insurance Free Will Church of God's Anointed Mayor’s RESIDENTIAL Office Chamber of Commerce C B o u n d a ry R o a d Pawnshop C ou r t S t r ee t Dodson Electric Downey Auto Repair Rogier Heating and Plumbing ad Caddo Ro Good Times Bar Melba Jennings’s House Sweet Rest Funeral Piggly Home Wiggly John Du Rone Deere Dairy Hardware Bail Law Offices Auto Parts Store Pelican State Queen Bonds Filling Station Insurance Louisiana Dentist Crawdad Police Dept. Sheriff ’s Office Feed and Seed Parks and Recreation Facilities Diner (Closed) Ambulance Hospital Service (Closed) Little Patsy’s D’s Dry Cleaner’s Cleaners Used Sonic Traffic Court Jail Clinic (Closed) Cars Medical Supply Dr. Meredith’s Dr. Bubba’s Tonnesen’s Office Store Barbershop Dress Bottle Barn Office Appliance Shoppe Pharmacy/ Post Office Store UPS Drop-Off Nut Bank B&H Boys and Girls Hut Electricians Club Court Court St. Pharmacy Firehouse House Wal-Mart Pan-a-Rama Dollar Renard Parish Movie Theater General Speedy Community Center (Closed) Law Offices of Motel Sid Matt Lancaster Law Offices Sheridan’s of Portia Sport Shop Renard Pelican State Title Bellefleur 7-Eleven Flor Parish Company ist Den s tist Pa Library ove o Junior H yl ess ins & Vet Dance Studio F High Art Studio Accountant School Lucky Pizza Shop Bar-B-Q Pizza Hut Spencer and Sons Funeral Home Gym Adopt a Pet Super Save-A-Bunch Playground Liberty Betty Ford Peck’s Recreational Rent to Own South Bunch-o-Flicks/ Elementary Building Thrift Insurance Terry Bellefleur’s School Tan-a-lot Store Trailer Collection Credit Paula’s Center Immaculate Union Gifts Laundromat Furniture Conception Catholic Store Church Corner Store Ford Dealership Arlene’s Trailer Burned House t. Berry S Holiness Hill Baptist Church State Farm Insurance Sam’s Trailer Merlotte’s Parish Road 34 Fruit and Vegetable Stand Volunteer Fire Department Jason’s House N WOODS Grabbit Kwik All Faith’s Church Renard Parish Road Department Woldan Chicken Farm Deer Camp WOODS PT&J Bar S Jan Fowler’s Lake House Mimosa Lake Dodson Chicken Farm Chicken Processing Plant m Hu m ing b ird d Roa map by Claudia Carlson Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 12 22/07/2011 16:15 Ki B G B C St En Sh Bon Temps Baseball Softball Field Field Dawson’s House Motorcycle Garage Brock and Chessie’s House Pool Kingfisher Arms East Ridge Park County Offices Renard Parish Nursing Home er’s nce e Beauty Salon Pool Ma Fina Gas Super Save-A-Lot Golf Course lia C reek Belle Rive Beauty Salon Supplies Tennis Courts gno nt Marcia Albanese’s House Highway Parish Road City Street Overpass Woods Grass Garden Water Fence Cemetery Municipal Business House Trailer Duplex Church Shurtliff Construction Company Country Club Statler SmallEngine Repair Shop (Closed) Bon Temps Florist Legend Holy Trinity Church Vet Greater Love Baptist Church and Its Environs Bon Temps Office Supplies Upholstery Shop Gethsemane Baptist Church St. ices ia eur ice R oad Hawks Football Stadium Band High School Clar are e Sizzler Steak House Cemetery Par k M Ma g no l i a M ag ek Roa ast ad Ro dE ek Rattrays’ Trailer Good Faith Baptist Church Cre Cre eek n ol i a Parsonage r li a C la’s ifts ag n o First Methodist Church W First Presbyterian Church es t Tall Pines Cemetery Clip and Curl LaLaurie’s Restaurant Prescotts’ House Tara’s Togs Lawn & Garden Center Norcross Lumber Company Lynette’s Upholstery & Custom Drapes WOODS City Water Department Quick’s Grab ’n’ Go Grocery and Gas Clay’s Liquor Farm Reliable Welding Sookie’s House Eden City Trailer Park Sweet Home Cemetery WOODS Hummingbird Road WOODS Tabernacle Holiness Church Hotshot Bill’s House Crystal’s House Calvin’s House Maryelizabeth’s House WOODS d Hotshot Sookie Stackhouse companion R UKi-xiv.indd 13 22/07/2011 16:15
