Debbie Jabbour - Charlaine Harris: A Biography

Oh my God. It was the man from Memphis.

Dead Until Dark , Charlaine Harris

For a long time after Elvis Presley died in 1977, he would be seen regularly, popping up in any number of strange places: in the U.S., Canada, even in Australia. In the late 1980s he appeared quite regularly in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Two television specials explored the existence of an Elvis conspiracy to cover up his non-death. Elvis sightings have tapered off somewhat in the past few years, and even the most rabid fans have finally accepted that the King is, in fact, dead. Unless, of course, you are Charlaine Harris. Then you have a very different explanation of what really happened to Elvis.

Charlaine Harris is the unofficial queen of vampire fiction. Anne Rice might have come first, but it was Harris who really took the genre to a new level of contemporary popularity. Harris acknowledges that when she entered the field, it was relatively open except for Laurell K. Hamilton, whose vampire stories attracted followers, but quickly became too sexually graphic for some readers. Harris built on the field in a very different way, creating a highly realistic community of supernaturals, and many, many others soon followed. While writers like Stephenie Meyer might argue that they brought their own ideas to the table, the genre would not have taken life had Charlaine Harris not paved the way. She engaged readers and piqued interest in the notion that vampires and other supernatural creatures live amongst us every day, and she created vampire characters that really could be the guy or girl next door.

In Charlaine Harriss supernatural family, one of the most intriguing characters is Bubba. We first meet Bubba near the end of Dead Until Dark (2001). Sookie is watching from her farmhouse porch swing when her co-worker Arlene arrives to pick up her children, whom Sookie had been babysitting. As Arlene and her boyfriend Rene (who is later revealed as the novels villain) are leaving, they are introduced to a handsome vampire with thick black hair combed into an improbably wavy style by Sookies new boyfriend, vampire Bill. As Sookie watches from a distance she notices that the newcomer seems very familiar, husky, taller than Bill, and he wore old jeans and an I Visited Graceland T-shirt. Sookie comes to a realization of the newcomers identity in a moment that likely sent thrills through a permanent part of literary history:

Oh my God. It was the man from Memphis.

Sookie, Bill said warningly, this is Bubba.

Bubba, I repeated, not quite trusting my ears.

Yep, Bubba, the vampire said cheerfully, goodwill radiating from his fearsome smile. Thats me. Pleased to meetcha.

I shook hands with him, making myself smile back. Good God Almighty, I never thought Id be shaking hands with Him.

Sookie meets Bubba in Dead Until Dark

Bill pulls Sookie aside and explains why some of the sightings are true, while warning her to never call Bubba by his real name. Apparently when the Man from Memphis had been brought to the morgue, one of the undead, who happened to be a huge fan, was working as the morgue attendant. Detecting a tiny spark of life, he brought him over, making him vampire. But the chemicals in the Kings system had not translated well, leading to an Elvis-not-Elvis vampire known as Bubba. After his installation as Sookies protector that night, Bubba soon becomes a friend, and he plays a significant role in the many plot twists of upcoming novels. When he can be persuaded to sing, of course, magic happens.

With the help of True Blood, Alan Balls television adaptation of Harriss novels, the Sookie Stackhouse vampire series has gone into syndication, making the novels among the most popular of this generation. Unfortunately True Blood has, perhaps due to casting challenges or copyright issues, eliminated the character of Bubba from the television adaptation. Without the Bubba character many of the basic storylines in the Southern Vampire series require significant rewriting, which Ball has done. In spite of that, True Blood has managed to recreate the Sookie-verse in a way that has not only pleased long-time readers, but attracted a whole new legion of fans.

Harris has created many other memorable characters in the Southern Vampire novels. Sookie herself, the telepathic waitress who has fairy blood (something not revealed until much later in the series); the many vampires she becomes involved with, including her first lover, Bill; Eric, the dashing Viking who dupes her into entering into a marriage contract; Pam, the vampire who Sookie calls a friend; and Sam, her shapeshifter boss. There are a whole range of other supernaturals, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies, elves, and unknown beings, as well as many interesting and flawed human characters, including Sookies brother, Jason. The world Harris creates is populated by fascinating characters who do interesting things and interact in quite human ways, in spite of being non-human.

Harriss interpretation of vampires and supernaturals differs from that of writers like Anne Rice and Bram Stoker, who created a world of classical vampires who remained quite alien and separate from humanity. Charlaine Harriss vampires are ordinary and live next door. Readers become engaged and develop a deep affection for them. Regardless of their flaws and the inherent cruelty that comes with being a vampire, Harris supernaturals are still our friends and neighbors, the people we interact with and care about every day.

Charlaine Harris has stated that the book after Deadlocked (May 2012), will be the 13th and final Sookie Stackhouse novel. Fans worldwide are in mourning. Thankfully several seasons of Alan Balls True Blood may yet remain, offering sufficient entertainment to slake the unending thirst for everything Sookie. There is some promise, too, with the debut in 2011 of Dying for Daylight, a highly successful PC game featuring Dahlia, one of the characters in the Sookie-verse. Charlaine Harris is also involved in a collaboration on a graphic novel, Cemetery Girl, due for release in 2013.

Although most know Charlaine Harris only through the Southern Vampire stories, she was a well-established writer for many years before Sookie came along. She created a number of other memorable characters and series, including the Lily Bard and Aurora Teagarden mysteries. In 2005 she began the Harper Connelly series about a girl who gains the ability to sense things about the dead after being struck by lightning, which has been optioned for television in 2010. She has also edited several anthologies.

None of Harris other existing work, however, has reached the appeal of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series. Since the 2001 release of the first novel, Dead Until Dark, the series has increased in popularity. In October 2008, Charlaine Harris became the only author to have an entire series on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time. Each new novel in the series debuts at number one, and there are more than 20 million copies sold in over 27 countries, translated into over 20 languages. True Blood is an award-winning runaway hit entering its fifth season.

Although Harris has hinted that she plans to conclude the series in the near future, she has promised that she will think of something new and different to write that will be even more fun. Legions of fans can only hope that when it comes to Charlaine Harris and her Sookie Stackhouse books, it is true that vampires really never die.

Jean Charlaine Harris was born November 25, 1951 in Tunica, Mississippi, a small town of about a thousand people. Since 1990 Tunica has been revitalized by the casino industry, but the town of Harris childhood was considered one of the most impoverished areas of the United States. The reputation for poverty among the black inhabitants was so appalling that the Reverend Jesse Jackson called it Americas Ethiopia. The secretive backwoods town of Hotshot where Sookies brother Jason is forcibly changed into a werepanther in Dead to the World (2004) could well be modeled on Tunica.