Sookie muses over recent events and decides to settle back to watch Jeopardy! on TV with a glass of ice tea.
The Secret Dialogues of Bill and Eric
To: Eric@Fangtasia.com
From: WCompton@vmail.com 05:33 am
This is to inform you that Judith Vardamon is no longer staying in Area Five.
William Compton
To: WCompton@vmail.com
From: Eric@Fangtasia.com 05:46 am
Lost another one, Bill?
Eric
To: Eric@Fangtasia.com
From: WCompton@vmail.com 05:52 am
GFY. Let me know if you need help with that abbreviation, Sheriff.
Bill
Phone: Bill calling Eric.
BILL: “I had an interesting discussion with Sookie after you left.”
ERIC: “She talks to you too much.”
BILL: “Perhaps you talk to her too little. I assume you’re trying to get out of the contract.”
ERIC: “Of course I am.”
BILL: “Be sure to let me know how that goes. Have a good sleep, Eric.”
Phone: Eric calling Bill.
ERIC: “Did my wife get safely home?”
BILL: “Of course. But from what I understand, she may not be your wife for much longer, Consort.”
ERIC: “Watch yourself, Bill.”
BILL: “A queen. Bad enough any marriage, but I doubt a queen will release you, Eric. I understand that Pam had to push you into telling her.” (Silence.)
BILL: “Just as you pushed me. As my human neighbors say, ‘What goes around comes around.’ Now you know how it feels to be forced by a queen to betray Sookie.”
ERIC: “I did not betray Sookie. This was Ocella’s doing, not mine.”
BILL: “I actually do understand your loyalty to your maker, Eric. I even respect that you still wish to honor his word. Nonetheless, Sookie will see it as a betrayal. And your treatment of her tonight didn’t help.”
ERIC: “Don’t think this means you will get her back, Bill.”
BILL: “Perhaps not. But I do take pleasure in the possibility that you won’t keep her, either.”
Writing short stories is not like writing a very short novel. The pacing is different, the timing is different, and the way you end the story is really different.
At this moment, there are seven Sookie short stories and one novella. They weren’t published in the order in which they should be read if you’re trying to stick to Sookie’s chronology. I backtracked and filled in a little as ideas came to me. For clarity, I’m discussing them in the order in which they fit chronologically between the books.
By the way, the first five of these stories can now be found in one volume: A Touch of Dead. Before my publisher put the collection together, you had to buy separate anthologies to read about Sookie’s adventures. I think that’s a good thing, because then you get to sample a lot of outstanding stories by other writers, but there’s no denying it’s convenient to have the one book.
On to the discussion.
Though not the first short story I’d ever written, “Fairy Dust” was the first piece of Sookie short fiction I’d attempted, and I learned a lot in the process. The story first appeared in a wonderful anthology, Powers of Detection . In “Fairy Dust,” Sookie is asked to investigate the death of Claudette, the triplet of Claude and Claudine, Sookie’s fairy acquaintances. Since Claude and Claudine are questioning human co-workers from the strip club that employed both Claude and Claudette, they believe Sookie can help them get to the bottom of the mystery. Of course our heroine can help, and we learn a lot about the fairies and their outlook on life in general and on humans in particular. These events take place after Dead to the World.
On the heels of “Fairy Dust” follows “Dracula Night.” I really enjoyed writing this one because we get to see an almost childlike side of the usually pragmatic Eric. Sookie, along with other members of the supernatural community, is invited to celebrate one of the few big dates on a vampire’s calendar—the annual party held in honor of the first modern vampire, Vlad Tepes, popularly known as Dracula. The vampires believe that every year the real Vlad makes an appearance at one of these parties, and Eric hopes it will be at his. Eric gets his wish . . . and he doesn’t. The timing of the party in the original version of “Dracula Night,” published in Many Bloody Returns, was gradually perceived to be improbable, and by the time the story appeared in A Touch of Dead, the invitation date had been changed to a more credible January 13. The book that follows this bit of lore is Dead as a Doornail.
“One Word Answer” is the most serious of the short stories and contains information important for understanding the action in the next book. (It falls between Dead as a Doornail and Definitely Dead.) I apologize to readers who for years wondered if they’d missed a book somehow. I won’t put vital information in a short story again. I’ve returned to treating the short stories as little side trips from the main action of the books.
In “One Word Answer” (which first appeared in Bite), Sookie and her friend Bubba are raking in Sookie’s yard (at night, of course) when a limousine arrives. It contains the lawyer Mr. Cataliades, the vampire Waldo, and a secret passenger. Sookie finds out about the death of her cousin Hadley Delahoussaye, she discovers that Hadley had become a vampire before that second death, and she is told that Hadley had become the lover of the vampire Queen of Louisiana. In the course of their conversation, Sookie realizes that Waldo was so jealous of Hadley he may have had a hand in her death. The secret passenger in the limo is Sophie-Anne, Queen of Louisiana, and she’s come with her own agenda.
“Lucky” was first published in Unusual Suspects, and it’s lighter in tone. Sookie’s insurance agent, Greg Aubert, has been casting spells to ensure that he won’t have to pay out on policies. His clients simply have better luck than other people in Bon Temps, thanks to Greg’s witch training. But Greg is worried because someone is coming into his office at night, and as Sookie and her friend Amelia investigate, they discover that other insurance agents are really suffering because of Greg’s track record. And maybe one of them has decided to do something about that. “Lucky” should be read following All Together Dead.
My Sookie Christmas story, “Gift Wrap,” should be read before Dead and Gone. It’s the only thing I’ve ever written about Sookie that contains another point of view. Sookie is lonely at Christmas; everyone seems to have big plans but her. Her great-grandfather Niall knows this, and he collaborates with some supes to give Sookie a wonderful Christmas Eve gift, though it’s not one she would have normally accepted. I got several messages of protest after the publication of “Gift Wrap” in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe , but I wrote the story to let the reader know something important about Niall.
“Two Blondes,” the sixth of the Sookie short stories, is one of my favorites. It’s in the anthology Death’s Excellent Vacation, and it’s a Sookie-and-Pam story set after Dead and Gone. Victor sends the two to investigate an offer he’s gotten from the owner of a sleazy “gentleman’s club” north of the casinos in Tunica, Mississippi. Sookie and Pam enjoy a little entertainment at a casino show before they drive up to keep their appointment. It’s not a huge surprise that this meeting turns out to be a trap, and Sookie and Pam form close acquaintances with stripper poles before the night is through. “Two Blondes” was published after A Touch of Dead was on the shelves, so it’s not included.