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Charlaine Harris at DragonCon 2009

Ollie Chong aka AdoreBill 7

Charlaine HarrisDragonCon is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US. Charlaine Harris, the author of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series will be appearing at the DragonCon in Atlanta, GA which will be held from September 4 -7, 2009. The convention will be held in four hotels: Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Atlanta Hilton and the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel.

SOURCE: DragonCon

(Photo credit Sue Schneider – Moonglow Photos)

Ollie Chong aka AdoreBill

Website: http://truebloodnet.com

Ollie Chong is one of the administrators for truebloodnet.com and a regular contributor to the news and editorial pages. She has a B.Sc. (Honours) in Psychology/Sociology and a M.A. in Counselling Psychology. She brings to the site over 15 years experience in the mental health care field and has worked in administration, research and teaching at various organizations and had her own private practice as a psychotherapist.

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7 comments
dressing up at dragon*con | the avant guardian

[…] straight and often male characters comprise the vast majority of protagonists, but content of the stories themselves can express sexist, racist & heterosexist beliefs and assumptions. Dragon*con, […]

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Janie

I had noticed some negative vibes towards African Americans in her writing and I wouldn’t have classified them as racist until I got to Dead and Gone. I was very disappointed that the she would view sleeping with someone of a different race to be a slap in the face. I was very hooked on the books until I got to that comment. I just couldn’t quite figure out how one could accept relationships between vampires or shifter and humans acceptable but find complete disgust with sleeping with someone of a different skin color.

Glad to know I wasn’t the only one to pick up on this.

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    Bree

    I am only three quarters through her first book, and I already feel that some of the things she says are kind of prejudice. In Dead Until Dark, Sookie says at work that she’s dating a vampire and one of her friends says something about how he is relieved that she isn’t dating a ‘black’. Also, she says something about how ‘blacks’ don’t usually come to Merlotte’s, but if any black was absolutely safe there, it was Diane. I am biracial and found it offensive. The book is pretty interesting and I was planning on reading the others, but now I am rethinking that.

    Reply
True Blood Fan

I am a fan of the ‘True Blood’ series, I love to read and the vampire twist on reality has been intriguing to me as of late. The only constructive criticism I would give the author is this; the racist undertones (not towards the vamps) towards African Americans is somewhat disheartening. Calling African Americans “colored” and “negro” is just stepping back in time and offensive. I know that living in a southern Louisiana town has its share of prejudice/racism… but I would have liked for the author to have written the characters to view African Americans as equals in the book, and not as if they had just integrated. Again, the wrong person could take real offense to the tone in the book, and I am only mentioning this as a sensitivity factor. It was a little off putting, but nonetheless, I do love the books and I will continue to watch the series on HBO. HBO has obviously included more African Americans in the series, included more African Americans in the “all white” bar, besides LaFayette…

This post was not meant to be a rant/rave about racism, merely a critique of a subject that people do not like to talk about…

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    lisa

    Truebloodfan, I couldn’t agree with you more. In fact i’m reading Dead after Dark the book right now and I had to stop because of this books attitude towards blacks.I googled racists next to the title and I got this./I was interested in others thoughts about it

    Reply
      Sarah

      That’s what I did.
      I’ve never been to the southern part of the USA, is that how it is? Is it so segregated?

      Reply
        Kelly

        Unfortunately, in many areas (especially small towns) it can be much worse.

        I wouldn’t confuse the characters’ motivations and prejudices with the author’s (unless there is some interview I haven’t read that is being referred to). I believe these books bring many “isms” and “phobias” to the forefront by using the Vampire as the ultimate/ generic outsider.

        Reply

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