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.

The novella “Small-Town Wedding,” which appears in this book, occurs chronologically between Dead in the Family and Dead Reckoning.

The seventh story, one I finished not too long ago, is “If I Had a Hammer,” included in Home Improvement: Undead Edition. This story should be read after Dead Reckoning because the du Rone twins have been born. While Sookie and Sam are helping Tara and JB with some much-needed home renovation, they uncover a terrible secret that has lain buried for decades.

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Dahlia Lynley-Chivers

I thought I’d enjoy writing about another character in some short fiction, so I’ve written several pieces about Dahlia Lynley-Chivers, a little, very old, very cold vampire who loves her high heels and her men. The adventurous and judgmental Dahlia lives in Rhodes, the city Sookie visits in All Together Dead, and Sookie sees her there, but the two do not talk. Some of the Dahlia stories (“Tacky” from My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding and “Bacon” from Strange Brew) take place before the summit at Rhodes. “Tacky” is about the wedding of Dahlia’s best friend—yes, even Dahlia has a best friend—which is rudely interrupted by terrorists, who don’t live to regret it. “Bacon” is a revenge story in which Dahlia hatches an elaborate plot to bring a witch to justice.

In “Dahlia Underground” (from Crimes by Moonlight), my favorite vampire is hauled up out of the rubble by rescue workers after the explosion of the hotel housing the vampire summit. After a bit of recuperation, she’s directed to pursue the perpetrators by her sheriff, Cedric.