In previous books Sookie has had brushes with evil and has lost loved ones to supernatural as well as garden-variety evil. These losses toughen her little by little. In Dead and Gone, Sookie herself experiences radical evil as she is tortured nearly to death by her sadistic captors. Large pieces are torn from her in both the literal and the abstract. I think this was shocking to many readers. Why did you decide to take Sookie’s narrative to such a dark place? Her horrible experience has definitely stiffened her resolve to protect those she loves by being more proactive (if a little ruthless) instead of defensive.

—BRIDGET PAGE

I’m not always sure why I make the decisions I do, but in this case I knew that eventually Sookie’s involvement with the supernatural world would lead to something irrevocable happening to her. And when something terrible has happened, she must change as a result. It would be amazing if she didn’t. To me, that’s one of the most interesting parts of writing: following the character through growth and change.

Through all the books, anything seems possible to the imagination. Did you ever think of a story line that made you think again and not include it because it was too far-fetched?

—ESTHER SCHMIDT

Yes, I did. I had worked out a fantastic story line in which Niall was actually Sookie’s father instead of her great-grandfather, but I’d already said too much that contradicted that for it to be a viable part of the mythology. I had a happy two hours thinking it through, though, before “reality” set in. I’ve also written some passages that my editor deemed too gross to include. No, don’t ask!

If Sookie inherited her telepathy as a fairy power from her grandmother’s foray into fairy blood, how is it that her cousin Hunter has it, too, unless Gran had another child of fairy descent? Who are Hadley’s parents? There’s virtually no reference to them in the books, yet Hunter must have fairy blood.

—EILEEN PRESCOTT

Though Sookie didn’t exactly inherit the telepathy from her grandmother’s lover (there is more about this in Dead Reckoning and possibly in the books to come after), Hunter has a dash of fairy blood through his mom, Hadley, Sookie’s first cousin. Hunter’s parents are Remy Savoy and Hadley Delahoussaye. Hadley is the daughter of Adele Stackhouse’s daughter, Linda (who died of uterine cancer), and Linda’s husband, Carey Delahoussaye. Hunter is Adele’s great-grandson. This has been asked so frequently I felt I had to address it.

You adapted the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina into Sookie’s story. Do you feel that this event drastically changed your vision of the story? How much of a challenge was it to adapt if necessary?

—JENNIFER MORGAN