Super Exciting News: My Story in DEAD BUT NOT FORGOTTEN!!!!

Hello folks!

So awhile back I was crowing over some super sekrit exciting news that, finally, is SEKRIT NO LONGER.

The news is this: I was picked to write a Sookieverse story for an anthology, edited by Toni Kelner and Charlaine Harris herself, called DEAD BUT NOT FORGOTTEN. It’s coming out as an audiobook first (on May 13th, 2014), then in hardcover and kindle (Nov. 25, 2014).

For those who’ve been following me for a while, you know how much the Sookie books mean to me. I was inspired to write Jane while reading Dead as a Doornail somewhere over the Atlantic. It was the first non-literary fiction I’d read in forever, and reading that book made me remember how much I loved popular fiction and why. I FELT the whole way through that plane ride, a surge of affective response that I’d forgotten about after years of intellectually rigorous reading.

I also remembered how powerful and how worthy a pursuit is granting people such escape. At the time, I was going through a lot of huge changes–leaving the country I’d lived in for six years, leaving a long-term partner, graduating from my PhD program and interviewing for jobs back in the states. But on that long plane ride back to Edinburgh after a job interview (in Shreveport, LA of all places), I didn’t think about any of my worries. I just read, and lived Sookie’s life, and I got away from all my sorrows and stresses for a little while.

That’s what people pay millions of dollars to pharmaceutical companies for, and I bought such release for $7.99 at a Barnes and Noble.

During that flight, my little PhD brain was also analyzing everything I read and it told me, “you could do this. You could write one of these.” And, much to my own amazement, I went home and I did. Three months later I had a rough draft of Tempest Rising; about three months after that I had an agent; and about three months after that I had a book deal.

My life changed utterly, and I credit a lot of that to Charlaine. This explains why I geek out on her so hard every time we meet, much to our mutual consternation.

So to say I was pleased to be invited to take part in this anthology is an understatement. I ugly, if joyfully, cried like a woman whose boyfriend popped the question at a baseball game, all tears and snot on the jumbotron. And I ugly-cried for like three days, in all honesty, to anyone who would listen and could ignore the mucus.

That was a while ago, but now it’s even more exciting to see what everyone else has done, and to be a part of the buzz surrounding the antho. Here’s one of the official write-ups from Audible’s publicist:

Charlaine Harris’ smash-hit Sookie Stackhouse series may have reached its conclusion, but the world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, lives on in this all-new collection of 15 stories. Written by a killer lineup of authors, including New York Timesbest-sellers Rachel Caine, MaryJanice Davidson, Jonathan Maberry and Seanan McGuire, and with introductions read by Charlaine herself, Dead but Not Forgotten puts your favorite characters center stage.
The stories included in Dead but Not Forgotten are:

“Nobody’s Business” by Rachel Caine (featuring Kevin Pryor & Kenya Jones)
“Tyger, Tyger” by Christopher Golden (featuring Quinn)  
“The Real Santa Claus” by Leigh Perry (featuring Diantha)
“Taproot” by Jeffrey J. Mariotte (featuring Andy Bellefleur)
“Knit a Sweater Out of Sky” by Seanan McGuire (featuring Amelia)
“Love Story” by Jeanne C. Stein (featuring Adele Hale Stackhouse)
“The Million-Dollar Hunt” by Jonathan Maberry (featuring Mustapha Khan)
“Borderline Dead” by Nicole Peeler (featuring Desiree Dumas)
“Extreme Makeover Vamp Edition” by Leigh Evans (featuring Bev & Todd)
“Don’t Be Cruel” by Bill Crider (featuring Bubba)
“What a Dream I Had” by Nancy Holder (featuring Alcide Herveaux)
“Another Dead Fairy” by Miranda James (featuring Claude & Claudia Crane)
“The Bat-Signal” by Suzanne McLeod (featuring Luna)
“The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars” by Dana Cameron (featuring Pam Ravenscroft)
“Widower’s Walk” by MaryJanice Davidson (featuring Eric Northman)

Dead but Not Forgotten was edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner.

And here’s the Audible cover. We should have cover art for the books soon. 🙂

dead but not forgotten_front mech.indd

So yeah, I’m really proud to a part of this anthology. I feel like it’s brought me full-circle, somehow, and that I get to honor Sookie in an act of homage that fills me with both joy and pride. I’ve loved the opportunities that writing has given me, and I can’t tell you how good it feels to receive letters from fans who tell me about times that they’ve been hurting, and during which Jane’s helped them get by.

That feels like magic. Beautiful, humbling magic that I’ve been so grateful to experience, on this side of creation.

So thanks, Charlaine and Toni, for letting me share Sookie’s magic. And I hope you all like getting to know Desiree Dumas, and my version of what a regular girl might do in a world populated by the supernatural.

And before you go, please to enjoy another of my favorite homages to Sookie….Snoop Dogg’s. “OHHH SOOOKEH”

Posted by Nicole Peeler

Author, Professor, Lover, Fighter

13 thoughts on “Super Exciting News: My Story in DEAD BUT NOT FORGOTTEN!!!!”

  1. CONGRATS!!! I may have already posted it on FB but it's due to Sookie (inadvertently) that I ever discovered Jane. I honestly didn't think I'd like paranormal or urban fantasy but someone gave me the first Sookie book and I knew she'd ask me about it so I read it even though I thought I wouldn't like it that much. To my surprise, I really did like it. Sookie was so sympathetic and even though her world isn't the same as mine, it was still fully recognizable. Just such great story-telling. Because of Charlaine Harris, I made the paranormal/urban fantasy section part of every bookstore visit, which led me to Jane. And I LOVE Jane. I knew in the first couple of chapters when she's describing Linda Allen's preferred reading material that this was a heroine I would have no trouble rooting for. I will definitely be picking this up. By the way, I got the other audio books with Kristine Vram (??? something like that). I was worried about it because I liked the original narrator so much, but the new one is just as good in a different way. I am so looking forward to the next set of stories you put out.

  2. I discovered your books and the Southern Vampire Mysteries at about the same time, and I've always considered you to be right up there with Ms. Harris. I think your books are fantastic, your characters are loveable (and sometimes LURVABLE!!!), and I've felt very lucky to be a part of a fandom that gets to know how cool you are as a person via FB. You're truly the whole package– the real deal. And your fans appreciate it. I can't wait to read this new story of yours, and I'm thrilled you're excited about it (well, yes, and I am too, because I also love Sookie)– but I'll read anything you write. 🙂

  3. Eeeeeep! Congratulations. This is an amazing project, and I know you will do it such justice. So many other awesome authors, too! I can't wait to read all of these stories. It must be just about the most amazing feeling in the world to be invited to play in the universe of a story you have such a strong connection with. So cool!

  4. Awww, thank you! Your support means so much to me. Jane and I appreciate it, and I do hope you love Desiree as much! (and Leila when she's birfed! 😉

  5. In 2007 one of my Terry Pratchett fan friends finally got me to visit her in Phoenix by telling me that I could meet Charlaine Harris at CopperCon, so I left my family and flew out there and had a blast. Ms. Harris was hilarious and very kind, and I (GEEK!!!) got all my stuff signed. She also liked the "I went to Fangtasia and all I got was this lousy shirt" t-shirt I embroidered. Sigh.
    It's so nice to read some intelligent and well-written praise of popular fiction – thanks! And, if it matters, I'm a huge fan of yours and am annoyed that I haven't been able to make it to one of your signings. It WILL HAPPEN.

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