Alison Flood guardian.co.uk,
Bad blood … Charlaine Harris says she wrote the best book she could. Photograph: Rob Monk/Future Publishing/Rex Features
Death threats, suicide threats and more prosaic threats to cancel book orders have followed the publication of Charlaine Harris's final novel about the telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse this week, after the American novelist gave her bestselling series a romantic conclusion that not everyone was happy with.
Running for 13 years, the series – on which the television show True Blood is based – is set in a world where vampires and other supernatural creatures live alongside humans. The 13th and final novel, Dead Ever After, concludes Sookie's romantic adventures and sees her making a choice between three potential suitors: the vampires Bill and Eric, and the shapeshifter Sam.
An early copy was leaked online by a fan in Germany last week, prompting an outpouring of bile on Amazon, Goodreads and Harris's Facebook page, with thousands of comments posted by fans furious about the choice Sookie made.
"After that ending, who wants to egg Harris's house with me?" wrote one reader. "Well I wanted to read this book but now I have no desire to. In fact, I cancelled my order," wrote another.
Harris told the Wall Street Journal that she had also received emails saying "if Sookie doesn't end up with Eric, I'm going to kill myself", as well as death threats.
"I wrote the best book I could, and I'm confident I stayed true to the characters I'd been writing for so many years. It's disappointing to have people impugn my character in such a personal way, but I hope on the whole that many people are entertained by the book and find it a satisfying end to Sookie's adventures," Harris wrote on Facebook, prompting nearly 2,000 more comments, ranging from "We are disappointed and feel cheated and I personally regret I have contributed my bit to make you more rich and famous" to "Hated Dead Ever After and returned it for a complete refund".
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Bad blood … Charlaine Harris says she wrote the best book she could. Photograph: Rob Monk/Future Publishing/Rex Features
Death threats, suicide threats and more prosaic threats to cancel book orders have followed the publication of Charlaine Harris's final novel about the telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse this week, after the American novelist gave her bestselling series a romantic conclusion that not everyone was happy with.
Running for 13 years, the series – on which the television show True Blood is based – is set in a world where vampires and other supernatural creatures live alongside humans. The 13th and final novel, Dead Ever After, concludes Sookie's romantic adventures and sees her making a choice between three potential suitors: the vampires Bill and Eric, and the shapeshifter Sam.
An early copy was leaked online by a fan in Germany last week, prompting an outpouring of bile on Amazon, Goodreads and Harris's Facebook page, with thousands of comments posted by fans furious about the choice Sookie made.
"After that ending, who wants to egg Harris's house with me?" wrote one reader. "Well I wanted to read this book but now I have no desire to. In fact, I cancelled my order," wrote another.
Harris told the Wall Street Journal that she had also received emails saying "if Sookie doesn't end up with Eric, I'm going to kill myself", as well as death threats.
"I wrote the best book I could, and I'm confident I stayed true to the characters I'd been writing for so many years. It's disappointing to have people impugn my character in such a personal way, but I hope on the whole that many people are entertained by the book and find it a satisfying end to Sookie's adventures," Harris wrote on Facebook, prompting nearly 2,000 more comments, ranging from "We are disappointed and feel cheated and I personally regret I have contributed my bit to make you more rich and famous" to "Hated Dead Ever After and returned it for a complete refund".
More
Running for 13 years, the series – on which the television show True Blood is based – is set in a world where vampires and other supernatural creatures live alongside humans. The 13th and final novel, Dead Ever After, concludes Sookie's romantic adventures and sees her making a choice between three potential suitors: the vampires Bill and Eric, and the shapeshifter Sam.
An early copy was leaked online by a fan in Germany last week, prompting an outpouring of bile on Amazon, Goodreads and Harris's Facebook page, with thousands of comments posted by fans furious about the choice Sookie made.
"After that ending, who wants to egg Harris's house with me?" wrote one reader. "Well I wanted to read this book but now I have no desire to. In fact, I cancelled my order," wrote another.
Harris told the Wall Street Journal that she had also received emails saying "if Sookie doesn't end up with Eric, I'm going to kill myself", as well as death threats.
"I wrote the best book I could, and I'm confident I stayed true to the characters I'd been writing for so many years. It's disappointing to have people impugn my character in such a personal way, but I hope on the whole that many people are entertained by the book and find it a satisfying end to Sookie's adventures," Harris wrote on Facebook, prompting nearly 2,000 more comments, ranging from "We are disappointed and feel cheated and I personally regret I have contributed my bit to make you more rich and famous" to "Hated Dead Ever After and returned it for a complete refund".
More
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