Sookie Stackhouse: Racist/Misogynist?

Via my Facebook friend Tim Lieder (the editor of She Nailed a Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror - awesome short story collection you should read if you haven't already. I wrote the editorial review that appears on Amazon), I came across this article last night:

http://requireshate.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/meet-charlaine-harris-misogynist-racist-talentless/

Its writer is ACrackedMoon, and the article's contention is that Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels are filled with racism and misogyny, and that Sookie herself is one of the worst offenders. Characters of color are disposable, women are incompetent man-stealing bitches and men are the answer to all of life's problems.

Charlaine Harris in a Creative Commons image by lbshopgirl

At the risk of my college Women's Studies professor tracking me down and slapping me upside the head with the collected works of Bell Hooks, I've never picked up on this in any significant way, and I've read every Sookie Stackhouse book there is. Granted, I did pick up on Pam making racially insensitive remarks to Tara on recent episodes of True Blood. But I never came to the conclusions that Moon does, calling Sookie "a judgmental fuckwad," "a petty, worthless little shit," and "an ignorant shitstain."


Actually, I think True Blood tried to present a less all-white, more realistic version of the racial makeup of Bon Temps, making Tara an African-American woman, and keeping Lafayette on as a character long after he'd been murdered in the book series.

Caught in the same net of misogyny are urban fantasy authors Jim Butcher and Laurell K. Hamilton. I've never read Butcher, and all I know of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake is from a single short story I read in some anthology or other.

I wouldn't call Charlaine Harris "talentless," but I will be more aware of Sookie's biases when I read the final novel in the series. I did notice that Sookie was getting mentally tougher after all of her horrifying paranormal experiences, but I never thought of her as mean or as a "redneck stereotype." Moon's got a lot of vivid examples, though. Read the article and decide for yourself.

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Now, about this movie version of From Here to Eternity from 1953; I watched it yesterday. I figured there were certain aspects of the novel that couldn't be portrayed in films in the early '50s, but it was still a bit shocking to see how much was actually left out. No Violet Ugure, for one thing. No Jack Malloy - the film script doesn't even have Prew going to the stockade. No stockade scenes whatsoever.

No Dana Holmes Jr., either. Instead of bearing Dynamite his heir, then having to have a hysterectomy after he gave her an STD, Karen had a hysterectomy after she went into premature labor and had a stillborn son. That was sad. It precludes the scene in which Junior comes home for lunch, and Milt Warden has to hide in the bedroom closet.

I'll always think of Burt Lancaster in terms of Elmer Gantry. What a great movie that is, based on a Sinclair Lewis novel (which I never read). Arrogant con man (like Sawyer on Lost - I'm up to mid-season 3) tries to roll a Salvation Army preacher, falls in love with her, makes her more worldly while he becomes more spiritual, culminating in great tragedy. Watch that if you haven't seen it already. But I digress.

Clearly, Prew and Lorene are the great love story of the movie, despite the famous beach scene between Karen Holmes and Milt Warden. When Karen and Milt say goodbye to one another, it's not a romantic scene at all. It's much better in the book, when she's trying to feel like he loves her without needing her sexually, and the best he can do to prove this to her is to make love to her without them having intercourse. Of course, that couldn't be filmed in 1953, so instead we have a very sterile scene with them on a park bench, a goodbye with no real emotion. When Lorene begs Prewitt not to go back to his company, it's much easier to believe she's actually offering to give up her life to be with him because she truly loves him. Of course, in the movie there's no implication that he slept with her roommate Georgette. Not that this made Prew a bad guy, necessarily, but he did tend to take advantage of an opportunity. 

Public domain image

The emotional climax for Milt Warden is listening to Prew play taps. This is also a very heartfelt and dramatic moment in the book, too. It calls for Burt Lancaster to convey a lot of sadness and thwarted admiration, mostly with his eyes, and it's very beautifully filmed. Monty Clift, playing with huge tears rolling down his cheeks, truly looks as if he's just lost his best friend. 

In the movie, you see, Prew is mourning the death of Angelo Maggio. Yeah, the movie killed off Maggio! The whole reason I liked that stupid kid (19 years old in the book, by the way - portrayed by 38-year-old Frank Sinatra) is that he was tough enough to take repeated beatings, fake (mostly fake? It's probably a little bit real, too) a mental illness and thus earn his discharge. Then he rides off into the sunset, off to Mexico to become a cowboy. But in the movie - dead. 

Also left out of the film is Isaac Nathan Bloom. Maggio's great drunkenness, for which he ends up in the stockade, stems in the book from Maggio and Prew going out on the town without money on the expectation that gay guys will buy them drinks, although clearly they do not expect to have to do anything in return for these drinks. Maggio, Prew and the two "queers" have a long, philosophical conversation about whether or not homosexuality is a choice - but again, this could not be filmed in 1953. So we don't have the scene with Bloom being investigated on suspicion of being a homosexual. Nor do we get the scene in which Maggio attacks Bloom for Bloom's crude sexual remark about Maggio's sister. In the movie, it's the late Ernest Borgnine as James "Fatso" Judson who whistles at a picture of Angelo's sister. Yeah, they bring in Judson a lot earlier than he appears in the book, and have Judson kill Maggio to give Prew a clearer motive for killing Judson. 

I miss Bloom, though, despite his unfortunate tendency to play the "you hate me 'cause I'm Jewish" card. He's like the Finnick Odair of From Here to Eternity: at first he just seems like a jerk and you kinda hate him, then you sympathize, and then he dies and you're like, "Oh, gawd, no!" 

So, no Bloom, no "rolling the queers," no Violet, no Malloy, no Junior, no long-term consequences from sexually transmitted diseases in the movie. You have to read the novel, or you're only getting a small portion of the story, with some of the humanity sweated out of it for the sake of a 1950s audience. The movie's a snack, but the book is a delicious buffet. 

K.D. Grace, the Pagan Spirits Interview

How did you get started writing in this genre?

I got started writing erotica when I submitted a short piece to the now defunct UK magazine, Scarlet, which ran a section called ‘Cliterature’ at the time. I had two pieces published with them, then went on to publish with Black Lace and have never looked back. I got into paranormal probably because of my love for mythology and for the wonderful cross-over novels of authors like Diana Gabaldon and Nora Roberts, in which the paranormal bleeds into an otherwise normal world completely oblivious to the dangerous otherness that threatens destruction while at the same time promises heightened lust. And of course, I had my love affair with Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton.

Basically I love the idea that dangerous, exciting otherness can bleed into our world unbeknownst to the average person. It’s like imaginary friends coming to life. It makes all the ‘what ifs’ more intense and adds a new dimension to the road to HEA without taking it completely out of the everyday world. I like the fact that the two intersect, and when they do, dangerous, amazing, exciting things happen.

What made you decide to write Lakeland Heatwave: Body Temperature and Rising?

It’s a serious bit of magic that Body Temperature and Rising got written at all really. The story evolved out of a personal experience of being caught in the mist in a storm while walking the fells in the Lake District. That experience inspired the opening scene of a novel that was my NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project three years ago. I knew it would be an erotic novel, and I knew it would be paranormal, neither of which I’d tried my hand at before. After I finished it, it lay untouched for two more years. In the meantime, Xcite Books published my first two contemporary erotic romances, The Initiation of Ms Holly and The Pet Shop. One day, on a lark, I dusted off the original manuscript that was then called Love Spells and decided it had some serious potential. On a lark, I sent Xcite the reworked first three chapters and a synopsis of what would become BTR, and within less than an hour, they responded with a yes!

I was a little taken aback by Xcite’s enthusiasm, and for the first time ever, I found myself with writer’s block. Usually once I set myself a task to write it just happens. The writing flows, the story takes shape, and that’s that. Not this time! I was really beginning to worry that I might not be able to do it after all. Finally, after a long hard walk, I realized the reason it wasn’t coming together for me was that the story was too big for one novel. It needed to be a trilogy. I proposed the Lakeland Heatwave Trilogy to Xcite, they said yes, and from there the book and the changes needed to make it publishable practically exploded onto the page, with the path to the rest of the trilogy clear ahead. I’m still amazed how it all came together as it has, and I have to say it has been an absolute blast to write.

If Hollywood made this book into a movie, who would you imagine playing Anderson, Marie, Tim and Tara?

People always ask that, and it’s one of the hardest questions for me because I never write my characters with anyone in mind. Since the second novel, Riding the Ether, is essentially Anderson’s story, I spent a long walk a couple of weeks ago thinking about who would play him in a film, while trying to get my head around Anderson’s darkness and his lust. Anderson is powerful, dangerous and yet the epitome of old world charm and sophistication. The closest I could come was Hugh Jackman, who seems to embody both in the rolls he’s played. Tim might be Sam Worthington. Marie could possibly be Olivia Wilde. Tara is hard. Tara is really hard, but at the moment I’m leaning toward Anne Hathaway. The last book, Elemental Fire, is ultimately Tara’s tale, so maybe I’ll change my mind by then. Hard to say.



Do you believe that sex magic is real?

I believe that sex is the only kind of magic, actually, and certainly the only kind of magic we all have access to. That’s why I write erotica. That being said, it was the perfect jumping-off place for my foray into paranormal erotica. Sex is the true creative force in the world, so it makes sense that the place where two people become one, the only place where we can actually get inside another person’s skin, the place where life begins with la petite mort would be the place where the magic is most powerful. That’s the premise for all three novels and the reason I chose to write about sex magic.

What project are you working on right now?

I’m working on the second and third novels of the trilogy right now. I’ve just finished the first draft of Riding the Ether, book two, and will go right into Elemental Fire. It’s easier for me to write the two books together because the events in the books lend themselves to it, and because I actually have the time to do it that way. I think the writing of the two, almost as one, will make for a much more powerful climax to the trilogy. It’ll also make the whole experience psychologically easier on me if I can just stay in the story.

Would you say your work has been influenced by any other erotica writers? Do you have a favorite erotica writer?

I actually started writing erotica on a lark before I’d ever read anything by anyone in the genre. It was only after I’d had a few works published that I started seriously reading other writers. I really don’t want to be influenced by anyone else too much because I want my voice to stay as unique as possible. However, I’m a great admirer of Charlotte Stein and Justine Elyot. There are lots I really enjoy, but these two wonderful writers consistently awe me with their work. I admire them deeply.

Do you have a favorite paranormal writer?

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a real fan of the paranormal crossover, for lack of a better word. I like the bleed-through into the real world to be subtle and therefore more dangerous because it can lend itself to denial. I love Diana Gabaldon’s mix of historical novel and time travel. I like the way Nora Roberts mixes romance with paranormal. I suppose her mix of witches and magic probably influenced me most. And the Lakeland setting so easily lends itself to witches and ghosts that it was perfect.

Where do you stand on the vampire issue: should they sparkle, not sparkle, or no opinion?

I’m definitely in the sparkle-free camp.

Other than sex and love, what subject most fascinates you?

I’m an avid long-distance walker. I love nature and being outside. My husband and I did the Wainwright Coast-to-Coast walk across England last summer, and have another stonking good walk planned for this summer. I walk most of my stories, and if I ever get stuck in the plot, a good walk solves the problem and offers the best inspiration for new tales. I’m a firm believer that a good walk will solve almost anything.

And if the walking doesn’t, vegetable gardening will. We grow our own vegetables, and getting my hands in the earth, then eating what I’ve grown myself, well, that’s a different kind of magic. I also find veg gardening inspirational. I have a reputation for writing garden porn.

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American transplant to the Lake District, MARIE WARREN, didn’t know she could unleash demons and enflesh ghosts until a voyeuristic encounter on the fells ends in sex with the charming ghost, ANDERSON, and night visits from a demon. To help her cope with her embarrassing and dangerous new abilities, Anderson brings her to the ELEMENTALS, a coven of witches who practice rare sex magic that temporarily allows needy ghosts access to the pleasures of the flesh.

DEACON, the demon Marie has unleashed, holds an ancient grudge against TARA STONE, coven high priestess, and will stop at nothing to destroy all she holds dear. Marie and her landlord, the reluctant young farmer, TIM MERIWETHER, are at the top of his list. Marie and Tim must learn to wield coven magic and the numinous power of their lust to stop Deacon’s bloody rampage before the coven is torn apart and more innocent people die.

More info & buy links: http://kdgrace.co.uk/books/lakeland-heatwave-book-i/

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K D Grace was born with a writing obsession. It got worse once she actually learned HOW to write. There's no treatment for it. It's progressive and chronic and quite often interferes with normal, everyday functioning. She might actually be concerned if it wasn't so damned much fun most of the time.

K D's erotic romance novels, The Initiation of Ms Holly, The Pet Shop and Lakeland Heatwave Book 1: Body Temperature and Rising are published by Xcite Books and are available from all good paperback and eBook retailers.

Her erotica has been published with Xcite Books, Mammoth, Cleis Press, Black Lace, Erotic Review, Ravenous Romance, Sweetmeats Press and Scarlet Magazine.

Find out more about K D Grace on her website, http://kdgrace.co.uk. She's also on Facebook and Twitter.