The extraordinarily gracious and talented Charlaine Harris, creator of the Sookie Stackhouse series  – the next book, DEADLOCKED, hits May 1 – has given RED, WHITE, AND BLOOD an enthusiastic review on her blog. Which is pretty freaking incredible for me.

Christopher Farnsworth’s premise – that the presidents of the U.S. have, starting with Andrew Johnson, had a vampire at their beck and call – is simply fun. And in Farnsworth’s strongest book yet in the Nathaniel Cade series, Cade encounters an old enemy he’s killed over and over in various guises . . . none other than the Boogeyman. The ingenious part of the book (using various notorious serial killers and their quotes to confirm the existence of such a creature) is – well, I’m envious. Cade continues to be one of modern literature’s most frightening vampires, and this is an excellent read.

Thank you so much, Charlaine. I will hoist a pint or two of True Blood in your honor.

• John Scalzi (the man, the myth, the best-selling author) gave me a guest spot in his BIG IDEA series, where writers try to explain the big idea behind their latest books.I wrote about how I killed Osama Bin Laden. You might have seen something in the news about that.
• T-shirt giveaway is back on until MIDNIGHT PDT on WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, as supplies last. More details here.
• Murder By The Book let me talk about America’s strange history before my appearance at the store this weekend.
• I gave the lovely Angelique at Vampires & Tofu my rundown of cage matches between some of fiction’s most popular vampires. (Hint: Dracula wins.)
• The gracious and elegant Jenny at Supernatural Snark was kind enough to host my explanation of why my vampires don’t sparkle. (Many thanks as well to her enthusiastic and sharp commenters.)
• The Clarion Foundation asked me for some advice for writers. I told them, “Never be ashamed of your enthusiasms.” It’s the one thing I wish someone had told me.
• By the time you read this, I will be out on the road mercilessly flogging strangers until they buy my books. Here’s how you can find out where I’ll be. If you want to use this information to save yourself, well… I might track you down anyway. But it’s worth a shot.
• Tonight, Thursday May 5, I’ll be at Powell’s Cedar Hills Crossing location at 7:00 p.m. to read and sign THE PRESIDENT’S VAMPIRE. Hope to see you there. And if I don’t… well, don’t make me look for you.

Nathan Fillion is already an A-lister to me. (Wow. That looks really creepy when it’s typed out like that.)

Why do “True Blood’s” vamps have their fangs on the laterals, not the cuspids? This is actually something that’s bothered me for a while. Leave it to The Answer B!tch to uncover the truth.

The weirdest moments from Archie Christian Comics. I read all of these as a kid. The weird part is, at the time, none of them struck me as weird.

Gawker Media now has more readers online than any newspaper except the New York Times. To be fair, most newspapers have scandalously few pictures of giant goldfish, so it’s sort of their own fault. (Other news buried in that chart: the LA Times is getting killed by everyone except the Wall Street Journal, which charges its users for some content.)

If I had a million dollars: art deco motorcycle. (Via BoingBoing.)

Messing with Sasquatch in Minnesota.

The first 40 pages of my novel BLOOD OATH, in German. (My high school Deutsch teacher, Herr Luttman, would be so proud.) BLUTIGER SCHWUR hits stands in Germany on September 13. Also, Suspense Radio interviews me with my brilliant publicist Megan Underwood Beatie.

I was lucky enough to meet Charlaine Harris at Comic-Con in San Diego this year. We sat on a panel of vampire lit authors together, where I was the token male. Everyone, with maybe five exceptions, was there to see Ms. Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse books that inspired HBO’s “True Blood.” (If you’re a fan of the show — like me — you should read the books, and vice-versa. Harris’s Sookie is a real delight, and smarter and tougher than she’s portrayed on TV. Her vamps, for the record, are not sparkly. Bill and Eric are no strangers to badassery themselves.)

She was charming and funny and generous. When we spoke, she told me she was going to read BLOOD OATH. I’ve probably been in Los Angeles too long, because I thought she was just being nice, in a “We’ll have lunch!” or “Loved the script!” sort of way.

I’m not sure how I missed it, given my constant self-Googling, but Ms. Harris did read BLOOD OATH, and she gave it a great endorsement. It’s a massive compliment, and a mark of true kindness from an established author. Someone who’s number one on the New York Times Bestseller List doesn’t have to extend that sort of hand to new writers; that she does it anyway shows real grace.

That said, Cade could still take Bill or Eric in a fight.

University to offer master’s degree in vampire literature. (Via Topless Robot and FilmDrunk.)

“Vampires used to be rooted in the past, representing something primitive; now they are about modern culture, living in cities, listening to punk music, embracing technology. Some are even female, and vegetarian.”

George claims that change reflects the fact that vampire stories mirror the anxieties embedded in modern-day culture. “Vampires teach us to come to terms with our desires and the fact we have a darker side,” she says. “In the 1980s, a lot of vampire films and books tackled disease and corruption – it was a way of talking about Aids. Vampires are used to bring up things we don’t want to talk about.”

… In a bid to make the most of that interest, George is launching, in September, what seems to be the world’s first master’s degree in vampire literature. “In the months I’ve been planning the conference I’ve fielded a huge number of inquiries from people all over the world who are interested in studying vampires, zombies and the undead at a higher level,” she says.

Sounds like a pretty great conference, actually. But even I’m not sure how this could possibly get you a job, and I write about vampires for a living.