The book is named Living Dead in Dallas, so a stop in the Big D would seem a natural, but Harris chose to come to Houston instead and she talked to Hair Balls about why. “My favorite book store in America is in Houston, Murder by the Book on Bissonnet. The owners and staff of MBTB supported me when there was no career to support, starting twenty-plus years ago. So if I sign anywhere for a book, it’ll be in Houston.”

Set in the Louisiana town of Beau Temps, True Blood, like the book series it’s based on, centers on a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse and her vampire boyfriend, Bill. Harris has had limited involvement in the production of True Blood, but she’s been happy with the show’s adaptation of her novels. “I have no input into show, other than the fact that I provided the basic schematic in the form of the Sookie novels. In return, Alan doesn’t tell me how to write my books. We’re each doing what we do best,” she says. “I’ve never been a control freak and when you ally with a great talent like [series creator] Alan Ball, you have to let go and see what happens. That’s why I accepted his offer over the others on the table. I’m fascinated with the choices Alan and the other writers are making.”

As with many other vampire novels, Harris’s books use the undead as a metaphor for “otherness,” exemplifying racism, homophobia and class delineations. Harris says that while she does have those issues in mind, mostly she just wants to entertain. “Sure I have an agenda. But my main goal is to entertain the reader, to give the reader a little vacation.”

So what’s next for Sookie? Harris won’t say much, except, “The next book is Dead and Gone. It comes out in May. Sookie is in Bon Temps for this one, and it has some pretty grim action in it.”

Charlaine Harris appears at 7 p.m. Central Library, 500 McKinney. For information, call 832-393-1313 or visit www.houstonlibrary.org. Free.

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Anna Camp, who is currently starring opposite Daniel Radcliffe in the acclaimed Broadway revival of Equus, has landed a series-regular role on the second season of HBO’s “True Blood.”

Entertainment Weekly reports that Camp will play the role of Sarah. The new season of the Alan Ball HBO drama will also welcome the arrival of Ashley Jones; the “Bold and the Beautiful” star will play a six-episode arc as a waitress named Daphne.

“Thanks to a Japanese scientist’s invention of synthetic blood,” read “True Blood” press notes, “vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures ‘coming out of the coffin.’ Religious leaders and government officials around the world have chosen their sides, but in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.”

The “True Blood” cast also includes Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, Chris Bauer and Carrie Preston.

Anna Camp has been seen on Broadway in Equus and The Country Girl and Off-Broadway in The Scene (Lucille Lortel Award nomination), columbinus,Flesh and the Desert and God Hates the Irish. Her screen credits include “Pretty Bird,” “And Then Came Love,” “Bottleworld,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “Reinventing the Wheelers.”