Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [76]
Lynn Fu and Eileen Rivera also run a blog and radio show, but their approach is a little more intimate. “Bite Club Show: Wine. Women. Fangs.” (www.biteclubshow.com) began as a three-person operation, with the two hosts joined by a technical producer. They created a podcast out of shared enthusiasm, something that fans have described as like listening to a late-night conversation with your friends. Part of that has to do with the show’s inclusive approach to vampire-entertainment. “We found a lot of podcasts existed specifically for Twilight and a few for True Blood,” Fu says. “Since we love both, it’s only appropriate to include them. Also this gives us an opportunity to expand and discuss old or upcoming shows and movies such as The Vampire Diaries, Daybreakers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
The “wine” portion of the show was originally intended to keep the hosts’ nerves at bay. “Both of us are used to producing and coordinating shows, not being the voice of them,” Rivera explains. But the idea quickly evolved into wine reviews, and a way to introduce new and affordable wine suggestions to their listeners. “All of our wines have been red,” Rivera continues, “with the exception of one chardonnay named ‘Bella’.”
By far one of the most successful True Blood fan sites is maintained by someone who didn’t have an initial interest in True Blood or vampires. But when Shadaliza Monterosa, Mistress of The Vault at www.trueblood-online.com, learned that Alan Ball was attached to the show, she had a change of heart. She decided to start a website with the goal of being the preeminent fan site of the show rather than the novels, citing, “[The series] was original, exciting, humorous, and sexy. It was initially the romance between Sookie and Bill that drew me in, but it was the intriguing storylines and multi-layered characters that got me completely hooked.”
Michael McMillian (Steve Newlin looks different with his hair down!) with Bite Club Show co-host Lynn Fu and Alexander Skarsgård. (Photo by Eileen Rivera, courtesy of Lynn Fu, www.BiteClubShow.com)
Boasting exclusive interviews with cast members Jim Parrack, Kristin Bauer, Michael McMillian, Deborah Ann Woll, and Carrie Preston as well as a host of integral behind-the-scenes players (composer Nathan Barr, music supervisor Gary Calamar, writer/producer Raelle Tucker, and Jace Everett), Monterosa has fans visiting The Vault from more than 192 countries on a regular basis. “I am Dutch and live in Italy,” Monterosa says, “so that makes it all a very international mixture.” The universal flair is a good mix for such an international cast and a series that broadcasts in over 40 countries. “The Vault started as a one-woman project,” she says. “Now I have a whole network of people who provide me with information, including my co-admin Lynnpd, the message board connected to The Vault (www.StephenMoyer.yuku.com), HBO, several publicists, random strangers, good old Google, Twitter, and Facebook.”
Then there are those who are quite content to focus all their attentions on what many fans see as the defining debate of True Blood and the Sookie Stackhouse novels: Bill versus Eric. Shannon of Billsbelles Blog (@BillsBelles, billsbelles.wordpress.com) and Misty (@sbookclub) of Viking Wenches (@VikingWenches, www.vikingwenches.com) are two such women. “I, for one, love the geeky side of Bill,” Shannon says. “The computer-using, alien-movie-watching Bill. . . . As for the rest of the Belles, most enjoy the southern gentleman . . . [although] we have also collectively come to the conclusion that Bill, underneath it all, is the true bad boy.”
BillsBelles spend most of their time on Twitter, interacting with the roleplayer @VampireBill. “There are several thousand people following him,” Shannon explains of the competition to catch