Behind the Scenes of "Blood Ties"

Ironically, Huff once told Challenging Destiny magazine that, while she'd like the money she could get from having one of her books made into a movie, "I think I could pass on seeing something I'd created, something that was a part of me, vivisected from the viewing public."

"You grow, you change," Huff said with a laugh when the quote was read back to her. "Actually, I have been totally thrilled with it. The guys from Kaleidoscope have been very open to having me be a part of it right from the beginning. And also, the other great thing about it is, right from the very beginning, everyone had said, 'Oh, I read these books and I loved them,' and I went from there. So it wasn't a case of we saw a property we could make some money out of, it was, 'We read these books and we loved them.' So you gotta love that."

Huff has been on the set a number of times, appeared in one episode as a hooker and, to her great joy, wrote one episode. "It's called 'Stone Cold,' and ... they're hunting Medusa," Huff said. "It's very cool. And Lisa Rae plays Medusa. Man, she's amazing."

Although Lifetime has currently only announced plans to air 13 episodes of the series, 22 episodes of Blood Ties are being made by Canadian-based Kaleidoscope. Canadian viewers will get to see the full 22-episode series this fall; the entire series has also been sold to an undisclosed U.K. network.

"Lifetime has been wonderful," Huff said. "They're putting a lot of money into promotion. They're taking a two-hour chunk of programming to air the pilot in one piece."

Fans of the Blood books will find the series both familiar and unfamiliar. Huff said the pilot more or less follows the plot of Blood Price, but the rest of the season is made up of mostly original story lines. "By the end of the 22 episodes, they're in the space in between books one and two. Now, if we get picked up for a second season ... they're thinking they might do the werewolf book, but it's hard to say."

Whether the series goes beyond the first season or not, Huff said it's been the experience of a lifetime. "It has just been so much fun," she said, "and a lot of that has come from the belief of the guys, right from the executive producers down to the gaffers, who believe in this world, who believe in this mythos I've created, and are really excited about putting it on-screen. I've had a couple of crew guys say they never watch shows they work on, because all they can think is, 'Man, that light was in the wrong spot.' This is the first show they've worked on in ages that they actually want to watch."

Are any of Huff's other books likely to find their way to the screen anytime soon? The answer is yes. "We're having discussions about some of the other books," she said. "It hasn't gotten to the point where I feel I can actually say more than that, but there are discussions about that. And we will actually maintain the gay characters. In fact, we'll probably gay them up a bit!"

Whether Blood Ties gets queered up later or stays de-gayed for the length of the run, its stellar cast and slick look guarantee a good time. And that's just what Huff likes in a TV show. "I'm in there to be entertained," she said, "and all I really require is witty repartee and a kick-ass woman. So I will guarantee you that in all of my books, there is witty repartee and at least one kick-ass woman." She added, laughing, "And possibly a cool cat."