Dead and Gone

Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9)

by: Charlaine Harris

Amazon Price: $15.17 (as of 12/29/2009)

Product Description
Now an HBO original series, True Blood-the New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series continues.

Except for Sookie Stackhouse, folks in Bon Temps, Louisiana, know little about vamps-and nothing about weres.

Until now. The weres and shifters have finally decided to reveal their existence to the ordinary world. At first all goes well. Then the mutilated body of a were-panther is found near the bar where Sookie works and she feels compelled to discover who, human or otherwise, did it.

But there's a far greater danger threatening Bon Temps. A race of unhuman beings older, more powerful, and more secretive than vampires or werewolves preparing for war. And Sookie finds herself an all-too human pawn in their battle.

Sookie Stackhouse, Books 1-7

by: Charlaine Harris

Amazon Price: $35.24 (as of 12/29/2009)

True Blood: The Complete First Season (HBO Series)

Amazon Price: $23.99 (as of 12/29/2009)

Alan Ball's True Blood series works well for television, as it has enough sensationalism to tantalize and enough story girth to make the viewer care about the characters. That one can finally invest emotion into monsters, including an undead Civil War victim, a transformer who can shapeshift into various animals, and a female mind reader, speaks volumes about America's willingness to accept fantasy. Of course, television has always produced good fantasy shows (I Dream of Genie), but True Blood's Southern Goth brand of fun horror is more macabre and more perverse, not to mention gorier, than most shows of its kind to date. Adapted from Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, True Blood thrills because of its equal blend in each episode of erotica, humor, tragedy, mystery, and fantasy.