Charlaine Harris, No. 1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, will be visiting the Bagdad Theater tonight to talk about the latest installment of the Sookie Stackhouse book series Dead in the Family. The book is the 10th book in the series, and the basis for the hit HBO television show True Blood.
Dead in the Family, which was released last Tuesday, continues the story of Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in a small Louisiana town called Bon Temps. In the latest book, Sookie is learning to deal with the effects of a war that changed her family and the world she lives in.
It wasn’t just any war though, and the town of Bon Temps isn’t any old regular southern town. In fact, Sookie isn’t just a regular girl, either.
Bon Temps is a place where the immortal live among the mortal. Vampires interact and live among humans—in part because of an invention of synthetic blood that replaces the vampires’ need for human blood.
Sookie is mortal, but not without her own powers. She’s telepathic, and is misunderstood by her fellow mortals in the community. Because of her powers, she finds it easier to be around vampires, since for some reason she can’t read their minds. Her past boyfriends, as well as Eric Northman—her boyfriend in Dead in the Family—are vampires.
Vampire and human relations are generally looked down upon in this fictional world, and in the latest installment, we see the problems this causes for not only Eric, but for Sookie, too.
We hear about Sookie’s complicated family history that was explained in the previous books, and the repercussions of the Fae War that she has to deal with now.
Don’t be mistaken—the Sookie Stackhouse series isn’t your run-of-the-mill vampire novel—there’s more to the story than you might expect. Throughout the series we see new and interesting dynamics of an untapped supernatural world with elements of sex, crime and humor.
Harris, who grew up and lives in the south herself—in Arkansas—has been publishing novels for the last 25 years. Harris wrote most of those novels all while raising her three children.
Harris primarily wrote mystery books until she shifted into the booming market of supernatural literature—vampires in particular. Her books are known to cross genre lines though, infusing romance, adventure, supernatural, mystery and science fiction.
Season three of True Blood is expected to continue this summer, and Harris has said there will be at least three more books in the series that will eventually be released.
Whether you’re a True Blood fan, a Charlaine Harris fan or a vampire fan, many have found the novels and the TV show positively entertaining. Her visit to the Bagdad will surely be a fun event for all ages.