The first installment, Dead Until Dark (2001), won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001 and later served as the source material for the HBO drama series True Blood (2008–2014).
In The Southern Vampire Mysteries/True Blood Series, Harris develops a detailed mythology and an alternative history scenario in which supernatural beings exist.
Not only vampires but also werewolves and fairies exist in this scenario, and a growing public awareness of their presence is part of the plot development.
The series is narrated in first person perspective by Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress and a telepath in the fictional town of Bon Temps in northwestern Louisiana.
[3][4] Two years before the first novel's timeline (in 2002 according to the Sookieverse timeline[26]), vampires around the world revealed themselves, via television, to the world as actual, and not mythical, beings after the development of a synthetic blood product (the most popular marketed brand of which is called "TrueBlood") that provided adequate sustenance for vampires and therefore did not require them to feed on human blood.
Some nations, such as France, Germany, and Italy, acknowledge vampires and do not torture them, but do not give them equal rights as citizens.
Vampires are pale and cold, possess unfathomable strength and speed, and have keen senses of hearing, smell, and vision.
They can survive and recover from most forms of physical injury, but they will die if stabbed by a stake, exposed to sunlight, burned by fire, completely drained of their blood (if not treated promptly), or decapitated.
Vampire blood without exchange is sought after by humans as a drug that can enhance strength, heal wounds, and increase attractiveness, among other desirable effects.
The vampires divided the continental United States into four divisions (clans), each represented by a symbol: the Whale, the Feather, the Thunder Bolt, and the Eye.
A division consists of multiple kingdoms, each controlled by a single lead vampire known as the King or Queen.
A variety of different types of weres and shapeshifters exist in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, including werefoxes, werepanthers, weretigers, werewolves, etc.
[27] In this series of mythology, the shifters decide to publicize their existence in the ninth book, Dead and Gone (2009).
However some individuals, such as Sookie's great-grandfather Niall Brigant, can "suppress their essence", effectively masking their scent and making such contact safer.
[33] In the Southern Vampire Series, fairies can be killed with either lemons, limes, or iron.
Niall states that Sookie and Jason have both inherited the beauty of the fairies, but only certain creatures can tell they are part-fairy.
As a genetic quirk (possibly due to fairy blood), Jason greatly resembles his great-uncle to the point where others are unable to differentiate between the two of them.
In this story, it is also implied that Fairies can cast spells, as Claudine was muttering something under her breath to hypnotize or calm down the people she and her brother, Claude, were interrogating.
Claudine also magically appeared to aid Sookie when she was in mortal danger on several occasions, however, she hinted that there were limits to how and when she could perform that trick.
It is revealed in Dead Reckoning that Sookie's power of telepathy was granted to her family by the half-demon Desmond Cataliades.
He had the power of telepathy and thought it a great gift to Fintan's family, as it would give them an edge over their fellow humans to know what other people were thinking and planning.
However, Cataliades revealed, that only the descendants who, like Sookie's grandmother Adele, had the essential spark would inherit the telepathy.
When asked what the essential spark was, Cataliades responded, "It isn't easy to pin down in terms of your DNA.
In later books, Sookie learns more about witchcraft and befriends Amelia Broadway, a true witch, in New Orleans.