Years ago, I loved vampires. I remember having a fascination with Dracula when I was about 10, and my best friend and I would spend hours at the library checking out books about Dracula and reading about “Vlad the Impaler.” In my 20s, I devoured the sexy Lestat books by Anne Rice and the scary Necroscope books by Brian Lumley. Eventually I moved on to other types of books, and my interest in the supernatural waned.

And then came Sookie Stackhouse. A friend told me about the True Blood television series and it sounded … well … completely absurd. She laughed while she tried to explain it, knowing how crazy it sounded. She told me that the show was based on a book series and she absolutely loved them. I didn’t pick them up right away, but the more I thought about it, the more enticing it sounded. After all, that’s always what I’ve loved about Stephen King books – it seems perfectly acceptable when you’re reading it, but always sounds crazy when you try to explain it to someone else.

So, one day while picking up a few things at the corner store, I happened upon the first title in the series. “What could it hurt?” I wondered.  I bought it. The next day I went back to buy the next 3 titles that were on the shelf. By week’s end, I had visited several stores to round out my collection, and I spent a lovely time in Bon Temps, learning about the world of the “supes” that Sookie knows so well.

I’ve just finished the newly-released 10th book in the series (Dead in the Family – available here) and started watching season 3 of the show (love it!). And then I’ll wait for the 11th book … assuming there will be one. I hope it doesn’t take too long.

In the meantime, there is this other series I’ve heard of, I think the heroine is called Bella …

And FTR: I’m “Team Eric”