Quicklets: Your Reading Sidekick!This Hyperink Quicklet includes an overall summary, chapter commentary, key characters, literary themes, fun trivia, and recommended related readings.ABOUT THE BOOK"I'm sorry you fell in love with a serial killer, all right, but honestly, who here hasn't?" - Arlene to TaraTrue Blood, the popular HBO show about vampires, werewolves, and other creatures of the supernatural variety, has had four successful seasons thus far. Creator Alan Ball's television series is based on author Charlaine Harris' books The Southern Vampire Stories, also known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels. Known as much for its raunchy sex scenes and relationship drama as its supernatural elements, the story unfolds in the fictional small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, with each season revealing another layer in this increasingly complex fictional world.True Blood has been popular since its debut in September 2008. Viewers loved former child star Anna Paquin as the sweet, sexy, and outspoken Southern waitress, Sookie Stackhouse, and the pulsing sexual tension between her and Bill Compton, Bon Temp's brooding vampire. The show was immediately noticed for its strong sexual overtones, as well as its explicit (almost pornographic, according to some) erotic scenes. While vampires have always been associated with carnal pleasures, those of True Blood are more than just run-of-the-mill Casanovas: they're bona fide sex gods.MEET THE AUTHORDeena Shanker is a San Francisco newbie, having just moved out here from New York City. She is a recovering lawyer excited to get back to doing work she loves, like writing. She enjoys taking advantage of California's great outdoors with her dog, Barley, reading fiction, and eating cheese.EXCERPT FROM THE BOOKSam finds his birth family: the embodiment of all white trash stereotypes, including a brother, Tommy, he hadn't known existed. It turns out the ignorance is mutual, and Tommy didn't know about Sam either. Sam learns his mother offered him for adoption, hoping that he wouldn't be a "shifter" and could grow up with a normal family and live an ordinary life - which obviously didn't work out very well. Tommy, shifting into a pit bull, and Sam, as a more friendly-looking dog, go for a run together in a unique type of family bonding.Back in Bon Temps, Lafayette realizes inviting Tara's mother was not his best idea, and takes her to a mental institution to meet his bigoted, schizophrenic mother. (It is at this point that the viewer is left to wonder if there is a single decent parent on the show.) Whether Tara is comforted by the knowledge that "darkness" is a family heirloom is unclear, but at least Lafayette has made a handsome new friend: his mother's male nurse, Jesus. That night at Merlotte's, Tara gets angry at and then flirty with a mysterious vampire customer, Franklin Mott...Buy a copy to keep reading!