From Emma Bull's War for the Oaks to Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, from The X-Files to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, creators are mixing old European myths and legends with modern American pop culture. Incorporating influences ranging from blaxploitation movies and erotic novels to tabloid staples like UFOs and Elvis, authors and directors are creating a new mythology for the strip-mall, tract-house, cell-phone America of the new millennium.

One of the best-known and best writers of the new American mythology is Charlaine Harris. Dead to the World is the fourth novel in her Anthony Award-winning Southern Vampire series. It continues the story of psychic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who has fallen out with her undead lover, Bill. Bill has no sooner departed for Peru, than Sookie finds the head vampire, Eric, running naked and terrified through the rural night. She helps Eric, and discovers his memory has been destroyed by a coven of unscrupulous, astonishingly powerful witches, newly arrived in her small Louisiana town, and offering a huge reward for Eric. Sookie tries to hide Eric, but her brother sees him--and immediately disappears. And Sookie finds herself caught in a war among witches, vampires, and werewolves. --Cynthia Ward


From Publishers Weekly
Fans of Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake looking for a lighter version of the vampire huntress should cotton to Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic Louisiana gal who really wants to be normal, but suffers from a huge self-confidence problem, a case of permanent bad luck, difficult relatives and a penchant for attracting unsavory characters of the not-quite-human kind. In this fourth quirky installment in this hitherto mass-market series (after 2003's Club Dead), Sookie finds that her bad luck has taken a new turn for the worse. Sookie's love interest, Bill the vampire, runs off to Peru to do research. In his place, Sookie is stuck with Eric, Bill's boss (and head vamp for the district), who appears out of thin air buck naked with no memory of who he is or what he does. Coincidentally, Sookie's brother Jason goes missing. Less coincidentally, but more ominously, a coven of witches (who also happen to be shape-shifters and vampire blood addicts) comes rolling into the nearest big city, looking for trouble. Consistent, well-built characters and a strong, action-packed plot that will keep readers guessing to the end distinguish this frothy fusion of romance, mystery and fantasy. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Sookie Stackhouse has broken up with Bill, her vampire lover, after he cheated with the vampire who initiated him, but being telepathic, she can't seem to get away from the supernatural. Driving home from work one day, she comes across Bill's sexy boss, Eric, half naked and on the run. When she approaches him, he doesn't remember her or even who he is. She gets him to come back to her house, and a call to his second-in-command, Pam, reveals that Hallow, a witch whose advances Eric spurned, robbed him of his memory. Still hoping to get her hands on him, Hallow is posting signs with his picture on them all over town, so Pam is determined that Eric stay put at Sookie's. Sookie is apprehensive about that, especially after her brother disappears, and she comes to suspect that the coven Hallow runs is responsible. But as her attraction to Eric deepens, Sookie finds she is drawn into the vampires' plot to attack Hallow's coven. The first hardcover in Harris' series is gripping and spicy. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


The Dallas Morning News, June 27, 2004
...[has] a supernatural battle to rival anything in Harry Potter...


Book Description
"With the sure touch of a master" (Crescent Blues), Charlaine Harris delivers "the sort of vampire thrills that make Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake novels so popular" (Locus). In Sookie Stackhouse-a Southern cocktail waitress with a supernatural gift-Harris has a created a heroine like few others, and a series that puts the bite back in vampire fiction. Now the hit series launches into hardcover for Sookie's biggest twist-filled adventure yet.


Download Description
"The fourth novel in the Anthony Award-winning Southern Vampires series... ""With the sure touch of a master"" (Crescent Blues), Charlaine Harris delivers ""the sort of vampire thrills that make Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake novels so popular"" (Locus). In Sookie Stackhouse-a Southern cocktail waitress with a supernatural gift-Harris has a created a heroine like few others, and a series that puts the bite back in vampire fiction. Now the hit series launches into hardcover for Sookie's biggest twist-filled adventure yet."


About the Author
Charlaine Harris writes mysteries in addition to her Sookie Stackhouse books. She lives with her husband, three children, two dogs, two ferrets, and a duck. An avid reader, mild cinemaphile, and occasional weightlifter, her favorite activity is cheering her children on in various sports while sitting on uncomfortable bleachers.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Dead to the World, the fourth novel in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire saga (Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, and Club Dead), begins with everyone's favorite telepathic waitress, Sookie Stackhouse, making a New Year's resolution: to not get beaten up by supernatural beings. Yeah, right!

Sookie's life is at a crossroads. Her former boyfriend Bill, a strikingly handsome 137-year old vampire who has arguably been the source of most of her problems, has left for the country on a fact-finding mission for the vampire Queen of Louisiana. For the first time in a long time, Sookie has control of her own life. She duly resolves to stay out of trouble with supernatural beings, but on the way home from work, she sees a naked blond man running down the road. Being the kind-hearted soul that she is, Sookie stops to help. The man turns out to be Eric, a powerful vampire who not only owns Fangtasia, a popular tourist bar in Shreveport, but is also one of the most influential vampires in the region.

After taking him home, Sookie quickly realizes that the blond vampire has amnesia. She calls Eric's trusted subordinates and is stunned by what she hears -- the area has been invaded by a coven of shape-shifting witches bent on controlling all supernatural groups! To complicate matters, Sookie's only brother, Jason, is missing. Can Sookie keep Eric safe and find her brother without breaking her New Year's resolution? Of course not!

Overflowing with vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, and witches, Dead to the World epitomizes escapist literature -- a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of mystery, and a whole lot of fun. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse sees a naked man on the side of the road, she doesn't just drive on by. Turns out the poor thing hasn't a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It's Eric the vampire—but now he's a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly