Dead as a Doornail isn't Dead in the Water

'Dead as a Doornail' is the fifth book in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series and it's quite an exciting book too. The book concentrates on Sookie wanting a bit more of a quiet life. After all, so far, Sookie has had a friend murder her grandmother, fallen in love and been betrayed, been raped, slept with two vampires, been blown up, discovered that not only are vampires real, but werewolves, shapeshifters and witches too, had her brother attacked by werepanthers (its only at the beginning of this book that we find out he will shift at a new moon unlike the TV series).

I suppose after all that, I'd want a quieter life too.

However, this is so not on the cards for our Sookie, no she has more hassle and crap to put up with. Makes you wonder why she does it eh?

'Dead as a Doornail' begins with were-animals in the area being shot at. Obviously, this includes Sookie cause she hangs about with a lot of them.

There is a pack master challenge in Shreveport and the very wonderful Alcide asks Sookie for help. He needs her there to listen to people's thoughts and make sure no one will cheat, cause Jackson Herveaux is Alcide's dad and he's in the running.

Sookie gets kind of blackmailed into doing it cause he's worked out that there is a strong possibility that Sookie has something to do with Debbie Pelt's disappearing. Nice work there Alcide, gone from good guy to instant scum. However, the master of ceremonies is a were tiger called Quinn..... Hmmmm.

Sam, on the other hand has had a sly snog with Sookie, who is now convinced that vampires are bad news and are just into using her, which is quite ironic considering that as Sam has been shot he asks her to get Eric to give him a relief member of bar staff.....

Great, used by Sam, used by Alcide.

After being Franklin Mott's bit of fluff in book 3, Tara has been passed off by him to another vamp called Mickey who is not really emotionally stable. She needs help to get away from him.

So, yes, you've guessed it, Sookie to the rescue again, she bargains with Eric for his help. In return, Eric asks to be told what happened when he lost his memory in book 4. Sookie does this, in what is probably one of the best bits of the book, next to Eric laughing at 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' on television.

We all know that True Blood is loosely based on the SVM, so today Day 3 I'll give you a quick run down on book 5, then tomorrow, what story lines I think will be used and how some of the other characters may develop in Season 5.

Vampires, Werewolves, Witches and Faes...oh my!!

For the next 30 days, along with my regular blogs, I shall be blogging about one of the great loves of my life.

This is the series of books known as ‘The Southern Vampire Mysteries’ written by Charlaine Harris these are also known as the Sookie Stackhouse books or the True Blood books. I know that you will probably have heard of at least one of these, but in case you haven’t been lucky enough to fall in love with Bon Temp yet, Ill give you a little introduction about Sookie’s world on paper and on TV, because they are actually different in some ways.

11th May 2012 Vampires, Werewolves, Witches and Faes…oh my!

Now that we have that bit out of the way, Ill start with a quick introduction to Bon Temp.

True Blood and The Sookie Stackhouse books are set in an alternate reality where vampires have come out the proverbial coffin and proclaimed their existence to the world. They don’t have to drink blood anymore as it is now synthesised and bottled under the name True Blood and even comes in different blood types. Very convenient for the discerning vamp about town who wishes to stay within the law.

How would the world react if we woke up to the news on BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, Sky News etc? That all the stories that we thought were based on a novel by Bram Stoker were actually real?

There really were creatures out there in the world who wanted to drink your blood? What about vampire blood? If humans consumed it could they gain special powers like vampires? Would it become the drug of choice over Cocaine, Ecstasy, Heroin and the like?

An interesting concept that many urban fantasy fiction writers cover, but there is something really special about Bon Temp that keeps me coming back for more.

Maybe it is because Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball have managed to create such fabulous characters and bind them together in a wonderful small town in Louisiana. I’ve added Alan Ball into that as some characters that have lesser roles in the books have bigger parts in the TV series and indeed Jessica Hamby didn’t exist in the books at all.

Merlotte’s Bar and Grill is where many of the characters work and where Sookie meets her first vampire, Bill Compton her next door neighbour. It seems like a really good place to work, with Sam being a superb boss.

Hopefully I’ve given you a bit of a taster for what’s to come in my next 29 blogs about Bon Temp, Sookie Stackhouse and the rest of the True Blood gang.

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True Blood Back Again? Fangtastic

Excited much? Oh yes most definitely....

What am I talking about? Well Sunday 5th of February is when the new series of 'True Blood' starts in the UK on FX.

Now, it's not news that there are differences between the Charlaine Harris, 'The Southern Vampire Mysteries' books and the tv series.

In my opinion the 4th book, 'Dead to The World' was the best out of the Sookie Stackhouse novels to date. It provided me with stacks of entertainment much to the aggravation of my husband who was subjected to me laughing out loudly at some parts. Then, perhaps more annoyingly, reading the part out to him.......

I am fully aware of just how much of a pain in the arse this makes me, but I can't help it, sometimes the jokes and clever quips from Sookie combined with the smart answers from Eric's sidekick Pam and excellent storyline led me to want to share the book with the world, or certainly anyone that had no choice but to hear me.

So, what can we expect from Alan Ball as opposed to Charlaine Harris apart from some serious eye-candy for both sexes?

More witches will be making an appearance and fairies too in the shape of the Sherlock Holme's very own fr-enemy Irene Adler from the episode entitled 'A Scandal in Belgravia'. Though you may not recognise Lara Pulver with her clothes on! It goes without saying that obviously there will be more werewolves, were-panthers, shapeshifters and vampires all looking extremely overly gorgeous.


We left Season 4 with Bill Compton in a fight with the queen of Louisiana over Sookie. Jason had 'inherited' the town of Hotshot from Calvin Norris. Eric was so severley pissed off at having been buried in concrete by Bill, that he spilled the beans to Sookie about Bill being told to seduce Sookie for the Queen of Louisiana who basically wanted her fairy blood so she could become a daywalker.

Tara is confused as hell and to be honest who can really blame her? Being kidnapped by Franklin the mentally insane and psychopathic vampire (thankfully due to my other love Criminal Minds I know he wasn't a sociopath), then finding out your fuck-buddy can turn himself into any creature he wants would certainly mess with my head.

The fabulous character of Lafayette had just discovered his boyfriend Jesus is a witch. I'm not sure whether typing that one sentence I may end up with a religious organisation wanting to burn me at the stake! Anyway, at the same time, Lafayette is starting to 'see things' ooooooh spooky!

So, what will happen now that Sookie has been taken the hand of Claudine the fairy? Who will win the battle of the vampires and will Eric get his mobile phone back from Bill? Who knows?

A word to the wise, don't DARE disturb me on a Sunday night when True Blood is on, I may have to get Alcide to come over and sort you out!

American Horror Story - you're going to die in there

Yay!!!! A brand new TV series for me to follow!

There are only a few series that I actually follow, namely True Blood, Criminal Minds (though not in any order at all, which sometimes leaves me confused) and The Walking Dead.

Tonight I’m going to give another TV show a try. It’s called ‘American Horror Story’ and begins on FX: UK tonight at 10pm.

Now, its not just Dylan McDermott who attracted me to the idea of ‘American Horror Story’, honestly, but every so often a good creepy drama appears that is worth its weight in gold. I’m thinking along the lines of ‘Millennium’ with Lance Henriksen as an FBI profiler or indeed ‘American Gothic’ with the very scary Gary Cole as Sheriff Lucas Black. All completely brilliant thrillers that if you haven’t seen or heard of, I recommend that you watch.

Bear in mind that the creators of this drama are none other than Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk who are better known as being the writer/producer team behind Nip/Tuck and Glee. Interested a bit more now?

American Horror Story appears to feature the ubiquitous haunted house, you know the sort, old, dusty, in need of repair but very gorgeous to look at. So much so, that even if I hadn’t spilt the proverbial beans you would still just know that it was creepy as hell and even Yvette Fielding wouldn’t want to spend the night there.

Queue family suffering from lots of tension, emotional problems and trying to work them all out. Now you can see this is a recipe for disaster……

We have betrayal, Ben Harmon (husband) has had an affair, death and grief comes in the shape of Vivien Harmon (wife) who has had a still-birth then as if there isn’t anything to feel remotely positive about, Murphy and Falchuk throw a depressive daughter, Violet, into the mix.

To have all the cheesy traditional horror ingredients thrown into the mix and still be given a second series ‘American Horror Story’ must be doing something right.

So, Ill be tuning in tonight, even if it’s just to shout at the TV ‘Oh no!! Don’t go in there!’

IT REALLY ISN'T TV: IT'S HBO

The Above Statement is True

Living rooms are designed around televisions for a reason, and that reason is that television is our window into the world.  We live vicariously through everything from dramas and comedies to documentaries and, dare I say it, reality TV.  But now that there are hundreds of channels, it’s becoming harder and harder to find quality, awe inspiring programming.

Free channels, terrible concepts.

The viewing content of free channels and standard cable has declined over the last 10 years or into terrible concepts, poor acting, and did I mention terrible concepts?  It’s a continuous stream of raw sewage being pumped onto our screens every day.  That being said, it’s a bit like the old dumpster diving adage, occasionally if you search enough seas of garbage you might pull out a gold watch.  But at the end of the day, it’s a lot of shit surfing for one good show.

HBO have the golden goose.

However there is a network that has kept its dedication to stellar shows.  HBO is, and has been at the forefront of fantastic television.  Amazing concepts, stunning characters and Emmy winning performances all make the premium cable network well worth the investment.  They have the golden goose when it comes to quality TV shows and if you haven’t had the HBO experience, you have been missing out for years as their back catalogue of original programming is quite impressive.

OZ, Arliss, The Larry Sanders Show, Sex & The City, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, The Wire, Entourage, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones…to name but a few…and that’s a stellar resume for any TV Network.

Check out a clip from HBO's 'Game Of Thrones'

Article By: Phil McCarron