The Southern Vampire Mysteries (informally known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels / Chronicles and retronymed the TRUE BLOOD Series upon their reprinting) is a series of books written by The New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, first published in 2001. In The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, Harris has developed a detailed mythology. Her series describes an alternate history which assumes that the supernatural is real and that vampires, shapeshifters, maenads, werewolves and other supernatural beings have only been public knowledge for a couple of years. Its history has otherwise unfolded so identically to that of the real world that the series contains occasional references to popular culture.