CBS may have driven a stake through "Moonlight's" heart, but the vampire genre is alive and well ... so to speak. "True Blood", brought to you by "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball, premiered September 7 on HBO. The show is based on Charlaine Harris' series of novels "The Southern Vampire Mysteries," which grabbed the attention of Ball and inspired him to pursue his next project in a completely different direction from his last. "After five years of 'Six Feet Under' and peering into the existential abyss, and contemplating the constant presence of mortalityâ€and therefore contemplating my own mortality and the general sort of impermanence of everythingâ€I was ready to just have a little fun," he told ShockTillYouDrop and ComingSoon.net. "When I discovered these books, they were so much fun and they stood up and by the time I was on the fourth book I though, 'This would make a great television series.'" While Ball is keeping the show close to the books in some respects, he decided on some creative interpretation in order to highlight a more ensemble cast of characters. "...the books are narrated by the main character and there are a lot of other great characters and we're creating stuff for them to do," he explained. And he made the conscious decision to make it "really pulpy." "True Blood" is just one in a succession of popular vampire-related television shows, movies and literature, helping to fill the gap between "Moonlight" and "Twilight." "All of this vampire stuff is happening at once," he said. "Is it just a coincidence? Is it part of a larger phenomenon? I don't know, but I think people seem to love vampires, there seem to be a lot of people who are big fans of vampire-related material, so hopefully they have a lot of things to look forward to, our show included." "True Blood" stars Anna Paquin (better known to genre fans as Rogue from the "X-Men" movies) as telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, whose life changes dramatically after a vampire moves into her Louisiana parish. In the show, vampires have the ability to live amongst the living due to the invention of Tru Blood, a concoction that serves as a food substitute for those wishing to swear off the human stuff. Express yourself and be part of the news! Leave a comment below or join our rabid discussions on the SyBoards.