Five of the best SFF books set in the American South

Renée Ahdieh is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In her spare time, she likes to dance salsa and collect shoes. She is passionate about all kinds of curry, rescue dogs, and college basketball. The first few years of her life were spent in a high-rise in South Korea; consequently, Ahdieh enjoys having her head in the clouds. She and her family live in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Wrath and the Dawn series, the Flame in the Mist series, and The Beautiful quartet.

At Tor.com Ahdieh tagged "five of my most beloved SFF books set in the American South," including:

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

There had to be at least one vampire book among the five. The longer I am privileged to work as a writer, the more I admire the gifted ones who can marry the gothic with just the right dash of humor. Charlaine Harris is the queen of making a reader laugh out loud in the middle of a gruesome murder scene. Her Sookie Stackhouse series, immortalized by True Blood on HBO, is the perfect blend of cheeky, sexy, and scary. Dead Until Dark goes beyond the laughs to create a world and a space with one foot planted firmly in the familiar and the other in the darkly absurd. That world lingers with you long after you’ve turned the last page because, at its core, the book is relatable, and the characters worm their way into your heart. Sookie is much more than a sassy damsel in distress, and I still envy people who get to meet her for the first time.

Read about another entry on the list.

Dead Until Dark is among McKenzie Jean-Philippe's thirty-three best vampire books, Meghan Ball's top eight books or series for Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans, Sarah Fine's top five books in which special powers have unfortunate side effects, and Rebecca Jane Stokes's top ten books about women in peril…who fought back.

--Marshal Zeringue