Best Fantasy Stories

True Blood Season 2 Episode 3 - Scratches

Fantasy Books — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:44:48 +0000

Here are the Top 10 Highlights from Episode 3, Scratches:

#10 Sookie gets attacked by a strange creature with “the head of a bull” while walking through the woods.

#9 Terry Bellefleur embarrasses Sam into staying in town.

#8 The Fellowship of the Sun fanatics continue their full court press to brainwash Jason.

#7 Maryann Forrester does everything big. Even her doobies are large.

#6 Sookie has to barter with Eric in order to secure Lafayette’s release.

#5 Wow, Maryann Forrester sure knows how to throw a HOG WILD party!

#4 Tara starts noticing how people behave around Maryann.

#3 Lafayette wisely decides to try and forget his recent ordeal with Eric and his vampires.

#2 Baby vamp Jessica’s one-night stand is interrupted by Bill and Sookie.

#1 Daphne, the new waitress at Merlotte’s, is . . .different. Put it this way: the closing song, “Who’s Been Making Those Scratches All Over Your Back”, is quite appropriate.

And here’s the Funniest Line from Episode 3:

Steve Nesbit to Jason: “Sarah doesn’t just whip out her pudding for anyone.”

True Blood Season 2, Episode 2: Keep This Party Going

Fantasy Books — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:43:19 +0000

Here are the Top 10 Highlights from Episode 2, Keep This Party Going:

#10 Sookie asks Tara to move in with her.

#9 Sookie attempts to read Maryann’s mind but it’s all jumbled up and sounds like a different language.

#8 Lafayette gets shot - by mistake.

#7 At the Fellowship of the Sun training camp Jason and Sarah (the founder’s wife) role play. Hmmn, Sarah seems a bit too interested in Jason.

#6 Maryann must be anorexic - no one can eat that much food and have a body like that.

#5 Eric wants to send Sookie to Dallas to help locate a missing vampire. Bill refuses. Eric is NOT amused.

#4 Wow, Maryann Forrester is the ultimate party girl. Merlotte’s has probably never seen so much activity!

#3 Wow, Andy Bellefleur can NOT dance.

#2 Lafayette asks to be turned into a vampire. Looks like Eric and his gang plan to oblige.

#1 Jessica goes back home and attempts to exact revenge on her abusive father. Bill takes over - we’ve seen how he deals with abusive men before, haven’t we?

True Blood Season 2 Episode 1 - Nothing But The Blood

Fantasy Books — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:04:56 +0000

Here are the Top 10 Highlights from Episode 1, Nothing But The Blood:

#10 Sookie’s abusive great uncle dies and leaves everything to her. Guess who killed him?

#9 Maryann Forrester shows Tara a famous statue in her backyard called “Pan and Maenad”. See True Blood Maryann Forrester Mystery - What The Heck Is A Maenad? for more information.

#8 Sam remembers a weird sexual encounter he had with Maryann when he was young. He’s having a hard time getting past what he knows about her. He’s become withdrawn from Sookie and those around him.

#7 Jason sees the error of his ways and is now a new follower of the ultra-radical group, The Fellowship of the Sun. He’s even sworn off loose women.

#6 Sookie is pissed off at Bill for creating baby vamp Jessica.

#5 Speaking of which, Bill has his hands full with Jessica. Her thirst for human blood continues. She’s not really a fan of TruBeverage, the synthetic blood beverage.

#4 A new waitress shows up at Merlotte’s. She looks a lot like that chick from The Fellowship of The Sun . . . .

#3 Tara and Eggs get closer. I think Tara should be careful around him.

#2 Sam attempts to pay tribute to Maryann Forrester by giving her money but that’s NOT what she wants . . . .

#1 LAFAYETTE IS ALIVE! He’s a prisoner of ERIC’s, stuck in a dark dungeon. There appears to be something wrong with Eric though.

And here’s the Episode 1 Question of the Week:

“What the hell was wrapped around Eric’s head - aluminum foil?” Tell me what you think in the Comments section.

Get the True Blood Books!
Get the low-down on Sookie, Bill, Eric and Sam. Start with the first 2 books.

True Blood Fans - Layette Is Alive!

Fantasy Books — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:08:52 +0000

9:06PM EST - Late Breaking News:

The dead body in the back of Andy Bellefleur’s car IS NOT Lafayette. It’s Miss Jeanette (the phony witch doctor).

Hurrah!

Now, where the HELL is Lafayette?

More to come. Got to get back to the show!

True Blood Maryann Forrester Mystery - What The Heck is a Maenad?

Fantasy Books — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:53:01 +0000

Pan and Maenad

In one of the trailers for True Blood Season 2 you see Sookie being chased at night through the woods. Several people have asked what’s chasing her so I thought I’d address it before the first episode.

If you’ve read the Sookie Stackhouse books you know that the creature chasing her is a maenad.

So What Is A Maenad?

If True Blood follows the book a maenad is a creature that requires offerings (or tributes) from other supernatural creatures who serve alcohol. If they’re not properly honored they tend to get angry and cause madness in people (supernatural and human) or even kill them. In the book the maenad attacks Sookie as a way of sending a message to Eric, the owner of Fangtasia (a bar that serves alcohol). This is the maenad’s way of telling Eric that he has to pay her a tribute. Eric knows all too well how vicious a maenad can be - several years earlier he’d experienced a maenad who caused madness in a vampire. The vampire went on a crazed rampage and eventually had to be staked.

Here’s how the maenad is described to Sookie in the book Living Dead in Dallas:

Bacchus was the god of the grape, of course, so bars are very interesting to maenads. In fact, so interesting that they don’t like other creatures of darkness becoming involved. Maenads believe that the violence sparked by the consumption of alcohol belongs to them; that’s what they feed off, now that no one formally worships their god. And they are attracted to pride.”

Here’s more:

“What’s she gonna do if you don’t pay her tribute?” Sookie asked.
“Send her madness.” Bill sounded worried.
“Into the bar? Merlotte’s?”
The vampires eyed one another.
“Or into one of us. It has happened. The Halloween massacre of 1876, in St. Petersburg.”
They all nodded solemnly.
“I was there,” Eric said. “It took twenty of us to clean up. And we had to stake Gregory, it took all of us to do that. The maenad, Phryne, received tribute after that, you can be sure.”

In the books, the maenad travels with a large hog. Sound familiar? Yes, we’ve seen Maryann Forrester with a hog more than once in True Blood Season 1.

That’s why Sam (a bar owner) is so spooked when he sees Maryann Forrester. Remember the scene where he takes money from his safe, as if he’s planning to leave? In all likelihood, he’s planning to give the money to Maryann (the maenad) as a tribute.

And that’s your Maenad 101 lesson for the day!