Drood

by Clare MacGregor

Drood by Dan Simmons is a story of friendship, deceit, madness, and mystery. The narrator, Wilkie Collins, a friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens, begins the tale in the year 1865, recounting the Staplehurst railway accident and the aftermath of the accident. During the accident Dickens encounters a mysterious man by the name of Drood. Deeply intrigued by this phantom-like man Charles Dickens discovers Drood’s whereabouts and insists that Collins come along with him when he visits Undertown. Reluctantly, Collins goes with him, but is only permitted to go so far. Days after this night-time visit to Undertown, Wilkie Collins meets a police officer who enlists him to act as an informant regarding the man named Drood. Drood’s influence seeps deeper and deeper into Wilkie Collins’s life and imagination, but it’s not only Drood who haunts Willkie Collins’s mind, Willkie is convinced that there is another Willkie, one who looks just like him, but is not him, who begins making additions to whatever story or play Wilkie Collins is currently working on. At first Collins is infuriated that “the other Wilkie” who is contributing to the stories while Collins is sleeping; but as things progress Collins begins to rely on his doppelganger more and more. One evening while Dickens is visiting, Collins hears Dickens, Drood, and the doppelganger of himself conspiring against him. As Dickens health begins to decline, Drood assigns the task of writing his biography (a tasks once entrusted to Dickens) to Collins. He adamantly refuses, but Drood will not be dissuaded. Already obsessed with Drood, Collins’s mind and life begins to increasingly overflow with paranoia. A few days before Dickens suffers a stroke, he reveals a secret about Drood.
Drood will appeal to fans of historical fiction, thrillers, mystery, horror, and fans of the movie/play Amadeus as Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins have a Salieri/Mozart-like friendship.

Beautifully Broken

by Courtney Hilden

The latest episode of True Blood continues each of the separate storylines the audience has been watching. Lafayette shows Tara what happened to his mother (and answering the question of what Lafayette does with all the money he makes off of V), Jason and Andy bust a meth lab, Sookie continues to search for Bill, and Sam reunites and bonds with his family.
Lafayette's Mom was the most interesting part of the episode, since she brought a subtle crazy to her character. (And also illuminated why Tara's Mom is such a pain in the ass.) The friendship between Jason and Andy continues to be both funny and sweet. Meanwhile, the audience got to see a flashback including Eric and Godric. It's a pity Godric is dead, because he is far more interesting than so many of the other vampires, since he is so much more cool-headed than most of them. But Eric is no longer a one-note character, and beginning to see his vulnerability to Sookie, who he has some connection with but doesn't know how to express.
The most boring parts of this episode? The main characters: Bill and Sookie. Bill has been kidnapped by the King of Mississippi and Sookie tries to desperately search for him. At this point, it seemed obvious that Lorena was going to show up, though not that he would try to burn her with what looked like a kerosene lamp.
Although this episode is important in terms of setting up other storylines for the show, it was, for the most part, boring. It's almost too bad there are so many storylines in the air right now, because it would be better to just follow the interesting characters, and leave others to rot with the King of Mississippi.