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B&N Book Clubs - Anne Rice: Vampires, Witches, and More - Center Stage: Anne Rice - Book Clubs
Vampires and Witches
Vampires hadn't had much of an original treatment since Bram Stoker;
So when Anne Rice unveiled Interview with the Vampire and its subsequent companions, she reinvented a subgenre and attracted rabid fans.
Her intense, often melodramatic stories are not for cynics, but no one has injected such modern spice and interest into the legend.
See all titles in The Vampire Chronicles.
The Mayfair Witches series features the fictional Mayfair family in three books -- The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos.
They're a tight-knit and deeply connected family, where the death of one strengthens the others.
One Mayfair witch per generation is also designated to receive the powers of "the man," known as Lasher.
With the help of the Talamasca (documenters of paranormal activity) and a Taltos (a sorcerer who combats evil witches), the story of the Mayfair family moves through London, Scotland, and New Orleans as they declare all-out war on Lasher.
With Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle, Anne Rice fuses her two uniquely seductive strains of narrative -- her Vampire legend and her lore of the Mayfair witches -- to give us a world of classic deep-south luxury and ancestral secrets.
Other Anne Rice Titles
The Feast of All Saints In pre-Civil-War New Orleans, a group of mix-raced slaves are liberated by their owners but confined to a life of political nonexistence and social subordination.
Still, an aristocracy would emerge in this society whose talents and reputations would extend far beyond the limits of their small world.
Meet Marcel, the sensitive scholar;
Marie, his sister whose curse is to pass for white;
Christophe, novelist and teacher, the idol to many, and stunning Anna Bella, whose allure for the well-to-do white man would become legend.
Cry to Heaven Enter the exquisite and otherworldly society of the eighteenth-century castrati, the delicate and alluring male sopranos whose graceful bodies and glorious voices brought them the adulation of the royal courts and grand opera houses of Europe, men who lived as idols, concealing their pain as they were adored as angels, yet shunned as half-men.
The Mummy In the early 1900's, archaeologist Lawrence Stratford discovers the perfectly preserved mummy of Ramses the Damned.
Little does Stratford know that Ramses has consumed an extraordinary potion that makes him immortal upon contact with the powerful rays of the sun.
Transported to London, Ramses takes on a human guise.
All goes well until Reginald comes across Cleopatra, his long-lost love, under glass in a museum.
Unable to bear the sight of his Queen on gruesome display, he decides to bring her back to life ...
A decision he will forever regret.
Servant of the Bones Rice takes us into the Biblical world of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the destruction of Solomon's Temple, to tell the story of Azriel, Servant of the Bones.
He is ghost, genii, demon, angel -- pure spirit made visible.
He pours his heart out to us as he journeys from an ancient Babylon of royal plottings and religious upheavals to Europe of the Black Death and on to the modern world.
There he finds himself, amidst the towers of Manhattan, in confrontation with his own human origins and the dark forces that have sought to condemn him to a life of evil and destruction.
See all Anne Rice titles and editions.
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After reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles I was inspired to pick up a pen and write myself.
I've always loved writing little poems and short stories but I have actually written a novel about a vampire...though it's not quite finished.
Just wanted to give Kudos to Anne Rice for being such an awesome writer with such a vivid imagination.
Thanks Anne!
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I was handed Interview with the Vampire when I was 14 by a friend and I was told I'd probably enjoy it.
They were right, and I have been a fan ever since.
I love the worlds that are created so completely and easily in each novel.
Anne is the reason I have made it a goal to visit both Paris and New Orleans.
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Ms. Rice - I'm so excited to see that you're going to be joining Center Stage!
I've read many of your novels and each has envoked a unique reading experience for me.
One of my favorites is Servant of the Bones.
I love the journey you take Azriel on and am interested in hearing how you created this character.
He's fascinating and as a Christian, the biblical framework of this novel was surprising to find but very much enjoyed.
I've also read the Vampire Chronicles and found myself wondering on many occasions of your personal spiritual beliefs due to various characters and events in the novels.
Given there are already several posts regarding your transition from vampires to Christ, I'll not repeat the questions I have as they're very similar.
I have not read the Christ is Lord series yet but have added it to my wish list for the future!
Again, welcome to Center Stage and thank you in advance for your time!
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I have to say, Ms.
Rice, that from your photograph you don't look at all like the kind of person who would revel in vampireism!
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Everyman ---- I'm not a person who ever reveled in vampirism.
Vampires for me are entirely literary constructs.
I know little about the vampire fiction coming out today.
My vampires were metaphors for lost souls.
And when I think of the way my vampire novels were constructed, I have to confess there was no reveling in it.
--- One of the saddest things for me as a writer is that my Vampire Chronicles are often misjudged by people who haven't read them;
They assume that they are Satanic or about the occult.
Not so. They are metaphysical thrillers more than anything else.
And the readership, thank Heaven, is a broad and interesting one.
---- But I thank you for your comment.
It gives a chance to emphasize that "vampirism" was never of interest to me.
I don't believe vampires exist and have little experience with people who do.
Again, it was a literary adventure for me, my vampire novels.
It was a philosophical venture.
Learn more about Called Out of Darkness.
Discover all Anne Rice titles.
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Anne, I think the reason your books about vampires are popular is that they are, as you said, metaphysical thrillers, and not of the occult, or Satanic.
I like the idea of vampires as being lost - have you read SE Hinton's Hawkes Harbor?
Very interesting take on vampires.
I have to admit, I've never read anything quite like it- it evoked quite a bit of pity.
Stephanie
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Chiannaa --- Congratulations on writing your own novel.
The world needs new voices, new stories, new characters.
If you won't write the classics of tomorrow, who will do it?
As for writing about vampires, I've found in my life that there has been a dramatic downside to this, that many people and critics have been reluctant to take my novels seriously because they thought they were "just vampire novels." For me the supernatural novel was a great vehicle for talking about reality.
And I've always found this dismissal frustrating.
However there is overwhelming evidence that my readers, even though they don't agree on much, do get the messages in my books, so I'm grateful for that.
---- I hope you write the novels of your dreams.
That's the only way to do it.
Learn more about Called Out of Darkness.
Discover all Anne Rice titles.
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Dear EVANAI -- If my books have inspired you to visit Paris and New Orleans, I'm thrilled.
Over the years, I've put a great deal into my novels about my travels through Europe, Greece, the Middle East and Haiti.
And I've also included a lot about painting and music.
I'm delighted when readers reference these aspects of my work.
As I said in an earlier answer, I always saw my novels as vehicles for talking about reality.
The supernatural elements were metaphorical.
Learn more about Called Out of Darkness.
Discover all Anne Rice titles.
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Dear LucNesbitt --- I'm glad you mentioned Servant of the Bones.
But when I look back on it, I don't think I was ready to write that novel.
As you know it concerns the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, and their return to the Holy Land.
I don't think I had learned enough about the Bible to write that book accurately.
But the contemporary story in it, of the spirit Azriel, who is the Servant of the Bones, was very important to me and very exciting to write.
The book did well, but does not seem to touch readers as much as my others.
Again, I'm pleased you read it.
If I did it over again, I'd do the Babylon part better.
I was traveling a journey back to faith then, and the survival of the Jews was fascinating me, but I didn't get the historical part exactly right by any means.
I could have done better.
Learn more about Called Out of Darkness.
Discover all Anne Rice titles.
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I have to confess, I loved your Vampire series.
When reading them I always thought that there was so much more to them .
I always saw them (the characters) as searchers, looking for meaning and reasons as to why and what was happening in their lives.
I also loved your rich imagery and how well you defined your characters, if I closed my eyes I could visualize them.
I thought your preference for vampires had to do with losing your child to leukemia and questioning why her.
I loved your rich descriptions of New Orleans, which I have visited many times.We even had an Anne Rice book group which was divided, some preferring the Witches, the rest of us preferring the Vampires.
Trying to convince each other led to many lively discussions.Thank you for sharing your talent.
bmbrennan The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
Socrates
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Anne, I'm not the type of person who usually reads novels about vampires etc.
I read your books for the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual journeys the characters go through.
I've actually learned a lot about myself reading your books and have actually been known to put the book down and have to process the emotions it brought up for example, when Lestat begins to scream in the "witches' place" when he doubts there will ever be a "judgement day" for the people who were put to death unjustly for witchcraft.
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Drqlane --- You mention a scene in The Vampire Lestat, where the hero, still human, and very young, goes crazy when he thinks there may never be a judgment day for those who have done evil, never be a reckoning for those who have suffered, that we may die without ever knowing what all this was about.
That was a very important part of the book to me, because it expressed an experience of my very own: going nearly out of mind when I contemplated a godless world in which anything could happen.
--- It was one of the most autobiographical scenes I ever wrote, Lestat's terror of the void, of the absurd, of the nothingness.
--- I'm glad you responded to it, because it is the best encapsulated explanation of what the Chronicles were always about: roaming in the dark, grieving for meaning.
And sometimes I think that I pursued my atheism with a religious fervor.
And that's why it took me so long to come back to faith.
---- I wish I could touch every soul who is going through that terror;
I wish I could tell every one: The Lord is there.
Talk to Him. Talk to Him until you hear Him talking to you.
Don't stop. Just keep talking to Him.
--- Don't give up.
--- One can't explain the return of faith in a rational way;
It's arbitrary. One person looks at the universe and sees chaos and raw process.
Another looks at it, as I do, and sees God.
I wish I could share the joy of my vision now, my faith, my trust, which is so key to my faith.
In a way, I guess I am trying to share it in the books I'm writing now.
Learn more about Called Out of Darkness.
Discover all Anne Rice titles.
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