Salon.com > Anne Rice http://www.salon.com Wed, 30 May 2012 10:39:24 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Anne Rice http://www.salon.com/2000/10/06/rice_4/ http://www.salon.com/2000/10/06/rice_4/#comments Fri, 06 Oct 2000 00:06:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/audio/2000/10/05/rice Who doesn't know the name Anne Rice? Author of twenty-one books, Rice continues to dazzle readers with her supernatural tales of vampiric romance. In her latest book, Vittorio, the Vampire (Random House Audio), the wealthy and educated Vittorio is seduced by Ursula, a beautiful vampire. Listen to an excerpt from this doomed young love story, set in the beauty of Renaissance Italy.

"Elegant & sumptuous, and as enjoyable as anything she has written...she provides a vivid picture of Florence in its Golden Age using the sumptuous paintings and architecture of the time as a glorious backdrop to her macabre tale." --Booklist

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2000/10/06/rice_4/feed/ 0 Anne Rice http://www.salon.com/2000/10/03/rice_chronicles/ http://www.salon.com/2000/10/03/rice_chronicles/#comments Tue, 03 Oct 2000 20:19:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/audio/2000/10/03/rice_chronicles Anne Rice's books are compelling amalgamations of history, philosophy and religion. She writes under three names: Anne Rice, Anne Rampling and A.N. Roquelaure. Her works include two historical novels, nine books in the Vampire Chronicles series, three books on the lives of the Mayfair Witches, "Exit to Eden," "Belinda," the Beauty series and various other novels. Her best-known work is "Interview With the Vampire," the first book in the Vampire Chronicles series.

Her latest, "Merrick," interweaves the world of witches with the world of vampires; it takes place in Rice's native New Orleans and the jungles of Guatemala. Rice has been called, in Salon, the "literary mistress of the dark, sensual and ineffable."

Listen to "Merrick" read by Derek Jacobi, and this interview with the Mistress of Darkness herself, Anne Rice.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2000/10/03/rice_chronicles/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/11/04/annerice_12/ http://www.salon.com/1996/11/04/annerice_12/#comments Mon, 04 Nov 1996 11:18:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/11/04/annerice Hello to Salon, to all my friends from all walks of life and from the astral plane.

Today is beautiful. New Orleans knows not winter. It is blue and lovely, but I will be leaving soon for Atlanta, where tomorrow we will be on "Talk Back Live" with Susan Brook and on "Ellen" on ABC-TV, but I won't see "Ellen" because I'll be signing at Oxford Books.

The Fan Club Ball: More to follow on this spectacular event Saturday night when I get back to my hard copy newsletter COMMOTION STRANGE, which is often downloaded online but is also for the online-less.

The ball was grand and gorgeous and beautifully handled by the fan club, at the old Fairmont Hotel with its high ceilings, chandeliers and ballrooms  a rather civilized and elegant contrast to the grand Memnoch Ball at St. Elizabeth's last year.

I had a lovely time dancing to old prom music (it was prom night for the witches, the ghosts and goths.)

Also, I moved among the crowd the whole time I was there, shaking hands, getting and giving lots of hugs and I felt love all around me like light. I love the readers so much.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/11/04/annerice_12/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/10/21/questions_10/ http://www.salon.com/1996/10/21/questions_10/#comments Mon, 21 Oct 1996 09:59:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/10/21/questions I have an 18-month-old daughter. Someday I want her to be enriched by books that challenge and intrigue her mind. I want her to be able to choose her own path in life enriched by the legacy literature has to offer. Any ideas on books to start buying now so that she has access to a library that will offer her choices and challenge her imagination?

— Joan Spreitzer

Thank you for asking about books for your daughter. I think that the books we read early in life leave an indelible impression. When my son Christopher was little, I chose very beautifully illustrated books with what seemed to me meaningful stories. He moved rapidly into novels on his own at an early age.

One thing that had tremendous influence on me as a small child was poetry. My mother read poems to me from the same book over and over again. My sisters and I had our favorites. We know them by memory now. We have sought out old copies of the very books. My mother told me once that she read us the poetry to give us a sense of "rhythm." It worked, but the poems were also narratives. I loved the plots of the poems.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/10/21/questions_10/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/10/21/annerice_11/ http://www.salon.com/1996/10/21/annerice_11/#comments Mon, 21 Oct 1996 09:49:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/10/21/annerice Hello to Salon from the foggy, cold streets of San Francisco.

At night I stood in my window and looked out at the deep sloped streets and the hundreds of bay windows, remembering back 30 years to my arrival in this city ... a young democrat, a young idealist, a wannabe great person. And now I return to appear at City Arts and Lectures, and to visit one of my favorite bookstores in the country: the unique Dark Carnival in Berkeley.

Well, the days have been chilly, with that severe cold that one can only find in San Francisco. But there has been a great rush of happy memories, and as always, the San Francisco and Berkeley crowds are filled with young and passionate students, writers and artists. I try very hard to feel love for this city, but what I feel more than anything is gratitude. I feel gratitude for those 25 or 30 years during which I learned that political activism could mean something, that I could be a real writer and a real pornographer, and I could, like so many other people in California, redefine my life in terms of my highest values.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/10/21/annerice_11/feed/ 0 Submit to Anne http://www.salon.com/1996/10/14/questions_9/ http://www.salon.com/1996/10/14/questions_9/#comments Mon, 14 Oct 1996 09:29:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/10/14/questions You mention you were like Louis when you wrote "Interview With the Vampire." But now, you are like Lestat. I, too feel I have changed from a despondent person to one in control of life. How can we help others like Louis find the way to some measure of control and happiness? Do you think Louis could ever change?

—Barbara Beck

I don't know how I made the transition from being Louis in "Interview with the Vampire" to becoming Lestat in "The Vampire Lestat." I don't think we can teach others to love themselves, have confidence in themselves, or necessarily stand up for themselves. I wish we could. I only know that it happened to me, and publishing my books was no small part of it. Seeing my work in print, knowing I had accomplished three novels -- that experience alone brought me a sense of power.

One very significant aspect of the change of those years was this. When I was a struggling, unpublished writer in Berkeley, I had a knack for making alliances with fellow "victims." Once I began to work with people in New York publishing, I encountered, perhaps for the first time in my life, people who reward success rather than failure.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/10/14/questions_9/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/10/14/annerice_10/ http://www.salon.com/1996/10/14/annerice_10/#comments Mon, 14 Oct 1996 09:17:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/10/14/annerice Hello to Salon. Greetings from a sweet October day in New Orleans. I am on the eve of returning to tour -- headed out tomorrow for a signing in Sacramento, California Tuesday night.

I will miss the bus! This leg of our tour will be minus our giant gypsy wagon, with Tony, the Tiger, our fabulous driver, and all the sweet vibrations of the big wheels as we rolled over America, mile by mile, through the waning green of the fall.

Alas, California! I will soon have the incredible experience of looking out of a hilltop window over San Francisco again -- a city in which I lived most of my adult life. And the view will inspire the inevitable life review in me. How much has changed since I left my Victorian house in the Castro District there? What have I contributed to life on this earth? Does the love outweigh the hurt to others? Are the books better?

At this moment, still comfortable in my jam-packed study, among last year's wigs on Styrofoam heads, and books on the Bible, I feel the books since 1987 have been better -- richer, closer to what I really want to say.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/10/14/annerice_10/feed/ 0 Submit to Anne http://www.salon.com/1996/10/07/questions_8/ http://www.salon.com/1996/10/07/questions_8/#comments Mon, 07 Oct 1996 09:10:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/10/07/questions Anne, do you ever feel pop culture tarnishes and misunderstands your work even though it tries to embrace it?

-- Robert John Sturycz

Dear Robert:

Pop culture really embraces my work without prejudice. People of all ages do understand it. They really do. They get the message. I'm convinced of this from my phone line, the letter, and what I see and hear at my signings.

The people who snub my work do so because they haven't read it and they think
it's "just pop culture." I couldn't care less if they see my work as
"tarnished" by its popularity. If I'm pop culture -- if that's the reason for
having readers from all walks of life, from trailer parks and mansions,
universities and Dairy Queens, if I have evoked in them profound emotional
reactions and even life-changing moments as they say I have -- then I'm happy
to be part of pop culture. The really sad thing today is that the Literary
Elite have NOTHING to give the culture.

POP CULTURE IS OUR CULTURE and it's rich, diverse and wonderful.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/10/07/questions_8/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/10/07/annerice_9/ http://www.salon.com/1996/10/07/annerice_9/#comments Mon, 07 Oct 1996 08:56:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/10/07/annerice did you see the president squash Dole on Sunday night? How
could the commentators say it was a "tie?" Our president was forthright and
kept his temper as Dole did the usual Republican nonsense of generalities and
cheap shots. When Dole compared Clinton to his dead brother Kenny, it was
almost too much for me.

But the Republicans don't think we're smart, do they? They think we don't see
through that kind of cheap crap tactic. They've always threatened us as if
this country was a corporation and they were the board of directors and we were
a bunch of stock holders who ought to mail in our proxy votes.

For God's sake, on November 5th, cast your vote for President Clinton.

When I think about the problems we're facing in the future -- the work that
has to be done in welfare, education, the war on crime and drugs -- it freezes
my blood to think of anyone but Clinton at the helm. Dole can't begin to live
up to the job.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/10/07/annerice_9/feed/ 0 Submit to Anne http://www.salon.com/1996/09/30/questions_7/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/30/questions_7/#comments Mon, 30 Sep 1996 08:13:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/30/questions In this world of uniformity, how do you protect and nurture the rich, dark flower of your imagination? Your writing feeds the souls of your readers. As with all great literature -- you're the Dickens of our times -- your books provoke the shock of recognition, one spark of the universe knowing it's not alone in the vast ocean of conformity. Thank you for the deliciousness of my being able to sink into one of your "Beauty" books on a bitter Montana winter night, when it's 40 degrees below zero and the wind is howling up snow.

In an interview, I read that you write "stained-glass" literature, where the characters are lit from within by these small, faint illuminations of insight, and in more bold and dramatic strokes, vividly throbbing with life. Could you please elaborate on this?

--Karin Khan

Dear Karin:

Thank you for your sensitive words. It's no secret that I want to make the books as nearly perfect as I can, or that I want to deal with great themes. I do not remember saying that my work was like stained glass. Perhaps I said this long ago in an interview. But I certainly do work with bold strokes, no question, and always have.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/30/questions_7/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/09/30/annerice_8/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/30/annerice_8/#comments Mon, 30 Sep 1996 08:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/30/annerice I am home now again, having been to Hollywood to appear on "Politically Incorrect "( I loved it!) and to do some work on the "Ellen" show which will air on October 30th. It was powerfully exciting. But California is not the place for me. My world is here in the south. I feel more akin to Elvis and Graceland than I do to Seattle grunge or Linda Ronstadt or Steven Spielberg.

Regarding Mel Gibson: As I recently told you, I hold "Braveheart" to be one of the finest and most profound movies I've recently seen. And I did make a very great attempt to reach Mel Gibson personally to ask him to direct "The Witching Hour". I was not successful. Through those close to him, he reportedly declined to direct "The Witching Hour" but was most gentle about it and most tactful. He has just begun a new picture, I think. I did not press to see him once I received the formal and polite and gentle rejection. I still believe he is one of the greatest and most daring directors we have and that "Braveheart" will influence films forever.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/30/annerice_8/feed/ 0 Submit to Anne http://www.salon.com/1996/09/23/questions_6/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/23/questions_6/#comments Mon, 23 Sep 1996 19:29:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/23/questions Why do you think that your Sleeping Beauty series is so well-received
in the Midwest? It's true -- I've met so many people who just loved it
(as did I). Are we that repressed in the Midwest, or so starved for the
extraordinary?! I know that midway through the second book, I was
captured by the story. I couldn't wait to see what happened to Beauty on
her adventures, let alone the sexual aspect of it!
-- Beth Anne Ellis

Beth Anne, The Sleeping Beauty series is really well-received all over. I
think its success in the Midwest was due to a book club. At publication time, it was
offered through the "adult section" of this club, and was widely ordered in
areas where bookstores perhaps would not have carried it. Anyway, this last
tour confirms my impression that it is a gentle and embraceable pornography for
the people who eschew real violence. Its my gilded dreamworld for visitors who
want only to have a good time and hurt no one.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/23/questions_6/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/09/23/annerice_7/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/23/annerice_7/#comments Mon, 23 Sep 1996 18:44:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/23/annerice 12:30 a.m. on the morning of September 16th, after the
fastest drive from St. Louis to New Orleans in history.

Dear Salon readers, Internet freaks, computer hackers, listeners, readers, ships passing in the night.

And so we are home again. I sit in this upstairs room, and out of the magnificent speakers to my right pour the liquid brilliance of Leila Josefowicz's Tchaikovsky violin concerto in D. Having come down from Montreal and Ontario, through New York, Chicago, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, I am at last at my own keyboard surrounded in this vast 15-by-15-foot room with all the vivid accouterments of madness.

On a high bookshelf to my far right stands a glass-eyed statue of Our Lady of Fatima with an exquisitely modeled face -- purchased from the Carmelite Sisters at their recent auction. Also from this auction there is the Crucified Christ on his black cross, high above me, another lovingly fashioned religious symbol for which the modern day church seems to have no passionate use.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/23/annerice_7/feed/ 0 Submit to Anne http://www.salon.com/1996/09/16/questions_5/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/16/questions_5/#comments Mon, 16 Sep 1996 18:31:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/16/questions Anne, you mentioned that Sister Helen Prejean of "Dead Man Walking" fame was present at your first signing for "Servant of the Bones" and I was curious what you talked about with her. I'm also curious about your stand on the death penalty.

--Philip Ho

Regarding Sister Helen Prejean, I had the pleasure of meeting her for only a few moments. I greatly admire her dedication and that she is working in old St. Alphonsus Parish, in which I have a great interest. But we really did not have a chance to talk very much together. And regarding the death penalty, each case must have its day in court. In general, I approve of the death penalty. However, Sister Helen's compassion in "Dead Man Walking" was an inspiration. I, myself, would have shot Sean Penn as soon as I met him. I have great admiration for Sister Helen Prejean. In light of what she has done, I must reexamine my values. By the way, she also signed books on August 1, the day that I had my first signing for "Servant of the Bones." She was a complete sellout. She is greatly admired and respected and has many, many fans of her own.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/16/questions_5/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/09/16/annerice_6/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/16/annerice_6/#comments Mon, 16 Sep 1996 18:18:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/16/annerice our bus trip continues to be spectacular. We made three wonderful stops in Memphis. We were mobbed in Little Rock and in Oklahoma. We loved it. We were overwhelmed; grateful. This tour is invaluable in that it is teaching me about Middle Americans. In Tulsa and in Oklahoma City, it was clear that my novels were respected as very spiritual, almost religious, works. In the heart of the Bible Belt we encountered some of our most dedicated readers and some of our most interesting questions.

Everywhere now, some people ask us about headdresses. We wear jeweled headdresses made by Cindy Ridgeway. We discovered them only just before we left, and they have been a sensation with the readers, for they suggest the Babylonian theme of Servant of the Bones. Recently, people have asked how they may reach Cindy. Cindy's company is Cerridwen's Creations. Cindy's telephone #: 504-948-7271. She has an Internet address also -- chainmailjewlry@accesscom.net. These headdresses are worked with semiprecious stones and fine handwork in metal. They have made such an impression that I can't help but wonder what would have happened if we had not run into Cindy two days before we left on the tour.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/16/annerice_6/feed/ 0 Submit to Anne http://www.salon.com/1996/09/09/questions_4/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/09/questions_4/#comments Mon, 09 Sep 1996 17:47:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/09/questions
You are well on your way to being a full-blown national celebrity,
rightfully so. In what way has your commercial success affected your
personal life? Also, how do you deal with the more zealous fans? On your
signing tour for "Lasher" here in Phoenix, I noticed you were very
tolerant of people touching, almost mauling you.

-- Tracy Owen-Jones

My personal life is not much changed by the popularity of the books. As always, I spend most of the year at home in New Orleans,
reading and writing in my own office library, ordering tons of books on
philosophy, archaeology, history, UFO's, etc., by mail. My family is in New
Orleans -- including my husband's people and cousins of mine beyond count.
Mardi Gras and Christmas mean big
reunions and parties. I almost never go out for dinner. All this is very
much as it was before. Only the scale has changed. In the old days, my near
relatives in San Francisco were only a handful; my parties were simpler and
cost less for food and drink. But in many respects , it's the same life.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/09/questions_4/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/09/09/annerice_5/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/09/annerice_5/#comments Mon, 09 Sep 1996 11:49:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/09/annerice what astonishes me on the road is how many people in the Midwest like my
pornography, and my most difficult and peculiar novels, "Cry to Heaven" and "The
Witching Hour."

I'm also in decent health because we are traveling by bus.
Therefore, I get elated at the signings. I truly love my readers. It's as if we're
engaged in an ongoing conversation. It's astounding to see -- out here on the
road -- that all kinds of people read for pleasure.
Nurses, doctors, servicemen, students, truckers, lawyers. It's proof that
Mario Puzo was right, that nothing takes the place of reading. People
want and
need books. They need books to carry them out of routine and to give them
unusual knowledge, or extraordinary pleasure.
From Montreal through New York, through Vermont, through Ohio and on and on,
I've seen that people crave writing. TV and films are not enough -- and never
will be -- to turn people away from the written story.

Our biggest book signing may have been in Louisville last night. I
love it. If a signing doesn't last at least five hours, I get frightened.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/09/annerice_5/feed/ 0 Submit to Anne http://www.salon.com/1996/09/02/questioins/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/02/questioins/#comments Mon, 02 Sep 1996 11:19:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/02/questioins
Why don't you write any strong, unusual female characters? All of the
important vampires were male, and even the all-female Mayfair witches were
subservient to the male spirit Lasher. Your female characters are either
silly cartoons (like Mona Mayfair) or stereotypes (the battered woman
syndrome of Rowan Mayfair). Your best female protagonist to date has been
the vampire-child Claudia, but she still didn't have the depth and range
of your male characters. The absence of strong women in your
fiction is rather sad, considering you're such a successful woman
yourself.

-- Trystan L. Bass

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/02/questioins/feed/ 0 Anne Rice's “Servant of the Bones” Diary http://www.salon.com/1996/09/02/annerice_4/ http://www.salon.com/1996/09/02/annerice_4/#comments Mon, 02 Sep 1996 10:50:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/09/02/annerice we are presently in Chicago and our two signings, one in Detroit and one here, have been long, exciting and extremely emotionally rewarding for me. The big, gold bus carries us through miles of cornfields and then into the crowded, energized and always exciting streets of Chicago, a city of indefinable spirit. Again and again people embrace the theological questions of "Memnoch" and "The Servant of the Bones." More and more, readers volunteer that they are Jewish or Catholic, or have a passionate spiritual obsession with living a worthwhile life. They seem to "get" just what I want them to get while finding the books page-turners.

As far as I can tell, "The Servant of the Bones" is being devoured. "Memnoch the Devil" is mentioned the most by people I meet, and it seems a countless number of young people enjoyed "The Mummy." That's what I hear out here. It's thrilling more than exhausting. On the bus, I can wallow in Antonio Banderas movies -- males are my muses, no doubt about it.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/1996/09/02/annerice_4/feed/ 0 Submit to Anne http://www.salon.com/1996/08/26/questions_3/ http://www.salon.com/1996/08/26/questions_3/#comments Mon, 26 Aug 1996 08:52:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1996/08/26/questions

in "The Vampire Lestat," when Lestat discovered Claudia had been
burned to a cinder, he tells Armand to scatter the ashes... to which Armand
replies, "Didn't you want justice?" This implies that Claudia did not
actually die per se, this is reminiscent of when Magnus leaped into fire
and threatened to hunt down Lestat if he did not scatter the ashes... this
confuses me, it left an opening for Claudia to return... yet she was never
reintroduced... and I'm curious why this opening was left in the book if
you did not intend to resurrect Claudia.

--Jesse Fenrison

Dear Jesse:
In "Interview With the Vampire,"
Claudia's ashes are scattered along with her golden hair as Louis and Santiago fight each other. So whatever Santiago says to Armand about it later is not actually relevant. As for Claudia's returning, we know she can return as a ghost. And ghosts are surrounding me. There is such beauty in grimness. But ghosts are often so intimate. What is
better? To be alone or to be haunted?

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