The Pen Behind Lestat (Anne Rice in general)

Member Name: carolinesite

Product:	Anne Rice in general
Date:	23/03/01 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent writer of dark novels with great historical backgrounds

Disadvantages: None

Howard Allen O’Brien was born in New Orleans on 4th October, 1941. She is best known as Anne Rice , and of course for her gripping novels about Vampires, which she calls the Vampire Chronicles.
In 1957, her family moved to Texas, and here she met her husband, Stan Rice, at High School. They were married in 1961, and a year later moved to San Francisco.
In 1966, Anne gave birth to their first child, Michelle, but she died of leukaemia in 1972.
Anne wrote her very first novel in 1973, Interview With The Vampire, which took her 5 weeks to write incidentally. This was not published until 1976, after the novel was sold.
In 1978, Anne gave birth to Christopher, a son, and then goes on to write the novel, The Feast of All Saints.
Between 1983 and 1985, Anne writes under different pen names. These include: Anne Rampling (Exit to Eden and Belinda), and A.N Roquelaure (The Beauty novels).
It wasn’t until 1985 that she finally wrote the sequel to Interview With The Vampire, calling it The Vampire Lestat. Since then she has written many more books in the Vampire Chronicles, which include:

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1976)
THE VAMPIRE LESTAT (1985)
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED (1988)
TALE OF THE BODY THIEF (1992)
*MEMNOCH THE DEVIL (1995)
PANDORA (1998)
ARMAND (1998)
MERRICK (2000)
BLOOD AND GOLD (to be published this year)

(*Anne’s favourite)

Anne and her family moved back to New Orleans in 1988, and still live there now, in a beautiful house on First Street. Many of the places she has lived have been included in her novels.
Interview With The Vampire was made into a film in 1994, which she had also written the screenplay for. She was not very happy at all with the casting. Armand, who was played by Antonio Banderas, was supposed to be a young 17 year old boy with red hair, and Tom Cruise was not tall enough for the character he played (Lestat). She has recently been
granted permission to remake the film. The motion picture of her novel Exit to Eden, published under her pen name, Anne Rampling, was also released this same year.
Her second novel in the Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat, has been with Warner’s for over 2 years, and they have not done anything as yet with the script. Her third Chronicle, Queen of the Damned however, has just been completed and awaits the directors cut.

Anne has also earned fame for her Mayfair Witches novels, which she writes between the Vampire Chronicles. These include:

THE WITCHING HOUR (1990)
LASHER (1993)
TALTOS (1994)

Other novels to her credit include:

THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS (1979)
CRY TO HEAVEN (1982)
THE MUMMY (1989)
THE SERVANT OF THE BONES (1996)
VIOLIN (1997)
VITTORIO THE VAMPIRE (1999)

The Servant of the Bones is about a ghost called Azirel. Anne has based this character on Antonio Banderas, as a tribute. She thought he looked great with his long black hair in the movie Interview with the Vampire, but he was not acceptable to her for that particular role.

Anne herself, is a very outspoken woman. She has been known to openly criticise a restaurant in her local newspaper, written to President Clinton, and has urged people to vote for Al Gore in the US election. Her health is often very poor, as she suffers with diabetes and has been hospitalised in the past. Her husband, Stan, is a University Professor and a writer of poetry, and her son has had his first novel published too.
She has many fans, and has a fan club called: The Anne Rice Vampire Lestat Fan Club. They meet up for a coven party once a year, and Anne usually attends.
The fan club web site address is:
http://www.arvlfc.org

Anne also has her own web site, and although she does answer fans questions on it, she really doesn’t have anything else to do with it.
It is mainly centred around what she is
up to and what she is working on. There are also items for sale, such as bookmarks and mugs etc., oh, and a limited edition Lestat doll. It’s not the best in design, but it does have a picture of her beautiful historical house on the opening page.
http://www.annerice.com

Anne also accepts fan mail to her home, but rarely replies herself. You can write to Anne at this address:

Anne Rice
1239 First Street
New Orleans
LA 70130
USA

Although she used to allow visitors to her grand home, she does ask that you respect her privacy if ever visiting the area.

I really hope that her health stays with her, and that she will go on writing the great books, like the ones I have been reading at present. I also hope that Warner Bros. pull their finger out and make the sequel movie to Interview with the Vampire.

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