Anne Rice Passed Away

[HeyAll]

https://twitter.com/AnneRiceAuthor/status/1469921605216133121

If you haven't already, check out her work. She's one of the great masters. I highly recommend Interview with the Vampire and the sequel "The Vampire Lestat."

I also recommend "The Wolf Gift" and its sequal, which are werewolf books.

If you use Audible, look up anything narrated by Simon Vance, who is an incredible narrator and elevates the stories to a different place.

 

[JGittes]

I can't recall the specifics right now, but she had a great, explicitly erotic series of novels under a pen name. She and Anais Nin were my introduction to proper erotica back when Penthouse Letters were my most easily accessible smut.

 

[KeithD]

I can't recall the specifics right now, but she had a great, explicitly erotic series of novels under a pen name. She and Anais Nin were my introduction to proper erotica back when Penthouse Letters were my most easily accessible smut.

Anne Rampling and A. N. Roquelaure.

 

[Djmac1031]

Absolute legend. Loved the Vampire Chronicles.

She is now, like her creations, immortal. Her work will live forever.

 

[lovecraft68]

Couldn't be a horror fan without checking out her work-for any interested in anything other than the vampire books check out the Mayfair witch series- but I'm in the minority of people who didn't care for her , her characters were all too whiny and self pitying for me.

But no one can argue with the success and legacy of her creations, and its sad to see someone who created such an ever lasting body of work pass regardless of my personal opinions.

 

[sally_sparrow]

This is sad news. It's been years since I've read anything by her. I'll have to change that shortly.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sad news.

Interview with the Vampire is one of the more interesting vampire novels, because it gives the reader the vampire's perspective. I read it a long, long time ago, probably late 70s, not long after it came out, when I was a teen. I read it around the same time I read Stephen King's Salem's Lot, another great vampire novel, although completely different. Salem's Lot is an excellent horror thriller, which builds suspense as vampires begin to take over a small town in Maine. Rice's book, on the other hand, spans over 200 years of the life of a vampire who tells his story to someone who doesn't believe him (at first). If you are into vampires and haven't read these books, I recommend them.

Rice understood the sensual, sexy side of being a vampire, and I think that's part of what made the books so successful. Later, she wrote a series of books starting with The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, with a BDSM twist on the traditional fairy tale, under the name R.N. Roquelaure. I recommend it if you are interested in erotica that combines fantasy and BDSM.

RIP.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Aw, that's a shame.

I loved IwtV, although I lost interest in the series a couple of books in. Anne Rice had her failings - she was kind of notorious for being very thin-skinned about criticisms of her work, in a way that isn't proportionate or healthy for an author as successful as she was. But from what I've heard she also had a lot of love for her readers.

 

[KeithD]

I neither read her books nor saw the movies--no choice; it just didn't happen. That her writing and literary influence still established itself in my mind indicates how dominant she was in the field. I think from what I did know of her vampires that this was an influence on mine when I started including vampires in my erotica.

 

[Wifetheif]

I neither read her books nor saw the movies--no choice; it just didn't happen. That her writing and literary influence still established itself in my mind indicates how dominant she was in the field. I think from what I did know of her vampires that this was an influence on mine when I started including vampires in my erotica.

While her passing is sad and she was an accomplished writer. She always fell silent when the name Richard Matheson was raised in her presence. Everything about her vampires, save the first-person perspective comes from Matheson's novel, "I Am Legend" Why vampires don't react to crucifixes, why they react to garlic, water, mirrors, that they are created by a virus or germ in the bloodstream. There is, of course, no crime in borrowing from another author, but at least SOME acknowledgment is only fair.

 

[DanDraper]

How long after her death until we're allowed to make jokes about her coming back as a vampire?

I think she would appreciate that as long as it's done in good taste.




.....

 

[KeithD]

While her passing is sad and she was an accomplished writer. She always fell silent when the name Richard Matheson was raised in her presence. Everything about her vampires, save the first-person perspective comes from Matheson's novel, "I Am Legend" Why vampires don't react to crucifixes, why they react to garlic, water, mirrors, that they are created by a virus or germ in the bloodstream. There is, of course, no crime in borrowing from another author, but at least SOME acknowledgment is only fair.

Were his vampires erotic? That other stuff isn't literary, it's technical minutia for the geeks.

 

[Bramblethorn]

While her passing is sad and she was an accomplished writer. She always fell silent when the name Richard Matheson was raised in her presence.

No, she didn't.

I just ordered all Richard Matheson‘s short stories because I wanted to revisit a lot of that material. I mean, his story “The Dress of White Silk” is about a little vampire talking in the first person, a child vampire. I heard that story when I was maybe a 10-year-old or 11-year-old child, and I’m sure a seminal seed was planted there that later resulted in me writing Interview With the Vampire, with the child vampire Claudia, so I owe Richard Matheson a lot.

- Anne Rice, 2012 interview in Lightspeed Magazine: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/interview-anne-rice/

Everything about her vampires, save the first-person perspective comes from Matheson's novel, "I Am Legend" Why vampires don't react to crucifixes, why they react to garlic, water, mirrors, that they are created by a virus or germ in the bloodstream.

I don't think this is right either. It's been a long time since I read The Vampire Chronicles, and I stopped at book 3, but I don't recall any kind of germ-based explanation for vampirism in that series. The explanation given in "Queen of the Damned" is supernatural, involving evil spirits and witches IIRC. I also don't recall Rice's vampires having any particular issue with garlic, water, or mirrors.

Is it possible that you've mixed the series up with some other author?

There is, of course, no crime in borrowing from another author, but at least SOME acknowledgment is only fair.

...which she did.

Were his vampires erotic? That other stuff isn't literary, it's technical minutia for the geeks.

Guilty as charged...

I wouldn't say that Rice invented the idea of sexy vampires - Sheridan le Fanu's "Carmilla" has distinctly crush-y overtones, for instance, and plenty of people have managed to interpret "Dracula" as sexy regardless of Stoker's intentions. But she was certainly a huge influence in popularising it.

Not that anybody asked, but IMHO arguments about "first book in X genre" tend to be fruitless, because genres almost never spring fully-formed into existence. They evolve from previous genres piece by piece, and the "first" of a genre usually depends on where exactly one chooses to draw an arbitrary line. "Major influence on genre" is a more useful concept to discuss, and Rice most certainly was that.

 

[Abbafan]

https://twitter.com/AnneRiceAuthor/status/1469921605216133121

If you haven't already, check out her work. She's one of the great masters. I highly recommend Interview with the Vampire and the sequel "The Vampire Lestat."

I also recommend "The Wolf Gift" and its sequal, which are werewolf books.

If you use Audible, look up anything narrated by Simon Vance, who is an incredible narrator and elevates the stories to a different place.

I like the first two books you mentioned, but lost interest in the series with the third. Seems to be the case with a few people in this thread.

I did like how her vampires tended to see being immortal as a curse as the years went by. I don't think its the first vampire story to touch on that, but she got into it a little more deeply, that living forever could get to be a drag after a while.

Of course, her stories often had some erotic qualities which Literotica readers might enjoy. She wrote one story about people visiting a BDSM club. That's about all I remember about it other than it being made into a movie that did pretty poorly, starring Dana Delaney iirc. I should give it a watch if for no other reason than Delaney.

I might check out some of her other books. She did do other things, not just vampire stories. There was one about a coven of witches, I think, that looked interesting but I never got around to.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't think this is right either. It's been a long time since I read The Vampire Chronicles, and I stopped at book 3, but I don't recall any kind of germ-based explanation for vampirism in that series.
I wouldn't say that Rice invented the idea of sexy vampires - Sheridan le Fanu's "Carmilla" has distinctly crush-y overtones, for instance, and plenty of people have managed to interpret "Dracula" as sexy regardless of Stoker's intentions. But she was certainly a huge influence in popularising it.

Not that anybody asked, but IMHO arguments about "first book in X genre" tend to be fruitless, because genres almost never spring fully-formed into existence. They evolve from previous genres piece by piece, and the "first" of a genre usually depends on where exactly one chooses to draw an arbitrary line. "Major influence on genre" is a more useful concept to discuss, and Rice most certainly was that.

I stopped after Vampire Lestat. It was entertaining but a big step down from Interview, which was a truly groundbreaking vampire novel. To me it felt like it was motivated by the opportunity to make money -- the motive behind almost all book and movie franchises.

I don't remember a "germ theory/vampire explanation" either, but I only read the first two novels.

Nobody has dibs on the "sexy vampire" concept. It's an inherently sexual/sensual mythic idea.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I stopped after Vampire Lestat. It was entertaining but a big step down from Interview, which was a truly groundbreaking vampire novel. To me it felt like it was motivated by the opportunity to make money -- the motive behind almost all book and movie franchises.

I don't remember a "germ theory/vampire explanation" either, but I only read the first two novels.

Nobody has dibs on the "sexy vampire" concept. It's an inherently sexual/sensual mythic idea.

My reaction was similar - Anne Rice clearly thought Lestat was a very interesting character, and I didn't, and wasn't really sold on the "everybody in the universe loves Lestat" road trip. I stuck it out to the end of QotD to see if it picked up again, and it didn't. I understand Anne Rice put a lot of her husband Stan into Lestat, which may account for some of that.

A lot of my friends are in the film of QotD. They filmed a concert scene in Melbourne, and hired the local goths as extras, but didn't quite know what they were getting into. The extras were better dressed than the stars, and started taking the mickey out of one of the actors who was the son of a well-known crooner here.

 

[macymadison]

Reading

Anne Rice’s Beauty series was my introduction to erotica. I thought Exit to Eden was extremely spicy back then and it probably was for a teenager. Belinda was a love story but the underage part made it erotica. In my opinion, her most erotic book was Cry to Heaven. It’s a standalone and contains no vampires at all but it’s beautifully done.

https://twitter.com/AnneRiceAuthor/status/1469921605216133121

If you haven't already, check out her work. She's one of the great masters. I highly recommend Interview with the Vampire and the sequel "The Vampire Lestat."

I also recommend "The Wolf Gift" and its sequal, which are werewolf books.

If you use Audible, look up anything narrated by Simon Vance, who is an incredible narrator and elevates the stories to a different place.

 

[Scareltt]

T.S. Eliot said it best!

While her passing is sad and she was an accomplished writer. She always fell silent when the name Richard Matheson was raised in her presence. Everything about her vampires, save the first-person perspective comes from Matheson's novel, "I Am Legend" Why vampires don't react to crucifixes, why they react to garlic, water, mirrors, that they are created by a virus or germ in the bloodstream. There is, of course, no crime in borrowing from another author, but at least SOME acknowledgment is only fair.

T. S. Eliot once said that “good writers borrow, great writers steal.”

I just downloaded “The Claiming Of Sleeping Beauty.” I’ll read that next, I’ve never really been into vampires so I really don’t know anything about her work.

 

[AlinaX]

I fell in love with IwtV when I read it in the 80s. I don't know if it was the start of my love affair with vampires, but if not it cemented it.

I was just talking to someone else about how in urban fantasy it's common to have an underworld unperceived by the mass of mundane humanity, and this was certainly true of Sonja Blue but was the case also for IwtV and its sequels. By centring the narrative on the vampires, we get to glamourise them and avoid questions of morality. We see beauty and power and immortality, and only glimpse the devastation in their wake.

In Carmilla and Dracula, there is some eroticisation, but it's viewed through human eyes and as unnatural and fundamentally evil. Even the bisexuality so common in these and other works is there to emphasise the wrongness. In Coleridge's Christabel, the dog barks its warning...

Behold! her bosom and half her side—
A sight to dream of, not to tell!
O shield her! shield sweet Christabel!

Where am I going with this? I guess, though I'm not sure, that Anne Rice was first to divorce the power, beauty and eroticism from the evil and its brutal consequences, and give us a romantic fantasy rather than a gothic horror.

 

[46n2]

Is that even possible?

I know this is cheap but...

I'm sure she's been bitten.

And if she wasn't then the rest of you have been so like many outstanding authors - it all lives on forever.