Twilight fades, Anne Rice is immortal

caption id=”attachment_304″ align=”alignright” width=”291″ caption=”The Vampire Chronicles”][/caption]

After taking some time off, I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and to a brighter 2011!

During one of my deadline-free days, I was channel surfing and found myself stopping at a documentary about Anne Rice. As I was watching, I was reminded how much I loved her book “The Witching Hour” and dug it out of my archives (yes, I still have real books, not e-books). I had not read any of her stuff in a long time (have not been doing much reading at all lately, honestly) and decided I wanted to read through her Vampire Chronicles this year. I would read each one as it was released, and it seemed to me the quality went steadily downhill as the series progressed. I am curious to see if reading them all together will change my view in that regard.

For anyone who loves to read, loves a good gothic tale, loves the mystique of New Orleans, or loves history in general, the Vampire Chronicles is a great way to spend an evening reading by candlelight (even though it’s hard on the eyes). In the age of the poorly written, poorly acted, bubblegum pop of Twilight (don’t even get me started), there seems to be a whole new generation of young people interested in tales of the supernatural. Why not steer them to a series of novels that are more challenging, better written, and actually explore the human (and non-human) condition?

I had the opportunity to meet Anne Rice during her book tour for “Servant of the Bones,” and found her to be surprisingly warm and engaging. As one of my favorite authors (flaws and all), my hope is that her recent rejection of organized religion and exploration into historical Christian writings means she is contemplating a return to the supernatural world that her career’s foundation is built upon.

A side note: When it was announced that Tom Cruise would be starring in the 1994 film adaptation of “Interview With The Vampire,” I was almost as horrified as Anne Rice herself. And, like Rice, I was surprised (amazed, really) at how good he was in the role of Lestat. It has since become one of my favorite movies of all time, with what I feel is a nearly perfect blend of stunning visuals, character explorations, humor, and atmosphere. I would highly recommend checking it out if you have not yet seen it