Welcome to 30 Days of Must Read Authors! Every day throughout June one of our VIPers (Jenn, Susan Or Melanie) with occasional comments from the others will present one of their favorite authors and the series or series' they recommend! Hopefully you will find some new books and new authors to love!
Day 19 - Anne Rice - from Melanie
Author name: Anne Rice
Genre(s) they write: Paranormal, Gothic, and Erotica (originally under the name A. N. Roquelaure)
How I found the author: I was 11 and wandering through the library looking for something new. I didn't know what, but then I found Interview with the Vampire. I guess that is probably where my obsession with vampires really stems from. This was just after her second book The Vampire Lestat had been released and I remember having to go on the waiting list for that one!
Why people should read: I think this series is a must read (the earlier ones anyway - but more about that later) for anyone who loves the vampire genre. These really were the books that opened the door to the vampire literature we have today. Yes, there were other series out there, but none (since Dracula) that had really taken the mainstream by storm. Even now, almost 50 years later, her stories are being made (butchered) into TV series!
Recommended Series 1: The Vampire Chronicles - My first vampire love was (and will probably always be) the Brat Prince himself, Lestat. Although the first book is (annoyingly) told from Louis' point of view, the rest of the series follows Lestat, including book two giving us the story of the many, many years before the blip that was Louis. The writing style is not for everyone, but I adore it. The lore, the imagery, the sheer beauty of the first 10 in the series I revisit often. There is so much in there that will never make it to the screen (and having seen the adaptations that is probably a good thing), but people will never meet the tragic "Nicki", and his beautiful violin music (which those paying attention may notice I have mentioned before).
And for years Lestat was quiet, and most fans thought that was all we would get. Anne was off writing other things, we had already had the Mayfair Witches and their inevitable crossover into the vampires world, there were some spin offs with the stories of some of the vampires we had already met, there her weird mini obsession with wolves (that I pretend never happened), and of course her dip into religion, which also did not appeal to me. Then, suddenly, 11 years after the last musings we had read from Lestat, a new book was released. Prince Lestat! He was back to fill us in on everything that had been happening. Now this new book received very mixed reviews, but then so had the last few before Lestat went quiet before, but personally I liked it. You could tell that things had changed, and Anne definitely needed her editor back (something that in her later years she deemed unnecessary and her name held such revere that the publishing company allowed it). That being said I loved the book, perhaps for sentimental reasons, but it felt like visiting an old friend. But things didn't stop there ..... Then came the book that RUINED it all. It broke my heart to the extent that I couldn't bring myself to read it. After 40 years of Lore for some reason, near the end of her life, Anne decided to throw all that away and just create a whole new theory. SORRY THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. I won't lie, I was more than a little heartbroken and was just pleased I had seen the spoiler so I didn't read it. I did relent and read the final book published, and whilst I am sort of glad I did, I sometimes wish I hadn't because the beauty and elegance was definitely not there. OK time to cut myself off, so I will leave this by saying the first 11 books in the series, remain must reads, in particular my favorite, Memnoch the Devil poses interesting philosophical questions that would appeal to anyone who enjoyed the TV show Lucifer. It does, in fact, pose many of the questions presented in that show. Maybe that was part of the reason I love that too.
Recommended Series 2: The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy And now for something COMPLETELY different! Just over 20 years ago when I was visiting Greg (before I moved here), he took me to Barnes and Noble, where I saw a book by Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure. As I adored all things Anne at the time I picked it up without so much as glancing at the description and threw it into my carryon to read on the plane. Well let me tell you, this was not the Anne Rice I was expecting. This is flat out dark erotica and it wastes no time getting into it (I mean we are starting at about page 3 lol). This was nothing like I had ever read before, A Sleeping Beauty reimagining that was so dark, but also very compelling. For those that like their reading on the less sexy side THIS IS NOT FOR YOU! This is super graphic, everything on display, BDSM, I mean literally everything, so much so that originally she didn't publish it under her own name as she didn't want her family to know that she had written it. ( The name Roquelaure means cloaked in French).
The "secret" covers that people have now, that are safe for work without the sexy people on them? This cover was plain black even all those years ago, honestly I don't even know WHAT they could put on the cover that could begin to give any hint of what was to come. This is an erotic trilogy and if you like erotica I highly recommend this. Anne did write a couple of other standalones in the genre (Like Belinda), but none delved into complete depravity like this trilogy did.
Conclusion: As much as some of the choices Anne made writing wise later in life did not sit well with me, I have to admire that her work with vampire literature was so groundbreaking and I 100% believe that we would not have the wonderful story options we do today, had she not taken that chance.
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December 2023
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