Anne Rice, the famous gothic writer from New Orleans has passed. Best known in the mainstream world for Interview with a Vampire and Queen of the Damned, which were turned into movies, Rice was a pioneer in the vampire genre. She was also well for her erotic novels and ironically enough, her Christian literature.
I stumbled across The Vampire Lestat in high school, while perusing Goodwill for books. (what is it about teenage girls and vampires?) Reading Rice was way above my experience level and introduced an entire world of literature I didn’t know existed. Her stories changed my expectations for what a good book was and started a life long obsession with gothic literature, vampires and binge reading. Thanks to the person with a passion for reading vampire books and then donating them to the Goodwill, I was able to spend years immersed in the deliciously wicked worlds Rice created.
Through her wide repertoire spanning 40+ books across 40+ years, Rice introduced us to vampires, devils, angels, demons, witches, body thieves, and ancient tribes, all while setting us up for a love affair with her native New Orleans.
Rife with it’s own folklore and magic, New Orleans and the swamps of Louisiana provide the perfect gothic playground for many of Rice’s novels. As a kid who’d never gone south of Albuquerque or experienced more than rocky mountain deserts, the descriptions and tales spun out of the south were captivating and intriguing. The first chance I got, I took a trip to NOLA and thoroughly enjoyed every ghost tour I could book.
Thank you, Anne, for inspiring a life time of reading and exploration into unfamiliar realms.
Hops & Lit 