I'm going to cheat a bit and boot in a few Anne Rice posts from old topics to start things off.
This topic is obviously for everything Anne Rice.
Almost noone is lukewarm on this subject, so release the splendor!

Most everyone who knows me knows that I am a big Anne Rice queen, so naturally the last two books I read, on vacation last month, were Merrick, the new Mayfair Witches/Vamp Chronicles edition, and then the charming Pandora, which I had missed thus far.

I have nothing but admiration for this great modern writer, and if you have somehow missed her books all these years, start and you will have years of catching up to do. The Vampire Chronicles are riveting and justly famous, but for johnny and I she has never topped the Mayfair Witches books, especially the first of them, the masterful Witching Hour.

I also adored The Feast of All Saints, which is fascinating for all the detail on New Orleans and the Free People of Color, the connections between haiti, Paris and New Orleans, and the intricate quadroon mistress system that was so much a part of N.O. life.

In the same vein... (sorry )

Does this prove the existance of Vampires?

http://www.fvza.org


XXXOOO
Satori

a friend gave me Interview with a Vampire, and it sat on my shelf for over a year. one night i casually started reading it, and immediately wanted to know what happens. i have since read everything she has written, most recently Vittorio the Vampire. i believe there is a hard cover out now on Marius, Lestat's fabeled mentor.

i too think The Whitching Hour was nothing short of epic. Rowan Mayfair is a fascinating character, but for me, and seemingly for Anne, Julian is the key to the mystery and power of the Mayfairs. i keep hoping she will go back to his era, and give us some more of him, as well as old new orleans.

i also think that Gabrielle (Lestats mother) is worth a story.

i have told many a friend that i think tranny's are so vampiric, coming out at night to feed their feminine lust. Anne's vampires, living on the fringes of society, are beautiful, powerful, and tragic. on many levels, the same can be said of "the girls".

i missed Queen of the Damned in the theatres, but how could it equal the book. i will, however, go rent it at the video store as soon as it is available!

love, kim.

I am an avid Anne Rice reader. She is one of my absolute, favourite authors becuase she writes about sexual identity and eroticism (while telling a complex and [often] supernatural story), without confining her work to the social norms of our dull society.And so it may be due to that, that I disliked the Movie version of Queen of the Damned. I thought as a movie it fit the expectations of movie go'ers but for those that read the book it was just ridiculous. The ommission of important characters and the twisting of other characters altared it so much, that in my opinion it should have had a different title. At any rate, I just thought I would be a yenta and share my opinion.
Much Luvin,
Andro

When you really begin to delve into the Mayfair Witches books, you may also become obsessed by the Talamasca, the secret society of vampire/witch protectors and researchers that permates the books, and eventually spills over into the later Vamp Chronicles as well.

Their motto:

Investigators of the Paranormal
We watch
And are always here.

There are certain similarities between the Talamasca and our extended tribes-

From a Talamasca site

quote:

---

The Talamasca, meaning "Animal Mask" from the Latin, are a secret society, set up, as their calling card says, to watch the paranormal in action. The name Talamasca was also an old term to describe a witch or a shamen. Their basements are filled with records of phenomena such as Witches, Spirits, Werewolves and of course Vampires.

Welcoming people with paranormal powers to visit them, occasionally they become aware of individuals with particularly strong powers, these people are investigated and offered a place with their group, but are not obliged to accept the position, though almost invariably they will.

The Talamasca demand complete obedience, loyalty and devotion from their members.

---

I have heard that Anne plans to do a whole book on the Talamasca someday! Meanwhile, fellow followers of Dutch 16th-century Talamasca legend Petyr Von Abel may be interested in attaining this doll, available on Anne's site.



http://store.yahoo.com/annericecollection/mayfairs.html


More Mayfair:

If you are obsessed by the Mayfair dynasty, you'll enjoy this geneology site on the Mayfair clan-

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~stst/genealogy/Charts/Witches/

Caveat-
DONT visit if you haven't gotten through at least Taltos - it gives too much away.

First of all let me just say the Vampire Chronicles are GORGEOUS. So sensual, and when reading the passages in Queen of the Damned involving Armand and Daniel (the human interviewer of Interview) I still get so hot that I have to throw down the book at some point and jack off. I confess I've only read the first three: Interview, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. Of these three, Queen of the Damned is my favorite, because its like those special issue comic books where all the superheroes come together to fight some larger enemy. I also love the ongoing bickering-husband-and-wife relationship of Louis and Lestat that carries through from book to book. I agree Gabrielle RULES and deserves her own book. Rice creates such mystique, such otherworldly intrigue and makes New Orleans seem like the most exotic place on Earth.

Kimmi - your comparison of the vampires to the trannies is so apt and brilliant. Glamourous creatures of the night that come out only after dark, living on the fringe of society, and alternately feared/loved/hated by the mainstream populace.

It is extraordinary, and I believe it is AR's favorite of the Vamp Chronicles. The ending is so revelatory, it stays with you forever and re-appears at times in your mind. The Vampire Armand is also well worth reading, though not the same kind of masterpiece.

Of her related works, I also enjoyed Pandora - she is one of my favorite characters in any AR (I also adore Marius and agreeing with kimmi - Julian - my absolute star among the AR stable.)

I would like to report here, among friends, that I seriously think my husband is a vampire - we all know he is ageless and I have also seen him fly in Lestat-like through my upstairs window, most notably in Greece last year!

I'm the "One Who Must Be kept"

Yikes, honey! I will have to read it now after your recommendation. A read that will undoubtedly take me down to the very depths of HELL. I've just embarked on a Carson McCullers tangent, but afterward I'll turn back to Anne ....

this will apply. This ALWAYS comes to mind when I have dealings with less than pleasant people. As this refers to The Webster Hall madness, but comes from an Anne Rice book, I wasn't sure where to post. I post it here because if you read it here, it might mean more:
"...She was a lady to the tips of her fingers, having imbibed the principles of gentility for the very best and most profound of reasons: that gentility makes life graceful and good. That gentility depends in its truest sense upon respect for others, love of others, it is the daily practice of charity refracted into manners..." - Anne Rice from The Feast of All Saints

Which Anne Rice character (any book) would you most like to sleep with and why.

Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas are not Anne Rice characters by the way!

A three-way with Armand and Daniel, the mortal interviewer. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Their erotic scenes from Queen of the Damned are the sexiest in the whole Vampire Chronicles if you ask me.

I wouldn't mind going down on Akasha, the Queen of the Damned herself. If she really looked like Ailiyah did in the movie.

Though I may get caught up in the foppish romanticism of the vampyres, I have never found them to be my sexual turn on. However, I do find Michael Curry- Rowan Mayfair's beau, husband, and father of her child in the Witching Hour- to be the total dream(boat); he was the one who had to wear leather gloves because otherwise he could feel all the emotions within the objects touched by those before him. Who wouldn't want a 48 year old curly-haired rich Irish construction worker daddy who is rough and ready, but very into his lady at the same time, and most importantly he smokes cigarettes without any shame. Somewhere in the book there is a passage that describes how when they had sex, his cross was hanging right above her head as he was pounding her. So hot for the witch Rowan...and for the reader!

quote:

---

It was swift and violent, the way she loved it, the giant mahogany bed sturdy as if it were carved in stone.
p. 845

---

Mine, from first mention, with an increasing attraction for the charachter as he has developed throughout the series, would be Marius.

Why? All the obvious: artist, intellect, master/keeper, mystery ... But I guess it all boils down to a David Lee Roth lyric: "Hot for teacher"

Lestat, Louis, all ofthe Paris coven and of course for marius to fly me away to his island lair and nusre me back to health in his caring loving arms.

Beauty!!

and Di Too!



T

I agree, Michael Curry (Mayfair) is the one. Rowan had it right with blue-collar sex. And, a bonus for me, he is the one least likely to run off with another man.
Lastly, he seems to be the one that is the hardest to get in bed (aside from some of the All Saints characters). Challenge for me!

funny...
Michael Curry (Mayfair) is the character closest to Robert Flowrider.

I have many great things I wish to accomplish today (as every day). But I wanted to share my copy of Pandora with Mother's Rice Queens -- especially in timing with this coming event.

This book means a great deal to me. In addition to it's amazing beauty, the purchase of it taught me one of the most valuable lessons in my life with regards to appreciating the quality of my life.

Like most actually, I grew up quite poor. The year before I went to college (1989), my mother made $2000 for the year, the whole year. The few things we had, she cherished beyond belief and like most children, I constantly ruined most of these possesions just being a child.

I went through college on academic scholarships, but the awareness of my low social significance was exemplified when I arrived at Boston University -- the most expensive private college in the country. I won't bore you with the details of how I got through that first year, I'll sum it up with this: pity from rich kids and the faculty mostly.

I now earn, thanks to this education and not necessarily because of it, a fair wage for using skills I enjoy flexing. But I am not wealthy, in fact, I am no where near it. I'm 30 and I still don't have a enough money to open a savings account. ... But, when in New Orleans, I came across this book for $175 and I wanted it. I really, really wanted this book in particular.

I have credit, but rarely use it. I decided after a rather agonizing hour and half (poor D.), that I could not afford it. I went home quite beaten, but the beauty of the city comforts the poor and after an enjoyable evening in the quarter, I had that night a sound night's rest and the most wonderous dream -- immediately, first thing the next morning, I returned to the store and I bought the book.

And finally, the very important point of my sharing all my financial details with you: Not a day goes by, that I don't look at this book and think -- "I own art. I actually own art. Me. I've reached this point where I actually own this unique one-of-a-kind creation of an artist that I have my whole life adored."

That feeling, which hasn't diminished a day since owning this book - is worth so much more than the $175 I spent for it (which was easier to pay back than any bill or trendy fashion tag I've used it for) ... The value of art and what it adds to your self-worth and your quality of life; I urge you -- buy art. You can afford it. It's not just for the rich anymore. Don't let your friend give you their CD -- buy it. Underground films starring artists you know (from these very rooms) are online for sale -- buy them. Williamsburg truly full of talented young artists in the midsts of exploring themselves -- visit the galleries: but stop at a restarant on the way home. All the walls are stocked full of art you probably can afford. If you like it, it's worth taking a look at what it costs and the artist who made it.

Rice Queens -- I hope this didn't disrupt the chatty and fun banter ... Perhaps, this I can try to restore, what I really want to know, is if anyone is into any of the female charachters? and why?

[This message was edited by TonyaKnudsen on 10-20-02 at 03:57 PM.]