These Days, Anne Rice Prefers Angels

[Kind of Blue]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120431150
Audio is available if you want to listen :)

HANSEN: What attracted you to angels?

Ms. RICE: Well, I think angels are incredibly mysterious, probably as mysterious as vampires, if not more so. And Ive also been fascinated with movies about angels and stories in which angels interacted with humans. So, this is something I wanted to do for a long time, write a novel in which an angel is a real character.

HANSEN: Now, Malchiah is a seraphim. And there are different levels of angel. This seraphim seems to have a different existence than your characters, the guardian angels that we see.

Ms. RICE: Toby has a guardian angel of his own probably, but Malchiah steps in because he wants to recruit Toby to work for him in sort of a special mission on earth. And we get the idea, at least I got the idea fictionally, that special people sometimes require or invite special angels.

[murielm99]

1. I posted in the lounge recently about her return to religion,

which apparently made her stop writing her vampire books. If that is so, it is sad. I loved her vampire books.

I don't think there was anything wrong with her writing erotica, either.

[I Have A Dream]

2. Yes, I agree, muriel.

I like that she's now interested in writing about angels, but if she stopped writing the other things only because she felt that it was sinful, that makes me sad because religion is controlling her, at least in my opinion.

[Angel Wings]

3. hmmm...yeah

I hope she stopped writing them because she got really interested in another topic and not because of another parties dictates.

[Kind of Blue]

5. Yes, correct!

If you're interested in her reasoning, I've posted a very, very small portion of her essay in reply to Murielm99, but here's the link

http://annerice.com/Bookshelf-EarlierWorks.html

I think Anne has found spiritual growth within Catholicism.

[crikkett]

13. spiritual growth, and lots of material to work with!!

I wonder if it isn't normal that Anne lost interest in erotica and vampires. I wonder if it's because she's gotten older and the hormones aren't as active as they used to be. People change as they age, focus on different areas of life.

[Kind of Blue]

6. Well, from her essay, sin is not the cause.

And she strongly defends her previous books. Here's another snippet.

"Much could be said, and has been said, about all of my works. I would like to say that the one thing which unites them is the theme of the moral and spiritual quest. A second theme, key to most of them, is the quest of the outcast for a context of meaning, whether that outcast is an 18th century castrato opera singer, or a young boy of mixed blood coming of age in ante-bellum New Orleans, or a person forced into a monstrous predatory existence like the young vampire, Lestat. For me, these themes are inherently significant and noble themes. They are worthy of exploration; they are evocative; they can and do reflect the deepest questions that humans face.

Yet, somehow, my earlier novels have been dismissed out of hand -- by people who haven’t read them -- as 'immoral works.' They are not immoral works. They are not Satanic works. They are not demonic works. These are uninformed and unfair characterizations of these books, and this situation causes me deep personal pain."

[I Have A Dream]

8. I'm glad to hear this. It makes me much more likely...

to look at her other works.

Thanks for the information, Blue.

[Kind of Blue]

10. You're welcome!

Though I kind of struggle with my "inner Catholic," still reconciling the past and the present, her essay really helped me not dismiss her because I think she's just great.

[Kind of Blue]

4. I used to follow Rice's website

and was able to find an essay of hers she'd written about her transformation I read a while ago. If you're interested, here's a link and a snippet.

http://annerice.com/Bookshelf-EarlierWorks.html

"For me, the entire body of my earlier work, reflects a movement towards Jesus Christ. In 2002, I consecrated my work to Jesus Christ. This did not involve a denunciation of works that reflected the journey. It was rather a statement that from then on I would write directly for Jesus Christ. I would write works about salvation, as opposed to alienation; I would write books about reconciliation in Christ, rather than books about the struggle for answers in a post World War II seemingly atheistic world.

My books reflect now, as they always have, what I see and feel and struggle to understand."

Oh yes, the Sleeping Beauty series was something else! I had to buy 3 sets of them because each borrower never returned them, so I stopped talking about it :rofl:

[murielm99]

12. This is good to know.

I am glad she is not denouncing her earlier work.

[Mist]

7. I've written her off since her "re-Catholisization." Oh well, she's written enough

to keep rereading her without total boredom. I wish she'd written a bit more on the Mayfair witches.

[Kind of Blue]

9. Oh, my! The Mayfair Witches!

Mm-Mm good! :) I loved that book and the sequel Lasher, but was really disappointed by Taltos. To me, she'd given her all in the first two and kind of quickly wrapped up the third just to be done with the series. But I'm thinking of rereading Taltos because my husband is a history buff retelling over and over again his Celtic history/heritage, so I have a different view now of it that's so well-included in the history of the Witches.

[Mist]

11. I agree with the story getting short shrift in Taltos. Rice spent a lot of time

building up the character of Ash, then he abruptly departs. He turns up later in Blood Canticle (I --think--that's the one) to be mentioned briefly by his children. She really stiffed us on the rest of Ash's story.

[lildreamer316]

14. Ah! Looks like I have a book to add to my wish list.

Thanks for the mention; sounds right up my alley. :)

[Kind of Blue]

15. The Witching Hour

The Mayfair Witches
The Witching Hour

"The first in the Mayfair Witches series, The Witching Hour introduces the fictional Mayfair family of New Orleans, generations of male and female witches. This tight-knit and deeply connected family, where a death of one strengthens the others with his/her knowledge. One Mayfair witch per generation is also designated to receive the powers of "the man," known as Lasher. Lasher gives the witches gifts, excites them, and protects them. Unsure as to exactly what this spirit is, the Mayfair clan knows him variously as a protector, a god-like figure, a sexual being, and the image of death. Lasher's current witch is Deirdre, who lies catatonic from psycological shock treatments."

more at http://annerice.com/Bookshelf-TheWitchingHour.html This summary does not do the book justice. Rice is thorough in her storytelling and I hope you enjoy it :)

[I Have A Dream]

16. Update...

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6_IvGffNdxY

[Kind of Blue]

17. oH, MY. I will check this out the

first chance I get later. Unfortunately, it didn't load - just a black page. I know Rice's site has her YouTube videos, I hope it works there.

Thanks so much IHAD!

[I Have A Dream]

19. Hmmm... wonder why it wouldn't load for you.

Here's the DU post about it with the link in it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=491136&mesg_id=491136


Its subject line pretty much says it all:

Young Turks: Anne Rice Slams Anti-Gay, Anti-Democrat, Anti-Feminist, Anti-Science Christians


I immediately thought of you when I saw it, Blue. :D

[Kind of Blue]

21. Wow! I think Anne Rice just became a Christian.

:rofl: I mean in the real sense by slamming Anti-Gay, Anti-Democrat, Anti-Feminist, Anti-Science...

She tried. She really tried and it seems to me that she's telling all the "Christians" who surround her to back off. I know they love her and must be very disappointed with her decision. Love it.

Thanks for the link, Dream!

[I Have A Dream]

22. That's wonderful, Blue!

"I think Anne Rice just became a Christian."

:applause:

[hermetic]

18. Anne Rice quits church,

"she says because of the venal rants of an anti-gay Minnesota preacher. She declared, 'I quit,' after reading a story about You Can Run But You Cannot Hide founder Bradlee Dean. (a smarmy little creep)

"Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group," she said. "For ten ...years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else."

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/07/ann_rice_quits.php

FYI, I am a huge AR fan.

[I Have A Dream]

20. Yes!

:applause:, Anne!

(:hi:, hermetic!)

[Kind of Blue]

23. Haha - I just read some of your link and stopped at

"Maybe commitment to Christ means not being a Christian. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become."

Can Anne talk the talk or what? Brilliant woman!

Thanks for the link, Hermetic.

[Kind of Blue]

24. Update-update.

Story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128930526
Audio: http://public.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2010/08/20100802_atc_09.mp3?dl=1

Unfortunately, it's not one of my segments to edit so I haven't listened to it yet.