Anne, Lestat, and Me

Today I found out that my most favorite-est author in the whole wide world has a new book coming out featuring the cooliest character ever to be written. And yes, coolest was deliberately spelled with an "i". I'm talking about Anne Rice and the October publication of a new Lestat book, called "Prince Lestat". Go, read about it here if you haven't already heard; I'll wait.

I told Bill and he said "Oh yeah?" in that I'm excited for you because I know how much this means to you way but it really sounds like a response to me telling him I bought pickles on sale. This from a guy who counted down the days until the new Halo game came out for X box.

Anyway, I once met Anne at a book signing when she came to the Barnes & Noble in my little NJ town. I went straight from work to the book store and was the 7th person on line. It was 3:30 and she was due around 6:00. As anyone who knows me knows, I'm not one for waiting and I'm not big on lines either but for something like this I can certainly muster up the patience. So I grabbed some carpet and got comfortable, which included me chatting up the people around me.

Anne was gracious and kind. She smiled as she signed books, posed for pictures, and even chatted a bit. Nothing how you'd expect the queen of vampire novels to be. When it was my turn I asked her to make it out to: Sandy and my son, Christopher.

Anne: That's my son's name.
Me: I know. Mine is only 2 months old so I'm going to put this away for him until he's old enough to read it.
Anne: How wonderful.

The book is still stored away for now. I'm waiting until Chris is a little older. I might let him watch (edited versions) of Kill Bill but I still think Anne Rice is a bit inappropriate for a 10-year old. I was at least 13 when I first read "Flowers in the Attic".

I've been a fan of Ms. Rice since the early 90s when Cindy, one of my college roomies, introduced me to the Vampire Chronicles. "You should read this series about a bad boy vampire." she said. With such a selling point, how could I refuse? So I went to the local library and took out "The Vampire Lestat". (Yes, I read them out of order, but in my defense this is how roomie referred the series to me.) "Start with Lestat's book first. It's kinda his reply to the first book, which is more about Louis." she said. Several days and 560 pages later I was hooked. I immediately took out "Interview With the Vampire". And I haven't stopped reading her books since. Thanks, Cindy, for starting me on the path to blood-sucking bliss with the Vampire Chronicles! And thanks, Anne, for writing such great literary entertainment!