
100000@namaste.cc.columbia.edu>
Anne
Rice have about her and her work.  It provides information that's useful 
for
both newsgroups and for talking with other fans in general.
To: Mike Ely <elymt@ucunix.san.uc.EDU>


Archive-name: books/anne-rice-faq

        INTRODUCTION

 Welcome one and all to a special Memnoch edition of the
 Anne Rice FAQ!  As you probably know by now, July is 
 *the* month for Memnoch so I, being the wonderful FAQ
 maintainer that I am, have acquired information about
 Anne's book tour which is the biggest change to this
 particular version of the FAQ.

 You'll also find that quite a few answers to old FAQ
 questions come with answers that Anne herself gave in
 Commotion Strange #3?  Is this because Anne saw this FAQ?
 No.  This is just because these really are frequently
 asked questions and Anne was nice enough to answer them.

 I know, I know, shut up and get on with the Memnoch info.!
 You'll find the information that was sent to me from
 Anne's publisher (and thus how I know that this is the
 correct information) under the questions about Memnoch.

 But first...

         TWO VERY IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS:
              1. This FAQ covers questions that are asked by both
         those new to Anne Rice and by those who have been fans for
         years.  Because of this, some of the answers to questions
         will contain SPOILERS for some of the books.  Since I cannot
         predict what will and won't be a spoiler for you and since
         it would be annoying to write the word SPOILER with every
         answer I instead tried to keep the questions visually
         distinct from the answers.  This way, you can read the
         question and decide if you want to know the answer without
         inadvertently ruining a plot twist for yourself.

              2. In my Internet travels I have found that quite a few
         FAQs tend to be dry and humorless.  This tends to ruin the
         fun of the FAQ both for the reader (namely, you) and the
         writer (namely, me).  I've tried to avoid this as best I can
         by writing this FAQ as though I were talking to you instead
         of just typing it out.  However, this means that sometimes I
         will write things that are tongue-in-cheek and I will also
         write things that are my opinion.  But I did make absolutely
         sure that the facts I write are accurate.  So, please keep
         in mind that if it sounds like a fact (such as "Anne Rice
         wrote some books.") it's a fact and if it sounds like an
         opinion (such as "They were all really good.") it's an
         opinion and should be taken as such.  Also keep in mind that
         all opinions are mine (Laura Troise) unless otherwise stated so 
         don't try to blame anyone else for them <g>.  (More on credits
         and copyright information at the end of the FAQ)

         With that said, let's get started. =)

 MINI ALT.BOOKS.ANNE-RICE FAQ:

 **So what's alt.books.anne-rice?

 Ah, a.b.a-r, where the women are women, the men are occasionally
 women (don't ask) and the chickens are frightened.  a.b.a-r is
 an internet newsgroup that was created for Anne Rice fans to 
 have a place to get together with other fans and let the mayhem
 loose.  On a.b.a-r you'll find threads about the books, the movies,
 stories, characters and more non sequitors than you can shake 
 a stick at.

 **How do I get a.b.a-r?

 If you have access to usenet, then you can probably subscribe to
 a.b.a-r.  Ask the person who knows the most about your specific
 computer system (which, btw, isn't me as I'm only barely familiar
 with my own specific computer system) to set you up.  And if they
 refuse, you are well within your legal rights to throw a temper
 tantrum.

 **Does a.b.a-r have any cool unofficial mottos or member names?

 I'm glad you asked.  Those on a.b.a-r tackled this very question
 themselves and the results where as follows:

 Member names:

 Ricean Scholars  The Great Family Ricecakes
 Anne's Children  Anne-archists  The Outcasts
 The a.b.a-r bunch The Weirdos  Rice-tafarians
 Darling dears

 Mottos:

 "Bite me" 
 "Normal? Us?" 
 "What are we?  Trekkers??"
 "They are NOT gay" 
 "Yes they ARE" 
 "Antonio, what's with the hair?"   
 "There are no such things as vampires"
 "The slightly confused gender group"
 "We're always looking for new blood"

 **Sounds amazingly cool!  I'm subscribing right now!  Is there
 anything I should remember before I start to post?

 Aside from normal common courtesy, just remember that not everyone
 has read every book (and that includes Interview) so be sure
 to include those SPOILER warnings where appropriate.

         ANNE RICE FAQ:

         **Who is Anne Rice anyway?

         Anne Rice, born Howard Allen (no, she didn't have a sex
         change, it's just a name) O'Brien on Oct. 4, 1941 is the
         wife of Stan Rice and the mother of Christopher Rice.  Known
         for her lush, gothic writing style, she is most famous for
         her series The Vampire Chronicles, though she has written
         many other books.  Anne's popularity comes from writing
         books that draw the reader into the time and place of the
         story.  She has also been very influential in changing the
         old myths and stories of the supernatural (Newsweek cited
         Anne's work as the reason why the movie of Bram Stoker's
         Dracula deviated so much from the original book).

         **So what has Anne written?

         Here is the list of the books Anne has written with
         their dates of publication.  Books that are in a series have
         been kept together and put under their series name.

         Under the name of Anne Rice:
         The Feast of All Saints (1979)
         Cry to Heaven (1982)
         The Mummy (1989)

         The Vampire Chronicles:
         Interview With the Vampire (1976)
         The Vampire Lestat (1985)
         The Queen of the Damned (1988)
         The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)
  Memnoch the Devil (1995)
  
         Lives of the Mayfair Witches:
         The Witching Hour (1990)
         Lasher (1993)
         Taltos (1994)

         Under the name of Anne Rampling:
         Exit to Eden (1985)
         Belinda (1986)

         Under the name of A. N. Roquelaure:
         The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (1983)
         Beauty's Punishment (1984)
         Beauty's Release (1985)

  Upcoming books:
  Servant of the Bones
  Morrigan

         **These names are a bit wordy, is there a shorter way of
         referring to them?

         Yes there is, but only for some of the books.  Others either
         have short enough names or just aren't talked about enough
         for a shorthand form to be necessary.  Here's how some of
         the books are referred to either in writing or conversation
         (and how I'll write them in this FAQ):

  Feast of All Saints--FOAS

  Cry to Heaven--CtH

         Exit to Eden--EtoE

         The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy--the Beauty books

         The Witching Hour--TWH (Though this series is known as the
          Lives of the Mayfair Witches, for some reason this title has
          not caught on.  It is referred to as the TWH series)

         Interview With the Vampire--Interview or IWTV (Note: some 
people
   will call IWTV "Vampire" but this is discouraged by most as
   the word "Vampire" can refer to far too many things in the series
   for the meaning to be clear.)

         The Vampire Lestat--Lestat, TVL

         The Queen of the Damned--Queeen, TQD, QotD

         The Tale of the Body Thief--Body Thief, TotBT

  Memnoch the Devil--Memnoch, Mem., MtD

         The Vampire Chronicles--VampChron (Sometimes it's written as
          VC but this often gets confused with The Vampire Companion
          which is called VC more often than VampChron is so VampChron
          is more common.  In this FAQ, VC will refer to the
          Companion, which I'll talk about later, only).

  Servant of the Bones (upcoming)--SotB

  Anne's newsletter, Commotion Strange, will be written as
  CS with the appropriate letter number besides it whenever
  I'm quoting from it directly.

        **What about other things like her short stories, audiotapes 
        of the books and what have you?

        For that you may thank Cheryl who tirelessly gathered the 
        following information.  I'm quoting directly from her
        letters to me here and things within [] are mine.

        HOW TO GET ON THE ANNE RICE LISTSERV

        Send a message to:  listserv@psuvm.psu.edu
        Don't put anything in the subject.  
        For the text, put only:  SUBSCRIBE ANNERICE firstname lastname
        You should get a confirmation request soon after, and can 
        follow the instructions there.

        WHERE TO GET AUTOGRAPHED COPIES OF ANNE'S BOOKS

        Garden District Book Shop
        2727 Prytania Street
        New Orleans, LA 70130
        Phone: (504) 895-2266
        Fax:   (504) 895-0111

        ANNE RICE VIDEO

        It's called "Anne Rice: Birth of the Vampire."  It's basically a
        biography of Anne, and has interviews with Anne, Stan, 
Christopher,
        and other relatives and friends.  It doesn't have anything on 
the
        IWTV movie.  You get to see Anne's house and several of the 
other
        New Orleans locations.  It was available in stores (I think they
        offered it with a paperback copy of IWTV), and was shown on
        Lifetime.

        [I've been given the info. about two places that sell this video 
        so I decided to include them both.  The Video Catalog includes a 
 paperback copy of IWTV, but I don't know if QPBC does the same.]

        1. Quality Paperback Book Club (QPBC)
        Camp Hill, PA 17012-0001
        Order # 429535.  $19.98 plus S&H

        2. The Video Catalog
        P.O. Box 64267
        St. Paul, MN 55164-0267
        1-800-733-2232
        Item # 40212.  $14.98 plus $3 S&H
 
        IWTV SOUNDTRACK

        Contains only the music composed by Elliot Goldenthal, and 
        "Sympathy for the Devil" performed by Guns N' Roses.  
        Contents: Libera Me, Born to Darkness Part I, Lestat's 
Tarantella,
        Madeleine's Lament, Claudia's Allegro Agitato, Escape to Paris,
        Marche Funebre, Lestat's Recitative, Santiago's Waltz, Theatre
        des Vampires, Armand's Seduction, Plantation Pyre, Forgotten 
Lore,
        Scent of Death, Abduction & Absolution, Armand Rescues Louis,
        Louis' Revenge, Born to Darkness Part II, Sympathy for the 
Devil.

 [Music that was in the movie, but not included in the soundtrack
  is as follows (thanks to Cynthia Hoffman who I'm quoting):

 Handel Harp Concerto in B Flat, opus 4, no. 6

 Antonio Soler Harpsichord Sonata in F Sharp

 Haydn harpsichord sonata in e flat major, adagio e cantabile
 (HOB XVI/49)

 the Handel is what played in the background while Claudia 
 was growing up; the 3d movement of the Haydn played in paris

 Beware; Fenton really did adapt some of these, so they sound 
 different than they did in the movie (but still recognizable)]

 IWTV SCRIPTS

 Book City Collectables
 6631 Hollywood Boulevard
 Hollywood, CA 90028
 tel. 213-466-0120
 fax. 213-962-6742

 You can get a copy of either Anne's script or Neil Jordan's.
 The scripts are $15 apiece with a $3.50 postage charge for the
 first script and $2.50 for each one after that.  CA res. add
 a $1.24 charge per script.

        GRAPHIC NOVELS

        I know for sure that IWTV and TVL were made into 12-part 
"graphic
        novels" by Innovation (I have these).  I've heard that QOTD,
        The Mummy, and TWH were also made into comics by the same 
company,
        but I haven't seen them myself.  I've heard that Innovation went
        out of business a while ago, but the comics can still be found
        in comic shops.  The 12 issues of TVL were also put together 
into
        a book.  I bought one the other week; it's called "Anne Rice's
        The Vampire Lestat: A Graphic Novel."  Based on the novel by
        Anne Rice.  Adapted and designed by Faye Perozich.  Painted by
        Daerick Gross.  It's softcover, $25, Ballantine Books,
        ISBN 0-345-37394-4.  I really like these drawings, much better
        than the ones for IWTV.

        [After Innovation stopped, a company called Millenium took up
 the books and produced graphic novels of The Mummy, Queen of
 the Damned and The Witching Hour.

 I've read interviews with Anne in which she is asked about the 
        Innovation novels and she said that she wasn't too fond of them
        as they made her vampires look like effeminate British rock 
stars.
        But you can certainly judge for yourself.]

        NEW BOOK OF CRITICISM

        It's called "Anne Rice" and it's by Bette B. Roberts of 
Westfield
        State College.  New York : Twayne Publishers, 1994.  173 pages.
        Hardcover.  ISBN 0-8057-3961-0
        Still haven't read it, but it looks like it summarizes each of
        her works through TOTBT and links them to the Gothic tradition.

        ANNE'S MAGAZINE ARTICLES

        "The Art of the Vampire at Its Peak in the Year 1876"
         Playboy, January 1979

        "David Bowie and the End of Gender"
         Vogue, November 1983

        "The Master of Rampling Gate"
         Redbook, February 1984  (Also in The Ultimate Dracula)

        AUDIOBOOKS

        These are from Random House Audiobooks, and I think they are all
        abridged:

        IWTV: read by F. Murray Abraham
        TVL: Michael York
        QOTD: Kate Nelligan (Lestat read by David Purdham)
        TOTBT: Richard E. Grant

 [There is also an unabridged audio version of TVL:

 The Vampire Lestat, by Anne Rice
 Recorded Books, Inc. (1-800-638-1304)
 Narrated by Frank Muller
 16 casettes/23.5 hours
 Recorded by arrangement with Random House Audio Publishing, Inc.
 ISBN 0-7887-0098-7]

        TWH: Lindsay Crouse
        Lasher: Joe Morton
        Taltos: Tim Curry

        The Mummy: Michael York

        Exit to Eden: Gillian Anderson and Gil Bellows

 [You X-philes will recognize Gillian as Dana Scully]

        Feast of All Saints: Courtney B. Vance

        Cry to Heaven: Tim Curry

        These are from Simon & Schuster:
        Claiming of Sleeping Beauty: Amy Brenneman
        Beauty's Punishment: Elizabeth Montgomery
        Beauty's Release: Elizabeth Montgomery
                          Christian Keiber as Laurent

        [Yes, *the* Elizabeth Montgomery from Bewitched.  

_
                             

         I had a hard time believing it myself.]

         **What about WWW sites?

         I know of a few which are worth a browse through:

         http://www.ee.pdx.edu:80/~caseyh/horror/new/new.html
         This one is full of .jpgs and .wavs from the IWTV movie.

         http://www.wimsey.com/~bmiddlet/vampyre/
         This one had a lot of vampire things in general.  I didn't
         have time to do more than a quick peek so all I was able
         to find in relation to Anne was a picture of Lestat from
         the movie, but perhaps someone more familiar with this
         site could let me know if there's anything else there.

         http://skynet.ul.ie/~chopper/ann_rice.html
         Though it misspells Anne's name in the address, this one
         had a great deal about Anne in it.  From the quick look I
         took, I was able to find a copy of the Mayfair Family Tree,
         an interview with Anne in Playboy and various .gifs from the
         movie. 

         http://www.xroads.com/pages/gpalmer/gpalmer.html
         This one was set up by Greg Palmer of a.b.a-r fame.  It not
         only includes the FAQ but various things about Anne and a few
         things specifically for those who are part of the a.b.a-r 
group.
         Definately worth a look see.

  http://www.eskimo.com/~ash
  Created by Heather who is also of a.b.a-r fame.  It primarily
  consists of the various works created by a.b.a-r members.  Also
  worth a look see.

  http://www.singnet.com.sg/~edwinlau/vampire.html
  Created by Edwin Lau, this site has, amongst other things,
  summaries of the nature of Anne's vampires, summaries
  of the history of Anne's vampires, and connections to other
  vampire and Anne related sites.

  http://ucunix.san.uc.edu/~elymt
  Created by Mike Ely, this site is dedicated to Anne Rice
  and also contains updated copies of this FAQ.

         **How much of Anne's real life is in her books?

         Quite a bit actually.  From the Mayfair house on First
         Street to the deck of cards that Lestat uses to play
         Solitaire, things from Anne's life turn up everywhere in her
         books.  The most notable example of this is the character of
         Claudia who was based on Anne's daughter Michele (Sept. 21,
         1966-Aug. 5, 1972) who died of leukemia.  It was Michele's
         death that inspired Anne to write Interview.

         **Why do so many of Anne's characters end up in New Orleans
         or San Francisco?

         Anne lived in both NO and SF for quite some time and she's
         very fond of them (esp. NO where she grew up and lives
         today).  She brings her characters there because of both her
         fondness and familiarity with the towns.

         **Does Anne really believe in vampires and witches?

         Anne has said that, while she does not believe in vampires,
         she does not rule out the existence of witches or ghosts.
         In fact, her house on First Street is supposedly haunted,
         though Anne claims she has never seen the ghost in question.

         **Why do Anne's characters use outdated PC programs?  You'd
         think they could afford better.

  From CS#3:
         "Guys, why are you always asking me why my characters 
         don't work on State of the Art Computer equipment. 
         They do! When Lestat wrote his bio, he was working 
         on what HARDWARE was out that year. And Mona had the 
         top of the line HARDWARE when LASHER was written? I 
         mean, I don't get it. Don't you guys like WORDSTAR?"

  I'm not sure if Anne realizes that our complaints 
  are about the *software*, but assuming that she does,
  I'll answer her question by saying that no one hates
  Wordstar in the sense that they were attacked by it as
  a child, but that it is an old and very plain program
  which makes it hard to believe that Lestat, consummate
  materialist that he is, wouldn't move on to something
  which costs a lot more and has more bells and whistles
  for him to play with.

  **Why doesn't Anne write about characters who aren't 
  white?

  From CS#3:
         "ON AFRO-AMERICAN CHARACTERS IN MY SUPERNATURAL WORLD. 
         Maybe I'm just not sure enough of myself to put them in. 
         I'm not sure I really know what they would think or feel. 
         I don't know."

         **Can you give me a list of articles about Anne?

         I could, but it would take half my lifetime.  There are
         many, many, *many* articles either about Anne or her work or
         just quotes from her that they are just too numerous to
         list.  A good rule of thumb to finding them in your library
         is to put in the keyword 'vampire.'  This will get you the
         bulk of articles that somehow refer to Anne as anyone who
         talks about vampires tends to cite her in some shape or
         form.

         **Is there a biography about Anne?

         There is.  It's called Prism of the Night and it's written
         by Katherine Ramsland.  (See also: Should I buy/read VC or 
Prism
         of the Night?)

        **How can I contact Anne?

        Anne has recently installed a phone line in her house for fans 
to 
        call in and give their opinions (good or bad) about her work.
        The number is (504) 522-8634.  Once you call you will get an
        answering machine on which you can leave a message for Anne.
        (Some have called and been able to speak to Anne herself!)
        While Anne obviously cannot respond to each call, she promises
        to listen to every message.

        **What's this I hear about a newsletter?

        Anne has decided to send out a newsletter entitled "Commotion
        Strange" to those fans who are interested in getting it.  If you 
        are one of those fans, send a letter or postcard to:
 
        Anne Rice
        1239 First St.
        New Orleans, LA 70130

        Anne will pay for the postage of the newsletter so you only have
        to include your address.  Anne has not set any schedule for the
        distribution of the newsletter (meaning, it won't necessarily be
        every week/month/etc.) so expect delivery to be irregular.

        **Where can I send fan mail to Anne?

        The above address will work just fine for that.

 **Will Anne send me a personal response that I can then
        gloat about to all my friends?

 From CS#3:
        "ANSWERING PERSONAL LETTERS. Can't do it anymore. Just
        downright impossible. Occasionally I have a minute, but 
        my life now is a desperate fight to find a few hours to 
        be alone with this machine, writing on my work. what 
        distracts me is not only continuous requests for publicity, 
        but my great and loving family whom I enjoy and want to 
        spend time with, and wouldn't give up for the world. But 
        I have become OVERBOOKED, there is no doubt about it."

        **Hey!  That address is for Anne's house!  I can go visit 
        her now, can't I?

        In theory, yes.  But please keep in mind something that she said
        in CS#2:

  "Our addresses are well known, including that of St. Elizabeth's 
Orphanage.
  But do remember, please; the family lives in our houses; they are 
private
  residences. And though we love you, we can not come to the door, or 
meet
  with people personally. We thank you for your understanding. We do 
have a
  great deal of security; men on patrol; dogs, all of that. But in 
general, we
  have found that our readers are the kindest, gentlest people in the 
world,
  and we are honored that sometimes you want to stop on the corner of 
First
  and Chestnuts,or of Napoleon and Prytania. We love to look at New 
Orleans
  houses too, as always have."

         Along those lines, let me add that Anne has said that it 
         becomes very hard for her to write her books when fans
         come to the door and distract her.  Plus, Mojo and Lestat's
         mastiffs were based on Anne's dogs so do you really want
         to chance it?

         **Does Anne have an e-mail address?

 From CS#3:
        "REGARDING E-MAIL AND INTERNET ETC.  I'm not hooked up to
        anything, and have no modem....I speak sometimes through my 
        friend Britton Trice on the Internet. Anyone else claiming 
        to be me or to speak for me is not telling the truth. Britton 
        Trice is my sole connection."

         **Who is this Lestat guy and what's the big deal about him?

         Lestat de Lioncourt a.k.a. The Brat Prince a.k.a. "Lestat, you 
are
         the damnedest creature!" is the main character in the
         VampChron series.  He first appears in Interview as the
         one who makes Louis (the narrator of Interview) into a
         vampire.  TVL is the biography of Lestat so I won't get into
         that here.  The big deal about Lestat is twofold.  One, he
         goes against all previous concepts of what vampires are
         like.  He is not some mindless monster but rather a
         fun-loving, sympathetic, pain-in-the-ass guy whom most of
         the other characters would sleep with if they had the
         chance.  Two, he's Anne's favorite character (and
         this is out of all her works, not just VampChron).  Whereas
         Louis *is* Anne, Lestat is what Anne would like to be.

         **How do you pronounce Lestat's name?

         There are three schools of thought on this:
         Less-tat (rhymes with 'hat')
         Luh-stat (also rhymes with 'hat')
         Luh-staht (ah sounding like the 'o' in 'dot' or 'hot')
         Anne tends to use the third form, but don't feel that that's 
what
         you have to use.  Although there has been ongoing debate about 
  how to say Lestat's name (usually beginning with a preface of
  "Well I studied French/lived in France/know how to French kiss and
  *I* think..."), you don't have to be intimidated by it.  There is
  no "Official" way of saying Lestat's name.  Just say whatever feels 
  more comfortable to you.  So long as others don't openly giggle
  when you say it, you're doing fine.

         **You said that many of the characters wanted to sleep with
         Lestat, does this mean that vampires have sex?

         Nope.  While Anne's writing gets a little vague about this,
         Anne herself is not.  When asked point-blank if her vampires
         could have sex she said no.  Once a human becomes a vampire,
         they are no longer capable of sex and moreover, they're not
         interested.  Louis put it best when he said that the
         pleasure from sex is but a pale shadow of the killing.
         Vampires get physical pleasure from drinking blood and
         killing.  Of course, this does not keep them from getting
         involved in some pretty heavy petting, but that's another
         story.

         **Are all of Anne's vampires gay?

         No.  And neither are they all straight.  Vampires are, by
         nature, bisexual (meaning that they can fall madly in love
         with someone of either gender).  Some of Anne's vampires
         were bi before they got the Dark Gift but all of them are bi
         after.  This is an advantage for them as it's so hard for
         them to find companionship that having a problem with the
         gender of someone is really setting their standards too
         high.  The reason why it looks like they're all gay is that
         many of the couples are made up of two men.  This is because
         it took Anne a while to create some strong female characters
         for her strong male characters to hook up with.  No more, no
         less.

         **Wait a minute!  I'm in the middle of QotD and it just
         mentioned Santino!  Didn't Louis chop him up into little
         pieces the size of Smith Brothers' Cough Lozenges in
         Interview?

         You're making the common error of confusing Santino with
         Santiago.  Santiago is the vampire that made fun of Louis
         (doing that annoying mime routine, etc.) and helped to trap
         and kill Claudia.  Santino is the vampire who headed up
         the coven that took Armand away from Marius (this is
         mentioned in TVL) and, in QotD, he helps Pandora find Marius
         and bring him to the Sonoma Compound.

         **I think I just found another major continuity error.  In  
         IWTV, Louis says that the last time he saw Lestat was in the 
         spring before his interview.  But in TVL Lestat says he was 
         underground at that time.  Is Lestat lying through his fanged  
         teeth?

         Believe it or not, no he isn't.  *Louis* is the one who is 
lying 
         about this moment.  This is because, while she was getting 
ready
         to write TVL, Anne realized that if Louis' version was true, it 
         would ruin what Anne wanted Lestat's story to be (his coming up
         in 1984 and so on).  So the Brat Prince is telling the truth. 
         Go fig.

         **So what is that Companion thing anyway?

         The Vampire Companion (VC), like Anne's biography, was
         written by Katherine Ramsland.  It's an encyclopedia of
         sorts for VampChron and offers such things as pictures
         (not of the characters though), maps, summaries of plots and
         trivia like what was written in the first draft of
         Interview that didn't make the final draft.  Anne helped
         Katherine put it together, but the main work is Katherine's.

         **Should I buy/read VC or Prism of the Night?         

         This question cannot be answered without giving an opinion of
         the two books.  Originally I only included my opinion of the
         books but this caused something of a stir on alt.books.anne-
rice 
         since it was felt that giving only one opinion put too much of 
         a slant on things.  Since I agreed with that sentiment (and 
since
         Ian offered so nicely) here you will find two differing 
opinions
         about VC and Prism of the Night.  Please keep in mind that 
these
         are only opinions and you can take them or leave them.  If you 
         have any questions, please direct them to the person who wrote
         each section. 
       
        Ian Wellock:

          I liked VC.  It has three main sections, the Entries
          A to Z, which covers a total of 484 pages (!), a Time Line,
          which starts at 'around 4000 B.C.' and goes up to 1992,
          the time of TotBT's publication, and also a Vampire Atlas,
          with some fascinating maps which is a nice touch for those
          of us mere mortals who have never been to New Orleans.
          There are a few errors, but I regard these as minor.
          (Details can be had upon request).  For me, far and away
          the best reason for reading this book is the collection and
          cross-referencing of all the little items into many different
          subject areas, which, if you can't remember when a certain
          character made an appearance, or find out more about the
          Talamasca, is invaluable.  I even like to sit down and just
          read the thing, and thereby pick up little snippets of
          information that perhaps were not immediately obvious.

        Laura Troise:

          I didn't like VC.  For all the good that it offers (what is
          listed above) it offers a lot of garbage as well.  It should
          be retitled "Katherine Ramsland's Interpretation of the
          Vampire Chronicles."  Her opinion invades *everything*.
          This would be fine (after all, *my* opinion is all over this
          FAQ) except that *she gets things wrong while giving her
          opinion*.  She has a Ph.D. in philosophy and has studied
          Jungian psychology but there's a very strong Freudian view
          throughout the book.  She rips apart characters that she
          doesn't like and ignores what really happened in the books.
          Plus she gets basic facts wrong (like the names of
          characters) so you never know what bits of information to
          trust.  VC is a fine book but it is in no way the "Official
          Guide to the Vampire Chronicles."  It contains too many
          errors to be officially anything.

          As for Prism of the Night, this is a slightly better book in
          comparison.  Katherine's interpretation of Anne's books is
          still in there but you can pretty much ignore it while
          reading about Anne's life.  The only problem is that
          Katherine is not a good writer (and I've had published
          authors agree with me on this) so you have to slog through a
          lot of bad prose to get to the gems of Anne's life.

  Anne herself had this to say about Prism of the Night in
  CS#3:

        "On my life: because you ask. There is Katherine Ramsland's 
        PRISM OF THE NIGHT, a full scale biography with which I 
        cooperated, but which I never sought to control. It's out 
        there in paperback, and is fairly up to date. I have not 
        read all of it. I mean it's my life, for God's sakes! But 
        my father did read the first edition and approved of it 
        before he died.  Good enough for me."

 Anne gave no indication one way or the other about whether
 she had read as little of the Companion book as she did of
 Prism.

        **Isn't Prism of the Night out of date by now?

        From what I've been told the current paperback copy of Prism
        of the Night has been updated to include things about TotBT,
        Lasher and Taltos (the original hardcover stopped before TotBT).

        **Has Katherine put together any other books about Anne?

        Katherine has also put together an Anne Rice trivia book. 
        However, I have yet to hear a definite opinion about this book
        so I couldn't say if it was a good buy or not. 

         **What is Moon Over Bourbon Street?

         Moon Over Bourbon Street is a song that Sting wrote for both
         his Bring on the Night and Dream of the Blue Turtles albums.
         This song is about Interview from the point of view of
         someone who is unaware of Lestat's take on what happened.
         Many fans feel it should be included in the soundtrack of
         the movie of Interview but, sadly, it is not.

         **What's the "Armand and Daniel" song?

         The "Armand and Daniel" song is a common way for those who have 
         read QotD and have listened to Nine Inch Nails' album Pretty 
         Hate Machine to refer to the song which is actually titled
         "The Only Time."  I don't know exactly why this occurs (my 
         personal guess is it's because of the line about the devil in 
         the back of his car) but it does.  It's important to note, 
         however, that while Trent Reznor (NIN) is an Anne Rice fan, 
         there is no indication that this song was meant to be about
         Armand and Daniel.

         **Can you give me some info. on who did what with the
         IWTV movie?

         Sure, here it is:
         Interview With the Vampire
         The Vampire Chronicles
         Geffen Pictures
         Tom Cruise: Lestat de Lioncourt
         Brad Pitt: Louis de Pointe du Lac
         Stephen Rea: Santiago
         Antonio Banderas: Armand

_
          

         Christian Slater: Daniel Molloy (interviewer)
         Kirsten Dunst: Claudia
         Screenplay by: Anne Rice
         Directed by: Neil Jordan
         Produced by: Stephen Woolley and David Geffen
         Music composed by: Elliot Goldenthal

         **What was with all the hoopla over the Interview movie?

         Well, the first problems over making Interview into a movie
         came when Hollywood couldn't deal with Lestat and Louis
         being as close as they were *and* having a little girl in
         the house (they thought Lestat and Louis were pedophiles).
         Interview went through a lot of scripts, companies and
         formats before David Geffen went to Anne and asked her to do
         the script that she wanted.  She did and then David set
         about casting the characters.  However, he (after a few
         other choices such as Daniel Day-Lewis fell through) picked
         Tom Cruise to play Lestat.  Anne saw red when this happened
         and felt, in her words, "betrayed" by what David did, as did
         most of her fans.  They exchanged a lot of not-so-nice words
         in the media while Interview went into production.  When
         Interview was finished, David sent a tape of it to Anne (who
         was unable to attend a screening) and Anne loved it!  She
         loved it so much that she took out two full-page ads in
         Daily Variety, The New York Times and the Advocate to tell
         her fans that she loved the film, that everyone involved did
         a great job and that, if her fans saw the film and still
         didn't like it, they could tell her to her face (at book
         signings and what have you).

        **Did Anne publish anything else about the movie?

        Yes.  She also wrote out an essay that gave more or less her
        point by point opinion of everything that happened in the movie.
        This was published in a December 1994 issue of Daily Variety.

        **I have my own ideas about who should have played the
        characters in the IWTV movie, should I mention them to other
        fans?

        You can.  Now that the movie has come out people are slightly 
        more willing than they once were to discuss this topic.  
However,
        keep in mind that some people thought that the actors in the 
        movie did a great job and will not take well to hearing 
otherwise.
        Many fans are also happily discussing who should play whom in 
        the movie versions of the other books (VampChron and TWH) so you
        may want to join in there as well.

         **Ok, I'm willing to take the risk of having the plots of both 
         ruined, so could you please tell me what is different
         between the movie of Interview and the book of Interview?

         Gladly.  From my readings on a.b.a-r it seems to me that the
         differences between the book and the movie come in two
         categories so I'll list them that way as well.  Please note
         that, for the FAQ, I'm not going to note what may or may not
         have ended up on the cutting room floor.  All I'm addressing
         here is what was or was not in the movie vs. what was in the
         book.

         Catagory 1) Major changes that really deviate from the book
         and are probably going to have interesting implications on
         the sequel (a.k.a. "Wait a minute, didn't that happen the 
         *other* way?"):

         This category starts off with Louis.  In the book he turned
         to drinking and suicidal tendencies because his brother,
         Paul, died in an accident after they had had an argument.
         In the movie, Paul is replaced by Louis losing his wife and
         daughter in childbirth.  Anne herself made this change as she
         thought it would better explain both Louis' feelings for
         Claudia and also show a bit more of Lestat's nice side (the
         idea being that he was attempting, in his own way, to give
         Louis the family he lost).

         As for Lestat, the big change in the beginning is that his
         father is not with him.  Louis has no idea about Lestat's
         past in any way shape or form.

         The next two big changes come in Paris.  When Louis makes
         Madeline into a vampire, there is no indication that Armand
         was just outside influencing Louis to do it.  And later, when
         Louis, Claudia and Madeline are taken back to the Theatre of
         the Vampires, there is no sign that Lestat is there or having
         any say in Claudia's ultimate death.

         Next, Louis' separation from Armand comes not long after
         Claudia dies (instead of staying with him for years as he did
         in the book).

         Louis then tells Daniel that he saw Lestat again in 1988
         (instead of 1976).  In the book, of course, Louis lied about
         seeing Lestat at all but there has been no indication yet to
         show if this will be the same for the movies.

         Finally, the last big change is the ending.  In the book,
         Louis drinks from Daniel and leaves him there to live or die.
         Daniel wakes up the next day, replays the last few minutes of
         the tapes (where Louis describes where he found Lestat again)
         and leaves, apparently to try to find Lestat.  In the movie,
         Louis attacks Daniel but does not drink.  Daniel flees the
         room, gets into his car and drives away.  As he checks
         himself for damages he starts to play the tapes, starting
         from the beginning.  Just as he has begun to calm down Lestat
         appears, drinks from Daniel, puts on Daniel's coat and slips
         into the driver's seat.  The movie ends with the implication
         that Lestat is going to make Daniel into a vampire.

         Category 2) Things that are not really big changes but are
         still important to note (a.k.a. "Lestat didn't fly in
         Interview dammit!")

         Well, no, he didn't.  But, for the most part, this change from 
         the book was simply a Hollywood addition that was done for 
         effect (and to give us that great shot of Brad enjoying the 
         moment--but that's just me <g>).  Other such changes:  

         The vampires did not shed blood tears when they cried.

  After being given the Blood, both the canine teeth and the
  teeth just before and behind them were sharpened, whereas
   in the book only the canines are changed.

         Louis has black hair, not brown.

         Armand's appearance is not that of a 30something Latino 
         with hair down to his knees but, in fact, that of a 17ish 
         Russian with curly, shoulder-length auburn hair.

         Claudia used poisoned victims to weaken Lestat in her attempt
         to kill him.  The idea of dead blood doing anything but
         making vampires feel ill belongs solely to the movie.
 
         At the Theatre of the Vampires, all the vampires should have 
         had their hair dyed black.

         It was Gabrielle (in TVL), not Claudia, who first showed 
readers 
         the fact that a vampire's hair will grow back if it is cut. 
         Also, this process occurs while they sleep during the day, not
         within a few minutes as it did with Claudia.

         Although there is no mention of Louis' official height in the
         books, most people feel that he is shorter than Lestat.  In
         the movie, Tom Cruise's Lestat is shorter than Brad Pitt's
         Louis.

  When Louis and Claudia went to Europe, they did not meet any
  vampires until they came to Paris.  In the book they found
  a mindless vampire while traveling through Eastern Europe.

         Also, throughout the movie, they shorten the amount of time 
that
         it took for various things to happen.  For example, becoming a 
         vampire happened in a matter of minutes, it took longer for 
Lestat 
         to find the mortal Louis again and so on.

         **I distinctly heard you say sequel.  Is there going to be
         A movie sequel for Interview?

         Current Hollywood gossip has it that the sequel for Interview
         (namely TVL) is a go.  Rumors abound about who will star in it,
  but nothing is certain yet.

  **Was Interview nominated for any Oscars?

  It was up for Cinematography and Musical Score.  It lost to
   The Madness of King George and The Lion King.

  **How about the MTV Movie Awards?

  Though nominated in practically every catagory, it only won
  in three:  Best Actor (Brad Pitt), Most Desirable Male (Brad
  again, *big* surprise <g>) and Breakthrough Performance
  (Kirsten Dunst).

         **Ok, did Lestat say the line "You're a vampire.  You never
         knew what life was until it ran out in a red gush over
         your lips." in the movie or didn't he?

         No, he didn't.  Previews and commercial clips for movies
         are often put together long before the final cut of the 
         film.  You'll notice that a few other things were changed
         or cut out before the movie hit the theatres.  For example,
         in the commercials, after Claudia went into Louis' arms,
         he says "Monster." to Lestat.  In the movie, this was
         changed to "You fiend."           

 **So what's all that Memnoch tour info. that you promised?

 Here it is now!  This was a press release that Anne's
 publisher thoughtfully mailed to me.  Please excuse the
 format since this is how it was sent to me.

  "MOCK JAZZ FUNERAL FOR BESTSELLING AUTHOR ANNE RICE
  AS SHE KICKS OFF 1995 "MEMNOCH THE DEVIL" BOOKTOUR
  IN NEW ORLEANS

  NEW YORK, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- New Orleans icon and bestselling
  author Anne Rice will kick off her national tour promoting the release
  of her sixteenth and latest novel, "Memnoch the Devil," with a mock 
jazz
  funeral in her home town of New Orleans on Wednesday, July 12.  The
  funeral procession, beginning at 4:45 p.m., will be fronted by 
Maxwell's
  New Orleans Blues and Jazz Brass Band and traditional "second liners"
  (mourners marching with umbrellas), two Grand Marshalls, followed by 
an
  antique horse drawn hearse with coffin inside and the body of a very
  special guest.  Sources have confirmed that inside the coffin, wearing 
a
  wedding gown, will be author Anne Rice.  The funeral procession will
  exit the Lafayette I Cemetery in New Orleans through the Washington
  Street Gate and wind its way several blocks to the Garden District
  Bookshop at 2727 Prytania Street.  Once the procession arrives at the
  bookstore, pallbearers will remove the coffin from the hearse, carry 
it
  into the bookstore, and open it.  Ms. Rice will then, for the first
  time, sign finished copies of her latest novel, the fifth book in the
  Vampire Chronicles, "Memnoch the Devil."  Her publisher, Alfred A.
  Knopf, confirms that this will be the first million-copy first 
printing
  on an Anne Rice title in the company's history, and that the copies 
will
  go on sale all across America beginning at 12:00 noon on July 12.

            CELEBRATION IN THE HEART OF THE GARDEN DISTRICT:
Local Vendors Lend Their Support to Author; Cemetery Offers Special Tour

    Tours of Lafayette I Cemetery, New Orleans' third oldest cemetery
(laid out in 1833 and in constant use since 1840) will be offered all 
day
on July 12 by volunteers from Save Our Cemeteries, a non-profit
organization promoting the preservation of New Orleans cemeteries. Tours
will begin at the cemetery's Washington Street Gate and last 
approximately
20 minutes.  Candlelight tours will be available after sundown.  A 
reduced
tour fee of $3.00 per person will be charged in honor of Anne Rice, with
all proceeds benefiting Save Our Cemeteries. 

    At the bookstore, Garden District Bookshop owner Britton Trice has
arranged for free coffee, soft drinks and beer (while supplies last) to 
be
served to customers and fans waiting in line.  The local vendors
participating in this event include PJ's Prytania and Commanders Palace. 

    The 1995 "Memnoch the Devil" tour will take Ms. Rice to 30 cities
across America and last four months, and will conclude on October 28 in
New Orleans with a gala event called the "Memnoch Ball," being held at 
one
of the largest private residences in America, the former orphanage, St.
Elizabeth's.  Ms. Rice has been supervising the renovation of St.
Elizabeth's for two years and anticipates completion of the project
sometime in 1996. 

    Ms. Rice has just completed a screenplay for "The Witching Hour" and
is presently at work on a new novel about a ghost who wants to give up
haunting, called "Servant of the Bones." 

              AUTOGRAPHING LOCATIONS FOR 1995 MEMNOCH TOUR
    Ms. Rice's tour for "Memnoch the Devil" will bring her to the
following locations where she will be autographing copies of her novel:
Barnes & Noble Astor Place, New York, July 24; Unabridged Books, 
Chicago,
July 26; Bibelot, Baltimore, July 29; Oxford, Atlanta, July 31; 
Crossroads
Market, Houston, August 2; Borders, Dallas, August 4; Books-a-Million,
Birmingham (AL), August 5; Lemuria, Jackson (MS), August 6; Joseph Beth,
Lexington, August 18; Library Limited, St. Louis, August 19; Bookpeople,
Austin, August 20; Borders, Las Vegas, September 6; Esmerelda, San 
Diego,
September 7; Dutton's Brentwood, Los Angeles, September 8; Dark 
Carnival,
San Francisco, September 11; Tower Books, Portland (OR), September 13;
Elliott Bay, Seattle, September 14; Waterstones, Boston, September 22; 
The
Hungry Mind, Minneapolis, October 11; Harry W. Schwartz, Milwaukee,
October 12; and University Bookstore, Madison, October 13. "

        **What's this I hear about Anne saying Lestat has left her?

        I'll let her words speak for themselves (this was taken from
        the message on her phone line, the number of which was listed
        earlier):

   "Good morning everybody. This is February 22, 1995,....
   Um, I had a very, very strange experience this week that I want to 
share
   with you: Lestat...left me.  For those of you who are readers, who 
have
   seen the movie, you know who I mean.  The Vampire Lestat, he left me.  
He
   departed me forever.  And this doesn't mean he died, or anything like
   that, he just left me.  I finished making the very last corrections 
on the
   galleys of my novel _Memnoch, the Devil_ which is the fifth novel 
I've
   written with Lestat, I wrote it February of last year, and I went 
back
   over it February this year, and as I completed the last page, I knew 
that
   Lestat was leaving.  He didn't quite say it to me directly, but we 
both
   kind of sensed that the five books had finished what we had to do
   together.  And I wrote in ink on the last page, "Adieu, mon amour,"
   commending him to God.  I probably murdered the pronunciation of that 
in
   French, but then he's French, I'm not.  I can tell you exactly where 
he
   disappeared.  He disappeared in the twenty-hundred (2000) block of 
St.
   Charles Avenue, only about 25 to 30 feet downtown from the 
Ponchartrain
   Hotel.  He disappeared in that spot.  That's where he was standing 
when my
   imagination left him.  And he was looking in a shop window, there's a
   place on that corner that used to be a Mercedez-Benz dealership, and 
he
   just happened to be passing there and he saw himself in the glass, 
of...of
   that empty store, or building, and...that was the last time he and I
   looked at each other, he's gone.  He's absolutely gone.  And now it's 
my
   obligation as a writer to create new characters and to think about my 
new
   book _Servant of the Bones_ and to try to make characters that can 
talk
   for me, as eloquently as Lestat did because he's not going to come 
back. 
   I know that." 

        **Do you think she means it?
 
 Right now I'm not sure.  But it would seem that neither is Anne.
 Of late, she has been saying that she would like her fans to read
 the book, then tell her what they thought about it and if they
 think she should continue.

         **In TWH, how could Michael Curry see Lasher?

         See "How on earth is Michael Curry related to the Mayfairs
         (besides being married to Rowan I mean)?"

         **Ok. How on earth is Michael Curry related to the Mayfairs
         (besides being married to Rowan I mean)?

         For this, I'll quote Lasher himself as he inadvertently
         explained it to Rowan:

         "And then Julien brought Evelyn to his house and there
         conceived Laura Lee, who gave birth to Alicia and Gifford.
         And from Julien also the illegitimate child, Michael
         O'Brien, born to the girl in St. Margaret's orphanage, who
         gave it up and went into the convent to beome Sister Bridget
         Marie, and then from that girl, three boys and one girl, and
         that girl married Alaister Curry who gave birth to Tim
         Curry, who..." [Lasher is interrupted by Rowan].

         **How can Julien be a proper Mayfair witch if Lasher said
         there were only 13?

         Lasher was referring to the 13 female Mayfair witches.  He
         does admit that Julien was just as much of a witch as they
         were.

        **Why is it that when a Taltos is pregnant the baby is born 
        immediately but when a human is pregnant with a Taltos it takes
        longer?

        According to what Ash says, a Taltos baby grows more quickly in 
        the womb when its mother recognizes it for what it is.  So, when
        a Taltos is pregnant, they obviously know it right away and thus
        the baby is born but when a human is pregnant with a Taltos 
baby,
        they don't necessarily know what it is until some time later
        (Morrigan, for example, only grew rapidly after Mona knew for 
sure
        that she was pregnant).

 **Is there going to be a TWH movie?

 The latest official word that I have on this is from CS#3:
        "I HAVE WRITTEN THE SCREENPLAY FOR THE WITCHING HOUR 
        FOR DAVID GEFFEN. That means, I did get hired, I did 
        get paid, they (GEFFEN AND WARNERS) bought the rights 
        to LASHER (I wasn't going to venture forth without Mona
        Mayfair and also without Lasher himself in the flesh). 
        I have turned in my one and only draft. The draft. The 
        author's vision. The movie according to Rice. The canonical 
        version.
 
        What they will do with it is anybody's guess...."

         **Is there any companion book for TWH like there is for
         VampChron?

         Katherine Ramsland has apparently put together a companion
         book for TWH.  However not much is known about this book as
         of right now so I couldn't tell you more about it.

         **Help!  I just finished Taltos and I'm dying to read the
         next TWH book!  Will there be one?

         There will indeed.  It's entitled Morrigan and will be out
         in the near future.

         **Help!  I just finished The Mummy and I'm dying to read the
         sequel!  Please tell me there will be one!

         Anne is painfully aware that she promised a sequel for The
         Mummy and has not yet delivered one.  However, she's
         currently occupied with TWH, VampChron and another project
         so, quite frankly, it's going to take a while, if it comes
         at all.

         **What other project is Anne working on?

         Anne is currently writing The Servant of the Bones which is
         not part of either TWH or VampChron.  It is about a
         tempestuous ghost.  There is no word yet if it is in the
         same universe as TWH and VampChron though.  A snippet from
         CS#2 which describes the book a bit more:

  "At present I am trying to get away from my chronicles, and do a 
wholly new
  book, as I've told you before, called SERVANT OF THE BONES. My hero in 
this
  book is a ghost. And though the story begins with a murder on modern 
day

_
                                                                                 

  Fifth Avenue in New York, Azriel, my ghost hero, has a long long 
history
  going back in the ancient Middle East. I'm deep into Jewish Folklore 
as I
  write this, and study of the Kabbalah."

         Anne hopes to have the book finished in time for it to be
         released in the Fall of 1996.

         **I heard this great rumor that Anne's putting together a
         book that will bring The Mummy, TWH and VampChron characters
         all together. Is this true?

         Sadly, no.  While it would be an amazing story, Anne has
         said that the characters in each series are too strong for
         her to be able to bring together in a single book.  We fans
         will have to make do with the cameo appearances that we've
         had thus far.

        **Which cameos do you mean?

        When I say cameos I mean any time that a character or plot point 
        from one of Anne's books makes an appearance or is referred to 
        in another book.  Specifically:

        David Talbot and Aaron Lightner are referred to in both TWH and 
        VampChron books.

        Ramses is mentioned in TVL.

        In TotBT, when Lestat meets David in Amsterdam, David is getting
        the Rembrandt portrait of Deborah for Aaron that was mentioned 
in
        TWH.

        There *might* be a VampChron cameo in Taltos when Ash refers to
        other supernatural creatures that have taken a liking to
        the Talamasca (he could be referring to Lestat or Khayman) but
        this is uncertain.

         **I really don't like the supernatural stuff.  Will Anne be
         doing any more books like Cry to Heaven and Feast of All
         Saints?

         Anne says no.  She says that she likes the advantages that
         come with writing about the supernatural too much to be able
         to go back to the non-supernatural writings which now seem a
         bit drier in comparison.

         **I think the Beauty books were the best thing that came out
         of Anne's mind.  Will she be writing more erotica like that?

         Again, Anne says no.  For now, she's done all she wants to
         do with her erotic series and does not think she'll be going
         back to it.  Any erotica that you'll read from Anne will be
         contained in her future supernatural books.

         **Someone told me that Belinda was a good book but I really
         don't like erotica.  Should I still read it?

         Although Belinda was written under the Rampling name, it is
         not one of her erotic books in the same way that EtoE was.
         It is about the romance between an older man and a teen aged
         girl.  There are some erotic scenes in it, but no more than
         can be found in, for example, TWH.  (See also "Is such and
         such a book by Anne any good?")

         **What was Anne's original reaction to the movie of EtoE?

         Last year, Anne said that she felt that the script stayed
         very close to the heart of her book and that the movie would
         be an accurate telling of the ideas behind it.

         **Did that give you a good laugh?

         Yes it did.

         **What does Anne say now?

         Anne now admits that she should have asked more questions
         when Garry Marshall approached her about the idea.  She does
         hope, though, that Garry's "mainstreaming" of the story will
         help to bring the idea of S&M as an acceptable lifestyle to
         the public eye.

         **So the movie is not like the book?

         To paraphrase a line from MST3K, EtoE the movie is based on
         EtoE the book in that they were both written in English.

         **Well, I'd still be interested to know who does what in the
         movie, could you tell me that?

         Sure!

         Exit To Eden
         Savoy Pictures
         Dana Delany: Lisa Emerson
         Paul Mercurio: Elliott Slater
         Hector Elizondo: Martin Halifax
         Rosie O'Donnell: Sheila (cop)
         Dan Ackroyd: Fred (cop)
         Screenplay by: Deborah Amelon and Bob Brunner
         Directed by: Garry Marshall
         Produced by: Garry Marshall and Alexandra Rose

         **Wait a minute, I don't remember any cops in EtoE!

         I know.  See "So the movie is not like the book?"

        **Are there any other interesting tidbits about the EtoE movie?

        Yes, it made Roger Ebert's list of the Top Ten Worst Movies
        of 1994.

        **It wasn't <gulp> #1 was it?

        No, thank Rob Reiner for creating North and sparing us that 
fate.

        **Are any other movies of Anne's books in the works?

        Rumor has it that Belinda, TWH and The Mummy are being kicked
        around as movie ideas.

         **What's a Roquelaure and why did Anne choose that name?

         A roquelaure is a type of cloak invented by Count
         Roquelaure in the 18th century.  Anne choose the name A.N.
         Roquelaure because of its meaning ("Anne under a cloak") and
         because it had the right sound for erotica.

         **Would you think me absolutely crazy if I told you that I
         thought Prince Laurent sounded a lot like Lestat?

         No I would not.  The Beauty books were written before TVL
         was.  During that time, Anne was continuously working on
         changing the way Lestat's character appeared in Interview.
         This came out in Anne's writing as both the character of
         Prince Laurent and also as Elliott in EtoE so you will see a
         lot of similarities in their personalities.

         **A lot of people focus on TWH and VampChron, doesn't anyone
         like Cry to Heaven or The Feast of All Saints?

         Yes they do.  In fact, some fans *only* like Cry to Heaven
         and Feast of All Saints.  If you aren't thrilled with TWH
         and VampChron you are not alone.  The reason why they tend
         to get put to the side in conversations is that they were
         written so long ago and there are so many new books of
         Anne's to talk about.  It's not that TWH and VampChron fans
         only like those series, it's that they tend to like *all* of
         the books and are just talking about the latest one.

         **Is such and such a book by Anne any good?

         A common question asked of old Anne Rice fans is if a book
         that a new fan has not read yet is any good (meaning, should
         they read it).  This is not an easy question to ask.  There
         is no hard and fast rule for what type of fan will like what
         type of book.  Just because you liked The Mummy doesn't mean
         that you'll like TWH and liking Belinda doesn't mean that
         you'll like EtoE.  Heck, just because you liked Interview
         doesn't mean that you're going to like Lestat!

         If you really want to read a book but you're not sure if you
         should spend the money, take it out of the library.  Most
         libraries will have all of Anne's books as part of their
         collection and, if people in your town respect library
         books, you'll even get to see what the original hard cover
         versions of the book looked like (but don't expect to see
         the original hard cover of Interview, it often gets so much
         wear and tear from being taken out so much that most
         libraries have had to put new, plain covers on).  If you
         read it and like it, you can always buy the paperback later.

         **Is there a fan club for us Anne Rice fans?

         Yes there is.  The info about it is as follows:

         Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat Fan Club (ARVLFC) 
         P.O. Box 58277
         New Orleans, LA 70158-8277
         The annual fee is $13.00 ($18.00 for outside U.S.) and
         your membership includes a membership card, newsletters and
         a bumper sticker and you also get an order form for t-shirts, 
         bumper stickers and pins.

         **Hey, Laura, how did you get all this Anne Rice info.
         anyway?

         Over the years that I've been an Anne Rice fan I've read all
         of her books to the point where I've pretty much memorized 
them, 
         numerous articles about Anne or from Anne (such as her 
newsletter), 
         seen Anne give a talk and spoken with Anne on several 
occasions. 
         All of the information in this FAQ comes from this.  When I say 
         "Anne says/said" I'm referring to the articles, talk, phone
         message and times I've spoken with her.
       
         (Note: I'm not claiming that Anne and I are best
         friends, when I say I've spoken to her I mean that on a few
         occasions I've been lucky enough to ask her some of the
         questions that appear in this FAQ.)

         I've paraphrased most of what Anne has said since I cannot 
         remember the exact quotes verbatim.  If any of the quotes or 
         paraphrasing are incorrect, I apologize and will correct them
         as soon as the error is brought to my attention.

  Please note that often when I quote from Anne's newsletter,
  I will cut out parts which do not directly relate to the
  immediate question.  This is indicated by a "...".  I
  point this out so it will be understood that I'm not
  trying to hide information, only to make the answers more
  concise.

         **I have a question that wasn't included here, what should I
         do?

         Please feel free to e-mail me with your questions and I'll
         answer them to the best of my ability (or I'll admit that
         you stumped me and offer another avenue of information).  If
         I'm e-mailed a question often enough I'll include it in the
         FAQ.

         **How can I get copies of this FAQ?

         This FAQ is posted once a month on alt.books.anne-rice,
         available via ftp to rtfm.mit.edu in the directory /pub/usenet
         and the archive name is books/anne-rice-faq.  You may also
         get a copy (though not necessarily the most recent copy) 
  at the WWW site:
         http://www.xroads.com/pages/gpalmer/gpalmer.html
  And a more constantly updated copy can be found at:
  http://ucunix.san.uc.edu/~elymt

         **Hey!  You got something wrong!  What are you gonna do
         about it?

         If anything I wrote in this FAQ is incorrect, even if it's
         just a spelling error, please bring it to my attention.
         I'll correct it immediately and even include your name in
         the credits.

        **Is there any other way that I can get my name in the credits
        of this FAQ?

        Certainly!  You can tell me information that I was unable to 
        include, you can offer new information that I didn't know about
        or you can offer me suggestions for quotes for me to put at the 
        end of the FAQ (I change the endquotes with every new version of
        the FAQ).  All of the above will get your name in the credits
        and all the fame that goes along with it.

 Keep in mind, however, that this is the *Anne Rice* FAQ so
 the information that goes in here has to somehow relate
 directly back to her, or to information about the FAQ.
 What that means is that sometimes information that people
 ask me to include might not be put in here because it was
 too far removed (rumors about who will star in upcoming
 VampChron movies would be a good example of this).  Please
 don't take that as a snub, it's just my way of making sure
 that when people see the name of this FAQ, they'll know what
 they're getting.

 **What about more information about alt.books.anne-rice?

 An a.b.a-r faq is currently in development.

         **What is the copyright info. for this FAQ?

         This FAQ was written and copyrighted on July 11, 1995 and
         the information in it is, to the best of my knowledge,
         accurate as of this date.  I will provide updates to the FAQ
         as necessary.

         I give permission for this FAQ to be quoted and distributed
         only if the parts used are quoted in their entirety (ie.
         questions and answers) and it is made clear that I am the
         one who said these things originally.  I say this so that
         something of Anne's that I paraphrased will not be taken out
         of context and regarded as the Gospel truth of what Anne
         believes.  You may not distribute this FAQ for your own
         monetary gain without contacting me first.  You may also not
         quote from this FAQ in any article, news show or paper
         without contacting me first.  By 'contacting me' I mean in
         order to get my permission.

         If you are going to quote something from the FAQ (for
         example, in an Internet newsgroup in order to answer one of
         the questions) but not the entire FAQ, please include the
         information that you are quoting what Laura Troise said in
         the Anne Rice FAQ.

         If you are going to use a copy of this FAQ in a WWW site,
         please let me know so I can include the name of the site
         in the FAQ.

         Do not add your own information to this FAQ.  If you wish to
         add something, e-mail me with that suggestion and, if it's
         relevant, I'll add it in myself and put your name in the
         credits.

         **What are the credits for this FAQ?

         Here they are:

         This FAQ was written in its entirety by Laura Troise
         (lat13@columbia.edu). 

         Christopher Harrington (Chris_M._Harrington@csgi.com) and 
         Diane Kinney (dk68@columbia.edu) provided invaluable help
         with their suggestions, information and proofreading.

         These Talamasca Scholars get my thanks for the sections
         that they contributed to the FAQ: Cheryl Suzuki 
         (csuzuki@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.edu), Ian Wellock 
         (ian@istld.insignia.com) and Kathryn McGinley
         (km8815f91@sable.adelphi.edu), Anne Rice (who contributed
  via her newsletter and phone machine) and Anne's publisher
  (who asked to remain nameless).

         Thanks also to these Child Prodigies of Darkness for sending
         me their comments, information, corrections and, most 
         importantly, for not making fun of my bad spelling:  Ralf 
Muschall
         (prm@rz.uni-jena.de), Susan Kretschmer (sxk29@po.CWRU.edu),
         Tandi Graff (TGRAFF@hr.house.gov), Britton Trice
         (BETbooks@aol.com), Kerry Brooke Holmes 
         (kholmes@gladstone.uoregon.edu), Thomas Christian Martinez
         (cybu@argo.unm.edu), Keiko (KHAUN@delphi.com), Cynthia Hoffman
  (choff@violet.berkeley.edu), Liisa Elliott 
  (lselltt@CC.UManitoba.edu), Frank Yao
  (fyao@csclub.waterloo.ca), Laura Tahja (ltaja@ubd.umn.edu),
  Barbara Kermeen (avmtelem@ix.nextcom.com), Matt Azzara
  (AZZARA@UTSW.SWMED.EDU), Sam Volchenboum 
  (volcs@mother.mayo.edu), William Hsu (bhsu@sal.cs.uiuc.edu),
  Jennifer Williams (jbooth@us.oracle.com), Thomas Gramstad
  (thomasg@ifi.uio.no), Angela B. (cdesmara@direct.ca),
  Julie Anne Butler (butlerja@printing.vwex.edu),
  R. Julia F. Rudden (juliafr@lclark.edu), Mishian 
  (mishian@aol.com), Mike T. Ely (elymt@ucunix.san.uc.edu),
  and Margot Moulton (stdnt149@systema.westark.edu).
 
         A special thanks goes to Neil (who knows who she is) for
         getting me hooked on Anne in the first place.

         Once again, unless otherwise stated, all opinions expressed 
belong 
         to me and my other personalities only.  Any problems that 
result 
         from them are solely our responsibility even though we'll
         be tempted to blame the others for them. 

       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 "Memories of things that never happened.  These are
  always the hardest to forget."
   --Thomas Dolby

       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


                          
