ROTTEN TOMATOES: Anne Rice Says Her Vampire Chronicles Aren't Finished

Anne Rice Says Her Vampire Chronicles Aren't Finished

More blood to suck for Lestat.

by Jeff Giles | February 27, 2008

In 2005, Anne Rice told the world she was finished writing about vampires -- but fans who lamented the end of her Vampire Chronicles may have something to celebrate.

In a new interview with TIME, Rice calls takebacks on her declaration of intent to write only spiritually themed books, saying, "When I published my first book about the Lord I said I would never write about those characters again. But I have one more book that I would really like to write. It will be a story that I need to tell." From the article:

While Rice justifies her decision by saying the book will have a definite Christian framework and a focus on the theme of redemption, she admits that the future chronicle will once again involve the character Lestat and a fictional organization known as the Talamaska that is responsible for investigating the supernatural. Much like the author herself, Lestat will be wrestling with the existence of God throughout the story. "I don't see it as a violation of my promise, because I won't be writing about vampires in the same way," Rice maintains.

The Vampire Chronicles series, which Rice kicked off in 1976 with Interview with the Vampire, currently stands at ten books (not counting various spinoff series) and two film adaptations. The first book was turned into the 1994 film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst, while 1985's The Vampire Lestat and 1988's The Queen of the Damned were cobbled together to form the basis of 2002's Aaliyah-led Queen of the Damned.

Rice says her next two books will complete the fictional biography of Jesus Christ that she started with 2005's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, after which she'll turn to the "final" Vampire installment.

Source: TIME

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(1-16 of 16 posts) | Reply

bigbrother writes:
on Feb 27 2008 06:01 AM

The chronicles for the most part never reached the same heights after the original trilogy anyway and the last few were pretty much the most disappointing in the series for me so I'm not terribly excited about this news.

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deneco4 writes:
on Feb 27 2008 07:52 AM

I want a remake of the vampire lestat. (NOT interview, best movie ever...) but that piece of crap called Queen of the Damned.

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TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Feb 27 2008 08:02 AM

Based on the hype, I read all but about 60 pages of 'Interview' --found it too sedentary and the character of L'estat to be kind of a whiney *****. ..Which is why I found Tom Cruise' character's comment at the end of the movie version to be very cool and appropriate; "Oh, Louie... always *WHINING*"
There's quite simply too much fiction that is FAR superior to this for me to get excited about this author back-peddling out of her earlier pronouncement, to pound religion, no less.
Anyone who's interested in excellent fantasy (non-vampire), I'd suggest the first six books in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series (he starts unraveling by book 7) or the uniformly excellent Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, now at four books.

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dillingerescapeartist writes:
on Feb 27 2008 09:42 AM

14 year olds are stoked.

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Shatter24 writes:
on Feb 27 2008 10:21 AM

I couldn't have said it better myself, Tombstone Law Dog, you are right on about Rice.

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bigbrother writes:
on Feb 27 2008 10:39 AM

In reply to this comment (#1605446)
Really?!? You found Lestat whiny? Especially in that book Lestat is the wild uncaring one. You sure you don't mean Louis? I think Interview, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned are fantastic works of fiction along with Ramses the Damned, and a couple of later Chronicles most notably Pandora because they are written unlike anything else that was being written at the time. Sounds to me like she's just not to your taste, I would advise however reading more than 60 pages of any book before passing judgement on it. Some stories are slow burners and don't really get up to speed that quick. If I remember correctly 60 pages would barely get you past the point where Louis becomes a vampire and has virtually no Lestat except as the unnamed menace lurking at the fringes.

Certainly don't judge the rest of the book based on the movie, since though the movie is good in it's own right it does deviate greatly in certain aspects of the story and like most movies based on books is just a snapshot of what in the books is a much more complex mosaic.

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Elixor writes:
on Feb 27 2008 11:02 AM

In reply to this comment (#1605641)
Sorry to butt in, but he did say that he read ALL BUT 60 pages, meaning the whole book minus the last 60 pages.

I haven't read the books personally. My best friend has and found them to get boring after a few books. Since our tastes are similar, they aren't towards the top of my list to read either. I did enjoy Interview with the Vampire movie.

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TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Feb 27 2008 11:10 AM

In reply to this comment (#1605641)
Big Brother is right that I meant to say Louis. Louis was the narrative voice in 'Interview' and the one I was referring to as 'whiney,' hence my quoting Cruise as Lestat.

...Elixor is also correct, though; I DID say I read all BUT 60 pages, which out of a 340-page book means I read just about 80%. I stand by my assessment of Rice' skills.

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dracus writes:
on Feb 27 2008 12:08 PM

Lestat's days have passed due to Ms. Rice's self righteousness. If she does in fact bring back Lestat she%u2019s going to learn the hard way that once you take your fan base for granted they never forgive.

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dracus writes:
on Feb 27 2008 12:10 PM

Lestat's days have passed due to Ms. Rice's self righteousness. If she does in fact bring back Lestat shes going to learn the hard way that once you take your fan base for granted they never forgive.

HEY RT, when are you going to do something about the problem of using apostrophies?

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frogleg writes:
on Feb 27 2008 12:32 PM

Ugh. I read the book she wrote about the witches and had to give up on it. Boring as hell. And as far as Wheel of Time, I loved the first book. And I hated everything else in that series. I've never seen so much repetition and redundancy in anything in my life.
I never watched Queen of the Damned, but I really liked Interview. If they adapt more of the books and do them that well, I'd be happy to watch the movies. But I guess I'll just deprive myself of the joy that is Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

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harrismonkey writes:
on Feb 27 2008 02:21 PM

I stopped reading after memnoch the Devil (which has a plot very similar to what she's describing for this "last" book).

I thought Interview and Lestat were wonderful books. I didn't really care for queen of the damned, and Tale of the Body Thief was ok, but nothing special.

I believe at the time she said memnoch would be the last vampire book (do we see a pattern here?). I read it because it was going to be the last (Otherwise I might not have bothered). I thought it was easily the best since the first two and was a perfect place to stop (the ending was quite touching). So I didn't pick up what ever has followed.

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frozen01 writes:
on Feb 27 2008 04:48 PM

harrismonkey, I'm glad to see that you also enjoyed Memnoch the Devil. I thought it was the best out of the series, but so many people thought it was the worst! Oh, well, that's opinion for you. I think Memnoch would make a great movie, but only if placed in the most experienced of hands because it would be a difficult adaptation.
Regarding Queen of the Damned (the movie), people say that it was absolutely horrible compared to Interview. And that's where the problem lies... people were comparing it to Interview! They are two completely different movies. Now, I will say that I did NOT like the actor that played Lestat (voice did NOT match KORN's Jonathan Davis, the vocalist for the movie's music), nor the actress who played Akasha (rest her soul) but the movie itself was not bad. Queen was about the MUSIC, about rebellion... ultimately about Lestat, but more about his core and less about vampire-turned-rockstar. And the music was REALLY good (though better on the soundtrack then in the movie... Jonathan Davis, I love you and you wrote great music, but the other artists just worked better as vocalists!). Queen of the Damned was fun, flawed but fun, but it must be held apart from Interview or you can never enjoy it.
I'll read the new book, but I doubt it'll be as good as anything she wrote before "finding religion". :o/

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bigbrother writes:
on Feb 27 2008 11:59 PM

In reply to this comment (#1605780)
My bust I misread. Apologies apologies.

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sfsilver writes:
on Feb 28 2008 09:17 AM

I am a great fan of the first few books in the series, but Rice had become repetitive and down right boring as a writer by the late 90's. When I read "The Violin" I was so angered by how crappy it that I literally walked over to a garbage can and tossed the hardback first edition I bought the week it came out in. I gave a her a couple more shots based on my love for her early works and she just doesn't have it anymore. And adding Christian piety. NO THANKS! As if the world isn't already being ripped to shreds by religious delusions, I don't need my fiction to preach to me too.

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sfsilver writes:
on Feb 28 2008 09:34 AM

I am a great fan of the first few books in the series, but Rice had become repetitive and down right boring as a writer by the late 90's. When I read "The Violin" I was so angered by how crappy it that I literally walked over to a garbage can and tossed the hardback first edition I bought the week it came out in. I gave a her a couple more shots based on my love for her early works and she just doesn't have it anymore. And adding Christian piety. NO THANKS! As if the world isn't already being ripped to shreds by religious delusions, I don't need my fiction to preach to me too.

(Reply to this)