4th October 1941 Mercy Hospital in New Orleans Howard Allen O'Brien (Anne Rice) is born. Parents Howard and Katherine O'Brien. She has 3 sisters. Anne's mum died when she was 14, she had been a heavy drinker. Anne's father remarries 2 years later and the family move to Texans where Anne met Stan Rice. They get married on 14th October 1961 and move to San Francisco to go to University. Anne gets a BA in Political Science and Stan a BA in Creative Writing. Anne wrote a short story in 1965 called October 4th 1948 which is published in Transfer. Anne gives birth to a girl on September 21st 1966 called Michele. Anne is published in Transfer again and attends graduate school.
In 1969 the family move to Berkeley. This is where she writes a short story that will change her life Interview with a Vampire. She then writes a novel called Katherine and Jean. Anne does her Masters in Creative writing.
Anne's daughter Michele dies of Leukemia in 1972 she is 6. The Rice's moved but in 1973 things turn round for them, when Anne turns Interview with a Vampire into a Novel in just 5 weeks.After it is refused from several publishes it is finally published in 1976 by Knopf.
The Rice's travel for a while then Anne gives birth to Christopher on 11th March 1978. Anne Rice currently resides in New Orleans with her husband and poet Stan Rice. She had this to say about New Orleans in 1988. "I love New Orleans. The twilight sky here is like no place on earth. It is violet and golden. New Orleans has all this lush beauty, like Venice and Rome. I was born here, and I had been wanting to come back for years. I always remember the fantastic contrast of New Orleans in my childhood: the romance and gloom. Here were all these great big beautiful houses falling into gloom. If I begin a book elsewhere, my characters end up right back here." (People, Dec. 5, 1988) She has the ability to bring us to the edge then settle us down again through the colourful paragraphs of any of her books. They are detailed exquisitely and have a rich history about them. There is no doubt to me even before I read interviews about her that she delved deeply into world history to create a sense of reality in her works, which are purely fictitious. I hadn’t expected to be drawn into their world, the world of Lestat and Louis. It all started when a friend handed me Interview. I was hooked and that was it. I greedily tore through the first book and asked if he had another one, there had to be another one this couldn’t be the end of it! The next day he brought me The Vampire Lestat told me to keep it, which of course I did, that one like the book before it was slowly devoured by me. I gave the book to my mum, she loved it the next thing I know she went into her room and brought out the Witching Hour. My mum was a Rice fan. Colour me happy. Even after battling a potentially fatal fight with diabetes she came back and continued to write. We all wished her well and sent our strength to her. I for one am glad she is better; the world wouldn’t be the same without her. Lestat has always been her hero, her dark lover and more. I’ve come to understand that she feels this on many different levels with all of her characters. It’s good when you know that the author of the books you love so much is filled with the same feelings you are when you turn the page and begin the book, whether it is the first time or the one hundredth time you’ve read it the emotions still come back time and again when you read. That first book given to me on a warm summer day bewitched me and yanked me into a dark world of passion filled vampires, I don’t ever want to go back. I want to walk the places they have. I want to know the things they do. Their beauty startles me, draws me in and makes my dreams that much more interesting. Yes I have had a few dreams I don’t care to repeat. ~laughs~ Release dates for the Vampire Chronicles: 1976: Interview with the Vampire is published 1985: The Vampire Lestat is published 1988: Queen of the Damned is published 1992: Tale of the Body Thief is published 1994: The motion picture “Interview with the Vampire” is released in November 1995: Memnoch the Devil is published 1998: Pandora is published 1998: Armand is published 1999: Vittorio is published 2000: Merrick is published 2001: Blood and Gold is published 2002: Blackwood Farm coming this October
Anne has written many other books which I love to read again and again. I primarily focus on her Vampire books. At a later date I will of course add something about the other books. Like the Mayfair Witches, now let me stress those books are quite…interesting and even left me rubbing my eyes on more than one occasion. It was startling and brilliant; those books aren’t for the faint of heart.