When I woke up this morning, I found out from the notification from The NY Times on my iPhone Lock Screen that one of my writing inspirations has passed away.
This paperback of Interview With the Vampire (1986) got me through some rough times when I was living in London. Those times when I was fighting with my parents, this is the book I would escape to. I had such a hard time parting with this book that I couldn’t stand to let any of my friends borrow it.
As you can see, I’ve read this book many, many times over the years. I will never forget when I met the author at a book signing at the Earthling in Santa Barbara for the release of Tale of the Body Thief. And whenever I drove on Divisadero St in San Francisco, I would think about a boy interviewing a vampire named Louis.
Interview With the Vampire will always be one of my all-time favorite books. The imagery in the opening paragraph is perfect, delivered with a crisp, direct brevity not many writers can mimic or achieve. The Witching Hour was my third favorite book of hers, after The Vampire Lestat.
When I was 14 and 15, I would imagine Lestat flying to my window just as he had once visited David Talbot of the Talasmasca in London. I would imagine that Lestat had come to take me away from my troubles. I would imagine Lestat freeing me, and flying away with him in the starry sky.
Out of all the MFA programs I’d been accepted to, San Francisco State was my first choice because I knew Anne Rice had gone there.
RIP Vampire Queen
BEING KATINKA 