Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 — December 11, 2021) was an American horror/erotica/religious fiction writer.
In 1976, Rice published the influential Interview with the Vampire, which became the first in the popular Vampire Chronicles series, followed by The Vampire Lestat in 1985. Around the same time, she published a BDSM trilogy and started another horror trilogy, The Lives of the Mayfair Witches, set in the same universe as The Vampire Chronicles. A few Religious Conversions later, she moved on to write new series' on the Life of Jesus, Angels, and Werewolves, as well as a few stand-alones (Cry to Heaven, Servant of the Bones, etc.).
Beginning with 1992's Tale of the Body Thief, Rice decided to forgo using an editor. How it's impacted the quality of her work since is debated by her fanbase.
Her son, Christopher Rice, is quite popular himself.
On December 11, 2021, Rice died at the age of 80 due to complications resulting from a stroke.
Works by Anne Rice:
- Exit to Eden (first published as Anne Rampling)
- The Vampire Chronicles
- Lives of the Mayfair Witches
- The Sleeping Beauty Series (as A. N. Roquelaure)
- Christ The Lord
- Songs of the Seraphim
- The Wolf Gift Chronicles
- The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned
- Servant of the Bones
Anne Rice is known for:
- Author Appeal: New Orleans, Neo-Classical Architecture, Renaissance Art, Goth fashions, and, most of all, Lestat himself.
- Beige Prose: "The Story of Baby Jenks and the Fang Gang" in Queen of the Damned employs this to jarring and hilarious effect; if there's anyone less likely to use Beige Prose, it's Anne Rice.
- Appropriate, for a section meant as an Homage / Affectionate Parody to The Lost Boys.
- Dysfunction Junction: Ubiquitous.
- Fan-Work Ban: Not that it stops many. She was somewhat hostile
towards fanfic authors in the past. In her later years, she softened her position and gone on to say that she "ignores" fanfiction. - The Film of the Book:
- Interview with the Vampire, Queen of the Damned, and Exit to Eden.
- The Young Messiah is based on Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt.
- The Feast of All Saints was adapted as a Showtime TV movie.
- Gender-Blender Name: Her real name is Howard Allen Frances O'Brien. You can't blame her for changing it.
- God Is Evil: A common theme in her pre-Born Again years, when everyone isn't raging against the concept.
- Goth
- Hollywood Atheist: How Anne came to regard her younger days.
- Meaningful Rename: Her parents named her Howard at birth. Unsurprisingly, she was very self-conscious about this and took the first opportunity she had to get rid of it. On her first day of school, she said her name was Anne because she thought it was very pretty and from then on, that's what everyone she knew called her.
- Our Monsters Are Different: The obvious Our Vampires Are Different, but also witches, ghosts and mummies. Despite what one would expect from a person with such prodigious historical knowledge, Rice invented her mythos whole cloth to suit her own narrative purposes, and barely acknowledged the original superstitions and stories. In ensuing years, the rest of the genre followed suit.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her daughter Michelle contracted leukemia, dying at the age of six.
- Purple Prose: Like H. P. Lovecraft before her, a well-done example.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Common in her Atheist Days, obviously less so once she became born-again. Where she'll go after renouncing religion again is anybody's guess.
- Rule of Drama: No exceptions.
- The Show of the Books: Interview with the Vampire (2022) and Mayfair Witches.
- Straw Nihilist: A common character type. Anne actually characterized her younger self as this after she reconverted to Catholicism.
- Southern Gothic: Emphasis on the "Gothic" part. Many of her works feature that decayed Old South feel.
- Trope Maker: If you like your vampires handsome, tortured, French, a bit flamboyant, and flip flopping on the whole good/evil thing, you have Mrs. Rice to thank for that. Her work and tropes are typically respected when referenced by other creators, not disdained. Most of her vampire lore is preserved in the works that followed, upstaging and replacing the nature of the Ur-Example created by Bram Stoker.
- Your Vampires Suck: Discussed. Typical aversions to silver, garlic and crucifixes are condemned, as are abilities like turning into mist, bats, etc. though Louis openly admits he'd not be against turning into mist.
