So, after Anne Rice so vehemently proclaimed she was finished with the Lestat novels because she was born again, she has now recanted. One more Lestat novel is forthcoming.

Now look, I don’t care about the Lestat novels one bit. I liked two of them. The rest did nothing for me. I did always have a problem with renouncing her fiction for her faith because they are two separate things. It baffles my mind when people can’t separate life from fiction.

When you make sweeping statements like

“I would never go back, not even if they say you will be financially ruined. I would be a fool for all eternity to turn my back on God like that.”

then you always wind up looking foolish. C’mon. It’s okay to have faith and write vampire books. Or zombie books. Or books about witches. Or whatever. Faith and fiction are two different things, unless you want to intertwine your faith in your fiction. But let me just say, IMO when you do that, you risk coming off as preachy and judgmental and frankly, turn readers away.

Anne is justifying her return to the Lestat story by saying:

the book will have a definite Christian framework and a focus on the theme of redemption

hmmm. sounds a little preachy to me.

My favorite line in the article:

“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.

C’mon, Anne. Just admit that you can write fiction and have faith. I would have much more respect for your return to the Lestat lifestyle if you’d just admit you realized you made a mistake by renouncing your fiction in 2002. I am so disappointed that you are justifying it by offering some sort of redemption theme. Just write the book as it was meant to be written–don’t use it to recruit.

KTHXBYE