Biography

Anne Rice began life in New Orleans as Howard Allen O'Brien, named after her father, as the second of four daughters of Howard and Katherine Allen O'Brien. She decided to call herself "Anne" when she enrolled in first grade at the Redemptorist Catholic School. Her mother (who had long suffered from alcoholism) died when Anne was nearly fifteen. Her father remarried and soon relocated the family to Richardson (suburb of Dallas), Texas. She graduated in 1959 and entered Texas Woman's University where she completed two years of school in one. In 1960, Anne moved to San Francisco, where she took a furnished apartment in the Haight-Ashbury district. In 1961, Anne married Stan Rice (whom she had met in High School and who had proposed by telegram from Texas) and, in 1962, they were both living in Haight-Ashbury. They graduated from San Francisco State in 1964, she in political science, he in creative writing. Their daughter, Michele, was born on September 21, 1966. In 1969, they moved to Berkeley. There, she wrote a short story, "Interview With the Vampire". In 1970, Michele was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1972, Anne received her M.A. in creative writing; Michele died August 5. The next year, Anne turned "Interview" into a novel, and, over a year later, Knopf offered her a $12,000 advance for it. Christopher Rice was born on March 11, 1978. In 1980, they moved to San Francisco's Castro District. "The Vampire Lestat" brought a $100,000 advance from Knopf. In 1988, they moved to New Orleans and bought a mansion in the Garden District. Stan (who had chaired the creative writing program at S.F. State) turned to painting. "The Witching Hour" brought a $5 million advance. In 1994, "Interview" was very successfully released as a movie (amid much controversy -- some over content, mostly over casting) and Anne entered into a $17 million contract for three more Vampire Chronicles.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Stories about vampires

Characters who grapple with immortality.

To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.

The vampire is that glittering, dazzling rule-breaker and outsider who has gained ascendancy over time and place.

The vampire is always presented as someone who is living a heightened existence and that is very seductive. He is also someone who is able to satisfy all of his cravings. I don't see this as a time of weakness at all. The vampire image reflects the enormous leap in visual perspective. This is the time of Federal Express, long-distance calls and faxes. Someone can get up in the morning and call New York or Paris. All kinds of business transactions and close book deals can be made -- it's like flying all over the world. Vampires are superhuman magnifications of us, of the way we feel in these powerful times.

Vampires have always been part of our culture. There have always been superstitions surrounding death and burial in western Europe and the idea that the dead will come back. When you write a story about good and evil using a vampire, you are reaching back to the Renaissance for a figure as powerful as God and the devil. What I love about my readers is that they really understand what my books are about.

On connecting: We're frightened of what makes us different.