| |
 |
|
Anne Rice is the international best-selling author of The Vampire Chronicles, the Christ the Lord novels, The Mayfair Witches, Exit to Eden, and Angel Time. Her first novel, Interview with the Vampire, was published in 1976 and has gone on to become one of the best-selling novels of all time. It was also adapted into a blockbuster film staring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, and Antonio Banderas. Her newest series is called Songs of the Seraphim. With about 100 million books sold, Anne Rice is one of the most-read authors in the world.
|
This episode originally aired on 11/12/2009 with the following authors:
Note: The following interview has been transcribed from The Author Hour radio show. Please excuse any typos, spelling and gramatical errors.
Bonus Question(s) that Didn't Air on the Live Radio Show
Note that you can also listen to this while you read it.
Matthew Peterson:
Let me ask you a bonus question. Actually let me ask you kind of a fun one, and then I’ll ask you more of a serious one. Oh, serious one first! You’ve been re-converted to Christianity. In this day of trouble and calamity, what advice would you give people who are questioning their faith?
Anne Rice:
Ask yourself what you truly believe. Admit to yourself what you truly believe. For me, I had to admit that I believed in God. I believed in God and the whole creation told me that God exists. And it took courage to admit that. It was more fashionable among the people I knew to say you were an atheist or an agnostic. But don’t be afraid to say what you really believe. And if there are times when you are afraid God doesn’t exist, then talk to Him about that. Talk to Him about that fear. And keep talking to Him, above all, keep talking to Him. No matter what pain you go through, no matter what doubts, no matter what darkness you experience, no matter what anger, talk to Him about it. Take it to the Man at the top.
Matthew Peterson:
Very good advice. Let me ask you just kind of a fun question. What is a typical day like for you? What’s a typical day like for Anne Rice?
Anne Rice:
Well, I get up at 7, and the first thing I do is drink coffee, eat breakfast and read the newspapers. I read the LA Times and the New York Times. And then I go in and work on emails. I get emails from readers from all over the world and I answer as many as I can. And usually I can answer just about all of them. And then I go on Facebook and see what my people are doing on Facebook and sometimes I post questions to the people on my fan page. Sometimes I make comments about what I’m doing and I read their comments and answer what they’ve posted on the wall. And then I try, by sometime before noon, to be doing some sort of serious reading of books that will feed into my writing. And then in the afternoon I write. And I usually knock off by dinner time. Sometimes if a book is going really well, I’ll write on into the evening and even quite late.
Matthew Peterson:
Well, that was something that I was actually very shocked about, when I sent you that first email. I got a response like right away. It was right away.
Anne Rice:
Yeah. I read them all as best I can. And I don’t get that many. People assume I do, but I really don’t. Because people are assuming that I do, so they don’t email me. [laughs]
Matthew Peterson:
[laughs] Yeah. People are scared. Well it has been a pleasure to speak with you, Anne. I really look up to you for standing up for your beliefs. You know, it’s not something that a lot of people do, so I do look up to you for that.
Anne Rice:
Well, thank you very much, I appreciate that. It’s been a real pleasure talking to you.
Extra Material That was Cut from the Show Because of Time Constraints
Note that you can also listen to this while you read it (you'll need to fast forward past the bonus questions).
Matthew Peterson:
. . . and you continued on with the series. You can’t have had any idea that the book would sell so much.
Anne Rice:
No idea at all. I mean I was just, you know, I was very determined to be a writer. That’s what I wanted to do and I believed in that. And I really didn’t think too much about what would happen. I just concentrated on finishing that manuscript and making it as good as I could possibly make it. But I had no idea what the future would hold.
Matthew Peterson:
Obviously you got an agent and you got a publisher and . . .
Anne Rice:
Right, in time I did.
Matthew Peterson:
Yeah, and the rest is history with that.
* * * * * * * * * *
Matthew Peterson:
[referring to Angle Time] Now he’s going back in time, and of course, he has knowledge of modern days. He’s originally from our time, right, modern day?
Anne Rice:
Yeah. He’s in the present right now. But the angels see all of time. They’re outside linear time. And they see the world in terms of angel time, where everything is happening simultaneously. So, they can lift a person, like Toby, out of the 21st century and send him into the 13th century or the 12th century to do good for somebody who’s struggling at that time. It’s just a concept of mine, but we can infer from a lot of theology and a lot of what we read that probably the view from heaven is like that. That the view from heaven sees all of time happening simultaneously.
Matthew Peterson:
No beginning, middle, or end. Yeah.
Anne Rice:
Right.
Matthew Peterson:
[laughs] Well that is very interesting.
Back to Top
|
Share this interview with your friends!
|
| |
|
|
