Author Anne Rice passed away on Saturday at the age of 80. Among the many other things she did during her lifetime she inspired me as a writer in countless ways. We shared a love of history, writing very long stories, and completely ignoring the herd, I think. She challenged me on so many levels I've probably been more influenced by her than any other author I've read, too.
I dedicated to her the first novel in my Darkyn series, which made me a name. I also credit her for giving me the courage to write my steampunk books, the first of which started out as a NaNoWriMo project (and which despite critical acclaim never really sold as well as the publisher expected and ended my NY career, but ce la vie.) I never had the chance to meet her in person, but I did walk past her house once. Okay, I stood outside her house and stared at it for a long time on a walking tour of New Orleans twenty years ago. I also wrote to her once to tell her how much her work meant to me. Even if she never read that letter, I'm glad I did that.
I loved a lot of Anne Rice's books. I also had problems with a lot of them, too. She wrote exactly as she pleased, which is a privilege few of us authors have. I still consider The Witching Hour to be one of the most engrossing (and disturbing) novels I've ever read. I don't think I can ever again read Memnoch the Devil because it upset me too much the first time around. She was wordy, irreverant and sometimes so hostile to her characters and readers I was a little afraid of her. But she was also a genius, and I respected the hell out of her. We will never see another writer like her again.
Safe journey, my architect of dreams.
1 comment:
I read yesterday that she'd passed and was shocked since she was still relatively young and it was fairly sudden according to her son. I too had a love/hate relationship with her books, but she walked alone as far as her writing and didn't cater to anyone. She was bold and brave and will be sorely missed. There will never be another. RIP.
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