Skip to main content

My Architect

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.

Labels:

Comments

nightsmusic said…
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.
December 13, 2021 at 4:28 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holiday Prep

For Thanksgiving this year we've invited some guests from Oliver's mom's side of the family, so I have to start prepping now to get the house in shape for the big day. The first major thing is having the carpets cleaned, which we've scheduled for next week. This weekend I'll be cleaning out four rooms to get them ready for that. I started with my front dining room, which I use as my sewing room. It was kind of a mess already, so it felt good to get everything cleared out. We'll be having ten people at dinner plus two babies, so this will give me a chance to figure out how to arrange two tables in this space. I think this will be my last time hosting a big Thanksgiving gathering. Mike has started his family with a lovely girl who has a huge, close-knit family of her own, while Katherine will likely be off at grad school out of state for the next several years. I'm also not getting any younger. My guy and I will always celebrate Thanksgiving, but ...
6 comments
Read more

T-minus Day

This was our little Thanksgiving dinner last year, when it was just the three of us. Time keeps whittling down my favorite holiday; this year it will be just me and my guy, and we likely won't even have a turkey.* That will be a first in 35 years. I feel about Thanksgiving the way other people do about Christmas, and while it's a lot of work it's my favorite holiday. Of all the Thanksgivings I've had in the past sixty years, only three were truly terrible: one when I was a kid that I don't talk about (#1 most miserable); the time I roasted two turkeys together and hosted fifteen people whom I cooked for and served with zero help (the largest and #2 most miserable); and the one I spent in basic training (the #3 most miserable.) I have no pictures of any of those, thank heavens. In addition to doing all the cooking I'm the one who takes all the pictures, washes all the dishes and puts away all the leftovers. I suppose no one else cares because to them it...
5 comments
Read more

Fell Off the Wagon

I did cut up that plastic dollar tote to make into something stronger, but got caught up with work and set it aside. Then last night some hand-dyed silk and pretty threads called my name, and, well . . . Felt SO good to do some handwork, except my neck began hurting about an hour into it. I tried changing the way I sit and work, but it's pretty obvious that the doc is right.
7 comments
Read more