Alum Anne Rice Revives Vampires in New Book

PRESS DEMORCAT (SANTA ROSA) -- Anne Rice began writing vampire books long before novels about blood-drinking immortals became a major category. Her first, “Interview with the Vampire” begun more than 40 years ago, was published in 1976, three and a half years after her 5-year-old daughter succumbed to leukemia. During the past decade, as the “Twilight” series spawned a reawakening of the dark genre, Rice has been eerily absent on the vampire front. That changed this week with the publication of her first Vampire Chronicles book since 2003’s “Blood Canticle.” Rice hasn’t been exactly silent: She’s written books about everything from Jesus Christ to werewolves. The new book, released October 28 is narrated by Lestat, one of Rice’s strongest and most charismatic vampires. A native of New Orleans, Rice attended San Francisco State University and lived for several years in San Francisco.