10 Questions for Anne Rice

After vowing to never again write about Lestat, this best seller reveals she has one more vampire novel in her. Her newest religious book is Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. Anne Rice will now take your questions

Do you ever plan to write additional books for the Vampire Chronicles series? --Kelly Meier, Belle Mead, N.J. When I published my first book about the Lord, I said I would never write about those characters again. But I have one more book that I would like to write. It will concern the vampire Lestat, but it will be written in a redemption framework, where he is wrestling with the existence of God. I don't see it as a violation of my promise, because I won't be writing about vampires in the old way.

How did you evolve from writing about vampires to writing about the life of Jesus? --Tonya Solomon Flushing, Mich. It was a personal conversion. After 38 years of being an atheist, faith came back to me. I had to stop writing about vampires, because they had been a metaphor for lost souls. Instead, I made up my mind to concentrate on Jesus Christ.

What caused your conversion back to Christianity? --Kyle Russell Fayetteville, Ark. Americans like to believe we turn to religion because of an accident or the loss of a loved one, but in my case it was simply the culmination of searching. I wrestled with a lot of theological questions, and then one afternoon, I thought, I love you--I want to go back to you.

What's your idea of the afterlife? --Luan Mai, Santa Clara, Calif. I don't think we can imagine what it is like to be fully united with God in his kingdom, but we can have great expectation and hope. I don't think it is a little angel with a harp sitting on a cloud or the barren afterlife we see in so many films. I think it is a rich and wonderful place.

Do you believe in vampires? --Helena DiGonzaga, Miami Not at all. For me, supernatural characters were a way to talk about life and reality--vampires are the perfect metaphor for the lost soul. I am always surprised when some very young reader writes to me and asks if they are real.

You write a lot about homosexuality in your novels. Does it have to do with the fact that your son is very openly gay? --Memi Sofer, Beersheba, Israel I was writing about gay characters long before he was born. I don't know why I see the world that way, but it is very much a point with me. I always perceived my characters as transcending gender. I idealize the person that can love men or women.

How personally do you take the successes and failures of the adaptations of your novels? --Cheryl Anderson San Francisco I was absolutely devastated by the failure of Lestat on Broadway. It was exquisitely painful for everyone involved. I wish the [producers] had given it more time to build. I would love it if the musical was revived in New Orleans someday.

"Place" has always been a character in and of itself in your work. Has moving to Southern California from New Orleans affected your writing? --S. Fitzgerald, Portland, Ore. I lived in New Orleans for 15 years, and I loved it. But now is the time for me to be in a place of quiet to write and research. Not a monastic life--because I don't have the gift of being able to deny myself like that--but a life of peace. I live out here in retreat.

Have we lost the romanticized New Orleans of the past? --Erin Hall, New Orleans I don't think so. New Orleans has a way of triumphing, no matter what happens. There is an unstoppable spirit in the people there--they don't want to be in any other place on earth and will stay there no matter how bad things get.

What made you endorse Hillary Clinton on YouTube? --Katie Harris, Sheboygan, Wis. I feel strongly about Hillary. I spoke out because I wanted to say something on her behalf. I think she is being treated very unfairly, perhaps inevitably because she is a woman.

Are your novels about Jesus Christ the end of your evolution as a writer or merely the beginning? --Kyle McCartney, Huntington Beach, Calif. It's the beginning of a new epoch. It was a big shift and the great thing about it was that it allowed me to draw on all of my experiences as a writer--I realized that my experience as a story teller could be used for a new vocation. I thought, 'I'm going to write about you and bring you to life in novels for people who don't believe in you.'

Has your newfound Christianity[EM]and turn to religious writing[EM]affected your book sales? --Dan Karns, Denver, Colo. Book sales are a situation where you find out things over time. As far as I know, Christ the Lord has done very well--perhaps even better than the last two Vampires novels. I don't think there has been any effect. It has been a fairly smooth transition.

If Jesus was born today do you think he would have the same impact he had 2000 years ago? --Matt Simpson, Melbourne, Australia I think he is everywhere. In all my years I have never seen America as religious as it is right now. There are people of all religions talking about their faith and for the first time--in my memory--faith is a question in the general election for president. Jesus is with us now as much as ever and is as magnetic today as he was 2000 years ago.

When the motion picture adaptation of Interview with the Vampire came out you expressed some initial concerns about casting. Were you pleased with the overall movie and casting? --Luke Buckman, Wichita, Kans. I was ultimately very pleased. I had doubts in the beginning, but I think Tom Cruise did a terrific job playing the vampire Lestat. The characters didn't always fit the characters in the book, but it worked.

What frightens you? --Michael O'Brien, Chandler, Ariz. I can't say that there is anything specific that frightens me except these questions as to whether life has meaning and whether God is really with us. My worst fear is that the world is meaningless and I'm deluded--that I won't ever see people that I have lost again, my daughter who died when she was a little girl and my husband who died in 2002. I think all Christians face that fear.