Tag Archives: fan questions for Lestat

Lestat here. My question today is from Heather Malone: “Lestat! What are your thoughts on gender? Does it matter? Do you think you would have lived your life the same way had you been born female? Best regards, H.” Thank you, Heather. Gender matters only because it matters to biology and society. I can’t imagine how I might have lived my life as a woman, simply because society in my time and even in the present sees women so differently from the way it sees men. I would have been restricted by law and custom in ways as a woman that I was never restricted as a man. How would I personally, the irreducible Lestat, have responded to life had I been a woman? Impossible to know. But I can tell you how my mother, Gabrielle, responded once she became a vampire. She put aside women’s garments and lived as a genderless being, ignoring society entirely and taking full possession of her superior vampiric strength with genderless impunity. She discarded feminine limitations with her feminine garments. She reveled in her new invulnerability. I admire her for it. — Now when it comes to loving others, caring about them, respecting them, becoming involved with them, no, gender means nothing to me. Almost all vampires ultimately transcend gender concerns in their social and emotional relationships. —- That being said, I would say how we personally respond to gender in all our dealings remains a mystery; some individuals no matter how long they walk the earth, may have deep biases based on gender, biases developed in them during a mortal lifetime. These might be so subtle as to defy qualification or analysis. I pride myself on having none, but I’m not sure that I’m right about myself in this. I have respect for the fact that this is a mystery. — I’ve certainly lived long enough to see that society’s assumptions about gender in my time were all proven false and foolish. On the other hand, there are aspects of gender difference that never change for human beings, no matter how much we would like them to change. —- Gender, it matters and it doesn’t matter. Thank you, again, Heather.

Anne Rice’s FB. Another Fan Question for Lestat answered.

Lestat here. I want to answer this question from Zaira Maranelli:
“Lestat… could you explain to me what is love for you? I speak about the deep love that make you suffer and pain, that make you forget about you and your thoughts… Have you really ever felt that?” Love, for me, Zaira, is caring for another so completely that that person is as important to you as yourself, so that you suffer when that person suffers, you know joy when that person knows joy, and you cannot separate your own fate from that person’s fate without considerable angst and misery. That is love. And yes, I have known it —- for my mother, for my beloved Nicholas and for Louis, and for Claudia, and for Armand and for others. Love is rooted in understanding, deep emotional and physical attraction, and in common sympathy. And once you love some one like that, well, you have given a hostage to fate. I find it impossible to live without loving. I find it excruciating to feel that I am utterly unloved. I thrive on loving and on being loved. I cannot contemplate living for any length of time without the hope of love, without hoping to experience love in my daily existence, and without the hope of knowing love in the future. In my worst trials, the memory of having been loved, and of loving has sustained me. Part of the agony of loving can be discovering that you have been cruel to the one you love, that you have cheated that person, that you have rejected the loved one when you did not mean to do it at all, that you have failed the person utterly. I have experienced all this; the fault was in me; not in loving. I have loved imperfectly, but I’m learning to love in new and better ways all the time.

ooc; The Saga of Mater’s RPing

also

HIS NAME

IS

FUCKING

NICOLAS

NOT

NICHOLAS

(via merciful-death)

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merciful-death:

ooc; The continued saga of Mater Gloriosa’s RPing

[X]

Lestat here. The first question I want to answer today comes from Garrick Woolley: “Lestat, what was the greatest thing about being born to darkness when Magnus worked the Dark Trick?” — The greatest single thing about receiving the Dark Gift was the sense of power, the immediate awareness of heightened senses and greatly heightened strength. And young men are almost always seduced by power. The sense of being more powerful than humans, of being able to overcome any human adversary — well, that was dizzying. And later on, when I did pass into a human body at the behest of the Body Thief, that was what I immediately missed: the power. It takes years, maybe centuries to grasp other aspects of the Dark Gift, but the sense of greatly enhanced power is immediate. And thanks, Garrick, for the question. The second question I’ll address today is from Elizabeth Evelyn Pedro: “Lestat. I have fought long and hard to think of the right question to ask you. Then it came to me, asking a question to you is like asking god why he (or she) does what he does. There is no right question. There isn’t one I can think of that would not all ready have been asked. But I did finally think of something. Do you have a question? Any thing you want to ask us your followers? I’m quite sure you will get a honest answer.” Thank you, Elizabeth, and there is something I would like to ask of you and other readers: what is the one thing you truly loathe and despise about me? I’d be very curious to hear your answer. I’d also like to know how it is that you can overlook or forgive this thing, whatever it is, that you so despise in me. Of course I imagine some of you can’t forgive me for the traits you despise, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on that too.

You guys that second question!?! 

what is the one thing you truly loathe and despise about me? … how it is that you can overlook or forgive this thing, whatever it is, that you so despise in me.

Source: merciful-death

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cloudsinvenice:

Nice to see; I wasn’t familiar with the US paperback cover! 

Seems like this book is on everyone’s mind at the moment… either Anne Rice is using her Lestat RP (there’s a phrase I never thought I’d type) to drop hints about connections between Memnoch and Prince Lestat, or it’s all a big coincidence and we’ll sleep easier after the book comes out. 

Can I just bitch about how we have to wait two extra days in the UK? Good. Because this is me, bitching. 

#nostalgia flare-up bc this was the edition I read!

AR’s Lestat RP (omg yes that word has been bandied about and it’s perfect) does seem to be hinting about him an awful lot. Whether he appears or is referenced in Prince Lestat or a later book (since PL is just the beginning of a new veering-off series apparently) is anyone’s guess. 

Avoid tumblr 10/28-whenever you read it, there will probably be spoiler explosion and I may, myself, commit acts of spoilage. 

Source: the-vampire-chronicles

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Another fan question for Lestat answered:

Lestat here. I want to answer this question from Zaira Maranelli: 

“Lestat… could you explain to me what is love for you? I speak about the deep love that make you suffer and pain, that make you forget about you and your thoughts… Have you really ever felt that?” Love, for me, Zaira, is caring for another so completely that that person is as important to you as yourself, so that you suffer when that person suffers, you know joy when that person knows joy, and you cannot separate your own fate from that person’s fate without considerable angst and misery. That is love. And yes, I have known it — for my mother, for my beloved Nicholas and for Louis, and for Claudia, and for Armand and for others. Love is rooted in understanding, deep emotional and physical attraction, and in common sympathy. And once you love some one like that, well, you have given a hostage to fate. I find it impossible to live without loving. I find it excruciating to feel that I am utterly unloved. I thrive on loving and on being loved. I cannot contemplate living for any length of time without the hope of love, without hoping to experience love in my daily existence, and without the hope of knowing love in the future. In my worst trials, the memory of having been loved, and of loving has sustained me. Part of the agony of loving can be discovering that you have been cruel to the one you love, that you have cheated that person, that you have rejected the loved one when you did not mean to do it at all, that you have failed the person utterly. I have experienced all this; the fault was in me; not in loving. I have loved imperfectly, but I’m learning to love in new and better ways all the time.

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Another FAN QUESTION FOR LESTAT answered:

Lestat here. And this time, I’m going to answer two questions. The first is from Bridgett Davenport: “Lestat, excluding vampires, who is the most interesting non-human you have met?” —- I would say the ghost of Roger whom I encountered in “Memnoch the Devil.” Roger was the first of my victims and maybe my only victim ever to come back from the dead to talk to me in ghostly form. He terrified me (temporarily anyway), and fascinated me. This was my first real experience with ghosts and how ghost “incarnate.” I don’t want to think of any of my other victims coming back to haunt me, ever. I have come to no first conclusions as to what Roger’s visitation actually meant. —- Second Question: From Elise Miller: “Lestat, you’ve seen so much and lived through so many years of human turmoil, does the current state of humanity irk you, or do you pay little attention to it?” — It’s the opposite, Elise. I’m in awe of the current state of humanity, the inventiveness, the imagination, the technological knowledge, the artistic fertility, and the huge areas of the globe that are at peace. I’m more than ever optimistic about the future of humankind, and all the more sad that I can witness human progress but never be part of it. But I’m an optimist by nature, I must admit. I’m profoundly grateful that I’m able to watch all this from the sidelines, and glory in the new music, the new art, the new humanistic philosophies being developed all the time.

Fan Questions for Lestat: yay or nay?

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katzenfabrik replied to your photo “Another QUESTION FOR LESTAT answered:  Lestat here: I want to answer…”

You’re doing the lord’s work.

Thank you, glad to know someone appreciates these efforts!

How do you all feel about this new development? I’m sort of mixed on these Fan Questions for Lestat, bc on the one hand I should be thrilled that “Lestat” is actually interacting in social media after 20+ of only interacting through canon…

…AND YET these answers read somewhat out-of-character to the point where I just *facepalm* so…. 

*** Fortunately we have occasional corrections to these FQL installments 😀

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Another QUESTION FOR LESTAT answered: 

Lestat here: I want to answer this question from Minerva Gonzales: “Lestat, have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

My answer is: No and Yes. There is no real Devil, as far as I know, he’s strictly a metaphor, a concept, an idea. (Memnoch was most certainly not the Devil, as he claimed to be). So no, I’ve never danced in the pale moonlight with the literal Devil, because there is no such person, but yes, I have danced in the pale moonlight with the metaphor many a time. And it is a shifting and tricky metaphor. We tend to romanticize the Devil as the ultimate rebel, to make jokes about him, declare sympathy for him, etc. but what do we mean when we talk about him that way? Do we see him as rebelling against goodness – or against a corrupt religious system that actually epitomizes evil? I tend to think it’s the latter. And yes, I’ve danced with the spirit of rebellion, and I’ve shaken my fist at the heavens while dancing with him, and I’ve enjoyed it, and gloried in it, and for me it was always a rebellion against corruption and evil, against all systems that I feel are deeply and grievously unfair. Thanks, Minerva, and I hope my answer doesn’t disappoint.

Source: facebook.com

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Another QUESTION FOR LESTAT answered: 

Lestat here: Jasmine Donovan has asked: “Lestat, what do you believe has helped you to adapt to the changes in the world over the years and has helped you to survive through all the trials and tribulations you have faced? — Jasmine, it is my optimism and rebellious spirit. I simply refuse to be defeated. No matter what happens to me, I fight back and I fight for myself and fight to turn the experience into something meaningful. This is not a virtue. This is an inherent disposition. I can’t help it. Having been made a vampire against my will, I refused to be bad at being bad, if being bad was my destiny. And ultimately I refused to accept other people’s definitions of being bad, or being damned or being cursed, and sought some path for myself which enabled me to be proud of what and whom I am. I make a lot of mistakes, a lot of blunders. But I never give up. I never despair for long. I can’t. I’m always spinning straw into gold. And this is why I survive, more than anything. I am in my unfolding stories what the world calls a comic character, rather than a tragic character, because I am never permanently undone by anything, never finished or ruined, never permanently destroyed, no matter how great are my own flaws. I always come back. Always. Thanks, Jasmine for the question. I hope I’ll see more good questions tonight on this page at 10 p.m.

Source: facebook.com

The Forever Companion – Gairid – Vampire Chronicles – All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

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katzenfabrik:

Just a little bit of fun after Lestat’s appearance on Ms. Rice’s FB page.

Mmmm, this is just right. It also touches on my recent wonderings about the in-universe publishing of the VC books. Short and lovely. 🙂

katzenfabrik, if you liked that one, I think you’ll like this one, too, also set within in-universe publishing of the VC books ;]

The Forever Companion – Gairid – Vampire Chronicles – All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]