You’re so welcome! You made my day! *hugs* 

You might want to send a similar message to Anne Rice herself over on FB, not that she would answer it necessarily, but I do think she appreciates it every time when she gets messages like these, and I think she would be supportive of your love for her books ❤

While I’m always grateful to receive messages like these (notes like these keep this blog alive!), I’ve held it for a week bc I wanted to collect myself, and be very careful in answering it.

I didn’t set out with the intention of providing a place where VC fans can share their thoughts and feelings, that was a happy accident, and I engage with those thoughts and feelings as selectively as I do in any conversation online or in real life. I’m not an official/paid VC spokesperson, not an authority, and never claimed to be, I’m just one fan who enjoys VC and wants to do that in my own specific way. It’s been wonderful to find others who also enjoy VC, the discussions here can be informative, and sharing headcanons/fanart/fanfic/etc. has been the gift that keeps on giving ❤ I’ve made some of the best friends of my life here.

TL;DR: I hope you make friends here, Anon, and can see that you can love these books with others. Don’t let your mom trample on you for what you enjoy. Don’t argue with her, just don’t take those comments to heart.

Hit the jump for more, cut for length.

“Lately my mother has been ridiculing me for having read the VC, she will say things like: “You and your stupid vampire books.” Which is not something I like to hear.” 

^I find that kind of dismissive language/attitude really insulting, too. She must not see what you and I do. You’re not alone. This is a small fandom but a growing one, where fanartists are inspired to draw the characters, writers inspired to write fic about them, cosplayers to dress up like them! People use these stories and characters as an outlet for their own self-expression, their own beliefs about life. 

I agree w/ you, VC has taught me a lot about life, too. We all come to VC with our own experiences/imagination and we take from it what works for us… but the common thread I’ve seen throughout all these years is that the impact VC has had on many of the fans seems to come directly from the work Anne Rice put into it in those first few books. In those books, she was working through the kind of pain few people can really understand or survive, working through her demons she was working straw into gold, and we found it relatable. We watched Louis struggle through his issues with religion and having to kill people to survive. We watched Claudia suffer with the realities of her existence and try to deal with it as best she could. We got Lestat’s life story and how miserable his beginnings were and how he managed to keep a kind heart and aim for goodness despite all the failures and obstacles in his way. There’s a lot of pain in these first few books, but there’s also love and triumph, too. Not always a clear distinction between good/bad, there are difficult choices, and not always the best results, but the general direction always felt like the characters were trying. That’s my own interpretation and what I’ve gotten out of it.

Straw into gold, that’s what I think we have in VC, and those who fail to see that? Well, maybe they’ve found something more relatable somewhere else, or they didn’t need it, but for people like your mom to trample on others for finding relatable value in a fictional work?I can’t support that, personally. I admit that I do poke fun at the Twilight fans occasionally, as they probably poke fun at VC fans, but deep in my heart, I respect them and I would hope that they respect us. They are no less “worthy” of liking what they like – and finding something in it that gives them life – than anyone else. 

“I appreciate that I can just go onto your blog and see that other people love these books too.” 

We do love these books! I hope you come off anon and make some friends here. Friends are the family you choose for yourself. Don’t let your mom trample on you for enjoying what you enjoy.