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FQL:

Lestat here. I want to answer a question from Areona May: “Lestat, when you laid unmoving on the chapel floor all those years, why was it only Armand who was allowed to approach you? to touch you? What was it about him that was so special to your heart? —– Areona, I’m not quite ready to discuss in depth what was happening during my ‘comatose’ years on the chapel floor in New Orleans, but I can tell you I was conscious all the while, and aware of what was happening around me. In general, I was essentially recovering from my great journey to "Heaven and Hell” with Memnoch, seeking to make sense of what had been “revealed” to me and what it meant, and whether or not any of it could be trusted. You could say I was roaming on another plane of existence. Some time in the future, I might be able to say more about it. I controlled who approached me and who didn’t. And I did allow Armand to come close for a specific reason. He had a deep anguished need to know whether Memnoch had been a truthful spirit or a lying spirit, whether my visions with Memnoch had been true glimpses of the Divine or delusion. His pain shone bright, brighter than the pain of anyone near me. And so I honored Armand’s intentions. You could say that Armand respected what happened to me with Memnoch more than any of my other immortal comrades. I love Armand deeply. My view of Armand has evolved over time. The less I fear him, the more I love him. And the more I suffer, the more I come to understand Armand’s suffering. I have never doubted Armand’s love for me. We are kith and kin, Armand and me. Areona, thanks for the question. —– I will return later to this page to answer another question and at that time, you all can leave more questions for me.

[fanart by garama]

Lestat here. I want to answer one short question from Alex Hall. Alex asks me: “Did you kill Louis’s brother?” The answer is no. I had nothing to do whatsoever with the death of Louis’ brother. For those of you who don’t or can’t know, this pertains to the story of “Interview with the Vampire.” When I encountered Louis in the 18th century in Louisiana, Louis was grieving for his dead brother. Louis felt he’d failed his brother and caused the brother to take his own life. For a variety of highly complex reasons, I found Louis profoundly emotionally and physically attractive, and I invited him to receive the Dark Gift from me. I brought him over, made him my vampire brother, friend and lover. But only after did I learn about his family, his personal losses, his grief, etc. I would never have struck down some innocent person – Louis’ brother — just to make another person ripe for the Dark Gift. Never even occurred to me. I found Louis deliciously despairing, reckless, and charming. Of course, if he had not lost his brother he might not have been so attractive to me. But again, I didn’t plan all this. There are too many likely candidates available at all times for the Dark Blood; one does not have to go to great lengths to prepare people for it. At least that is what I felt back then in those nights. —– I’ll be back later today to answer more questions.

ANOTHER Fan Question for Lestat answered.

Lestat here. This question comes from Vicki Golightly: “I have never read the books but I have heard so much about them and yes I do have a question, how were you created and do you have a soul?” — Vicki, if you mean how was I created as a vampire, the process was simple. I was kidnapped by an older vampire named Magnus, taken by force to his tower outside of Paris, and there made a vampire through an exchange of blood. Magnus drained me to the point of death and had I not drunk his powerful blood after that, I would have died. Well, I drank it. And I became a vampire like him. This is how it is done with our species; the human is drained and then infused with the maker’s blood. And yes, I most certainly do have a soul — as surely as any human being has a soul. I define soul as that invisible and conscious part of myself which may or may not survive biological death. And I am certain I have one; I am certain that all human beings have souls. And very likely some non-human beings have souls as well. But this soul question is a matter of faith. I can tell you for certain that I have a conscience, and it is a very human conscience, though I do not always listen to it by any means. —- Vicki, thanks again for your question. —- I’ll be back later today with more answers.

Another Fan Question for Lestat answered!

Lestat here. Many of you have asked me whether or not I have any regrets. At first I ignored this question, because I am constitutionally opposed to the very idea of regret. But the more I saw the question, the more I thought about the whole matter. And I think there is indeed one thing in my life that I actively regret. I regret that during the 19th century when I lived in New Orleans with my vampire companions, Louis and Claudia, I did not tell them more about our origins, and about the vampires of the old world. I thought at the time that I was protecting them from secrets that could only hurt them, sheltering them in a wilderness and paradise that belonged exclusively to the three of us. But this was all wrong. I should have known that Louis and Claudia needed to know about the origins of our kind, needed to know where we’d come from, needed to know whether or not there were others out there, and I should have anticipated and encouraged their questions rather than keeping them at a distance from myself. Of course one reason I made this awful mistake is that I did know secrets about vampires that I was bound by an oath not to reveal. But I could have told Louis and Claudia more than I did. I could have respected their need for knowledge. I truly regret that I did not. As many of you know, our little coven family came to disaster, and I think I had a hand in that disaster, by not giving my beloved fledglings more information and insight into what we were. —- I’ll be back later to answer more questions.

Another Fan Question for Lestat answered.

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.

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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.

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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: Readers, so many good questions have been submitted for me — last night and today — that it’s difficult to choose one. But I have settled on this question from James Estacado: “Which experience was the most life changing, becoming a vampire, meeting Akasha, meeting the body thief or meeting Memnoch? — Becoming a vampire is the most significant of these experiences, obviously, as a vampire is what I am today. I’m an immortal as the result of becoming a vampire. Akasha of course greatly strengthened my powers and my faith in our ancient history, but it was as a vampire that I received what Akasha had to give. Meeting the body thief could have been terminal for me — as life changing as being made immortal. After all, the body thief gave me an opportunity to be mortal again and to die in a mortal body; but thanks to him, I came to realize that I didn’t want to be mortal, and that I didn’t want to die. I was reborn as an immortal thanks to the body thief. I would say the least life changing experience was my encounter with Memnoch, though I still do not know entirely what it all meant. Memnoch confused and embittered me but in the final analysis, Memnoch left me as skeptical as I’d ever been – about the world – before we met. I detest Memnoch, and frankly, I don’t think I’ve seen the last of him. But how can I know? I loathe him and distrust him completely. But enough on Memnoch. I have better things on my mind of late. Like answering your questions, for instance. —- I hope you all will have more questions for me this evening.