Tag Archives: read the book

Question for admin: what VC books do you personally consider canon?

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(sorry for the delay in reply!)

I’m pretty flexible with canon. A fanfic might choose to disregard everything after QOTD, and I can accept that when I’m reading that fic, or there could be fanart of stuff from PLROA and I can accept that at that time.

I think a fan should at least give every book in the series a chance, you don’t have to force yourself to finish every book, but to crack them open, just give them a chance. Bc I think there’s something of value in every single one of them!

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I’ve read them all and I gotta say that if you don’t take them too seriously, it’s worth the effort. But then, I am pretty forgiving and I can do headcanon gymnastics for fun to explain stuff I don’t like, or treat it as AU.

Originally, I was cutting canon off at TVA, but then, a fanfic came along that required Merrick to be canon, and I was pretty floored by the fic. Among other things, it opened up options for L/L that weren’t possible before. 

The tricky thing, too, is that AR herself has said that she herself doesn’t think the hybrid Mayfair/VC novels “wore well over time,” so she disregards them and asks us to do so, as well. I know there are ppl who loved BF and BC, so hey, more power to them, but those events aren’t mentioned in PL/ROA so, you can disregard those books if you choose to do so. 

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In the most general way tho, just in my own headcanon, I accept everything except BF, BC, PL/ROA. Those 4 are AU fanfic to me, except for select elements. 

So basically I look at all of canon as a buffet, and I pick and choose what I want to accept, bc even in the most weird/problematic/(or, what we used to call “cracky”) of the books, there are some good moments/lines that I enjoyed!

How would you describe IWTV to someone who has not read the book or seen the movie?

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i-want-my-iwtv:

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(I struggle to describe it to ppl, I usually cater the length and depth of my description based on my audience, for example, to describe it to my 7 yr old cousin (who loves vampires and was a vampire princess fairy for Halloween): “It’s mostly about a happy vampire family with 2 dads, and they don’t always get along with eachother or the world.”)

As Tom Cruise put it so eloquently, “The movie is not for everyone.” No value judgement there; it’s just not everyone’s cup of tea, so I don’t try to sell it. 

I will try to describe the story in the language of tumblrland:

“How would you describe IWTV to someone who has not read the book…?”

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“How would you describe IWTV to someone who has not read the book or seen the movie?”

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“How would you describe IWTV to someone who has not read the book or seen the movie?”

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“How would you describe IWTV to someone who has not read the book or seen the movie?”

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“How would you describe IWTV to someone who has not read the book or seen the movie?”

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You can also try my vc synopsis tag, but there be spoilers there!

….That last gif is also tribute to antoineandthepiano who loves that gif! And it’s appropriate here, bc if I think the person might actually like it, I do tell them to #READ THE BOOK in the hopes that I can make them one of us ❤

Has anyone ever asked Anne if she is ever going to write about Magnus? Full novel, not just things here and there about him?

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(Omg, if you’d written to me back in Feb. of this year, there was a blogger @somniferousdelusion, now deactivated ;A; who said Magnus was their fave character, this blogger could have been someone you might have had good convos with… Does anyone know if they just changed urls?)

No, I don’t think AR has ever been asked about writing a full novel about Magnus, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she did! What are you drawn to about Magnus? There’s plenty of room for fanfic/headcanons about him, so if you are so inclined… write it for us!

I don’t know what you’ve read so far, but as you may be aware, Magnus tells his story, albeit briefly, in Prince Lestat.

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Magnus is also in Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis in a snazzy new… erm… “form”?, so we’ll probably see more of him, but my money is on AR focusing on how cool he is now, and not really digging any further into his past or forcing Lestat to have any difficult conversations with him, which they sort of briefly had in PLROA.

There was a Magnus RPer, @theycallmemagnus​, gone inactive now, but you might find good stuff in their archive, might reach out to any active RPers you find there, who may be into talking about the character. 

2/2 i know thats a really dumb question but i really want to read the rest of the books and i cant really figure out how. anyways, i love you blog (and your hair oh my gosh). have a swell day!!! xo

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theraphaellus:

Hi Anon,

That’s not a dumb questions at all! I know there’s generally a lot of confusion regarding the right way to read the books. As far as I know, AR said to read them in the order of their publication, but I also know there are some sites online that suggest alternative ways to read them (perhaps @i-want-my-iwtv might offer suggestions here? I’m sure you can find some more info on the blog, which is obviously totally amazing and a great resource for all things VC!)

This is the publication chronology: 

I read the first three in chronological order, and then I read the rest completely jumbled up. Some of them I’ve only read once, others I’ve ready MANY TIMES… and I’m still working my way through Atlantis atm. The last time I began re-reading I followed the chronology. I’d definitely be willing to try and read them following one of the alternative chronologies, maybe that would offer a different experience? I don’t know.

Hey VC boffins, please feel free to add to this if you have suggestions! 

Hope that was at least a little helpful anon ❤ 

I have been summoned! Thanks for the lovely compliments on my blargh, I’m such a successful drug dealer, always trying to reel in fresh victims to our beloved drug of choice, lovable dysfunctional vampires ♥u♥

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I didn’t know that AR said to read them in the order of their publication, but that makes the most sense to me, bc that was the order in which she explored the stories. I read them in publication order, too (but that wasn’t really a choice for me bc after the first 4 of them, I had to wait for her to write them!) Things will be revealed to you in the order in which she considered them, and then things will be “corrected” in the order in which she “corrected” it (you know, the different points of view, our ~unreliable narrators~, which is AR retconning existing canon).

I don’t know of other chronological suggestions, but I know ppl do come into the series from anywhere and latch onto certain characters bc of their gateway drug, so it kind of depends on what you’re most interested in with it. Like, someone who started with TVA might want to read The Vampire Lestat or Queen of the Damned next bc there’s some Armand screentime in those, and go back to Interview w/ the Vampire after that bc he has less screentime in it, IIRC.

I think it also depends on whether you have an issue with problematic things bc some VC books are more problematic than others… we could tell you whether you might want to skip Tale of the Body Thief, for example 😉

(I get this question in different variations every so often, it’s under my #Order of Operations for VC tag, if you want more thoughts on that.)

BASICALLY: Give them each and all a chance! Assemble your headcanon as you go along ;3

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monstersinthecosmos:

Back in September I bought cheap used copies of all the Vampire Chronicles (and New Tales) for myself so that I could reread them in time for PLatRoA. And I wrote in them and stuff. It was pretty fun. I crammed all 14 books in 10 weeks and it was PRETTY EXHILARATING. 

So anyway, for as long as it interests me, watch this space as I flip through them again and make posts of quotes and passages that I enjoyed. 🙂

#ART

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It’s happening. Cracked it open. 

Figuratively, bc I sent my signed copy to its proper owner, but I have the e-reader version OPEN. Notes are being taken.

Don’t expect me to rail against it, what I’m looking for is good stuff. Anything from vampire physiology to clever dialogue, to good characterization, really, I am keeping an open mind and looking for the silver lining ❤

BUT, I do want to make a masterpost of links to ppl’s reviews, so please comment/reblog/

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w/ links so I can put together and share the most comprehensive masterpost.

Just out of curiosity; Lestat, why do they call you the Brat Prince?

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♛It’s a long story, earned over time, I always had the Brat in me, but the Prince part, well, wasn’t born into that kind of royalty, that election may have been rigged…

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My coven gave me this illustrious title as an insult but look at me now! I SHOWED THEM. Now I’m the boss of them all. Hah!

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Oh my gosh, well… I waited 6 hours, but there was no further message, so I’m just going to answer now.

“I don’t know how to feel about Anne…”

Respectfully, I’m not going to tell you how to feel about Anne Rice. I must regretfully decline.

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I know how I feel about her: that she has given us a wonderful gift and that she has committed no actual crime for which she would deserve to be boycotted. We can poke fun at her, at her books, we can critique them, bc she has set herself and her works for public review. We can feel distrustful for her past behavior towards the fandom and distrustful of her handling of her own characters. Those are all within our rights as a critical public.

I always recommend that people read the books and draw their own conclusions about them on their own merits. It’s part of what makes fandom great, that we can agree on some things, disagree on others, and have lively discussions about it all.

What I will tell you is that you don’t have to like Anne Rice to read her stories. To my knowledge, she has not committed ANY REAL LIFE ACTUAL CRIMES. People boycott actual criminals bc we do not want to financially or morally support them. IMO, Anne Rice should NOT be lumped in with REAL LIFE ACTUAL CRIMINALS.

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It is not a crime that she waged war on fanfic. It was incredibly painful and it shattered the fandom, and drove us all underground for years ;A; But she was within her legal rights. Keep in mind that fandom was not really socially acceptable or understood like it is today, authors understand now that fanworks are types of fan engagement with canon and each other. She seems to understand that now, or if not, she at least ignores fanfic.

It is not a crime that she waged war on reviewers. Also painful and oppressive at the time, AR used to be very offended by critical or negative reviews of her books, and would sic her People of the Page on reviewers. Again, she now seems to understand that people are within their rights to critique her work and she can ignore them.

What she writes is not an actual crime. She has problematic elements and explores taboo subjects in her writing, refuses any editor’s advice, refuses anyone’s idea of what she should write. That’s her prerogative as a ‘music maker,’ as a ‘dreamer of dreams’ (<– like Willy Wonka!). To argue that any of her writing is a crime is, to me, a form of censorship, and I do not believe in censorship of fiction.

^^^^None of these are Real Life actual crimes. Personally, I may not accept all of her writing as canon, and I may poke fun at it, too, that’s my prerogative as a reader.

The idea that all art should be entirely unproblematic all the time…kills art. Like, I really don’t think we as readers have some all-solemn duty to constantly make sure we’re only having the ~right~ kind of fun.

But that’s just my opinion. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions and decide whether you want to financially/morally support Anne Rice by buying/reading her books, or not.

Hi, a long time ago I read interview, the vampire lestat and the queen of the damned. I want to fall in love again with the saga, can you recommend me what book should I read now, there is so many that I can’t choose. Thank you very much, I really love your blog!

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Thanks for the compliments! Glad you like my blog 😀

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(I get this question in different variations every so often, it’s under my #Order of Operations for VC tag, if you want more thoughts on that.)

I always suggest reading all the books, but not everyone can or wants to do that. Those first 3 books tend to be considered as the best of the VC by the fandom in general, but individuals have different opinions.

I’d suggest you go on to book 4, Tale of the Body Thief, and read them in order, bc that’s the order in which AR explored her stories. I don’t know what aspect of VC you fell in love with before, so if you could tell me about that and/or your fave character(s), whether you have an issue with problematic things bc some VC books are more problematic than others… I could tell you whether you might want to skip Tale of the Body Thief, for example 😉